Illustrator Elkins begins by examining how people form shapes through social interaction. For example, a group of people may speak at once—their sound forming radial, linear, and spiral shapes. The senses are another way to explore experience, such as passing a strip of different scents under one's nose and describing each one. On a larger scale, locomotion, interaction, and biometrics inform shapes, including how one moves within an environment and operates objects.

Zooming out, illustrations depict systems of physical, chemical, and geological structures, such as water gates on a canal or reef structures on which corals grow and thrive. Viewing coral reefs as a structure or system—or as a shirt with a layer of gallium liquid distributing weight differently than a shirt with a layer of H2O—inspires creative perspectives on the world. Also, a few pages at the beginning of each chapter dive deeply into studies of all kinds, such as soundscape ecology and biophony in a chapter on audio and video landscapes.

These introductory sections, paired with specific descriptions beneath each illustration, will likely appeal to researchers, students, and others with academic hobbies or interests. For illustrators and artists, this is a learning opportunity to connect what they design or create with a larger world and its contexts. Those who love art or who study the humanities will undoubtedly appreciate this fresh take on the interdisciplinary nature of math, materials science, fashion, and more. Stopping on each page is almost like pausing before a piece in a museum, opening one's mind to the possibilities of what the components and elements could be.

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