I was coming into this expecting the aesthetic yang to the yin of Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows but surprisingly it was much more about philosophy and linguistics (which I should’ve guessed from the Sartrean title). There were many references that were up my alley—the backdrop of the book is Paris, after all—and interesting musings, but in the end not even a map could have helped me find the point. Not to say I didn’t enjoy the detours but some of them were very far off course. Like, it dipped into acoustics a ton for a book about visuals. Anyway, this was supposed to be my culturally critical material before I go to the Neon Museum here in Vegas so it got the job done I’d say.  But I think I’m still in praise of shadows.