Jonathan Safran Foer is by far one of the most unconventional (and interesting) contemporary authors. After his two must-read novels "Everything is illuminated" (2002) and "Extremely loud and incredibly close" (2005), last year he published his heartfelt public appeal to the vegetarian cause, describing the unsustainability of the food industry in contemporary society ("Eating animals", 2009).

Now he's back with a brand-new creation: an experimental graphic novel which is going to revolutionize the very same concepts of "book" and "interactive story". And - by the way - is going to became an icon of design (not only the graphic one).

The title is "Tree of Codes", now available for pre-order on Amazon.

All started with the interest of the author for the "die-cut" technique and for the physical relationship this could created between the pages.

As any other "innovator" he faced the problem of making his work coming to reality as every printer he approached said the book was impossible to make...

Until he found Die Keure in Belgium and Sara De Bondt Studio who helped him in this fatigue.

I dare to say that the final result is extremely "behavioral" as it is evident from the following video:

The plot was "carved out" from one of Safran Foer's favorite novel "The Street of Crocodiles": curious to know the peculiarity of this book and how it looks like on the inside? Check these photos...

As Olafur Eliasson said: “Jonathan Safran Foer, deftly deploys sculptural means to craft a truly compelling story. In our world of screens, he welds narrative, materiality, and our reading experience into a book that remembers that it actually has a body.” 

(via www.fastcodesign.com)