‘Witty, playful reflections on modern life’ – The Independent

‘A fantastic book of novel ideas from more than a hundred creative minds’ – i–D

‘A good formula for a book should result in pleasure for the reader. Hans Ulrich Obrist … has succeeded in this’ – Blueprint

'Some of the formulas are a bit impenetrable, others just completely bonkers, but as a collection it really works. A great book to dip in and out of' – Grafik

Imagine if the whole of life were reducible to
a single formula. The results are not just unexpected but
as wild, as weird and as wonderful as life itself …

Fun, quirky and sophisticated, more than a hundred of the most creative and original minds of our time – from art, science, mathematics, architecture, design, literature and sociology –
give us their personal and enterprising, or visionary, or inventive, or just deliriously delectable formulas for contemporary life …

… Damien Hirst's colour wheel; 'sex x technology = the future' by J.G. Ballard; Gilbert & George's injunction to ban religion;
a distillation of Darwinian theory from Richard Dawkins; Olafur Eliasson's x and y axis; Peter Saville's sketched diagrams; Louise Bourgeois's conviction that there's no logic in love …

Look here for some novel answers (and many new questions and possibilities) in a 100% addictive book!

See the full list of contributors
See the article about 'Formulas for Now' in The Independent

Hans Ulrich Obrist is Co-Director of the Serpentine Gallery. He is the author of numerous books, including The Words of Gilbert and George, also published by Thames & Hudson.

The formulas above are by
George L. Legendre + Asa Nilsson, Benoit Mandelbrot,
Louise Bourgeois and Stewart Brand

Also of interest
The Words of Gilbert & George by Hans Ulrich Obrist
At the Edge of Art