The word BAD runs down the book’s spine—BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD—and the cover wears a one-star rating out of five. Is this what bad reviews look like? Only sometimes. The editors of Bad Reviews are hamming it up, having fun with the stereotype of the merciless aesthetic judge, like when critic Brian Droitcour (former associate editor at A.i.A.) started rating galleries on Yelp. The reality is, ideally, more nuanced—as even leafing through this book bears out.
