METAFONT was created by Donald Knuth to facilitate the creation of the special type fonts needed for his T2EX typesetting program. Users of T2EX will be familiar with the first outputs of METAFONT as the ACM, or Almost Computer Modern, series. More recently, the final full CM versions have become available for microcomputers and are very pleasant indeed.

This book describes in detail the thinking behind the METAFONT program as well as its syntax and capabilities. Early chapters are written at a level which will be understandable by non–computer specialists and, I suppose, by typographers. Knuth carefully explains the notions of coordinate systems and of pixels as well as the method by which discrete points can be connected by continuous curves. The particular algorithm is that using Bernshtein polynomials and usually known as the Bezier curve technique.

It soon transpires that the METAFONT language is capable of far more complex operations than those required for normal type founding. For example, it can be used to produce solutions to polynomial equations, linear equation sets, and even nonlinear simultaneous equations.

The book includes detailed discussions of the aesthetics of type form and of the precision operations which are needed to produce really acceptable type. These certainly justify the statement that the creation of a new font from scratch may take a year of fairly concentrated effort.

The style of the book will be familiar to users of Knuth’s book on T2EX and the illustrations are still by Duane Bibby. A delightful feature is the creation of a new character, named “Meta,” a cat who greatly resembles a 1920s flapper; she does much to make the reader wish to continue reading so as to see the illustrations of the next chapter.