Denewen


Non-Fiction - Science/Technology
332 Pages
Reviewed on 12/08/2025
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Author Biography

My name is David Elkins. I am the author of Denewen. I write, draw, and illustrate books. I am the author of the books Marakin, Nuna Anodm, Tamaren, and Minariel.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Pikasho Deka for Readers' Favorite

Imagine for a moment if there were a panel inside our mouths with slots and tubes? What if cords were attached to the face and chest to help connect people? Denewen is a collection of illustrations that sheds light on the different types of physical networks that can connect people. David Elkins presents an illuminating book of illustrations focusing on the intricate links between our physical senses and social networks. The book shows how a group of people can form a connection via a rope network. How do you think humans use shoulder harnesses to form an overall carrying unit? How do our olfactory senses work? You will find the answers to these questions and more.

Denewen by David Elkins is one of the most unique art collections I've seen this year. This book is for those science aficionados who are passionate about learning about the inner workings of our physical senses and social networks, while appreciating art at a fundamental level. Each illustration is complemented by a description below, so readers are able to appreciate the theme behind the piece and understand the concept that inspired it. I found the illustrations unique and informative. There is a structural symmetry to most of these illustrations that makes you really curious about the subject matter and the thought process behind the creation of each drawing. Another highlight for me was the themes. Social science is one of the key themes of this collection. Overall, I am very glad I read this book and definitely recommend it to science lovers.

Carol Thompson

Denewen by David Elkins resembles a catalog of conceptual inventions, sensory experiments, and geometric social designs. Structured into ten short “volumes,” the book presents a sequence of described objects, configurations, and interactive structures, each paired with a minimal illustration. Early sections introduce tactile and olfactory concepts. Other entries focus on physical expressions of human connection, including cords between two people attached at the chest and face, or rope networks linking groups into rectangular and triangular formations. As the book progresses, Denewen becomes a speculative atlas of embodiment, with wearable structures, headbands, perforated tubes, platforms, and rotating rings that suggest choreography as much as engineering. The repeated emphasis on grids, nodes, hinges, and movement creates an abstract narrative about how bodies might communicate through pressure, alignment, sound, and spatial relations.

David Elkins’s writing is stark, precise, and deliberately pared down. The pacing is meditative, moving object by object, allowing the reader to linger over the strange clarity of each proposal. The illustrations reinforce this, presenting clean, schematic figures that resemble prototypes or thought experiments rather than finished artifacts. The rhythm of the repetition of forms, ropes, grids, and wearable architectures gives the book an almost hypnotic quality. Readers who enjoy conceptual art books, experimental design, speculative anatomy, or works that blur the boundary between science, sculpture, and philosophy will find much to contemplate here. Denewen is especially suited for those drawn to abstract systems, sensory imagination, and the idea that human interaction can be mapped through geometry, mechanics, and invented rituals of touch, taste, and space. Anyone familiar with Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later philosophical style will find much to admire in Elkins’s work.