Edited by Marja Bloem, Krist Gruijthuijsen, Lauren van Haaften-Schick, Sara Martinetti & Jo Melvin.

Better Read Than Dead was the title Seth Siegelaub had chosen for an anthology of his own writing—one of the projects for which he never found the time, busy as he was running his global one-man operation. The selected writings, interviews, extended bibliography and chronology in this source book fill historical gaps in the sprawling network of exhibitions, publications, projects, and collections that constitute Siegelaub’s life’s work. “Siegelaubian paperwork” comprises Siegelaub’s writings, which are reproduced as scans in order to convey the variety of the documents and to give a sense of archival immersion.

The Joke Book is the first printed edition of the complete jokes & messages file that was found on Seth Siegelaub’s computer by his partner Marja Bloem. It contains jokes, quotes, and pieces of advice, that he collected since 1999 and regularly redistributed via email amongst his friends. With contributions by Alex Alberto, John Baldessari, Marja Bloem, Myrna Bloom, Martin Browne, Alan Kennedy, David Kunzle, Joel Miller, Loren Miller, Kay Robertson, Laurent Sauerwein, Seth Siegelaub, Joan Simon, Kira Simon-Kennedy, Peter Sinclair, Steven Wright, and an introduction by Huan Hsu (written after a long conversation with Marja Bloem). Designed by Marc Hollenstein.