Book Review: Myself: Timed Exposures, by Mike Mandel

Mike Mandel doesn’t know it yet, but his new book, MYSELF: Timed Exposures, is a Turing Test. On the cover of the book is an image of several people standing in what appears to be an elevator. There’s a blonde woman on the left, blurred nearly to indecipherability, and next to her is another woman, maybe in her 40s, back to the rear wall, only a little blurred, wearing a neck scarf, her hair in a mullet, and looking askew at the camera. On the image’s right, standing against the side wall of the elevator is a third woman, a young woman, straight brown hair, sun bleached at the ends curling upon her shoulders, facing forward but eyes gazing at the ceiling, her zig-zag, no doubt multi-colored blouse under a sensible wool jacket, her arms pressed against her, guarding her purse. Standing in the middle of the frame, full-faced to the camera in this confined space, is some dude with brown hair as long as that of the young woman’s, parted on the side, wearing a buttoned-up corduroy shirt…