The book is noteworthy for its unique design; the plot-line is illustrated with images which further the narrative by providing charts, lists, sketches, and maps accompanying each page, mirroring T.S.

Vanity Fair claims Larsen received just under a million dollars as an advance from Penguin Press following a bidding war between ten publishing houses.

's mother, whom he consistently refers to as "Dr. Clair," is an entomologist preoccupied — or so it seems — with the search for a possibly nonexistent species of insect, the "tiger monk beetle".

tricks a Union Pacific freight train into pausing at Divide and hides himself in a Winnebago that is being shipped on a flat car.

In a surprise departure from Dr. Claire's scientific fixations, the notebook is a semi-fictional account of a Spivet ancestor who was herself a great researcher and cartographer.

An oversized book (9.3 by 7.8 inches, about 24 by 20 cm), the margins of each page have been expanded to include drawings, charts, and lists accompanying the written elements.

Larsen has stated that this technique was not originally intended to be included in the book's format, finishing a complete first draft of the work before he "discovered the margins as a playground of T.S.’s mind.

"[2] Larsen's parents were both visual artists (his mother a painter and photographer, his father a printmaker), which he credits as contributing to his decision to include maps and drawings instead of the traditional footnote style that had been planned.

[3] The majority of the drawings for the book were originally sketched by Larsen himself, subsequently passing them along to artist friend Ben Gibson, who stylistically finished them.

"[6] Some critics, however, cited a significant deceleration in the novel's storyline, pointing out errors made by the first-time writer toward the work's conclusion.