Posts tagged books
This video introduces Steven Johnson’s new book, The Innovator’s Cookbook: Essentials for Inventing What Is Next.
From bestselling author and Internet pioneer Steven Johnson, The Innovator’s Cookbook (on sale October 4, 2011) is an essential book for anyone interested in innovation: the key texts on the topic from a wide range of fields as well as interviews with successful, real-world innovators, prefaced with a new essay by Johnson that draws upon his own experiences as an entrepreneur and author.
(via @stevenbjohnson)
The Science of Baseball
I don’t follow baseball, yet I found this excerpt from Perfection Point by John Brenkus very captivating. It explains scientifically what it takes to hit a major-league pitch, and what it would take to hit the longest home run possible.
(via MetaFilter)
What you’re seeing here is a microscopic photo of household dust, magnified 22 million times! It’s one of many fascinating photos in Brandon Broll’s book, Microcosmos: Discovering The World Through Microscopic Images From 20 X to Over 22 Million X Magnification.
Discover other interesting books on my Amazon Store.
The Future of the Book from IDEO unveils 3 fascinating and beautifully-designed concepts—Nelson, Coupland, and Alice—that fuel new thoughts about the future of the reading experience.
Join the conversation on Facebook and listen to an interview with IDEO’s Robert Lenne and Duane Bray on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC.
This is a photo I took of “I LEGO N.Y.” by Christoph Niemann. This wonderful board book contains all of the photos that were originally published in Christoph’s Abstract City Blog for NYTimes.com, plus 13 new creations.
Mike Stilkey working on one of his book sculptures. This one is from an installation commissioned by Rice University Art Gallery in 2007. Photo by Nash Baker.
(via oneplusinfinity)
Christmas is around the corner. Learn how to make your own wreath! Buy the Show Me How book for 499 more funny illustrated tips. You can also preview some of the entries on showmenow.com. This is a great coffee table book and holiday gift!
Lately rejected/killed designs have been a hot subject on the blogosphere. Following this trend, blurb, has launched their “Killed Ideas” competition. “This is where great ideas come to play. You nailed it the first time and you know it. — Now it’s time to bring your best work back, and let it stand on its own.”It’s really interesting to see how designs that used to never have the chance to see the light of day outside the office, are getting some air time with the general public.
Many designers have sections on their websites dedicated to their favorite ideas that didn’t make it. There is a Rejected Designs pool on flickr. And book cover designer Kimberly Glyder just launched her Shelved Books blog.
I get a kick out of looking through rejected comps of designers I admire (and often find ones that I am shocked didn’t make the cut). But when it comes to sharing my own, I feel squirmish about this. Usually I place an incredible amount of trust in the final judgment of art directors, editors, authors, publishers, marketing people, etc. There are educated reasons why certain designs are killed (even if I struggle internally to agree), and I worry that presenting these designs on the web could be seen as disrespectful. What do you think? Am I just too old fashioned?
How to land a six-figure book deal
Simple. Post a recipe for sausage stuffed and wrapped with bacon, aka the Bacon Explosion, or come up with a site called This is why you’re fat. This obsession with outrageous food is baffling. Just check out these impressive stats for the latter site:
* On February 1, we came up with idea, bought the domain name, designed the blog and began creating an image archive from the crazy food photos circulating the Web.
* On February 9, we launched the site to the public, opening it for submissions.
* In under 24 hours we reached over 1 million page-views, over 2 million page-views in under 48 hours and over 3 million in under 3 days.
* Within the first two weeks since the site’s launch, This is Why You’re Fat showed the highest traffic of any blog on the Tumblr platform ever.
* In under a month since the site’s launch, we have received over 2,000 submissions, not counting those sent via email.
* In under a month, the site has swelled to almost 4,000 followers on Tumblr
