religion for atheists

alain de botton's books make me a better person. he has an ability to look thoroughly at things to find their most meaningful qualities. what i love about his new book is that he's not just writing about it, he's partnering with people to bring to life the change he's asking for. read about it here.

"Try to imagine what would happen if modern secular museums took the example of churches more seriously. What if they too decided that art had a specific purpose - to make us good and wise and kind - and tried to use the art in their possession to prompt us to be so? What if they gave up on the neutral, bland captions they tend to use, and put beneath each picture a really directive set of commands, telling us, for example, ‘Look at this image and remember to be patient’ - or ‘Use this sculpture to medidate on what you too could do to bring about a fairer world?"

eli, no!

I am so thrilled that this is finally published, congrats Katie!.


Eli no!
A story about a dog, amusing antics and unconditional love.
by Katie Kirk

"The book was inspired by my nephew, Parker. Whenever we were together, I would say "Eli no!" — and every time I said it, he would say it too! He liked how fun it was to say and so did I. I had always wanted to write and illustrate a children's book, and I thought this idea was too fun not to do."

what does that say?

a cool project by craig goldham. via qbn.

The HAND.WRITTEN.LETTER.PROJECT was after a conversation about how personal a letter can be: a fact that is currently drowning in a tide of depersonalisation, with junk mail and automated correspondence.

to rent from the library:

all via svpply.

summer reads

Nancy Pearl's 10 Terrific Summer Reads on NPR, just look at those beautiful book covers! I'm going to need a hammock.

nike, the advantage within

a very cool nike promo book design designed by my B.F. Jamie and the talented folks at ID Branding.

small town girl

talking to my mom yesterday, she asked if i knew a girl named amanda hocking. and yes, i graduated high school with her. so ridiculously awesome to read about her recent success with her writing career on NY Times, USA Today, Hollywood Review, Huffington Post and more, launched through self-epublishing about a year ago. congrats, amanda!

two books to add to your queue

alain de botton's the pleasures and sorrows of work

bill bryson's the life and times of the thunderbolt kid

phenomenal, no exaggeration.

a good read

by aharon rabinowtiz

i wonder

a new piece of work from marian bantjes. it looks to be as stunning as the rest of her repertoire.

what the dog saw

another good read. this audio book sustained us on our 1,900 mile road trip/move to portland. i love malcolm gladwell's mind.

the making of

...fantastic mr. fox. my friend lisa just gave me this awesome book designed by pentagram. i love getting a sneak peek behind the scenes. thanks lisa!

le petit chien

this book cover is perfect.

flash back

i picked this up at the walker last weekend and spent the rest of the afternoon looking through it. beautiful, beautiful work and lovely book design. lots of other great stuff on sale right now from victionary.

never sleep

saw these guys at HOW 08. i was hooked. this book looks pretty great, but i'm thinking it must be out of print since its going for $150 on amazon...or maybe its just that good.

choke

must read this book

other books

i heart this logo. and the books.

mr. nemo

this book is rad. via qbn.

walls notebook

be the graffiti artist you've always wanted to be. love it. via swiss miss.

cringe

if i lived in nyc, i would most definitely go to this. guess i'll have to settle for the book.

Cringe is a monthly reading series hosted by Sarah Brown at Freddy’s Bar & Backroom in Brooklyn. On the first Wednesday of each month, brave souls come forward and read aloud from their teenage diaries, journals, notes, letters, poems, abandoned rock operas, and other general representations of the crushing misery of their humiliating adolescence. It’s better and cheaper than therapy.