A working library is an exploration of—and advocate for—Recently
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9.22.10
The Elements of Editing
Arthur Plotnik
References to “video display units” notwithstanding, many of Plotnik’s essays on editing remain as compelling today as they were thirty years ago. “The editor, not…
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9.20.10
Make a mess
On Bird by Bird
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9.19.10
Publication
On Bird by Bird
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9.19.10
Bird by Bird
Anne Lamott
Personal musings on the life of the writer. Lamott is primarily a novelist, but I find her writing advice to be just as relevant to…
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8.16.10
Roots
On getting back to the words, and joining Typekit.
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8.16.10
On audience
More on the new publishing, and how A Book Apart is older than it seems.
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7.17.10
Television
On Cognitive Surplus
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7.17.10
Cognitive Surplus
Clay Shirky
In this follow-up to Here Comes Everybody, Shirky argues that we’re evolving from passive consumers of Seinfeld to creative makers of everything from lolcats…
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7.5.10
Made by Hand
Mark Frauenfelder
A chronicle of one man’s attempt to become a DIYer. Frauenfelder learns that making things yourself means mostly making mistakes, but those mistakes can be…
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7.5.10
Unschooled
On Made by Hand
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6.16.10
The Big Short
Michael Lewis
Infuriatingly good. There isn’t another writer alive who could take the obscurities of subprime mortgages and credit default swaps and deliver a page-turner like this…
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6.14.10
The Design of Design
Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
An engineer’s perspective on the design process. His conclusions are familiar, but the means by which he gets there are fascinating; something of a mathematical…
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6.13.10
Biscuit making
On The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work and Small is Beautiful
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6.11.10
Imaginatively disconnected
On The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
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6.11.10
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
Alain de Botton
A lengthy and wonderful photo essay with stories of various kinds of work, from biscuit manufacturer to rocket scientist; a welcome companion to Theriault’s
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6.6.10
Good design is long lasting
On Dieter Rams, and how long is long enough.
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6.6.10
Thinkers
On Design and Truth and How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read
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6.6.10
Design and Truth
Robert Grudin
A wide-ranging and philosophical approach to user-centered design. Grudin argues compellingly that design that does not consider the user is dishonest. See also: my…
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5.4.10
Announcing A Book Apart
A new publishing venture from the people who bring you A List Apart and An Event Apart.
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5.4.10
HTML5 for Web Designers
Jeremy Keith
The inaugural book from A Book Apart, the new publisher for which I am co-founder and editor. When Jeffrey Zeldman, Jason Santa Maria,…
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3.18.10
Rework
David Heinemeier Hansson, Jason Fried
On making work better, from the founders of 37Signals. If you’ve been reading Signals vs. Noise, there’s not much new here. But the…
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3.17.10
The Riverside Shakespeare
Shakespeare
The book I most dreaded carrying around when I was a student (because of its heft), but which I now profess the most nostalgia for.…
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3.17.10
Ways of writing
Of books and pens.
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2.28.10
The form of the book
A call for book designers to migrate to the screen.
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2.28.10
The Form of the Book
Jan Tschichold
A collection of essays written between 1949 and 1974, the year of Tschichold’s death. Many describe archaic elements of book design, but as a whole…
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2.27.10
On publishing
Three announcements about the future of publishing.
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2.20.10
One true book
On You Are Not a Gadget
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2.19.10
Advertising to the crowd
On You Are Not a Gadget
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2.17.10
Friendship
On You Are Not a Gadget
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2.17.10
Authorship
On You Are Not a Gadget
