Thank you for the office hours Austin! I never engage with any community but with this group of people it felt so natural so “my kind of people”! Felt like the early days of the web when it was all only passionate humans talking to each other. Thank you for gathering us all together. ❤️
About books as toys --every year the Museum of Contemporary Art in Novato, CA has an Altered Book Exhibit where artists make art out of various book themes. My friend Bonnie Kuhr turned a novel, The Dragon, into a swooping hanging creature. I've entered numerous times--great fun. One year I framed spirals of my illustrated journal. My favorite was a weaving made out of a copy of Jung's Red Book. (Is this Stealing like an Artist?) I posted them on my website -- spiralmemoir.com.
I have a love/hate relationship with your newsletters. I love them, enjoy expanding my own thoughts and ideas, and learning new things, but I get sucked down all the wonderful rabbit holes and spend much of the day distracted. OK, I don't even hate that, most just feelings of guilt that I'm not in active creation mode. I think I need to let that go and allow it all to unfold as it wants to.
OMG your kid is so clever! Loved his parody. And I remember this infomercial! I looked Prue Moods up on my music streaming and I’m playing it as we speak. I was a huge Enya fan back in the day.
I too love these lovely people who have found each other through your newsletter and website. It’s nice to know the Internet still has the ability to bring people together. Thank you for that Austin!
I'm a piler. For me, as an aphantasic, I need the visuals around me so I can visualize. I also need order and struggled for a long time to find ways to create order that made sense to my brain. Now, I have three ringed binders on a book shelf that have my manuscripts that I'm working on. They are easy to see and access. I had my collage papers in a big binder, but the paper collection has grown so much that I just bought a set of drawers from the container store for the growing collection. The drawers are slightly opaque, but I can still see what's in them. Also ROYGBIV is used for cataloging. My pens and pencils are in containers on little shelves. Again easily visible and easy to put away. When I'm working on a project, it's piled on my desk. My hand knows where to go to find what I need or want next. Adam Grant, talked about having the right system for you to develop habits in his book Atomic Habits. I have realized that for so long, I tried using other people's systems and what I needed was to find my system. It's still a work in progress as I go through and create my sense of order, but each new change is making my process more about being ready and able to start, vs. Spending so much time preparing to start.
The Bloomsbury sale also includes the BFI Film Classics series which is similar in format to the 33 1/3 LP series. From the few I’ve read, they tend to be more scholarly than the 33 1/3 books but quite detailed and informative.
Feb 26, 2023·edited Feb 26, 2023Liked by Austin Kleon
About books as toys, my city's central library runs an annual juried event, "The Art of the Book." It's for altered books, artist books, and paper sculpture. My all-time favorite is the 2022 Best of Show entry, "Book Marks." It's an old-fashioned wood card catalog filled with hundreds of compact artworks on repurposed library checkout cards.
I don't know if this book meets any of your worthwhile-book criteria, but you might like "The Social Meaning of Money: Pin Money, Paychecks, Poor Relief, and Other Currencies" by Viviana Zelizer.
From AMZ description: "She shows how people have invented their own forms of currency, earmarking money in ways that baffle market theorists, incorporating funds into webs of friendship and family relations, and otherwise varying the process by which spending and saving takes place."
Oh I love books of diaries too... but I think that's because I'm very nosy? And I like to read them on the day they are written, so often it will take me a year to read a diary which was written over a year.
Books as toys... wow. And I was startled to see that I own every book shown in that photo of your bookshelf, except The Island of the Colorblind, which I'd never heard of till now. So thanks for that.
I'm a piler who sometimes files. The trouble is, when I file things out of sight then I forget to access/use them. I usually know right where everything is, but the occasional tidy up keeps things from getting too out of hand (glances at current piles).
Thank you for the office hours Austin! I never engage with any community but with this group of people it felt so natural so “my kind of people”! Felt like the early days of the web when it was all only passionate humans talking to each other. Thank you for gathering us all together. ❤️
About books as toys --every year the Museum of Contemporary Art in Novato, CA has an Altered Book Exhibit where artists make art out of various book themes. My friend Bonnie Kuhr turned a novel, The Dragon, into a swooping hanging creature. I've entered numerous times--great fun. One year I framed spirals of my illustrated journal. My favorite was a weaving made out of a copy of Jung's Red Book. (Is this Stealing like an Artist?) I posted them on my website -- spiralmemoir.com.
I have a love/hate relationship with your newsletters. I love them, enjoy expanding my own thoughts and ideas, and learning new things, but I get sucked down all the wonderful rabbit holes and spend much of the day distracted. OK, I don't even hate that, most just feelings of guilt that I'm not in active creation mode. I think I need to let that go and allow it all to unfold as it wants to.
Thank you austin! Another week !
OMG your kid is so clever! Loved his parody. And I remember this infomercial! I looked Prue Moods up on my music streaming and I’m playing it as we speak. I was a huge Enya fan back in the day.
I too love these lovely people who have found each other through your newsletter and website. It’s nice to know the Internet still has the ability to bring people together. Thank you for that Austin!
I'm a piler. For me, as an aphantasic, I need the visuals around me so I can visualize. I also need order and struggled for a long time to find ways to create order that made sense to my brain. Now, I have three ringed binders on a book shelf that have my manuscripts that I'm working on. They are easy to see and access. I had my collage papers in a big binder, but the paper collection has grown so much that I just bought a set of drawers from the container store for the growing collection. The drawers are slightly opaque, but I can still see what's in them. Also ROYGBIV is used for cataloging. My pens and pencils are in containers on little shelves. Again easily visible and easy to put away. When I'm working on a project, it's piled on my desk. My hand knows where to go to find what I need or want next. Adam Grant, talked about having the right system for you to develop habits in his book Atomic Habits. I have realized that for so long, I tried using other people's systems and what I needed was to find my system. It's still a work in progress as I go through and create my sense of order, but each new change is making my process more about being ready and able to start, vs. Spending so much time preparing to start.
The Bloomsbury sale also includes the BFI Film Classics series which is similar in format to the 33 1/3 LP series. From the few I’ve read, they tend to be more scholarly than the 33 1/3 books but quite detailed and informative.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/series/bfi-film-classics/
About books as toys, my city's central library runs an annual juried event, "The Art of the Book." It's for altered books, artist books, and paper sculpture. My all-time favorite is the 2022 Best of Show entry, "Book Marks." It's an old-fashioned wood card catalog filled with hundreds of compact artworks on repurposed library checkout cards.
https://roccitylibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/AOB_2022.pdf
PS Count me as a piler until I can get around to filing.
I don't know if this book meets any of your worthwhile-book criteria, but you might like "The Social Meaning of Money: Pin Money, Paychecks, Poor Relief, and Other Currencies" by Viviana Zelizer.
From AMZ description: "She shows how people have invented their own forms of currency, earmarking money in ways that baffle market theorists, incorporating funds into webs of friendship and family relations, and otherwise varying the process by which spending and saving takes place."
It totally changed how I think of money.
Can someone link Ghibli Park without the paywall? I know there’s a way to do it and I’m very curious but also very lazy.
Oh I love books of diaries too... but I think that's because I'm very nosy? And I like to read them on the day they are written, so often it will take me a year to read a diary which was written over a year.
Mostly a pile but like you an austin I want it hidden in a drawer. And not have everything out. I don’t want to see it
Had no idea Bruno Munari had made these wonderful sculptures, books as toys!💥 such a gem. Have only read Design as Art.
Books as toys... wow. And I was startled to see that I own every book shown in that photo of your bookshelf, except The Island of the Colorblind, which I'd never heard of till now. So thanks for that.
I'm a piler who sometimes files. The trouble is, when I file things out of sight then I forget to access/use them. I usually know right where everything is, but the occasional tidy up keeps things from getting too out of hand (glances at current piles).
Just came across the books as toys post and noticed the books on your (?) shelf.. Sedaris, Sachs and Kalman. Looks a lot like my shelf.