Book picks similar to
The Solid Side: The Search For Consistency In A Changing World: Projects And Proposals by Ezio Manzini
pde-yr-3
éco-mémoire
culture
design
Dark matter and trojan horses. A strategic design vocabulary.
Dan Hill - 2012
With conventional solutions failing, a new culture of decision-making is called for. Strategic design is about applying the principles of traditional design to "big picture" systemic challenges such as healthcare, education and the environment. It redefines how problems are approached and aims to deliver more resilient solutions. In this short book, Dan Hill outlines a new vocabulary of design, one that needs to be smuggled into the upper echelons of power. He asserts that, increasingly, effective design means engaging with the messy politics - the "dark matter"- taking place above the designer's head. And that may mean redesigning the organization that hires you.
Information is Beautiful
David McCandless - 2001
We need a brand new way to take it all in. 'Information is Beautiful' transforms the ideas surrounding and swamping us into graphs and maps that anyone can follow at a single glance.
The Problem with Software: Why Smart Engineers Write Bad Code
Adam Barr - 2018
As the size and complexity of commercial software have grown, the gap between academic computer science and industry has widened. It's an open secret that there is little engineering in software engineering, which continues to rely not on codified scientific knowledge but on intuition and experience.Barr, who worked as a programmer for more than twenty years, describes how the industry has evolved, from the era of mainframes and Fortran to today's embrace of the cloud. He explains bugs and why software has so many of them, and why today's interconnected computers offer fertile ground for viruses and worms. The difference between good and bad software can be a single line of code, and Barr includes code to illustrate the consequences of seemingly inconsequential choices by programmers. Looking to the future, Barr writes that the best prospect for improving software engineering is the move to the cloud. When software is a service and not a product, companies will have more incentive to make it good rather than "good enough to ship."
The Elements of a Home: Curious Histories behind Everyday Household Objects, from Pillows to Forks
Amy Azzarito - 2020
Brimming with amusing anecdotes and absorbing trivia, this captivating collection is a treasure trove of curiosities.With tales from the kitchen, the bedroom, and every room in between, these pages expose how napkins got their start as lumps of dough in ancient Greece, why forks were once seen as immoral tools of the devil, and how Plato devised one of the earliest alarm clocks using rocks and water—plus so much more.• A charming gift for anyone who loves history, design, or décor• Readers discover tales from every nook and cranny of a home. • Entries feature historical details from locations all over the world, including Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa. As a design historian and former managing editor of Design*Sponge, author Amy Azzarito has crafted an engaging, whimsical history of the household objects you've never thought twice about. The result is a fascinating book filled with tidbits from a wide range of cultures and places about the history of domestic luxury.• Filled with lovely illustrations by Alice Pattullo• Perfect as a housewarming or wedding gift, or for anyone who adores interior design, trivia, history, and unique facts• Great for those who enjoyed The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy by Rick Beyer, An Uncommon History of Common Things by Bethanne Patrick and John Thompson, Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights by Jessica Kerwin JenkinsSome of the books included in The Elements of a Home Bibliography BathtubDalby, Andrew. Empire of Pleasure: Luxury and Indulgence in the Roman World. London: Routledge, 2000. de Bonneville, Francoise. The Book of the Bath. New York: Rizzoli, 1998. Billiard TableBaird, Sarah. “The Life and Death of the American Pool Hall.” Punch, January 23, 2015. Accessed July 11, 2017. http://punchdrink.com/articles/the-life- and-death-of-the-american-pool-hall. Levron, Jacques. Daily Life in Versailles in the Seven-teenth and Eighteenth Centuries. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968. BookshelfMari, Francesca. “Shelf Conscious.” Paris Review, December 27, 2012. https://www.theparis review.org/blog/2012/12/27/shelf-cons....Petroski, Henry. The Book on the Bookshelf. New York: Vintage Books, 2000. CandleBremer-David, Charissa, ed. Paris: Life and Luxury in the Eighteenth Century.Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 2011. Dillon, Maureen. Artificial Sunshine: A Social History of Domestic Lighting. London: The National Trust, 2002. Canopy BedBard Graduate Center. History of Design: Decorative Arts and Material Culture, 1400–2000. New York: Bard Graduate Center, 2013. Carlano, Anne, and Bobbie Sumberg. Sleeping Around: The Bed from Antiquity to Now. Seattle, WA: University of Wash-ington Press, 2006. Chaise Longuede Dampierre, Florence. Chairs: A History. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2006. DeJean, Joan. The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual and the Modern Home Began. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2013.Chess SetBrown, Nancy Marie. Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chess-men in the World and the Woman Who Made Them.Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2015. Dean, George, with Maxine Brady. Chess Master-pieces: One Thousand Years of Extraordinary Chess Sets. New York: Abrams Books, 2010. Chiavari Chairde Dampierre, Florence. Chairs: A History.New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2006.ChopsticksVisser, Margaret. The Rituals of Dinner: The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities, and Meaning of Table Manners. New York: Pen-guin Books, 1992. Wang, Edward Q. Chopsticks: A Culture and Culinary History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015.ClockBremer-David, Charissa, ed. Paris: Life and Luxury in the Eighteenth Century. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011.Chevallier, Bernard, and Marc Walter. Empire Splendor: French Taste in the Age of Napoleon. New York: The Vendome Press, 2008.Cocktail Shaker Grimes, William. Straight Up or on the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail. New York: North Point Press, 2001.Lanza, Joseph. The Cocktail: The Influence of Spirits on the American Psyche. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. Crystal ChandelierCooke, Lawrence S. Lighting in America: From Colonial Rushlights to Victorian Chandeliers. Pittstown, NJ: Main Street Press, 1984.Fioratti, Helen Costantino. Illuminating Their World: Three Hundred Years of Light. New York: L’Antiqu- aire and the Connoisseur, Inc., 2007. Curule Chair de Dampierre, Florence. Chairs: A History. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2006.Miller, Judith. Furniture: World Styles from Classical to Contemporary. London: DK, 2011. Deck ChairRybczynski, Witold. Now I Sit Me Down: From Klismos to Plastic Chair: A Natural History. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016. DeskGoodman, Dena, and Kathryn Norberg. Furnishing the Eighteenth Century: What Furniture Can Tell Us about the European and American Past. New York: Routledge, 2011. DollhouseBroomhall, Susan, Jennifer Spinks, and Allyson M. Poska. Early Modern Women in the Low Coun- tries: Feminizing Sources and Interpretations of the Past. Farnham, UK: Taylor and Francis, 2016.Eaton, Faith. Classic Dolls’ Houses. London: Phoenix Illustrated, 1997.Door, Knocker, and KnobBerry, Nancy E. Architec- tural Hardware: Ideas, Inspiration and PracticalAdviceforAddingHandles,Hinges, Knobs and Pulls to YourHome.Gloucester,MA: Quarry Books, 2006.Jütte, Daniel. The Strait Gate: Thresholds and Power in Western History.New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015.DuvetWorsley,Lucy.IfWallsCould Talk:AnIntimateHistoryof the Home.New York:WalkerandCo.,2012.Wright, Lawrence. Warm & Snug: The History of the Bed.Stroud, UK: Sutton,2004.FireplaceGowlett,J.A.J.“TheDiscov-eryofFirebyHumans:A Long and Convoluted Process.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sci- ences371, no. 1696 (May 2016): 1697-1700.Lind, Carla. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fireplaces.San Francisco: Pomegranate, 1995.Flokati RugSebastian, Don. The CompleteHandbook of Flokati and Carpet Making.Athens: Nick Kokkinos, 1978.Floral CenterpieceBelden,LouiseConway.TheFestive Tradition: TableDecoration and Dessertsin America, 1650–1900.NewYork:W.W.Norton, 1983.Berrall, Julia. A History ofFlower Arrangement.Lon-don:ThamesandHudson,1953.ForkHeugel, Inès. Laying the Elegant Table: China, Faience, Porcelain, Majol- ica, Glassware, Flatware, Tureens, Platters, Trays, Centerpieces, Tea Sets.New York: Rizzoli, 2006.Lupton, Ellen, et al. Feed- ing Desire: Designandthe Toolsof the Table,1500–2005.NewYork:Assouline, 2006.Front PorchDonlon, Jocelyn Hazelwood. Swinging in Place: Porch Life in Southern Culture.Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.Goldstein,B.Colleen.TheEvo-lution and Significance of the FrontPorch in Amer- ican Culture.Master’s dissertation, University of Georgia,1998.Glass WindowJütte, Daniel. The Strait Gate:Thresholds and Power in WesternHistory.New Haven, CT: YaleUniversity Press, 2015.Melchoir-Bonnet, Sabine.The Mirror: A History.London:Routledge,2002.GlobeGoodman, Dena, and Kathryn Norberg. Furnishing the Eighteenth Century: What Furniture Can Tell Us about the European and American Past.New York: Routledge, 2011.Jaffee, David. A New Nation of Goods: The Material Culture of Early America.Philadelphia, PA: Univer-sity of Pennsylvania Press,2012.Ice BucketDunne, Patrick. The Epicu-rean Collector: Exploringthe World of Culinary Antiques.Boston: Little, Brown, 2002.Glanville,Philippa,andHilary Young.Elegant Eating: Four Hundred Yearsof DininginStyle.London:V &APublications,2002.IncenseAftel, Mandy. Fragrant: The SecretLifeofaScent.NewYork:Riverhead Books, 2014.Classen, Constance, David Howes,andAnthonySyn- nott. Aroma: The Cultural HistoryofSmell.NewYork:Routledge,1994.Jewelry BoxCurrie, Elizabeth. Inside theRenaissance House.Lon- don: V & A Publications, 2006.Linley, David. Extraordinary Furniture.London: Mitchell Beazley, 1996.Jib DoorBoyer, Marie-France, and François Halard. The Private Realm of Marie Antoinette.London: Thames & Hudson, 2008.Donato, Giuseppe, and Monique Seefried. The FragrantPast:PerfumesofCleopatraandJulius Caesar.Atlanta,GA:EmoryUniversity Museum of Art andArchaeology,1989.Lock and KeyBuehr,Walter. The Story ofLocks.New York: Scribner, 1953.Delalex, Hélène. A Day with Marie Antoinette.New York: Rizzoli, 2015.Louis XVI ChairCondon, Dianne Russell. Jackie’s Treasures: The Fabled Objects from the Auction of the Century.New York: Clarkson Potter,1996.Delalex, Hélène. A Day with Marie Antoinette.New York: Rizzoli, 2015.MattressBeldegreen, Alecia. The Bed.New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1995.Carlano, Anne, and BobbieSumberg. Sleeping Around:The Bed from Antiquity to Now.Seattle, WA: Univer- sity of Washington Press, 2006.MirrorDeJean, Joan. Essence of Style:How the French Invented High Fashion.New York:Free Press, 2014.Johnson, Steven. How We Gotto Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World.London: Penguin, 2016.
Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons From The World's Most Elegant Woman
Karen Karbo - 2009
Delving into the long, extraordinary life of renowned French fashion designer Coco Chanel, Karen Karbo has written a new kind of book, exploring Chanel's philosophy on a range of universal themes - from style to passion, from money and success to femininity and living life on your own terms.For a live viewing of Chesley McLaren's illustrations you can visit The 4th Wall Gallery.Click here for more info.
Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
Dana Thomas - 2007
Thomas, the style and cultural reporter for Newsweek, takes a hard-hitting look at the world of new luxury, and argues that globalization and corporate greed have ensured that old-time manufacturing has bowed to sweatshops and wild profits to produce mediocre merchandise.
A History of the World in 100 Objects
Neil MacGregor - 2010
Encompassing a grand sweep of human history, A History of the World in 100 Objects begins with one of the earliest surviving objects made by human hands, a chopping tool from the Olduvai gorge in Africa, and ends with objects which characterise the world we live in today. Seen through MacGregor's eyes, history is a kaleidoscope - shifting, interconnected, constantly surprising, and shaping our world today in ways that most of us have never imagined. A stone pillar tells us about a great Indian emperor preaching tolerance to his people; Spanish pieces of eight tell us about the beginning of a global currency; and an early Victorian tea-set speaks to us about the impact of empire. An intellectual and visual feast, this is one of the most engrossing and unusual history books published in years. 'Brilliant, engagingly written, deeply researched' Mary Beard, Guardian 'A triumph: hugely popular, and rightly lauded as one of the most effective and intellectually ambitious initiatives in the making of 'public history' for many decades' Sunday Telegraph 'Highly intelligent, delightfully written and utterly absorbing ' Timothy Clifford, Spectator 'This is a story book, vivid and witty, shining with insights, connections, shocks and delights' Gillian Reynolds Daily Telegraph
Punk House: Interiors In Anarchy
Abby Banks - 2007
The most common type is often where a large group of like-minded punks cram into a house usually intended to accommodate two or three people, resulting in low rent and, thus, extended hours of leisure for the residents to pursue their true interests. "Punk House" features anarchist warehouses, feminist collectives, tree houses, workshops, artists studios, self-sufficient farms, hobo squats, community centers, basement bike shops, speakeasies, and all varieties of communal living spaces. In over 300 images of fifty houses in twenty-five cities in the US, photographer Abby Banks finds the already weathered face of a seventeen-year-old runaway; the soft hands of a vinyl junkie (record collector); the mohawked show-goer; the dirty dishes in the sink; silk screened posters on the wall; and many other revealing glimpses of these anarchist interiors.
Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World
Matt Alt - 2020
Then a catastrophic 1990 stock-market crash ushered in what the Japanese call their "lost decades." The end of the boom times should have plunged Japan into irrelevance. But in Pure Invention, Matt Alt argues that's precisely when things got interesting--when once again, Japan got to the future a little ahead of the rest of us.Japan made itself rich after the Second World War by selling the world what it needed, in the form of better cars, appliances, and microprocessors. But it conquered hearts through wildly creative pop culture that responded to modern life in new ways. As social compacts and safety nets evaporated, in rushed a revolution of geeky gadgets, gizmos, and flights of fancy. Hello Kitty, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and illustrated entertainment empires like Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z were more than marketing hits. They transformed Japan into the world's forge of fantasies, and they transformed us as we consumed them: karaoke making everyone a star, emoji rewriting the rules of human communication, virtual game-worlds offering escapes from reality and new perspectives on it.By turns a nostalgia trip and a secret history, Pure Invention is the story of an indelible group of Japanese craftsmen, artists, businesspeople, geniuses, and oddballs. It is also an unsung chapter of globalization, in which Japanese dreams formed a new blueprint for global pop culture--and may have created the modern world as we know it.
Remote: Office Not Required
David Heinemeier Hansson - 2013
Moms in particular will welcome this trend. A full 60% wish they had a flexible work option. But companies see advantages too in the way remote work increases their talent pool, reduces turnover, lessens their real estate footprint, and improves the ability to conduct business across multiple time zones, to name just a few advantages. In Remote, inconoclastic authors Fried and Hansson will convince readers that letting all or part of work teams function remotely is a great idea--and they're going to show precisely how a remote work setup can be accomplished.
This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See
Seth Godin - 2018
He is the inventor of countless ideas and phrases that have made their way into mainstream business language, from Permission Marketing to Purple Cow to Tribes to The Dip. Now, for the first time, Godin offers the core of his marketing wisdom in one accessible, timeless package. At the heart of his approach is a big idea: Great marketers don't use consumers to solve their company's problem; they use marketing to solve other people's problems. They don't just make noise; they make the world better. Truly powerful marketing is grounded in empathy, generosity, and emotional labour.This book teaches you how to identify your smallest viable audience; draw on the right signals and signs to position your offering; build trust and permission with your target market; speak to the narratives your audience tells themselves about status, affiliation, and dominance; spot opportunities to create and release tension; and give people the tools to achieve their goals.It's time for marketers to stop lying, spamming, and feeling guilty about their work. It's time to stop confusing social media metrics with true connections. It's time to stop wasting money on stolen attention that won't pay off in the long run. This is Marketing offers a better approach that will still apply for decades to come, no matter how the tactics of marketing continue to evolve.
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art
Don Thompson - 2008
5, 1948 sell for $140 million? Intriguing and entertaining, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark is a Freakonomics approach to the economics and psychology of the contemporary art world. Why were record prices achieved at auction for works by 131 contemporary artists in 2006 alone, with astonishing new heights reached in 2007? Don Thompson explores the money, lust, and self-aggrandizement of the art world in an attempt to determine what makes a particular work valuable while others are ignored. This book is the first to look at the economics and the marketing strategies that enable the modern art market to generate such astronomical prices. Drawing on interviews with both past and present executives of auction houses and art dealerships, artists, and the buyers who move the market, Thompson launches the reader on a journey of discovery through the peculiar world of modern art. Surprising, passionate, gossipy, revelatory, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark reveals a great deal that even experienced auction purchasers do not know.
How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler
Ryan North - 2018
. . and then broke? How would you survive? Could you improve on humanity's original timeline? And how hard would it be to domesticate a giant wombat? With this book as your guide, you'll survive--and thrive--in any period in Earth's history. Bestselling author and time-travel enthusiast Ryan North shows you how to invent all the modern conveniences we take for granted--from first principles. This illustrated manual contains all the science, engineering, art, philosophy, facts, and figures required for even the most clueless time traveler to build a civilization from the ground up. Deeply researched, irreverent, and significantly more fun than being eaten by a saber-toothed tiger, How to Invent Everything will make you smarter, more competent, and completely prepared to become the most important and influential person ever.
The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty
Simon Baron-Cohen - 2011
In some cases, this absence can be dangerous, but in others it can simply mean a different way of seeing the world.In The Science of Evil Simon Baron-Cohen, an award-winning British researcher who has investigated psychology and autism for decades, develops a new brain-based theory of human cruelty. A true psychologist, however, he examines social and environmental factors that can erode empathy, including neglect and abuse.Based largely on Baron-Cohen's own research, The Science of Evil will change the way we understand and treat human cruelty.
Judge This
Chip Kidd - 2014
They dictate whether something stands out, how we engage with it, whether we buy it, and how we feel. In Judge This, renowned designer Chip Kidd takes us through his day as he takes in first impressions of all kinds. We follow this visual journey as Kidd encounters and engages with everyday design, breaking down the good, the bad, the absurd, and the brilliant as only someone with a critical, trained eye can. From the design of your morning paper to the subway ticket machine to the books you browse to the smartphone you use to the packaging for the chocolate bar you buy as an afternoon treat, Kidd reveals the hidden secrets behind each of the design choices, with a healthy dose of humor, expertise, and of course, judgment as he goes. Judge This is a design love story, exposing the often invisible beauty and betrayal in simple design choices—ones most of us never even think to notice. And with each object, Kidd proves that first impressions, whether we realize it or not, have a huge impact on the way we perceive the world.