The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday


Rob Walker - 2019
    Our lives are in constant tether to phones, to email, and to social media. In this age of distraction, the ability to experience and be present is often lost: to think and to see and to listen.Enter Rob Walker's The Art of Noticing--an inspiring volume that will help you see the world anew. Through a series of simple and playful exercises--131 of them--Walker maps ways for you to become a clearer thinker, a better listener, a more creative workplace colleague, and finally, to rediscover what really matters to you.

The Where, the Why, and the How: 75 Artists Illustrate Wondrous Mysteries of Science


Matt LaMothe - 2012
    Inside these pages some of the biggest (and smallest) mysteries of the natural world are explained in essays by real working scientists, which are then illustrated by artists given free rein to be as literal or as imaginative as they like. The result is a celebration of the wonder that inspires every new discovery. Featuring work by such contemporary luminaries as Lisa Congdon, Jen Corace, Neil Farber, Susie Ghahremani, Jeremyville, and many more, this is a work of scientific and artistic exploration to pique the interest of both the intellectually and imaginatively curious.

The Art of Creative Thinking


Rod Judkins - 2015
    Rod Judkins, a lecturer in creativity at the world-famous St Martin's College of Art, will examine the behaviour of successful creative thinkers and explain how all of us can learn from them to improve our lives. Judkins will draw on an extraordinary range of reference points, from the Dada Manifesto to Andy Warhol's studio, via Steve Jobs, Nobel Prize winning economists and many others, and distil a lifetime's expertise into 90 succinct chapters. Along the way he shares the story of most successful class in educational history (in which every single student won a Nobel prize); shows why graphic nudity during public speaking can be both a curse and surprisingly persuasive; and reveals why, in the twenty-first century, it's technically illegal to be as good as good as Michelangelo.

Plant Style: How to Greenify Your Space


Alana Langan - 2018
    Indoor plants are the ultimate indoor accessory. Softening interiors and readily available, they are a stylist’s best friend. However, it’s their power to transform a sterile space into an urban sanctuary that makes them more than just an inanimate prop –all you need to know is how to use them. From the founders of coveted plant-wares studio, Ivy Muse, comes this charming guide on how to turn your home into a jungle- like retreat. With design- savvy tips and expert advice, you’ll learn all there is to know about decorating with plants and botanical styling plus the necessities like light requirements and when to water and feed. From bathroom to boudoir to every room in between, create your very own green oasis with Plant Style.

Cozy White Cottage: 100 Ways to Love the Feeling of Being Home


Liz Marie Galvan - 2019
    Come cozy up with your creativity and Liz's welcoming voice so you can love the feeling of being at home. In this beautiful book of house and garden photography and DIY inspiration, popular blogger Liz Marie Galvan shares:100 tips and tricks to make your home feel cozyBudget-friendly hints to make decorating affordableSimple DIY projects for every room in the houseIn Cozy White Cottage, Liz offers her best home décor and design tips to help you create a space you'll love coming home to. You'll love Liz's real-life, easy, and affordable ideas to get the most out of your home and discover things like:The passion and productivity that can pour out of an inspiring, functional workspace or officeThe conversation and connection that flow out of a warm, well-arranged living roomThe thoughtful hospitality that can welcome guests, be it for a cup of coffee or an overnight stayThe rejuvenation that can happen when we have quiet spaces for reading, prayer, and restThe calming routines and rituals that we can implement into our spaces and our livesThe laughter, joy, and learning that can occur in adorable, functional playroomsThe life-giving power that beats in the heart of our homes, the kitchenEach month hundreds of thousands of readers find design inspiration and DIY ideas on Liz's blog, where Liz shares stories of life with her veteran husband, Jose, their 1800s Michigan farmhouse, and the home décor boutique she co-owns. Cozy White Cottage offers inspiration for every style and makes the perfect self-purchase, housewarming gift, birthday treat, Mother's Day read, or holiday gift.

The Naturally Clean Home: 101 Safe and Easy Herbal Formulas for Nontoxic Cleansers


Karyn Siegel-Maier - 1999
    It's easy and inexpensive to mix up effective, nontoxic alternatives using basic kitchen staples — baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, herbs, and borax — plus a handful of easy-to-find essential oils. Karyn Siegel-Maier offers 150 all-natural recipes for cleaning everything in your home — from bathrooms to bedding, carpets to cabinetry. The formulas are so simple that anyone can make them, but they are at least as effective as the commercial options. Try making your own Rosemary-Geranium Floor Wipes for electrostatic floor mops, Weekend Warrior Wicker Wash, Telephone Dirty Talk Tamer, Clear the Air Room Spritzer, or Lavender Lift Automatic Dishwasher Soap.

Simplicity at Home: Japanese Rituals, Recipes, and Arrangements for Thoughtful Living


Yumiko Sekine - 2021
    From the kitchen to the bedroom and every space in between, here are tips for refreshing a home each season—arranging and displaying fresh flowers in spring, choosing the right sheets and linens for summer, taking warm herbal baths in autumn, and draping blankets and layering rugs to cozy up a space for winter. Brimming with easy-to-follow tips for elevating any space and packed with hundreds of photographs showcasing gorgeous interiors, this book is an invitation to create a home that nourishes, rejuvenates, and inspires—all year long.• CELEBRATED AUTHOR: Yumiko Sekine is the founder of Fog Linen Work, a Japanese home goods brand sold throughout the world and beloved by home cooks, interior decorators, and design enthusiasts. Her products are known for their simplicity, beauty, and ability to elevate any space. In this book, Sekine distills all her secrets to creating a home that exudes simple elegance.• ORGANIZATION MADE EASY: This book gives readers easy, elegant ways to declutter their homes and organize their belongings, whether they live in an apartment or house, and includes simple tips for tidying and curating objects to bring order and simplicity to every room.• JAPANESE TRADITIONS: Yumiko presents Japanese traditions for preparing food, arranging flowers, entertaining, organizing, and more. The combination of ancient practices and modern techniques makes this the perfect companion for anyone curious about Japanese culture and aesthetics.• GIFT WORTHY: Presented in a linen-wrapped case and brimming with hundreds of gorgeous photographs and inspired advice for every home, this book is a perfect addition to any bookshelf and a lovely gift for new homeowners, newlyweds, and fans of organization and interior design.Perfect for:• Interior designers, minimalists, and fans of sustainability• People who are into organizing their space• Fans of Fog Linen Work

Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want


Maria Goff - 2017
    Finding what we actually need is different than what we are often offered. There are many books full of opinions, steps and programs. This isn’t one of them. This is about craving the things that matter. Things that don’t just work, but last. In a life that may seem to be all fun and games with an endless supply of balloons, author Maria Goff shows how this life is also lived with intentionality, passionate purpose, and a little planning—all of which make a life rich in legacy. But she had to figure out the help she needed first in order to live the beautiful life God wanted for her and wants for us. Love Lives Here is a collection of stories that include the ways Maria and her husband, Bob, navigated family their way, without clear instructions or a road map. It’s about what they learned to make their lives meaningful and whimsical and how they created a space for their family to grow together while they reached outward.

Confessions of an Organized Homemaker: The Secrets of Uncluttering Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life


Deniece Schofield - 1994
    This newly expanded and updated edition offers homemakers hundreds of ideas and techniques on how to unclutter their homes and take control of their lives.

The Purpose of Boys: Helping Our Sons Find Meaning, Significance, and Direction in Their Lives


Michael Gurian - 2009
    Gurian reveals how important purpose is for the success and happiness of boys and explains how a boy's core personality, nature, and genetic predisposition functions to create both strengths and weaknesses in their journey towards maturity.Includes an innovative program for support and interventions according to the unique needs, weaknesses, and strengths of each individual young man. This book is the follow-up to Gurian's bestselling The Minds of BoysDraws on the latest science and field research on how boys develop neurologically Gurian explores the unique issues boys must confront, and shows how their strategy for moral development and success in life is predicated on their nature and genetic predispositions.

How to Be Great at Your Job: Get things done. Get the credit. Get ahead. (Graduation Gift, Corporate Survival Guide, Career Handbook)


Justin Kerr - 2018
    It covers the basics, like the universal requirements of every workplace—working with other people, making stellar presentations, communicating effectively over email. And it also goes into how to get promoted sooner, impress the people high up on the corporate ladder, and do it all while maintaining your personal life and without working crazy hours. With helpful tips and simple advice, this professional guidebook is just right for someone new to the workplace or for a mid-life career changer.

The Homeschooling Handbook: How to Make Homeschooling Simple, Affordable, Fun, and Effective


Lorilee Lippincott - 2014
    What curriculum do I choose? What if we can’t afford all the books? How do I schedule our time? Will my children become socially awkward recluses? What if I screw up my kids’ education?! Lorilee Lippincott, a seasoned homeschooling mom, shows just how simple homeschooling can be. She and her husband taught their two kids in a one-bedroom apartment before picking up and moving the whole family to China. They’ve discovered that they don’t need rooms full of books, educational toys, and other teaching tools, nor do they need schedules packed full of extracurricular activities, field trips, and social events. Perhaps even more importantly, they don’t need to panic about making sure their kids turn out okay. It’s actually all pretty simple, she tells readers.But homeschooling well does require some planning and dedication, and a book like The Homeschooling Handbook to be your guide. Here you’ll find all your questions answered in Lippincott’s straightforward, warm, and witty style. Topics covered include:How to instill curiosity and a love of learningTypes of homeschoolingYour socialization fears assuagedHow to create simple schedules and stick to themTips for keeping costs downTeaching kids with disabilitiesThe benefits of play timeLegal requirementsHow to avoid burnoutAnd much more!Full of anecdotes, interviews with other homeschooling families, and wisdom, this is a must-have for any family considering the homeschooling life.

Where Women Create: Inspiring Work Spaces of Extraordinary Women


Jo Packham - 2005
    Like the bestselling Business of Bliss, it's practical, inspirational, and beautiful to behold.Research by Craft Trends Magazine reveals that 89% of all crafters are women, and that they want to work in an environment conducive to creating their art. This invaluable and very special guide helps them achieve that goal, whatever their passion. It goes straight to the experts: successful women who have made their mark in more than 10 different creative fields. These top designers and artisans offer insights gleaned from years of experience, reveal how they constructed their own creative spaces, and explain how the reader can make practical use of these decorating, organizational, and inspirational techniques as they go about designing their own work areas. Among the pertinent questions they answer: Where did you like to work as a child? What's the most important thing about having your own place to work? Are women's creative spaces different from men's? How important is it for you to organize your work, and how do you do it? Do you listen to music when you work--and what kind? The featured designers include Wendy Addison, Dena Fishbein, Jill Schwartz, and Suze Weinberg and their fields range from paper crafts to gardening.A Selection of the Crafters Choice Book Club & the Homestyle Book Club.

Worry-Free Money: Stop budgeting, Start Living


Shannon Lee Simmons - 2017
    Life is expensive. It doesn’t matter if you make $40,000 or $140,000 a year, it can feel like you’re constantly broke. Can you afford that new car, that vacation, that night out? You think so, but it feels impossible to know. And rigid budgets that force you to spend your money in unrealistic ways (like $9.50 per week for pants) don’t make things any clearer.But what if there was a new way to manage your money? One that left you certain you had your bases covered—both for your monthly bills and your future retirement—and then let you enjoy your money by spending it. (Yes, we just said that.)Enter Shannon Lee Simmons, a totally new voice in the world of personal finance, one who understands the new and very real pressures to survive modern life and keep up in the age of social media. Shannon doesn’t lecture, judge or patronize. The founder of the wildly popular New School of Finance, Shannon recognized that most of her thousands of clients felt broke, no matter what their income. And feeling broke can be as bad as actually being broke, because it leads to overspending and misery.Worry-Free Money takes a fresh approach to finances, looking at the root cause of the pressure to spend and showing why traditional budgets don’t work. It is a deeply practical book that will help you break the cycle of guilt, understand why you overspend and find hope—and fun—in getting your money under control.

Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting


Pamela Druckerman - 2012
    They ate braised leeks. They played by themselves while their parents sipped coffee. And yet French kids were still boisterous, curious, and creative. Why? How?            With a notebook stashed in her diaper bag, Druckerman set out to investigate—and wound up sparking a national debate on parenting. Researched over three years and written in her warm, funny voice, Bringing Up Bébé is deeply wise, charmingly told, and destined to become a classic resource for American parents.