A Life Less Throwaway: The Lost Art of Buying for Life


Tara Button - 2018
    Not only has consumption risen dramatically over the last 60 years, but we are damaging the environment at the same time. That is why buying quality and why Tara Button’s Buy Me Once brand has such popular appeal.Tara Button has become a champion of a lifestyle called ‘mindful curation’ – a way of living in which we carefully choose each object in our lives, making sure we have the best, most classic, most pleasing and longest lasting – kettles, desks, pots & pans, scissors, coats and dresses, instead of surrounding ourselves with throwaway stuff and appliances with built-in obsolescence. Tara advocates a life that celebrates what lasts, what is classic and what really suits a person.There are 10 steps to master mindful curation and each is explained in this book, from understanding and using techniques to freeing yourself from external manipulations. Finding your purpose and priorities and identifying your core tastes and style. Learning how to let go of the superfluous and how to make wise choices going forwards.Mindful curation is a lifestyle choice that will make you happier, healthier and more fulfilled spiritual as well as helping save the planet.

The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life)


Chris Hardwick - 2011
    As a lifelong member of "The Nerd Herd," as he calls it, Chris Hardwick has learned all there is to know about Nerds. Developing a system, blog, and podcasts, Hardwick shares hard-earned wisdom about turning seeming weakness into world-dominating strengths in the hilarious self-help book, "The Nerdist Way."From keeping their heart rate below hummingbird levels to managing the avalanche of sadness that is their in-boxes; from becoming evil geniuses to attracting wealth by turning down work, Hardwick reveals the secrets that can help readers achieve their goals by tapping into their true nerdtastic selves.Here Nerds will learn how to: Become their own time cop Tell panic attacks to go suck it Use incremental fitness to ward off predatorsA Nerd's brain is a laser-it's time they learn to point and fire!

Fierce Style: How to Be Your Most Fabulous Self


Christian Siriano - 2009
    But the now twenty-three-year-old is bigger than a TV celebrity. From his prodigious fashion talent to his one-of-a-kind personality, Christian is the embodiment of fierce style. Now in his first book, he helps readers discover how to look, feel, and act fierce in everyday life. With tips from some of fashion and Hollywood's biggest names -including Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, and Vanessa Williams -- along with gorgeous original sketches by Christian, never-before-heard stories, and behind-the-scenes photos, he tells his journey of developing his own fashion sense and overcoming obstacles to success. Giving advice on creating personal style, sharing tips on building self-confidence, and revealing his own list of fashion dos and don'ts, Christian shows how to use one's unique strengths to get ahead - and go from tickity-tack to totally flawless.

Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter & Organize to Make More Room for Happiness


Gretchen Rubin - 2019
    In a new book packed with more than one hundred concrete ideas, she helps us create the order and organization that can make our lives happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative. In the context of a happy life, a messy desk or crowded coat closet is a trivial problem–yet Gretchen Rubin has found that getting control of the stuff of life makes us feel more in control of our lives generally. By getting rid of things we don’t use, don’t need, or don’t love, as well as things that don’t work, don’t fit, or don’t suit, we free our mind (and our shelves) for what we truly value. In this trim book filled with insights, strategies, and sometimes surprising tips, Gretchen tackles the key challenges of creating outer order, by explaining how to “Make Choices,” “Create Order,” “Know Yourself–and Others,” “Cultivate Helpful Habits,” and, of course, “Add Beauty.” When we get our possessions under control, we feel both calmer and more energetic. With a sense of humor, and also a clear sense of what’s realistic for most people, Gretchen suggests dozens of manageable steps for creating a more serene, orderly environment–one that helps us to create the lives we yearn for.

Style Yourself


Tavi Gevinson - 2011
    This book presents the best of fashion bloggers, with tons of outfit ideas and expert tips that show you how to apply high-fashion inspiration to your everyday wardrobe. In this innovative guide to personal style, 95 of the world’s premier fashion bloggers—whose sites receive over 500,000 daily visits combined—give hundreds of coveted insider tips, which are sure to delight teens, industry experts, and urban professionals alike. These new taste-makers (including Jane Aldridge of Sea of Shoes, Tavi Gevinson of Style Rookie, and Susie Lau of Style Bubble) boldly lead the way toward fresh personal style, sharing rich images of their wardrobe inspiration and glimpses into their personal fashion philosophies. With eight comprehensive chapters, Style Yourself has you covered—from your head to your toes! Hundreds of illustrated and annotated garments provide readers with classic fit and styling advice, and for each type of garment, you’ll find examples of how to rock it from the blogosphere’s hyper-chic members . . . from Stockholm to Cape Town, and Osaka to Milan. Featuring: -GARMENT BASICS. Each type of garment is broken down, piece by piece, to help readers get their personal perfect fit. -TAKE YOUR PICK. Illustrated galleries showcase tons of garment types, giving you variations on the basics, plus how to style each one. -GARMENT REMIX. Bloggers show you how to mix and match basic garments in clever, fresh ways. -BUILD YOUR LOOK. Learn how fashion bloggers start with a basic garment and use it to build a complete, head-to-toe look. -SKIRT THE GLOBE. Go on a whirlwind tour to see how international bloggers wear a trend piece. Chapters include: Wardrobe basics – Get on top of your everyday look and learn what’s a must-have for any woman’s closet. Plus, insider shopping tips! Tops – Start at the top—literally. See how to remix that old rock-band tee, wear a sequin shell any day of the week, and get cuffs that hit just right. Bottoms – Craft fresh, high-fashion looks with fun layered tutus, elegant maxi skirts, clever cropped trousers, and brave knit shorts. Dresses – Be a knockout at every occasion—from picnic-perfect pinafores to sexy date-night mini dresses and formal goddess gowns. Colors and Fabrics – Take a crash course in color to figure out which hues look best on you! Discover how to go monochromatic, use an accent color, and play with multiple prints for unexpected looks. Shoes – Skimmers, kitten heels, booties, brogues, and more! Study up on these fun shoe styles to see how a great pair of kicks can transform any outfit. Accessories – Top off your look with a fedora worn in a surprising way, a pair of perfectly flattering sunglasses, or a stack of luxe bangles. Underpinnings – Bras and hosiery can make or break an outfit! This chapter ensures that the garments closest to you give you the confidence to make the whole ensemble rock. With its vibrant imagery and user-friendly appeal, Style Yourself is a book to be savored, showcasing ideas that range from highbrow couture to everyday chic. Let these self-made fashion experts guide you through the maze of fashion, so you can build a personal style that’s all your own!

How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better


Charla Krupp - 2008
    Packed with eye-opening details on hair color, brows, lipstick, wrinkle-erasers, jeans, shapewear, jewelry, heels, and more, the book speaks to every woman: from low maintenance types who don't want to spend a fortune or tons of time on her looks to high maintenance women who believe in looking fabulous at any price. There's also too-old vs. just-right before and after photos, celebrity examples of good and bad style, shopping lists of Charla's brilliant buys in fashion and beauty products, coveted addresses of "Where the top beauty pros go," fun sidebars--and more. Known to national audiences from her ten years on NBC's Today show, style expert Charla Krupp dishes out her secrets in this "ultimate" to-do list for looking hip and fabulous -- no matter what your age.

The Pocket Stylist


Kendall Farr - 2004
    A celebrity fashion stylist reveals the tricks of her trade and shows women of all sizes how to pull together their own polished, individual look.

Style


Kate Spade - 2004
    Above all, style begins with a sense of who you are and your self-confidence. Style comes from opening yourself to the world around you -- to books and movies, art, music, travel, and especially to other people. In this upbeat and engaging book, designer Kate Spade talks about the many people and experiences that have inspired her. For Kate, movies as varied as The Swimmer and The Red Balloon have influenced her vision of style, as have such places as Mexico (where she and her husband, Andy, vacation each year), Napa Valley, and her hometown of Kansas City. In the pages of Style, you'll find a large section devoted to the colors Kate most loves and suggestions for combining them. Accessories, which are the backbone of her wardrobe, are given full treatment here, including shoes, handbags, hats, gloves, and jewelry; and a portfolio of Kate's personal favorites from her own closet is showcased. Style in the office, evening style, even ideas for style when you travel and when you play are all featured here. The last section of Style focuses on maintaining your wardrobe, including tips on organizing your closet, caring for vintage clothes, and keeping your jewelry in good condition. Style, with 230 watercolor illustrations, is a wonderfully personal and friendly book intended for readers of all ages and style temperaments. If there's one rule Kate espouses, it's that true style comes when you follow your own rules. Moreover, as the writers William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White once wrote, "To achieve style, begin by affecting none."

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment


Steve Harvey - 2009
    Steve Harvey dispenses a lot of fabulous information about men.”—Aretha FranklinThe #1 New York Times bestseller from the new guru of relationship advice, Steve Harvey’s Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man is an invaluable self-help book that can empower women everywhere to take control of their relationships. The host of a top-rated radio show listened to by millions daily—and of cable TV’s The Steve Harvey Project—Harvey knows what men really think about love, intimacy, and commitment. In Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, the author, media personality, and stand-up comedian gets serious, sharing his wealth of knowledge, insight, and no-nonsense advice for every good woman who wants to find a good man or make her current love last.

Design*Sponge at Home


Grace Bonney - 2011
    They don't have to be matchy-matchy or rigidly modern. They can just be comfy and unique and reflect who you are, no matter how small your budget or space.That reader is one of the 75,000 unique daily visitors to Design*Sponge, who make it the most popular design site on the web. The site receives 250,000 pageviews every day and has 150,000 RSS subscribers and 280,000 followers on Twitter. Design*Sponge fans have been yearning for the ultimate design manual from their guru, Grace, and she has finally delivered with this definitive guide, which includes:Home tours of 70 real-life interiors featuring artists and designersFifty DIY projects, with detailed instructions for personalizing your spaceStep-by-step tutorials on everything from stripping and painting furniture to hanging wallpaper and doing your own upholsteryFifty Before & After makeovers submitted by readers of Design*Sponge real people with limited time and realistic budgetsEssential tips on modern flower arranging, with 20 arrangementsWith over 700 color photos and illustrations and projects that are customizable, relatable, and affordable, this is the democratizing design book everyone has been waiting for and all for only $35.00!

Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time


Brigid Schulte - 2014
    It is a deeply reported and researched, honest and often hilarious journey from feeling that, as one character in the book said, time is like a "rabid lunatic" running naked and screaming as your life flies past you, to understanding the historical and cultural roots of the overwhelm, how worrying about all there is to do and the pressure of feeling like we're never have enough time to do it all, or do it well, is "contaminating" our experience of time, how time pressure and stress is resculpting our brains and shaping our workplaces, our relationships and squeezing the space that the Greeks said was the point of living a Good Life: that elusive moment of peace called leisure.Author Brigid Schulte, an award-winning journalist for the Washington Post - and harried mother of two - began the journey quite by accident, after a time-use researcher insisted that she, like all American women, had 30 hours of leisure each week. Stunned, she accepted his challenge to keep a time diary and began a journey that would take her from the depths of what she described as the Time Confetti of her days to a conference in Paris with time researchers from around the world, to North Dakota, of all places, where academics are studying the modern love affair with busyness, to Yale, where neuroscientists are finding that feeling overwhelmed is actually shrinking our brains, to exploring new lawsuits uncovering unconscious bias in the workplace, why the US has no real family policy, and where states and cities are filling the federal vacuum.She spent time with mothers drawn to increasingly super intensive parenting standards, and mothers seeking to pull away from it. And she visited the walnut farm of the world's most eminent motherhood researcher, an evolutionary anthropologist, to ask, are mothers just "naturally" meant to be the primary parent? The answer will surprise you.Along the way, she was driven by two questions, Why are things the way they are? and, How can they be better? She found real world bright spots of innovative workplaces, couples seeking to shift and share the division of labor at home and work more equitably and traveled to Denmark, the happiest country on earth, where fathers - and mothers - have more pure leisure time than parents in other industrial countries. She devoured research about the science of play, why it's what makes us human, and the feminist leisure research that explains why it's so hard for women to allow themselves to. The answers she found are illuminating, perplexing and ultimately hopeful. The book both outlines the structural and policy changes needed - already underway in small pockets - and mines the latest human performance and motivation science to show the way out of the overwhelm and toward a state that time use researchers call ... Time Serenity.

Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life: A Former CIA Officer Reveals Safety and Survival Techniques to Keep You and Your Family Protected


Jason Hanson - 2015
    In addition to escaping handcuffs, picking locks, and spotting when someone is telling a lie, he can improvise a self-defense weapon, pack a perfect emergency kit, and disappear off the grid if necessary. He has also honed his “positive awareness”—a heightened sense of his surroundings that allows him to spot suspicious and potentially dangerous behavior—on the street, in a taxi, at the airport, when dining out, or in any other situation. In his engaging and empowering book Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life, Jason shares this know-how with readers, revealing how to:   •  prevent home invasions, carjackings, muggings, and other violent crimes    •  run counter-surveillance and avoid becoming a soft target    •  recognize common scams at home and abroad    •  become a human lie detector in any setting, including business negotiations    •  gain peace of mind by being prepared for anything instead of uninformed or afraid With the skill of a trained operative and the relatability of a suburban dad, Jason Hanson brings his top-level training to everyday Americans in this must-have guide to staying safe in an increasingly dangerous world.

Secrets of Stylists: An Insider's Guide to Styling the Stars


Sasha Charnin Morrison - 2011
    Interviews with key players reveal the ins and outs of the glamorous (and often gritty) world of styling, while hundreds of glossy photos illustrate good (and bad) looks. Full of real-life advice, this guide profiles famous image transformations undertaken by stars like Nicole Richie and Katie Holmes, outlines the essentials every stylist must have on hand (double-sided tape, cutlets, manzierres, Spanx, and more!) and, most importantly, shows how to get a Choo in the door and then survive in this ultra-fabulous, ultra-competitive industry.

The Wardrobe Wakeup: Your Guide to Looking Fabulous at Any Age


Lois Joy Johnson - 2012
    Leading fashion and beauty editor Lois Joy Johnson shares style-boosting, closet reviving, money-saving fashion tricks she's learned over thirty years working with A-list models, celebrities, and real women.The Wardrobe Wakeup is packed with solutions to fashion dilemmas specific to women 40+, like: changes in skin that make baring legs, arms, and chest an uncomfortable experience; working with colleagues half your age or a boss twenty years younger; going on job interviews where the competition is thirty years old. Lois also addresses fashion problems surrounding lifestyle changes including the horrors of dating again, what's sexy vs. sleazy, and rethinking spending on clothes if living on investments or 401(k)s. Featured in photos throughout are glam women 40+ in the fashion and beauty business. Each woman provides inspiration through interviews about their own style and fashion solutions at this time of life. In Lois's engaging point of view and straightforward approach, she teaches women to maximize their wardrobeand feel fabulous at any age.

Why Men Love Bitches


Sherry Argov - 2002
    With saucy detail on every page, this no-nonsense guide reveals why a strong woman is much more desirable than a "yes woman" who routinely sacrifices herself. The author provides compelling answers to the tough questions women often ask: · Why are men so romantic in the beginning and why do they change? · Why do men take nice girls for granted? · Why does a man respect a woman when she stands up for herself? Full of advice, hilarious real-life relationship scenarios, "she says/he thinks" tables, and the author's unique "Attraction Principles," Why Men Love Bitches gives you bottom-line answers. It helps you know who you are, stand your ground, and relate to men on a whole new level. Once you've discovered the feisty attitude men find so magnetic, you'll not only increase the romantic chemistry—you'll gain your man's love and respect with far less effort.