Book picks similar to
Be More Japan: The Art of Japanese Living by DK Travel
travel
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nonfiction
You Can Knit That: Foolproof Instructions for Fabulous Sweaters
Amy Herzog - 2016
Whether you’re knitting a sweater for the first time or seeking to expand your skills to knit sweaters in styles you’ve never tried before, this essential guide starts with basic sweater know-how and moves into instructions for knitting six must-have sweater styles—vests, all-in-one construction, drop shoulders, raglans, yokes, and set-in sleeves. Each chapter offers a less-intimidating “mini” sweater sized for a child and a selection of adult women’s patterns in 12 sizes—24 sweater patterns in all, each building on the next, to ensure success with even the most complicated sweaters.
The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design
Mike Selinker - 2011
Author Mike Selinker (Betrayal at House on the Hill) has invited some of the world's most talented and experienced game designers to share their secrets on game conception, design, development, and presentation. In these pages, you'll learn about storyboarding, balancing, prototyping, and playtesting from the best in the business.
Alchemy & Mysticism
Alexander Roob - 1996
This unique selection of illustrations with commentaries and source texts guides us on a fascinating journey through the representations of the secret arts.
Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You
Sam Gosling - 2001
What he has discovered is intriguing: When it comes to the most essential components of our personality—from friendliness and flexibility to openness and originality—the things we own and the way we arrange them can say more about who we are than even our most intimate conversations.Packed with original research and a wealth of fascinating stories, Snoop is a captivating guide to our not-so-secret selves, and reveals how intensely connected we are to the places in which we live and work.
Material World: A Global Family Portrait
Peter Menzel - 1994
At the end of each visit, photographer and family collaborated on a remarkable portrait of the family members outside their home, surrounded by all of their possessions—a few jars and jugs for some, an explosion of electronic gadgetry for others. Vividly portraying the look and feel of the human condition everywhere on Earth, this internationally acclaimed bestseller puts a human face on the issues of population, environment, social justice, and consumption as it illuminates the crucial question facing our species today: Can all six billion of us have all the things we want?
Literary Wonderlands: A Journey Through the Greatest Fictional Worlds Ever Created
Laura MillerAbigail Nussbaum - 2016
From Spenser's The Fairie Queene to Wells's The Time Machine to Murakami's 1Q84 it explores the timeless and captivating features of fiction's imagined worlds including the relevance of the writer's own life to the creation of the story, influential contemporary events and philosophies, and the meaning that can be extracted from the details of the work. With hundreds of pieces of original artwork, illustration and cartography, as well as a detailed overview of the plot and a "Dramatis Personae" for each work, Literary Wonderlands is a fascinating read for lovers of literature, fantasy, and science fiction.
Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal
Abigail Carroll - 2012
Our eating habits reveal as much about our society as the food on our plates, and our national identity is written in the eating schedules we follow and the customs we observe at the table and on the go.In Three Squares, food historian Abigail Carroll upends the popular understanding of our most cherished mealtime traditions, revealing that our eating habits have never been stable—far from it, in fact. The eating patterns and ideals we’ve inherited are relatively recent inventions, the products of complex social and economic forces, as well as the efforts of ambitious inventors, scientists and health gurus. Whether we’re pouring ourselves a bowl of cereal, grabbing a quick sandwich, or congregating for a family dinner, our mealtime habits are living artifacts of our collective history—and represent only the latest stage in the evolution of the American meal. Our early meals, Carroll explains, were rustic affairs, often eaten hastily, without utensils, and standing up. Only in the nineteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution upset work schedules and drastically reduced the amount of time Americans could spend on the midday meal, did the shape of our modern “three squares” emerge: quick, simple, and cold breakfasts and lunches and larger, sit-down dinners. Since evening was the only part of the day when families could come together, dinner became a ritual—as American as apple pie. But with the rise of processed foods, snacking has become faster, cheaper, and easier than ever, and many fear for the fate of the cherished family meal as a result.The story of how the simple gruel of our forefathers gave way to snack fixes and fast food, Three Squares, also explains how Americans’ eating habits may change in the years to come. Only by understanding the history of the American meal can we can help determine its future.
Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan
Rem Koolhaas - 1978
Back in print in a newly designed edition, this influential cultural, architectural, and social history of New York is even more popular, selling out its first printing on publication. Rem Koolhaas's celebration and analysis of New York depicts the city as a metaphor for the incredible variety of human behavior. At the end of the nineteenth century, population, information, and technology explosions made Manhattan a laboratory for the invention and testing of a metropolitan lifestyle -- "the culture of congestion" -- and its architecture. "Manhattan," he writes, "is the 20th century's Rosetta Stone . . . occupied by architectural mutations (Central Park, the Skyscraper), utopian fragments (Rockefeller Center, the U.N. Building), and irrational phenomena (Radio City Music Hall)." Koolhaas interprets and reinterprets the dynamic relationship between architecture and culture in a number of telling episodes of New York's history, including the imposition of the Manhattan grid, the creation of Coney Island, and the development of the skyscraper. Delirious New York is also packed with intriguing and fun facts and illustrated with witty watercolors and quirky archival drawings, photographs, postcards, and maps. The spirit of this visionary investigation of Manhattan equals the energy of the city itself.
Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, Herbal Liqueurs with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas
Brad Thomas Parsons - 2016
But in this case, what's new is old--specifically, the centuries-old European tradition of making bitter cordials and liqueurs. In Amaro, Parsons takes readers on a bittersweet tour of Italian bars, cafés, and distilleries, opening readers' eyes to the rich history and vibrant culture of amaro today. Then, he returns to the United States, where contemporary mixologists are incorporating amari into a delicious and eclectic array of cocktails. Gorgeous location and cocktail photography; an impeccable package; and more than 100 recipes for DIY amaro, amaro cocktails, and amaro-spiked desserts will make this the must-have beverage book of the season.From the Hardcover edition.
Paris in Bloom
Georgianna Lane - 2017
From elegant floral boutiques to lively flower markets to glorious blooming trees and expansive public gardens, flowers are the essential ingredient to the lush sensory bouquet that is Parisian life. With beautiful photography, Paris in Bloom transports readers on a stunning floral tour of the city, and provides recommendations to the best flower markets and a detailed guide to spring blooms. Timeless in content, Paris in Bloom is a book for Paris lovers to savor again and again, one to keep on the nightstand to conjure fond memories of their first visit and inspire dreams of the next. Also Available: Paris in Bloom 2019 Wall Calendar (ISBN: 978-1-4197-3004-7)
Let's Go Europe 2011: The Student Travel Guide
Harvard Student Agencies Inc. - 2009
Luckily, the student adventurers behind Let’s Go Europe 2011 think you can handle it — with a little help. Whether you’re whipping through London, Barcelona, and Prague in five days or spending a leisurely year abroad, you’ll get all the info you need from us. Our wit and irreverence can brighten even the drabbest Renaissance museum—if you didn’t take our advice to skip it. From German beer halls to Roman ruins, Let's Go Europe 2011 is your ticket to adventure: It’s 1232 pages of budget travel information, printed on lightweight paper so it’s easier to pack and carry.Let's Go publishes the world's favorite student travel guides, written entirely by Harvard undergraduates. Armed with pens, notebooks, and a few changes of underwear stuffed in their backpacks, our student researchers go across continents, through time zones, and above expectations to seek out invaluable travel experiences for our readers. Let's Go has been on the road for 50 years and counting: We're on a mission to provide our readers with sharp, fresh coverage packed with socially responsible opportunities to go beyond tourism.
You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes
Chris Hadfield - 2014
. .In You Are Here, bestselling author and celebrated astronaut Chris Hadfield creates a virtual orbit of Earth, giving us the really big picture: this is our home, from space. The millions of us who followed Hadfield's news-making Twitter feed from the ISS thought we knew what we were looking at when we first saw his photos. But we may have caught the beauty and missed the full meaning. Now, through photographs - many of which have never been shared - Hadfield unveils a fresh and insightful look at our planet. He sees astonishing detail and importance in these images, not just because he's spent months in space but because his in-depth knowledge of geology, geography and meteorology allows him to reveal the photos' mysteries.Featuring Hadfield's favourite images, You Are Here is divided by continent and represents one (idealized) orbit of the ISS. This planetary photo tour - surprising, playful, thought-provoking and visually delightful - provides a breathtakingly beautiful perspective on the wonders of the world. You Are Here opens a singular window on our planet, using remarkable photographs to illuminate the history and consequences of human settlement, the magnificence of newly uncovered landscapes, and the power of the natural forces shaping our world and the future of our species.
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.
Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill
Matthieu Ricard - 2003
Wealth? Fitness? Career success? How can we possibly place these above true and lasting well-being? Drawing from works of fiction and poetry, Western philosophy, Buddhist beliefs, scientific research, and personal experience, Ricard weaves an inspirational and forward-looking account of how we can begin to rethink our realities in a fast-moving modern world. With its revelatory lessons and exercises, Happiness is an eloquent and stimulating guide to a happier life.
Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool
Brian Ashcraft - 2010
These girls are literally showing up everywhere—in movies, magazines, video games, advertising, and music. WIRED Magazine has kept an eye on the trends emerging from these stylish teens, following kick-ass schoolgirl characters in videogames like Street Fighter and assassin schoolgirls in movies like Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.By talking to Japanese women, including former and current J-Pop idols, well-known actresses, models, writers, and artists—along with famous Japanese film directors, historians and marketers—authors Brian Ashcraft and Shoko Ueda (who have both contributed to WIRED's "Japanese Schoolgirl Watch" columns) reveal the true story behind Japan's schoolgirl obsessions.You'll learn the origins of the schoolgirls' unusual attire, and how they are becoming a global brand used to sell everything from kimchi to insurance. In Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential, you'll discover:Sailor-suited pop-idolsCult movie vixensSchoolgirl shopping powerThe latest uniform fashionsJapanese schoolgirls are a symbol of girl empowerment. Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential shows why they are so intensely cool. Don't miss this essential book on the Japanese youth culture craze that is driving today's pop culture worldwide.