"Write now is good."

Books as benches: How many will you find?

Now through September 15, 2014, the Books about Town public art exhibit takes place all over London.

There are 50 unique BookBenches to locate, like the Shakespeare and Paddington Bear ones featured in this post—all of which will be auctioned at the exhibit's end in order to raise money for literacy initiatives in the UK through the National Literacy Trust. (The Books about Town site features some maps and quizzes to get your started on the hunt.)

Wild in Art, who is partnering with National Literacy Trust to put this on, has art education initiatives that engage students on issues both in their immediate and worldwide communities. UK artists donated their time and talents to create these benches; check out the Instagram account to see how they look out and about.

A mod buffet table/day bed/bon vivant bookshelf

In the middle of this party

and a buffet featuring an Italian sub, liquor, watermelon, cherry tomatoes, and a vase of daisies,

and a spectator to the dance lounging near the ceiling (How did she get up there?)

sits a couple of shelves of books.

If only the spines faced the camera—I would love to know what these groovy folks read. The books look oddly uniform in size—perhaps they’re from a series or are academic journals?

Photo hunt: Look out this pad’s window. What does that lighted sign belong to? (Hint: A New Yorker may know. Click on the image for a larger version.)

Via Shorpy

What it is: Questions without immediate, singular answers

Books find me.

I'm usually doing something else, like walking or writing or running around or researching something. And then there is a book in front of me, in my gaze, while I am in the midst of doing something else intensely.

My gaze will stop at a book among a sea of books: on shelves, in piles, at the top of a stack, in a bookstore window (both brick-and-mortar and virtual). 

When a book stands out to me at these unexpected moments, I will usually pick up the book. If I hesitate and I still feel the book's pull, I will definitely pick it up, if I can (much easier to do with a book on a metal shelf than one on a computer screen).

Often these books are ones that I know, and I'll leaf through them looking for a word or phrase that catches my eye. Sometimes I'll reread a favorite passage or find new meaning in one that I hadn't really understood in that way on the prior pass.

This time, a book new to me stood out. I saw it on a library shelf, and I checked it out. Then its return date arrived, and I had to return it. Then I bought my own copy, and I keep reading it. It is full of questions that have no simple answers. Many of the questions are phrased in ways I never thought of. The pages are rich with collaged snippets of words and images, of colored drawings, paintings, pen-and-ink sketches, all combined on the same page. 

I don't want to say any more about it because I don't want to spoil any of the mystery and surprise in the book, in case it finds you, too, and you feel compelled to pick it up.

However, I think I can feature a few of my favorite questions without giving too much away:

1. What is an idea made of? (p. 4)

2. (What) Where is a story before it becomes words? (p. 44)

3. Why do some images come back again and again? (p. 96)

These questions, and the time I am spending with this book, are triggering so many interesting ideas and thoughts. (I just discovered there is an "adjustable activity book" in the back. This has been very fruitful book serendipity.)

Book: What It Is by Lynda Barry (Drawn and Quarterly; 2008; hardcover; 209 pages)

Where is your neighborhood Little Free Library?

 

Photo: "Silverlake's Little Free Library" by Michael R Perry

In 2010, Todd Bol and Rick Brooks joined forces to share their passion for literacy in a community-based way. They created Little Free Library, which encourages people to create spaces, often on their front lawns, where they can donate and borrow books. (See above picture as an example.)

Others saw the benefits of having such a simple and accessible book exchange on their street and created their own. This growing movement is bringing free books to neighborhoods worldwide.

Potential positives I see:

1. Folks have a place to put books they don’t want anymore and know they will be well used.
2. Lenders and borrowers can see what their neighborhood likes to read. (Could book-group discussions come out of this?)
3. A Little Free Library Cafe right next to it! (OK, an honor-system, weather-proof espresso machine may be too much to ask. Would a nearby for-pay lemonade stand do?)

Do you have one in your neighborhood? If not, are you considering starting one? If you don’t have a front lawn, like many in cities or any apartment dweller, can you think of another fitting spot?

To learn more, go to the Little Free Library official site. Their mission (as stated on their home page):

-To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide. 
-To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity, and wisdom across generations.
-To build more than 2,510 libraries around the world - more than Andrew Carnegie!

Related articles:

1. “Portland book lovers nurture neighborhood camaraderie with mini libraries” by Kelly House, The Oregonian, December 11, 2011
2. “Occupy your sidewalk with a Micro-library” by Amanda Hess, GOOD Culture blog, December 28, 2011
3. “Little Libraries have people thinking (and reading) outside the box” by Ben Jones, USA TODAY, February 28, 2012
4. “Cape Cod condo mini library fosters resident ties” by Robert Gold, Cape Cod Times, April 15, 2012, as seen on Boston.com

Playing with the moon

These photographs of jeux lunaires — moon games — caught my eye. They're beautifully executed, playful and inspired.

The above photo "Comme dans un tableau" — like in a picture — is one of many different images located in the online gallery of Laurent Laveder. Based on viewing his work, it looks like he often photographs life on earth during the evening and nighttime.

You can purchase the book Quartier Libre by Laurent Laveder and Sabine Sannier — featuring moon-inspired writing from nineteen authors — here.

Found at [BB-Blog]

Used-book dominoes

The used-book-loving folks at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange in Arizona created this literary domino effect video. It captures my sentiment about bookstores: fun places full of information and wonder.

Anyone have an idea about how many books were used?

Via Galleycat

What did it feel like to go to the moon?

As I follow astronauts like Mike Massimino on Twitter as they tweet from space, it's easy to learn bits of what life is like beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Before Internet access and the development of Web 2.0 and social media, there were few widely available, multimedia records of the astronaut experience. Below is a compelling video clip from the documentary For All Mankind, directed by Al Reinert with a musical score by Brian Eno and originally released in 1989. (Its re-release on DVD is now available.) In a 2009 article, Reinert explained his focus behind the movie:

What I wanted to do was make a film that communicated what it felt like to go to the moon. Really put you in the shoes of the astronauts. That's still the kind of movie that I would want to watch.

The powerHouse Arena has just released Spacesuits: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Collection, featuring below image. (So interesting — I would definitely buy a print of this.)

 

Sometimes (actually, pretty regularly) I marvel at amount of quality information available through Web 2.0. I wonder what's next.

Video clip found on YouTube; "Astronaut Style" found at PUBLIC SCHOOL by BMD Love Blog via Gizmodo

Links:

° "Shot on location—'For All Mankind' filmmaker Al Reinert goes walking on the moon one more time" by Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle, 13 March 2009

° NASA Astronauts / "NASA_Astronauts" on Twitter

How data flows, Peeps secrets revealed, and "The Addictionary"

Photo: "binary easter egg" by Rakka

A few sites of note I recently found while surfing:

1. FlowingData is a well-designed and -organized online locale which helps readers

...explore how designers, statisticians, and computer scientists are using data to understand ourselves better—mainly through data visualization. Money spent, reps at the gym, time you waste, and personal information you enter online are all forms of data. How can we understand these data flows? Data visualization lets non-experts make sense of it all.

A few entries I like:

-- "Little Red Riding Hood, the Animated Infographic Story"
-- "Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis"
-- "17 Ways to Visualize the Twitter Universe"

2. The Addictionary is a social word site. Users make up words, create definitions for made-up words, vote on other users' humorous wordy concoctions, and connect to others who enjoy doing the same. From their "About Us" page:

The Addictionary is a site for word lovers and those who like to see our beloved English language grow in serious or humorous ways. We built the Addictionary to empower word-play and to help lovers of word-play showcase and market their cleverness and creativity to the world...

If you add a word or definition to the site, drop a comment here. I'll post a link to it so other readers can check it out.

Members of the Twitterati may follow The Addictionary on Twitter. The site's "snowflakes" have a new book out, too—Addictionary: Brave New Words.

3. A view into the secret life of Peeps. Because I always wondered how marshmallow peeps were made, and this photo set answers it for me*:

"How Peeps are made" from The Chicago Tribune (via Chris Glass)

* A video of the entire factory process would be even more enlightening!

Sendak's "Wild Things" classic: A successful book-turned-film?

UPDATE: If the above video clip doesn't work, you can check out a beautiful hi-res version of it at the Apple site.

This trailer piqued my curiosity. How does a film, which will run (most likely) approximately 90 minutes, stay true to the narrative of a 37-page children's book?

I've just looked through my copy of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and I've estimated that twenty-seven of the pages are illustrated. (Some are image only, and on others, the image takes up most of the page with a bit of accompanying text.)

The best films-based-on-books capture the essence of the book. While most novels' plots are too extensive to show completely within an acceptable movie time limit, a film's story—sincerely told and authentically rendered—can do the original work justice.

The trailer shows so much not even hinted at in the original. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the film stands on its own—I'd really like to see this!

A city of books, media stacking, and making more room to read

 

Photo: "media stacking" by Will Lion

A few worthwhile finds from my recent Web travels are:

1. Are you a "media stacker"? Read this TimesOnline article "Hello? I'm on the internet - and watching the television" to find out.

2. "The Buzzwords of 2008" is full of overused, wordy gems. On this New York Times' list, you'll find digital cliff, staycation, and Phelpsian, among many others. The article is co-written by Grant Barrett, "a lexicographer specializing in slang and new words, ... co-host of the public radio program 'A Way With Words' and head of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society." Accompanying illustrations by Jessica Hische are witty and original.

3. "This is where we live" is a stop-motion animation of a city made entirely of books. Over 1,000 copies of various books from U.K. publisher 4th Estate were used to make it. From ViaComIT.

4. Make more room to read! Change This and 800CEORead are working together on an innovative benefit for Room to Read. The details:

For $30.00, we are putting together a Mystery Box of three business books. In this box you are guaranteed one title that either won, or made the shortlist for, the best book of 2008 in its category, along with 2 other titles from last year that were submitted for the awards. As a bonus, we will include a copy of this year's In The Books, our annual review of business books. 100% of the purchase will go directly to Room to Read, and we'll cover the shipping on all orders.

Room to Read promotes increased literacy in the developing world by establishing libraries, computer labs and even schools in communities with few educational resources. It is a powerful organization which makes real and lasting positive impact. If you're not familiar with the group, I suggest clicking through and looking at what they do; it is inspiring.