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kottke.org posts about books
House of Leaves
So, House of Leaves is a book about a book about a book about a movie that doesn’t exist. Or something like that. Post-modern fiction at its best (or worst if you’re not a big fan). I would *love* to see this book — or the movie it describes — made into a movie, but I can’t think of any particular director who would do it justice.
Liar’s Poker
Michael Lewis is one of my favorite authors. He’s not the smartest or the most clever writer but he weaves deceptively simple stories into larger statements on society and humanity with a skill possessed by very few people doing creative work in any field. I haven’t gotten around to reading Moneyball yet, but Liar’s Poker is probably his strongest work. It’s as hard to put down as any fiction. Great book.
The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint by Edward Tufte
Edward Tufte has a new 24-page pamphlet out called The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint on how to improve your PowerPoint presentations:
In corporate and government bureaucracies, the standard method for making a presentation is to talk about a list of points organized onto slides projected up on the wall. For many years, overhead projectors lit up transparencies, and slide projectors showed high-resolution 35mm slides. Now “slideware” computer programs for presentations are nearly everywhere. Early in the 21st century, several hundred million copies of Microsoft PowerPoint were turning out trillions of slides each year.
Alas, slideware often reduces the analytical quality of presentations. In particular, the popular PowerPoint templates (ready-made designs) usually weaken verbal and spatial reasoning, and almost always corrupt statistical analysis. What is the problem with PowerPoint? And how can we improve our presentations?
I love the cover image.
A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History
This dense book took me forever to read in bits and bites on the subway and during lunch. Covers too much ground to summarize here, perhaps after a re-read.
The Elements of User Experience
For some years now, we web designers have been operating with a rough idea of exactly what it is we do. By mimicking the practices of other disciplines, sharing knowledge via web sites & mailing lists, reading industry magazines, following design gurus, and a whole lot of making it up as we go along, we’ve managed to get quite a bit done. That said, in order to move forward, there’s tremendous value in concisely presenting all that we’ve learned in one place, and that’s exactly what Jesse James Garrett has done with The Elements of User Experience (Amazon link).
And he does this without pushing a trademarked process or holding himself up as a guru with all the answers. Instead, he simply describes the process that web designers have been using to get things done. I say “simply”, but that word belies the clarity and thoroughness of the book in its description of user experience design. One of the book’s most valuable contributions is the explanation of exactly how the various specialties fit into the larger process. Information design, information architecture, visual design, interface design, interaction design; they’re all represented in Jesse’s model of user experience design (shown at right).
Highly recommended for anyone involved in web design and developments, especially for managers and technical folk to get an idea of what us designers actually do. Here’s chapter 2 of the book in PDF format to get you started.
Book cover design
Readerville has a great thread in their forums called Most Coveted Covers, a frequently updated list of well-designed book covers. Related are Edward Tufte’s book reviews, Book Design in Canada from Cardigan Industries, and an interview with Chip Kidd on Identity Theory.
It Must’ve Been Something I Ate
Meg and I are both currently hooked on the writings of the obsessively funny Jeffrey Steingarten, Vogue’s food columnist. She’s tucked into The Man Who Ate Everything while I’m reading It Must Have Been Something I Ate. It’s like Mr. Wizard meets David Sedaris meets The Galloping Gourmet.
The best part of this whole Steingarten-a-thon is that Meg has started cooking meat. You see, Jeffrey loves meat. And butter. And lard. And cheese. And eggs. He doesn’t believe the hype about salad. He believes people can eat meat, fat, and cheese and still be healthy (see the French Paradox) and probably a whole lot happier. I am delighted on so many levels to hear this viewpoint - my viewpoint also - expressed so convincingly.
In the last week, Meg has twice stopped at Ottomanelli’s Butcher Shop on Bleecker, once for filet mignon for Valentine’s Day (which when combined with mashed potatoes and a small salad, is surprisingly economical for how damn good the meal is) and this past Friday for a whole chicken (which took far too long to cook due to a faulty oven, but turned out wonderful anyway due to Meg’s skill in the kitchen and Dean Allen’s whimsical directions). My tummy and taste buds are plently happy. Thanks, Jeffrey.
Starstruck by Gary Boas
I ran across a great book in Paris called Starstruck (buy @ Amazon):
In 1999, on a visit to Boas’s home in Lancaster, the editors of Dilettante Press discovered rows of meticulously assembled scrapbooks lining the sagging bookshelves of Boas’s bedroom. The albums revealed a vast personal archive of over 50,000 images of famous people. This discovery resulted in an internationally acclaimed photo exhibition and the book, Starstruck: Photographs from a Fan.
The photos in the book are mesmerizing, especially the older ones that offer a look at celebrity that you just don’t see much of anymore. I literally could not put it down.
A People’s History of the United States
Zinn’s a Marxist freak (well, according to some), but this book is still worth reading as an antidote to what most American kids learn about in school.
Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard Book Tour 2002
Hello, and welcome to the first stop of the virtual book tour for “Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard,” the surging juggernaught of virtual book tours. My name’s Greg Knauss, and I’ve commandeered kottke.org today to pester you into dropping six bucks for a big wad of dead tree. Jason will be back tomorrow, ma’am, please put your shirt back on.
“Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard” is a collection of stories about kids — birthing them, caring for them, confusing them for your own petty amusement — that originally appeared on An Entirely Other Day. There are plenty of good reasons to buy a book composed of Web pages — several of which revolve around bathroom accessibility — but I’d like to start with a reading, to give you a flavor of what you’ll find inside:
[Cough. Clear throat. Sip water. Read aloud. Lament my ineptitude at producing MP3s, and rue this lame substitute.]
Imagine how much better that would have been on paper, away from your computer, outside in the sunshine without all that pesky money weighing you down! Yes, “Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard” makes the perfect gift! Unless the person you’re giving it to has children, in which case it will make them cry.
We’re scheduled to begin the question and answer portion of the event here, but I’d like to say a few words to those of you who haven’t been convinced to buy a copy by the reading:
C’mon, you weenie! It’s only six bucks! If you don’t want a book about kids, look at the rest of the So New catalog! Buy something else! Buy “Help Wanted” or Words! Words! Words! or “The Brick.” Or Little Engines, which isn’t even from So New Media. Or buy Macros, or back issues of Beer Frame, or, God, something other than another freakin’ Grisham novel. How many of his books have you read? Six? Eight? Can you even tell them apart anymore? Here’s a hint, sparky, the youngish white male lawyer is the good guy! You dropped six bucks on that, why not spend it on something that isn’t extruded from the ass of the publishing industry like crap from a horse overdosed on Metamucil? Instead of your next Big Burger Value Pak, how about you grab an apple and some independent media? Huh?
And, now, Q&A:
You’re a complete hypocrite, aren’t you?
Yes. Total. Today at lunch, for instance, I’ll be finishing “A Painted House” over a Western Bacon Cheeseburger.
But you still want me to buy your book?
Oh, yes. I did — I bought six copies. You should, too.
Six is an awful lot, don’t you think?
Yes, you’re right. So I’ll cut you a deal: order in the next ten minutes, and I’ll only make you buy three.
These aren’t real audience questions, are they?
No. It turns out that the Web is about as interactive as a box of cereal. But if you’ve got a question, please mail it to [email protected], so I can answer it when the “Rain Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard” book tour pulls into Stating the Obvious tomorrow morning. See you there!
Except for you, ma’am. No, you can’t camp here until Jason comes back. Yes, I’m sure he’ll like the embroidered pillow. And, please, put your shirt back on.
New book: Beautiful Evidence
Edward Tufte (author of three excellent books on information design) is working on a new book on cognitive art entitled “Beautiful Evidence”. Here are some copious notes from one of Tufte’s one day courses (upcoming schedule). There’s a really good bit at the end on his “principles for making presentations”…I’ll need that advice right around 8:30 this morning.
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