the artists shelf

Self-education for the new year

by Amy on January 9, 2012

I know a lot of people make resolutions to “READ MORE BOOKS” for the new year …

I never do. Because I’m a crazy voracious reader already. If anything I should read fewer books, and honestly, if I read fewer books I would have more time to do things like … clean the house.

Which I currently only do if forced to.

But!

If you are one of those who wants to read more books this year, good for you! Obviously I am firmly in support of that goal

Here are a couple fun resources to help aid your book-reading/self-education resolutions:

Goodreads:

I only recently joined Goodreads on the recommendation of Andrew. Come be my Goodreads friend if you have that inclination.

My primary goal on Goodreads is JUST to keep track of what books I read, although there is also a great recommendations section if you are looking for more books similar to what you have read and liked. You can also follow your friends’ reviews for more book recommendations.

This is a great resource if you know you want to read more but don’t know where to start.

Kindle books :

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but there are tons and tons (and tons) of FREE ebooks available on Amazon. And not JUST the old, no-longer-copywritten books. Some books by authors who just want to get their name out, some books sponsored by big companies. …. as well as some old classics.

Plus! If you don’t own a Kindle, you can simply download the Kindle app for another device: iPhone, Android, PC and more

Non-books:

MIT OpenCourseWare :

This is something new I just found in the last week or so …. Apparently MIT is putting some or all of their lectures and other course material online for free! Which is kind of amazing!

I’ll probably check out some of the History or Media offerings (steer clear from Engineering and such)….

Just on a quick glance, it looks like MIT is offering material for both undergraduate and graduate classes – some available classes offer lecture notes, assignments, online textbooks and other goodies that you would normally have in a university class. Just as an example, the Media in Cultural Context course download includes the full syllabus and reading list (along with links to buy the books on Amazon), as well as the assignment list (if you feel like writing a paper for fun).

As soon as Andrew and I are super-rich I’m planning on going back to school for fun…. Getting the syllabus for a new class was always my favorite part of school …. Until then this might hold me over.

Podcasts:

Discussed already here and here … I’m a BIG fan…

iTunes University:

I personally have not used iTunes University yet (partly because I already subscribe to 12 or so podcasts and partly because I don’t even have the time to listen to all of those). Essentially various universities have put lectures and course material online via iTunes. Personally, I am planning on using iTunes University to someday learn Spanish.

SO, what are you reading right now? What do you want to learn about in 2012?

P.S. I wrote up this post while talking books with my dad. It’s his fault that I read this much. Not that I mind …. Since he is also a crazy reader I get to borrow a bunch of books for him (most of which I have bought for him)

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good reads : books that inspire

by Amy on October 18, 2011

Just a quick list of some of the books that are a constant inspiration to me. Because I love to read. Always. And interestingly, most of these inspire me to write:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita is hands-down my favorite novel (aside from the Anne of Green Gables series). I’ve read it probably 4 or 5 times, including for a college class. I have 3 copies of this novel too – an old, tattered version that was originally Andrew’s, a newer version all notated with orange pen from my college class, and a still newer, professionally annotated version.

I fully recognize that the surface subject matter of Lolita is a turn-off for some people. That said, I love love reading this novel if only for the amazing use of language and writing style from Nabokov. *Especially* remarkable if you remember that this novel was originally written in English – Nabokov’s third language! Incredible.

I actually want to read ALL of Nabokov’s work – because I think he’s brilliant – and while I’ve read maybe 4 or 5 of his novels, Lolita is still my favorite. This book inspires me to write myself, and sets an incredibly high standard that I can’t imagine ever being able to meet.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Bird by Bird is a memoir by a professional writer. We got this book from the library, and as soon as I had finished reading it, I ordered myself a copy and can’t wait to re-read it!

I don’t know what it is about writers’ memoirs and stories…. I love the idea of writing, I love the struggle that writers deal with on a daily basis. I know I’m probably romanticizing the whole profession, but I really enjoy reading about writing.

This book really inspires me to write, as well. Something about this memoir helps strengthen my belief that I COULD write a novel – if I were ever to start.

It’s a quick, entertaining read and I would definitely recommend it – especially if you have any interest in writing.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is also a memoir by a professional writer. It is (roughly) about what Miller learned about story-telling while helping to write the movie based on one of his other memoirs. But rather than be about writing itself, this book is more about living a life worthy of story-telling.

I love the constant reminder of living great stories. This book fully reminds me to get out of the house, not sit at home watching TV and continue to do great work.

Moneyball by Michael Lewis

This book is on the list, because this is the most recent book I’ve read, but really I just love the whole writing career of Michael Lewis. I’ve read The Big Short and I can’t wait to read Liar’s Poker, and The Blind Side and all of them. All are a kind of investigative, long-term journalistic writing pieces.

I now find myself paying even more attention to the people and stories all around me, searching out for that story to investigate and write myself. For example, my husband’s boss is actually kind of a prodigy and outlier in his industry. I think his story is fascinating.

If you’re a non-fiction fan at all, you should definitely check out one or more of Michael Lewis’s books.

The Beatles by Bob Spitz

I’ve only read this book once, but as soon as I finished it I immediately placed this book right back on my to-read pile. I loved it that much.

This is a pretty comprehensive biography of the band – with *some* background in each of the guys’ childhoods. But for the most part, I am really inspired by the music and the creative process and the art that makes up the history of The Beatles. I love the reminder of the creative side of such a popular band. Especially The Beatles.

For whatever reason, when I was reading this book I just felt inspired to MAKE art … art journal or paint or something. I don’t really know where that connection comes in, but this book was super inspiring to me. The stories behind it just make the art of that music that much more personal and real for me. Ex: The Beatles’ recording of ‘Twist and Shout’ was recorded last in the day because John Lennon had a cold and that song shredded his voice. He did it in one take and you can absolutely hear that in the recording. Fascinating….

Have you read any of these? What are some of your favorite inspiring books?

*all links are Amazon affiliates

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Guess what I got in the mail last week?

by Amy on November 8, 2010

A big pile of books

At my ‘day job’ every quarter our office has a chance to ‘win’ a gift card. So I recently got a big fat Amazon.com gift card and the chance to just go shopping. So so fun.

This is the kind of thing that makes me SUPER happy …

Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer – The movie version of this is pretty much one of my favorite movies. And I really enjoyed Jonathan Safran Foer’s other novel (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). I’m excited to read this book.

Easy Company Soldier: The Legendary Battles of a Sergeant from World War II by Don Malarkey and Bob Welch – I love (love love) HBO’s ‘Band of Brothers’ and from the reviews I’ve read, Don Malarkey’s is one of the best of the Easy Company men’s memoirs. I’m pretty excited to read this.

The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War by Thaddeus Holt – A friend of mine has this and it sounds so interesting. A history of the way the Allied intelligence used intentional deception in WW2. I’m putting myself through a (completely made up) American History class, so I won’t get to this for awhile …. but it’s going to be so interesting.

The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World by Chris Guillebeau – I’ve been reading Chris’s blog (of the same name) for a year or so. So when his book was published I was pretty interested to give it a read. From the Amazon review: “The author challenges the status quo on college degrees, spending and saving, employment, collecting, and other issues, and coaches for success with a likeable, energetic voice.”

Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod – This is one of those books that I’ve heard only good things about. From the Amazon description: “MacLeod has opinions on everything from marketing to the meaning of life, but one of his main subjects is creativity. How do new ideas emerge in a cynical, risk-averse world? Where does inspiration come from? What does it take to make a living as a creative person?”

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson – From 37Signals. Promise Tangeman is quoting this book a lot, and I respect so much of what she does so I thought it might be a good read.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron – I’ve heard only good things about this book. For years. From the review: a “comprehensive twelve-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, jealousy, guilt, addictions, and other inhibiting forces, replacing them with artistic confidence and productivity.”

Performance: Richard Avedon – Portraits of actors, dancers, directors and other performers. From the last 40 or 50 years. All of a sudden I want to be a fashion and portrait photographer. I’ve never wanted that before. But just looking through this book was soo oooo inspiring.

Have you read any of these?

*note* all links are Amazon affiliate

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the artist’s shelf : A Day at elBulli

by Amy on May 10, 2010

A Day at elBulli: An Insight into the Ideas, Methods and Creativity of Ferran Adria

This is one of the most interesting books about creativity I’ve ever read – and it’s about a restaurant. I heard about it from a wedding photographer that I follow on Twitter, and since I’m currently addicted to the library it seemed like a good book to add to my book pile.

Little did I know that it is actually a 528-page coffee table book! It would *topple* my book pile. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I picked it up at the library

This huge book is almost 100% photos, shot photo-journalistic style, documenting a typical day at elBulli, one of the #1 restaurants in the world (it’s located in Spain). Learn more about elBulli and the head chef Ferran Adria on Wikipedia.

The book – and the day – begins at day break with images of the trees, beach, views around the restaurant location. It follows nearly a minute-by-minute typical schedule for the day, with occasional side steps to describe the creative team’s process and methods. I have never thought about food this way before ….

For photographers:

The images in the book are really interesting. The focus and composition is sometimes … a bit off. But that actually makes me feel like these really are images from one day (rather than taken over 6 months and the best chosen).

elBulli 001

elBulli 002

elBulli 003

elBulli 004

elBulli 005

Through out the book are these little text-only sections that give more details about a certain aspect of the restaurant (like a map, below, or the process of scheduling reservations)

elBulli 006

elBulli 007

Each page has in the top corner a timestamp so you can actually see what is being done at any hour of the day ….

elBulli 008

elBulli 009

Some creativity-sparking quotes:

Defining creativity – “Creativity involves coming up with something that has not been done before, but novelty alone is not enough. It takes many hours of experimentation to create something that is both new and interesting” (pg 30).
Accomplishments of the creative team - “The creative level that elBulli has reached could not have been achieved by one person alone. The core members of the creative team – Ferran, Albert, Oriol – have been working together for twelve years and the connection between the whole team is as strong as a family bond. No other restaurant produces an entirely new menu of more than one hundred new dishes every year, and without the strength of the creative team at elBulli this simply could not be done. They constantly test new ideas, which could come from anywhere, and are always searching for the next new concept or technique” (47).
“There is very fine line between being influenced and copying” (47).
Starting points for creativity – association, inspiration, adaptation, deconstruction, minimalism, new ingredients (240)
“Every creative idea has a history, but not necessarily a reason for being” (56).
Value and process of a creative idea file – “The creative notebooks are filled with ideas, concepts, photographs and sketches for new dishes, and are used and maintained by every member of the creative team. They are compiled at the Barcelona workshop as well as at the restaurant. Each day Ferran will take an idea from the notebook as the starting point for that day’s session. The chefs can easily refer to the hundreds of notebooks that have been filed away over the years to look for new ideas or to compare results. The archives show how a dish has evolved and can provide many fruitful starting points for new dishes, but they cannot always explain the original source of inspiration” (56).
Look at something ordinary in a new way – “Ferran tries different methods of slicing salsify. Although apparently simple, this is one of the most fundamental ways of experimenting with a vegetable, and can lead to new ways of using it” (71).
Using 5 senses as a starting point for creativity – “Each [of the five senses] can be seen as a separate creative method, but in many cases it is the interaction between different senses that produces the most interesting results” (464).

The next step:

(or ideas gleaned from reading this book)

Think about a day-in-the-life project. Could be just a blog post. Could be a scrapbook. Could be your very own coffeetable book.
Think about catering your art (or business) to just a select group of people. No need to worry about everyone liking what you do if your ideal clients do (see also: Tribes by Seth Godin)
Don’t “work” all the time, but spend part of your time playing, experimenting, developing. It will make the “work” that much more unique and valuable.
Keep an idea notebook. You never know what will spark some creativity.
Try using a familiar tool, material, etc in a new way

Where to find elBulli:

A Day at elBulli : An Insight into the Ideas, Methods and Creativity of Ferran Adria

It looks like the hardcover might be out of print, but the paperback is coming out later this year!

I was able to find the book at my local library. Granted, my “local library” is connected to the city of Los Angeles so I *might* have access to a larger collection than you do …. but it’s DEFINITELY worth a shot.

I can’t wait to hear what you all think when you read it …. let me know.

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