Hasta La Ideas

Howard Zinn the Author of “A Peoples History of the United States” has passed away at the age of 87. His writing on history will continue to educate, inspire, and raise a more conscious awareness of our history. He will be missed.

It’s that time again when we stick up some pics of the books (and other nice print things) that are currently in the Extra Nice pile of stuff here in CR towers…

First up is the beautifully produced hardback tome called, coincidentally enough, Stuff We Really Like – a 785 page exploration by design studio Music of, well, stuff they really like… The likeable stuff inside includes such no-brainers as Christmas day morning and The Muppet Show – but also more personal likes such as the music of Scott Walker, Edward Hopper paintings, South Indian Food, cycling round London and Asterix comic books. Whether you like everything listed or not, the book is wittily laid out and full of joyous anecdotes about such things as Boarding A Moving Routemaster Bus. We really like this one – here are a few spreads:

Now then, we recently posted about the splendid group exhibition entitled If You Could Collaborate – organised by Alex Bec and Will Hudson – the dynamic duo behind previous If You Could exhibitions and publications – and the pair also founded the rather lovely blog, It’s Nice That. What we didn’t mention in any detail in our post about the exhibition was what a great job the pair have done on the accompanying catalogue. Rather than simply show the work of the exhibition, the book’s 310 pages include profiles on all the included artists and interviews with them about the work they created specially for the show and of the collaborative processes involved in making the works. Having enjoyed the show immensely, it’s great be abe to find out a little more about the processes, conversations, journeys and considerable efforts that have gone into the production of the artworks from the show…

Catlin is an insurance company with a growing art collection and its own Catlin Art Prize (now in its fourth year) that looks to nurture emerging artists. The Catlin Guide is a new publication funded by the company that collects together profiles of 40 up and coming artists selected by curator, gallerist and art writer Justin Hammond. To make his selection, Hammond travelled up and down the UK last year visiting degree and MA shows scouting for the hottest new talents in the world of fine art. The 40 artists featured are, essentially, the shortlisted artists for this year’s art prize. The book, housed in a red slipcase (above), has been designed by YES studio and looks like this:

Illustrator David Janes sent us a little box full of old fashioned record cards with a personalised note to CR editor, Patrick, on one – and a pen illustration on each of the others of a political figure of some sort along with either an asinine quote by the person depicted or some witty anecdote about something silly they did or said…

The sixth issue of Draft magazine features a print of a Jake and Dinos Chapman artwork entitled If Hitler Had Been A Hippy How Happy Would We Be printed onto watercolour paper and tipped on to the glossy black cover. Inside a note informs the reader that everything included in the issue has been drawn from the Archive of Modern Conflict. And so a host of contributors including Anthony Burrill, Martin Parr, Ian Jeffrey, Stephen Gill and Garry Hume introduce the artifacts that they have selected from the archive… the result makes for an interesting trawl through a huge variety of visual material spanning photography, illustration, graphic design and even some experimental images that were transmitted by radio in the early 1930s in Paris. 

Also in our pile of nice projects is this box which we received in the post with a horeshoe graphic on the top. On opening the box, it turns out not to contain a horseshoe, but a nice photographic print of a horseshoe (see below) – and a whole heap of prints stacked underneath it of other imagery, mostly portraits, shot by photographer Alex Telfer as part of his series of images entitled The Travellers. Wonderful stuff.

For some reason my camera finds this book cover tricky to photograph… sorry about that. The book is called It’s A Wonderful Life and it was sent to us just before Christmas by Dorothy up in Manchester. Just to clarify, the cover is white cloth with debossed angel wings and gold type. The text at the bottom reads “From the film by Frank Capra, retold by Dorothy”. So yes, it’s Dorothy’s version of the 1946 film of the same name, in which the story is told in verse (penned by Guy Nelson) and illustrated by Tracy Worrall. Here are some spreads…

Dezeen have teemed up with luxury property brand Yoo to offer our readers the chance to win one of five copies of their design monograph, Interiors by Yoo. (more…)

Dezeen have teamed up with Anneloes van Gaalen, editor of The Medium is the Message and 50 other Ridiculous Advertising Rules, to offer our readers the chance to win one of five copies. (more…)

Today is the release of Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project. I’ve made no secret about being a fan of Gretchen’s blog of the same name, and so I was elated when she sent me an advance copy of the book to review. I spent the weekend reading it (devouring it may be more accurate), and really enjoyed the 292 pages of insights and advice on happiness.

Let me begin by saying I have never created a deliberate plan to increase my happiness. “Be happier” has never made it onto my to-do or resolutions lists, and I’ve never read any books (before this one) directly related to happiness. Happiness is something that matters greatly to me, but I have always thought of it as a side effect rather than an end itself. After reading The Happiness Project, I’ve come to see that happiness can be an action item the same as any other goal.

In short, Gretchen took a year implementing all of the major theories on happiness and wrote about her experience from a first-hand perspective. The eleven areas she chose to focus on were boosting energy (a resolution I’m tackling this year), her marriage, her work, parenting, being serious about play, her friendships, money, eternity, pursing a passion, being mindful, and altering her attitude. Each area of focus included one to five specific action items — remember birthdays, launch a blog, ask for help — that helped her achieve her overall happiness ideal. She used a chart, similar to the one Ben Franklin describes in his Autobiography, to track her progress.

I was surprised by how honest Gretchen is about her personal failings in the text. I think this honesty adds to the practical nature of the book. The reader is able to see what concrete steps worked, and which ones didn’t, in helping her achieve her resolutions. For example, she started keeping a gratitude journal, only to give up on the journal a couple months later. It didn’t make her feel more grateful, and she had found other activities that actually did. Also, it took just one Laughter Yoga class before she knew it wasn’t a class for her.

Starting on page 25 of the book, Gretchen discusses her resolution to “Toss, Restore, Organize”:

Household disorder was a constant drain on my energy; the minute I walked through the apartment door, I felt as if I needed to start putting clothes in the hamper and gathering loose toys.

She spends a good chunk of the month of January getting rid of clutter and organizing her home and office. On page 26, she even mentions the Unclutterer blog as being an inspiration to her. (A totally unexpected shout out!) She experiences such a boost in her happiness level from clearing the clutter that many other times in the book she talks about lending friends a hand when they take on their uncluttering projects.

I have always been of the opinion that when you take on an uncluttering project of any kind, before you empty a single drawer or pull a piece of sports equipment out of your garage, you need to have a clear vision of why you want to make a change. What is your motivation? What is it that matters most to you? The Happiness Project is an incredible resource for helping to identify these motivations. Even though many of the things that matter most to me aren’t what matter most to Gretchen, my brain was constantly spinning about the things that would be part of my happiness project. It helped me to formulate my 2010 resolutions list, and I think I’ll even keep a chart like the one she and Benjamin Franklin used.

If you are interested in clarifying your reasons to become uncluttered, are looking to be happier, or simply enjoy the genre of “a year in the life” style books, I recommend checking out The Happiness Project. It’s a great reminder for not letting the joys of life pass you by.