On the 6th day of Blogity: Book Lust

About once a month I have a feeling come over me I like to call "Book Lust". It's when I must go to Borders, Barnes and Noble, or Subterranean to peruse for at least an hour. I give myself a budget of about $50 generally, and try to squeeze at least 1 magazine into the deal (CRAFT:, MAKE:, Sky and Telescope, or Computer Arts are common picks). These fulfill my reading fix for the rest of the month, then I start lusting again.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't buy many project based craft books. I can decipher most technical instructions either from a manual or online. Since I spend so much time creating my own designs, any project that I would follow instructions for has to be splendidly fun, and so original that I'm giddy to nod at the person that imagined it.

More often you'll find me plopped down in the computer, science, and occasionally, cookbook aisles. I figure I'll start reading fiction around the time I start collecting Social Security.

These are all books that I've purchased this year:

Simple Sewing with a French Twist by Céline Dupuy - One of my guilty pleasures is to gush over shabby chic stuff. I want to smack myself for liking anything floral. As I've said in the past, I'm a fungus fan. Truffles aside, this book has 50+ projects that range from a wool beret, to bohemian flip-flops...bags, rugs, aprons and on and on. Nearly all are unintimidating, even for a beginner. The photographs are so pretty that I want to make about every single thing in the exact fabrics she chose. Too bad they have flowers all over them :P



Craftivity: 40 Projects for the DIY Lifestyle by Tsia Carson - Dye yarn with Kool-Aid, grow moss graffiti on rocks, embroider your screen door...I like this book because it dabbles in pretty much everything. There is a different contributor for each project, and they all have great stories to go with them. It's sophisticated, and defining of the indie craft movement.


Stupid Sock Creatures by John Murphy - I like vury mouch to make dees seeelly tings. Problem is, I have not come across any worthy socks that I can resist wearing on my feet.





The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web by Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzshlag - Cascading Style Sheets allow entire websites to have a coordinated design through the commands of one relatively simple page of code. It sure beats

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Having been a long-time fan of the CSS Zen Garden website, this was a must have!


Moosewood Restaurant New Classics by The Moosewood Collective - This vegetarian eatery in Ithica New York has several cookbooks out, and I decided this was the most "Doug Friendly" hands down. We've loved everything I've made out of it. The Moroccan Roasted Vegetables made an appearance at Thanksgiving in place of yams! Lets see, what kind of egg salad will I make today? Creole, Greek, Italian, Mexican or Scandinavian? For dessert...a Blueberry Buttermilk Falls Smoothie!



Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen by Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry -
This is 1/2 cookbook, and 1/2 expose on the mainstream food industry. I'll spare you any details since you may prefer to be blissfully unaware, but.... great book. :)





Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet- I just started reading this. So far I know that to him, the number 11 is friendly, and number 4 is shy. I like the way he writes.









The Illustrated A Brief History of Time & The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking - Years ago I checked both of these books out from the library a few times. Even though I've always wanted to own them in hardback, I really couldn't justify spending so much on 2 books that I had already read cover to cover. Then one day a friend e-mailed me that this duo was on the bargain shelf at Borders for $15. Needless to say, I booked it (heh heh) up there the next day. I'm so glad the boys will have it to thumb through as they get older.



Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed by Jim Al-Khalili - The thing about quantum physics that's so interesting to me is that is makes sense mathematically, but fails to fit our standards of macroscopic reality. This book has AWESOME illustrations alongside explanations. I highly suggest it as a follow-up to watching What the Bleep Do We Know.




View From the Center of the Universe by Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams -
Here you have some excellent, creative explanations of cosmological science with delves into history, and the future. Feels a wee bit fruity at times...like they are trying to get you overexcited about facts instead of explaining how we observed them. If the vastness of space and time overwhelms you, then I think this is a good book to help put those things in some perspective.




Where's My Jetpack? A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived by Daniel H. Wilson, Ph. D. - This is a blue/silver/black book of shiny metallic goodness, and I think it smells good! Whateva! It wittily explains why we don't have the flying cars, smell-o-vision, moon colonies, or ray guns we were promised. On the plus side, I learned how to make my own hoverboard using a leaf blower. No, they weren't real in the movie..up yours Marty McFly!

I found a sweet t-shirt on Threadless to match my book.
It reads:
"they lied to us
this was supposed to be the future
where is my jetpack,
where is my robotic companion,
where is my dinner in pill form,
where is my hydrogen fueled automobile,
where is my nuclear powered levitating house,
where is my cure for this disease"

Speaking of reading, what do you think of my new glasses? I just picked them up yesterday!


In my best Ron Livingston voice...
Fucking-A.