Popcorn for the design-brain: What can be learned from great designers? How can design improve our lives? Answers abound in Glimmer. In the cutting-edge studios of Canadian design phenomenon Bruce Mau and other visionary designers, everything is ripe for reinvention — including how businesses function, children learn and communities thrive. Warren Berger, with the full cooperation of Mau, tallies and explores the deceptively simple principles that steer design’s vanguard — “ask stupid questions,” “begin anywhere” and “make hope visible” — and illustrates how these and other such principles can provide the means for finding hope in these anxious times.

A book that describes how I work by Seth Godin who argues that lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea. Smart innovators find or assemble a movement of similarly minded individuals and get the tribe excited by a new product, service or message, often via the Internet (consider, for example, the popularity of the Obama campaign, Facebook or Twitter). Tribes, Godin says, can be within or outside a corporation, and almost everyone can be a leader; most are kept from realizing their potential by fear of criticism and fear of being wrong.

Got this book by the Knowmads crew for helping them in the admission process. Those future tribes will change the world. Will be exiting times for the students to see if they make it through the procedure. Can’t wait to read the book because Pieter K. was so incredible enthusiastic about it when he handed it to me, that I will move it up in my must-read-to-to list directly. SuperFreakonomics, the highly anticipated sequel to the best-selling Freakonomics, was released on October 20, 2009. Steven Levitt, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, and author Stephen Dubner have again teamed together to apply economic reasoning to a wide range of real-world questions. As with the original Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics is largely based upon the research of Professor Levitt, who has tackled problems inside and outside the field of economics. Sweet. Thanks!

Just in, this another great portfolio book of …,staat. An impressive array of work nicely bound into already the third edition, showing recent and past work. Couldn’t make it to the book unpresentation, but we made up with that fabulous …,staat coffee, stories and more stories. A pleasure as always. Thanks guys!

From the pile of books from Matthijs, the I Amsterdam book. Within I Amsterdam, we glimpse Amsterdam’s promise, diversity, and wealth of opportunity, which serve to maintain its prominence as a European capital and a world city. The vibrant mixture of Amsterdam’s city fabric allows for interests of all kinds to live and function comfortably together. Whether people go to Amsterdam for business, study, tourism, or living, they always arrive at a city that is open, human, and tolerant. This selection of works from the international ad campaign of KesselsKramer for Amsterdam features photographs by Koos Breukel, Hans Eijkelboom, Dana Lixenberg, Dorothee Meyer, and others. concept & design: KesselsKramer, text: Martin Bril.

From the pile of books from Matthijs, the 8th edition of In Almost Every Picture, collected & edited by Erik Kessels, photographs by Hironori Akutagawa, text by Christian Bunyan.
In almost every picture #8 continues this well-established series of found photography books. Its subject is one of the earliest successful photo blogs, a site documenting the story of Oolong, a Japanese rabbit whose unusually flat head made it ideal for balancing objects. Starting in 1999, hundreds of images were posted by Oolong’s owner, Hironori Akutagawa, each showing this otherwise ordinary creature with an unusual item placed squarely on his skull. The items in question range from rabbit bones to cakes, teapots and other household objects, always shot in low res, almost always from the same angle. Now in book form, Oolong’s images chart the story of a unique friendship between man and bunny.

I got spoiled with a pile of books by Matthijs at Kesselskramer after a really nice visit there. This one I took with me since it is really tiny: Artoons by Krista Rozema who works at Kesselskramer. She took art from cartoons and made a beautiful small catalogue of it, displaying a wide variety of work, from paintings to sculptures. At the same time, the book is a statement against the continuously in size increasing coffee table books. The limited edition I got has a nice little display device. Thanks!

Just in, this great book about the creative work for Hans Brinker Budget Hotel Amsterdam by KesselsKramer. Published by Booth-Clibborn Editions and written & designed by KesselsKramer, it is a neatly bound antidote to books about hotels, which proclaim to be the Best, Most Luxurious or Chicest. In the long history of hospitality, the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel stands alone as the worst there ever was. Yet, it is also one of the most celebrated. For 15 years, it has gained worldwide recognition for its audacious, confrontational marketing. This is a hotel that dares to tell the truth, and by doing so, the communication campaigns connected with its target market of young, cynical, media-savvy travellers. Enjoy a stay at the world’s worst hotel, without actually staying there.

Ja, eindelijk is-ie er dan! Een heuse niet-virtuele versie van het boek. Er gaat toch niets boven de geur van papier en inkt. Wat een leuke rit is dit project, waarin het boek de hoofdrol speelt en waarbij de case ‘Handboek Communities’ zelf een best practice is van de ondertitel van het boek ‘de kracht van sociale netwerken’. Maandag a.s. voor iedereen verkrijgbaar, maar nu al in de top 10 op Managementboek.nl. En het boek is slechts het begin! Dank Erwin voor de leuke rit tot nu toe, en natuurlijk ook Timo!

René pointed me to this book, based on our experiences at Mastermundo 2009. I knew the work of those peeps, but I didn’t know about the peeps behind them who call themselves Improv Everywhere. What they do? A fake U2 concert. A deranged hypnotist. A book signing by a dead author. Welcome to the wild world of Improv Everywhere. From the infamous No Pants! Subway Ride to the legendary Grand Central Freeze, Improv Everywhere has been responsible for some of the most original and subversive pranks of the Internet age. In Causing a Scene, the group’s agents provide a hilarious firsthand account of their mischievous antics. Learn how they created a time loop in a Starbucks and gave Best Buy eighty extra employees. Join in on the fun with this irreverent, behind-the-scenes look at Improv Everywhere’s world-famous missions, and get inspired to create your own memorable mayhem.

Just in, the special ’sneak peak’ edition of the TED edition of design mind by frog design. Thanks Till!

This is not a new book, but a book with a story. I think it was in the second year of Interactive/Media/Design as a study, stopped at my mailbox at the academy to empty it on my way back home. This book was in it, obviously filling up my mailbox completely. With the book was a note, by somebody named Marc Boumeester, saying: ‘If you think this is interesting, maybe it is interesting to meet.’ And: ‘If not, you can keep the book anyway.’ It was not only interesting, but also relevant. So we met, fitted a new course into the curriculum and now Marc is coordinator with me at I/M/D.

Got this book today from Till and Tjeerd at frog design Amsterdam, a fine line — how design strategies are shaping the future of business. Written by the founder of frog, Hartmut Esslinger. I had already bought it a while ago, now some time to actually read it. Thanks guys!

I instantly became a fan of the design mind magazine, a self-published magazine by frog design when I got one by Till Grusche, Marketing Manager Europe at frog. It’s a great update on what’s happening in the world through a design lens. It beats most of the design magazines out there. I got the three latest editions today, but you can also buy them or become friends with frog, now also in Amsterdam!

Just read this great book by Hugh MacLeod of gapingvoid.com. A book full with quote-worthy material. Picks you up when you’re down.