books + zines

Opened at Random: The Book of Joy “Setting an Intention for the Day”

Today we opened at random the Book of Joy, Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. We found this…

‘When Everything in the World Has Been Lost But Soon We Will Find It Again’ (W.S. Merwin)

In his poetry, W.S. Merwin expressed what lies largely beyond our conscious mind, yet there, waiting to be recognized like this about the inbetween time before spring is fully apparent,

Opened at Random: A Field Guide to Getting Lost (How to Be Rich in Loss)

The other day, Lisa Morphew opened A Field Guide to Getting Lost to this (and then she sent it our way):

Opened at Random: All the Light We Cannot See (How Light Comes From Darkness)

This morning we opened at random All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr to this:

Opened at Random: Why We Sleep, Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

This morning we opened Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams at random and found this…

Opened at Random: A Guide to the I Ching “The Zig Zag Path of the Creative”

This morning we opened A Guide to the I Ching by Carole Anthony at random and found this…

Favorite Gifts I Love To Give

Late with my holiday preparations, I’m just wrapping my head around making food gifts as well as the few gifts I buy. Here’s are favorites that you still have time to order.

Topography of Tears: Like Aerial Views of Emotional Terrain

Looking at tears through a microscope, artist Rose-Lynn Fisher found no two alike, evidence of our inner life overflowing its boundaries, spilling over into consciousness.

Opened at Random: Flights (Olga Tokarczuk) “…the engine that drives changes”

This morning we opend Flights at random and found this…

Courage in a Bottle and Elsewhere…

Furnace Creek Farms clever elixer seems a fine way to get a dose of courage, which we need daily these days. If you can drink it, there are other ways to be reminded of the strength within.

Scraps, Wilt & Leaves: Sublime Trash Cooking with a Michelin Chef

I am inspired and smitten with Scraps, Wilt & Weeds: Turning Wasted Food into Plenty. Michelin star chef Mads Refslund weaves a powerful philosophy of ecology into his cooking that has led him to create gorgeous, do-able dishes out of the foods we routinely throw in the trash.

Honey from a Weed: Simple Rice or Risotto with Dandelion (or other Greens)

It is weed season. Dandelions make me hunger for a simple dish I first read in Honey From a Weed, a cookbook I’ve continued to enjoy for over thirty years. The elemental Macedonian dish morphs into a splendid risotto.

Improvised Life’s Thoughtful Un-Gift Guide

Here’s our list of things we think are worth giving for the way they expand minds/hearts/creativity, or are just downright useful…

Dollar Bills and Other Found Bookmarks

Our friend Jody Lotito Levine pulled out a book she was reading. In it was a bookmark made from a dollar bill. It is one of the better bookmarks we’ve seen, as good as slices of ribbon or a delicate length of toilet paper (below), each having their own unique effect. Using a dollar as a…

To Manage Projects (or Your Life) Do a Quarterly Review

My wife and I had been interested in small, micro-sized startup ideas for over 16 years, at one point pursuing six projects at once. As you can imagine, we were spread so thin, none of the ideas took off. So we began looking for a simple way to manage the chaos of startup ideas and…

Shiny Mud Dumplings, Pies + Other Favorite Spring Recipes

(Video link here.) Friday is the day we usually publish a recipe, hoping that it will prove a delicious weekend activity for our readers. While we recommend your checking out the menu and recipe links for the birthday dinner we’ll be cooking for a friend (at bottom), we can think of no better Spring activity than making…

May Your Life Be Full of Open Books

I’ve taken to leaving books open all over my apartment so I can wander by and read or look at something that I’m mulling or want in my field of vision. It often feels as though gifts or messages from amazing people are scattered throughout my space…

A Cook’s Favorite Gifts for Cooks of all Stripes

Every so often, a friend calls to ask me what cooking equipment to recommend. LONG story! You’ll find an extensive list of equipment for a basic kitchen in A New Way to Cook, along with 700+ pages of essential techniques and recipes. For now, here are my tried-and-true favorites, from high to low and back.

Slotted Angle Iron Shelving, Bed, TV Stand, more

At London’s Southbank Centre, architecture studio Jonathan Tuckey Design created an archival space featuring a mid-century shelving system that echoed the building’s heritage. When we looked closely, we realized it is made of slotted angle iron, an inexpensive structuring material available at many hardware stores. We first realized its potential for creating modular furniture when we bought a second-hand copy of High-Tech, The Industrial…

Emily Dickinson on Possibility via The Lucky Art of Bibliomancy

Recently in a secondhand bookstore, a jazzy little book jumped into my hand. I was drawn to it by its beautiful cover design which read “Dickinson”, meaning Emily. Finding the book, and the first poem I turned to, proved to be a lovely bit of bibliomancy.

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