Books

When I changed high schools after the ninth grade, there was some confusion about how each school handled its history curriculum, and in the shuffle, I lamentably never got a formal education in 20th century world history. I assume this is why I was never required to read this book. Reading it now, decades late to the, uh, party, it’s hard not to wonder how it would have affected me as a teen.

Would it… See more →

I was hopeful, if not naive enough to be confident, that enough people were sufficiently fed up with That Fucking Guy to keep him from returning to the White House. But he will, of course, be returning, and while this time his victory isn’t the shock to the system it was in 2016, his popular vote win, a hair shy of a mandate, still stings plenty. The Democratic Party’s subsequent soul-searching might be morbidly comical… See more →

When you’re looking for a good read for the spooky season, and your buddy @_AndreaJanes is kind enough to write a new book for the occasion. 👍🏻 bookshop.org/p/books/a-haun…

In a revival of an old-school blogging pyramid scheme, my friend Dan Mall wrote about his typical day and tagged me and others to do the same. What follows is a mix of both the aspirational and the factual, and the distance between the two suggests that if life is time management, I’m not especially skilled at life. If you’re not either, read on for sweet, sweet validation.

My alarm goes off at 7:00. These… See more →

Indulging in a pricey collector’s item is a rare occasion for me, but this LeWitt work is an obsession of mine. cubes-revisited.art

Finally found a copy of the book from Sol LeWitt’s original 1974 Incomplete Open Cubes exhibition that cost less than my rent!

A cozy night in with Raymond Chandler.

I finally read @scottmccloud’s Understanding Comics and frankly I’m offended that no educator ever required me to read it.

The books I read this summer.

I want to be @theledu when I grow up. abookapart.com/blogs/press/me…

Hello, dear reader!

April is gone, but its links remain.

I’ve been obsessed with my current personal project lately (more on that soon), so apart from a handful of very brief movie reviews, I didn’t do much writing in April, though the web designers in the audience might want to take a look at my notes from last week’s Generate conference.

The links this go-round include some gems for Prince fans on the second anniversary of… See more →

Happy 102nd birthday to the great Beverly Cleary! I still call lamps “dawnzers” in solidarity with Ramona Quimby. newyorker.com/culture/sarah-…

Loving @mSutters’s illustrations in @kevinmhoffman’s new book, Meeting Design, which promises to be excellent. rosenfeldmedia.com/books/meeting-…

Rereading The Disaster Artist, skeptical as ever that James Franco will convince me his adaptation needed to exist.

There are lots of opportunities for tech to do more good and less harm, and @sara_ann_marie is on the case: sarawb.com/technically-wr…

“‘But who,’ ventured Simone, ‘is here to interrupt us?’ The girls looked around. It was true: there was no one.” newyorker.com/humor/daily-sh…

“It’s like The Big Chill, but with a clown!”

@ChamberMonster has begun reading Stephen King’s “It.”

I worked for Jared Kushner. He’s the wrong businessman to reinvent government.

I worry that this new office will be more of the same: a vanity project, one that exists primarily to put Kushner in the same room with people he admires whom he wouldn’t have had access to before, glossing government agencies in the process with a thin veneer of what appears to be capitalism but is really just nihilistic cost-cutting designed to project… See more →

Loving my man @mSutters’s new book of comics. If you’re looking for something different, this is it. Here’s a taste. lulu.com/shop/matt-sutt…

I can’t wait to dig into the new book from @adactio, my favorite web philosopher. It’s called Resilient Web Design. resilientwebdesign.com

Color management has bewildered and enraged me for decades. No more! Blessed be @chockenberry and @abookapart. abookapart.com/products/makin…

Fear of a Female President

To understand this reaction, start with what social psychologists call “precarious manhood” theory. The theory posits that while womanhood is typically viewed as natural and permanent, manhood must be “earned and maintained.” Because it is won, it can also be lost. Scholars at the University of South Florida and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reported that when asked how someone might lose his manhood, college students rattled off social… See more →

I dusted off my @Luludotcom account to buy @bearskinrug’s long-awaited Ambidextrous Collection 3. You should too. lulu.com/shop/kevin-cor…

Just finished @tanehisicoates’s “Between the World and Me.” It is terrible and beautiful.

Web designers: Want to know more about all the cool stuff SVG can do? @chriscoyier and @abookapart have you covered. abookapart.com/products/pract…

I’m looking forward to digging into this one. twitter.com/vlh/status/757…

I’m looking for a good vacation read, preferably in contemporary horror or neo-noir, but I’m out of the loop on both. Any suggestions?

Just FYI, @abookapart is getting even better. twitter.com/abookapart/sta…

The new @danielclowes book is here! Good news, but now one of the shittiest Guns N’ Roses songs is stuck in my head.

I’m late to the Sass party, but a day after rereading @simplebits’ Sass for Web Designers, I have the bones of my own custom grid framework.

Free copy of @ddemaree’s Git for Humans! Best haiku about modern web dev angst wins. Tag it #GitContestABA. Ends 2/19, 11pm EST. @abookapart

“As hardware has grown more powerful and screens more capable, book-reading software has largely stagnated.” aeon.co/magazine/techn…

“The End of Capitalism Has Begun” by @paulmasonnews is by far the most thought-provoking thing I’ve read this summer. theguardian.com/books/2015/jul…

Obsessives of all stripes will enjoy @the_completist’s analysis of the collected Raymond Chandler film adaptations. thecompleti.st/no2

Hey everybody. My pal @jasonsantamaria wrote an excellent book called On Web Typography, and it is available today! abookapart.com/products/on-we…

The Horror

Contemplating starting a monthly @333books club. /cc @fchimero @iamrumz @pdoughbrie @MerrittJMerritt

“To stop a cold-blooded killer, Lincoln Rhyme must unlock the secrets in THE KILL ROOM.” Starting a club for books advertised on the subway.

The Icon Handbook by @Hicksdesign delivers on its ambitious promise and then some. Comprehensive, clear, fantastic. fivesimplesteps.com/products/the-i…

Does @Grantland33 insist its writers make excessive use of footnotes/asides? Is the David Foster Wallace fanboy demographic that valuable?

Oh, hey, @thepastrybox is going to be a book, and you should get in on it: backified.com/pastry-box-201…

Spiffy new, responsive @abookapart site. I helped out, but @jasonsantamaria and @destroytoday were the real magicians. abookapart.com

Preparing to attack a stack of false starts from the last ten years. Where should I begin?

Chris Ware’s Building Stories has arrived. I’ll need to schedule a weekend for this.

Buddies.

So this erotic best seller evolved from fan fiction based on chaste teen vampire best sellers. I want off this planet.

The day has come. @mike_ftw’s new book, Design Is a Job, is available. I have read it. It is so, so good. abookapart.com/products/desig…

For a company with a finite list of products at very specific sizes, @Luludotcom’s packaging is pretty obnoxious. yfrog.com/kjye3wj

TING-A-LING, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!

Somehow, this idea is even sillier than fan fiction.