Since moving to the Big Apple, illustrator Nathan Pyle has been sharing his growing insider knowledge of NYC cultural norms and quirks with his ongoing NYC Basic Tips & Etiquette project and book. Pyle’s insightful tips cover everything from taxis, avoiding scams, NYC geography, sidewalk tangos, riding the subways, and much more. You can follow Pyle’s daily updates on Facebook and his website.
Brooklyn-based artist/designer Kelli Anderson has created an amazing little pop-up book that transforms into a working camera. This Book Is A Camera is a brilliantly designed camera obscura that is packaged as a book that comes complete with B&W Ilford film paper, instructions, developing tips, and lightproof bag. The book is a clever demonstration of the intersection of design, function and science. What a great gift for kids of all ages. It’s available for just $29 at Anderson’s website.
Since 1999, the Canadian Pacific Railway has celebrated the holidays with a special decorated train that visits communities around Canada and the United States. The 1,000 foot long, 14 car train is decorated with hundreds of thousands of multicolor LED lights. Along with seasonal cheer, the Holiday Train has a greater purpose; it collects cash and food donations for local food banks and pantries along its route. Over the years, the train has raised more than CAD $10.6 million and collected more than 3.3 million pounds of food. Check the website to see if the Holiday Train is coming your way.
Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto has been freely available in most countries for decades, but for the first time since World War II Mein Kampf will be legally published in Germany. The book, which will include 3,500 scholarly annotations, will be available as a two volume set totaling 1,948 pages, and it will be released to bookstores on January 8, 2016.
Published by the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich, the first run of Hitler, Mein Kampf. A Critical Edition will be just 4,000 copies, with a retail price of €59. Coincidently, the book’s copyright enters the public domain on January 1, 2016.
We have recently seen the clever annotation of maps for the London Underground and the New York City subway system that indicate walking times between transit stations. Now, Paris transit planner Guillaume Martinetti has created a similar map using information from RATP and Google Maps walking predictor function. Based on this unofficial map, it appears possible to spend as little time as three minutes walking between some central Paris Metro stations. A great way to save on your travel budget, spend more time experiencing the city, and getting some exercise to boot.
In an effort to encourage more people to read, Brazilian publisher L & PM Pocket gave away a collection of paperback books that doubled as subway tickets for the São Paolo transit system. The ten different titles, ranging from Sherlock Holmes to Shakespeare, had RFID cards built-in.
Back in 2010, New Jersey author Jenny Milchman started the Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day. Over the years, the project has grown from just 80 U.S. bookstores to more than 700 participating in the event worldwide. So on Saturday December 5, 2015, take your kid(s) to a bookstore. If you don’t have any children, borrow a few for the day. I’m sure their parents would appreciate the break. Check out the TYCBD website for more information and the location of participating shops.
The Street Librarian is a documentary about Edward Fungo, the Regional Librarian for Morogoro, Tanzania. Fungo is committed to bringing information technology and literacy to the people of his nation. he tirelessly travels around his region teaching about computer technology and encouraging library use.
The international street art collective Brandalism has taken over more than 600 billboards and advertisements in Paris to mark the UN’s COP21 conference on climate change.At least 80 artists from 19 nations have replaced ads around Paris with subversive messages and parodies to expose corporate greenwashing and the mendacity of the global corporatocracy.
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