The Textbook Solution

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

With a new school year on the horizon, college and university students the world over are searching for affordable solutions to the dreaded textbook buying spree. This helpful infographic explores innovative ways to bring down the exorbitant cost of textbook purchases. Of course, the big publishers are recalcitrant as always.

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You Asked For It

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

When I meet readers of Travel Between The Pages, they often comment on the numerous photographs of libraries and bookshops that appear on the blog. Comment in a positive way that is. So, here are some more “library porn” shots to tide you bibliophiles over until we return.

Posted in Books, Europe, Libraries | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Literary Jukebox

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Writer Maria Popova has launched an irresitible new blog called the Literary Jukebox. The ultra-minimalist tumblr matches a significant passage from a favorite book with a thematically related song each day. I was hooked on my first visit, when Maria linked  “I See You, You See Me” by The Magic Numbers (a way underrated group by the way) with a Susan Sontag quotation—

“The old puzzle: I ‘see” someone. But then how can that person “see’ me?”

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iTypewriter for the Nostalgic

Posted on August 25, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Austin Yang is an Edinburgh-based product and industrial designer with a sardonic sense of humor and a gift for shrewd technological mashups. His neat iTypewriter allows users to enjoy the old-time feel of typing on a traditional machine while reaping the myriad benefits of the handy iPad. It’s a great option for us wistful, sentimenalists who actually miss the clack of real typewriter keys. Check-out his website for other clever designs before Apple hires him away.

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No Assembly Required

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Love it or hate it, IKEA is known the world over for its cleverly designed home furnishings, innovative marketing campaigns and big box stores. Now the global colossus has set its sights on an entirely new market—budget hotels.

Inter IKEA, the owner of the IKEA brand, has announced that it plans to build at least 100 budget boutique hotels around Europe over the next few years. The first IKEA brand hotels are set for Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and the U.K.. There’s no word on expansion to the Americas or Asia, yet.

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Encouraging Entropy

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Way back on August 27, 2010, we posted a story on a marvelous bibliographic installation in the woods of Quebec, Canada titled Jardin de la Connaissance. This joint project by artist Rodney Latourelle and landscape architects 100 Landschaftsarchitektur involved stacked walls, rooms, seating and carpets of books in a forest clearing.

As you would expect, nature took its course and decay set in. But recently, the artists have started to help nature along by cultivating additional colorful fungi and moss on the books. I can’t wait to see what it will look like in another two years.

Photos © A.R. Mongeon

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15 Tips on Writing

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

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MoMA Unadulterated

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Audio Tour Hack is a playful band of artists and communication professionals who collaborate with museums, galleries and businesses to create interactive and entertaining content. Their most recent project, MoMA Unadulterated, enlisted a gaggle of 3 to 10 year old kids to tour New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s 4th floor galleries and to record their impressions of the artwork.

Here’s a short video on the project, but be sure to visit the Audio Tour Hack website to hear all of the kids’ commentary on Giacometti, Pollock, Cy Twomby, Ed Ruscha, Warhol, Joseph Beuys and more.

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What makes Paris look like Paris

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Even if you have never had the opportunity to visit Paris, you probably have a very clear notion of what the city’s distinctive architecture looks like. Not simply the iconic sights, such as Notre Dame and the Louvre, but the apartment blocks and residential neighborhoods. Well, now a group of scholars from Carnegie Mellon University and the École Normale Supéeieure have found a way to determine “What makes Paris look like Paris”.

The project involves processing thousands of Google Street View images that help to identify the idiosyncratic architectural elements that make up the city’s unique visual identity.

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This Is Where We Live

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Many thanks to Rick Pell for the link to this captivating short animated film produced by Apt Studio and Asylum Films for the 25th anniversay celebrations of British  4th Estate Publishers. Readers in the U.K. probably know that 4th Estate publishes Doris lessing, Hilary Mantel, Nicola Barker, Sebastian Junger and about a hundred other great authors.

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