The latest in the Field Notes 'Colors' lineup is the gorgeous Night Sky edition. On the back cover you'll find a set of constellations – including Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, Ursa Major/Minor, Draco, Boötes, Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila – with each cover featuring a different group. These are some of the most attractive Field Notes I've ever seen, but maybe I'm a little…
We live in an age when more and more people are making the attempt to become full-time independent writers on the web, myself included. Shawn Blanc, the editor of this site, has already managed to achieve this lofty goal and is quite successful as far as I know, but most of us are still figuring out how to do the same. This…
CreatureBox, who I discovered through Instagram a while back, is the art studio behind the Ratchet & Clank video game series. I absolutely love their artwork (clearly inspired by Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin & Hobbes), which is why I'm super excited that they've collected a bunch of it into something they call The Monster Volume. If you like comic book-style…
The Mythical Man-Month is the book when it comes to software project management. In its nearly 20 years in print, it has defined how good managers approach not only software development, but all sorts of projects. In fact, over 250,000 copies are in print. The 2nd Edition new material, including a retrospective, additional papers and more. You can pick up the paperback…
Learning to Love Evernote is a series of screencasts by Bradley Chambers that have been gathered into an iBook for iPad. The videos are geared toward people who want to use Evernote, but haven't quite figured out how to fit it into their workflow yet. It first covers the basics of the Evernote interface (notebooks, stacks, etc) and then shows you different…
One of my favorite tech writers on the web, Patrick Rhone, recently released Apple Consulting - A Minimal Guide. This project started out as a simple blog post detailing how one can make a career out of being a Mac Consultant to individuals and/or small organizations, and after initial interest exploded, it has grown into a full-blown ebook that is being updated…
I like to joke that my approach to editing CSS goes something like this: Right-click, 'Inspect Element' Find the appropriate selector Mash the keyboard until it works Needless to say, I can always use a little help when it comes to web design. This book, written by Jon Duckett, is a great resource for such knowledge. There's nothing contained within it that…
I'm a big fan of Andrew Kim's blog, Minimally Minimal (you may know him from his awesome rebranding concept for Microsoft). He's a product designer who not only showcases his own work, but also likes to post reviews of all kinds of products, always with a focus on minimalism, function, and beauty. Every review is chock full of beautiful photography, where his…
Despite what critics claim, the iPad is a device made for creation. In his new book, Thord Daniel Hedengren discusses iOS' built-in apps, third-party apps, keyboards and details about cloud services. In it, he builds the case that iOS — and the iPad — is a great writing tool. The one-app-at-a-time model can cut down on distractions, and the iPad's great battery…
Ash Furrow is a well-known iOS app developer with a great goal: teaching people how to program. His Indiegogo project is all about it, in fact. Ash's new project is an ebook titled Your First iOS App. In it, Ash will cover the basics of Objective-C and iOS-specific topics. It's more than a book, however. Here's what Ash's project entails: In exchange…
David Sparks, also known on the web as MacSparky, has added a new edition to his Field Guides series, this one focusing on Markdown (which is an excellent writing syntax for the web, for those of you not already familiar with it). It aims to get a complete beginner up-to-speed on Markdown, then ventures into some pretty advanced territory, so there should…
With Apple's insane success and popularity in the recent years, there are throngs of Apple customers that aren't aware how the company — or it's products — were started. Revolution in the Valley, by Andy Hertzfield is a look at how the Macintosh came to be. The book traces the skunkworks project from 1979 until 1984, when the Macintosh went on sale for the…
I love it when someone takes a standard idea and puts an interesting new spin on it. Such is the case with the tome-like Lumio Lamp, a Kickstarter project. This object opens up like an accordion into a pleasantly bright lamp, which can run for eight hours continuously on a single charge. It's charming, aims to be eco-friendly, and thanks to the…
I — like Shawn and Chris — have projects we consider side work or freelance. For my part, isn't much, but it is enough that it can spiral out of control if I don't manage it well. I think that's true for most people who do freelance, actually. Thankfully, we don't have to do it alone. Freelance designer, editor and all-around-nice-guy Aaron Mahnke…
For those not in the know, Blue Bottle Coffee is one of the highest-regarded coffee roasters in the business. They have unrelenting passion and focus when it comes to serving up high quality coffee, so their reputation is well deserved. Whether or not you've had the opportunity to try their coffee, their book, The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee is a fascinating…
Published in October 1997, Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group is a 288-page book that looks at the design languages Apple used up until that time. With 400 color photos, this coffe-table book documents the industrial design that even then was ahead of its time — and remember, this is before things like the iMac and iPhone came along.…
Ever wonder what happens to cities that build giant complexes to host the Olympics after the games are done? What comes of those massive stadiums and complexes? The Olympic City is a new book on Kickstarter that documents this very phenomenon. $10 will get you a digital copy, with a 200-page hard copy book heading your way for $85. The Kickstarter project…
The Sketchnote Handbook is a in-depth guide to how to use sketches to capture and share information. The book includes guides to draw faces, shapes and simple objects easily and without the fear many people have of drawing. This edition includes access to 70 minutes of video tutorials where viewers can see the author demonstrating drawing techniques discussed in the book. Homework:…
Lots of Star Wars fans are also LEGO nerds. For those who are (my hand is raised), this book should really get the juices flowing. This illustrated encyclopedia features images of over 300 LEGO Star Wars minifigures, explaining how they are built, and detailing all of the little design touches we've all come to love and appreciate over the years.
This book provides a unique, behind-the-scenes of the newest James Bond film, Skyfall. Photographer Greg Williams worked during the shooting of the film to capture the crew, actors and scenes that make up what looks like a killer new film. Skyfall is the twenty-third Bond film and marks the fiftieth anniversary of the movie franchise. If you want to add something to…