As I've said, you can never really have too many notebooks. These Camp Trip Notebooks from Trails of Escape in particular are great tools for planning and journaling your next outdoors excursion. The cover lets you fill in a trip location and date range, while the inner pages contain gear-packing checklists and pages where you can capture your thoughts during the trip.…
I rarely need a book light at home because my wife is nearly as much of a night owl as I am. The times when I do require one are more specific—for example, on a long road trip when it's getting dark outside and I happen to be riding passenger, reading a book I'm not ready to put down yet. This is…
Here at Tools & Toys, we don't think there is such a thing as having too many notebooks in one's life. Here's another one you should add to your collection (especially if you're an aviation nerd): FLIGHTBOOK. Inspired by the 1956 edition of The Observer's Book of Aircraft, the covers of these graph-paper notebooks contain some neat bits of aviation trivia, while…
Coal Headwear has teamed up with Draplin Design Co. to produce a special, limited-edition Field Notes set that is timed perfectly for both the 4th of July and the World Cup. This beautiful Americana-inspired 3-pack is of the graph paper variety, and will run you $12 + US-only shipping (which was $5 for me).
The recently-released third edition of Andy Affleck's ebook Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac brings the book into the current era of podcasting. It now covers: Recording and editing with GarageBand 10 and Audacity New information about recording Skype conversations Step-by-step instructions on recording with an iOS device New profiles of experienced podcasters, including Chuck Joiner, Louis Trapani, Kelly Guimont, and…
This weekend my wife and I each had the pleasure of starting and finishing Neil Gaiman's popular 2013 novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. In stark contrast with his lighthearted children's book Fortunately the Milk, Ocean is a dark tale that resurfaces in the mind of its protagonist as he recalls a series of disturbing events from his youth.…
This season's entry in the Field Notes COLORS lineup is the new "Arts and Sciences" edition. At 4.75" x 7.5", these notebooks are noticeably larger than the standard 3.5" x 5.5" Field Notes. Rather than shipping as a three-pack of the same notebook, this edition contains two distinct models: the wine-colored "Arts" notebook and the dark slate "Sciences" notebook. Each is respectively…
Ride North is a Kickstarter project by photographers Sebastiaan de With and Stuart Philkill. They will soon be embarking on a motorcycle road trip from San Francisco to Alaska, and documenting the entire journey. The Kickstarter is not intended to fund the trip itself—they've already saved up for that accordingly—but rather a set of high-quality physical prints and a photo book with…
Just when I thought nobody could possibly innovate in the notebook space, along comes a Kickstarter project to prove me wrong. Magnote magnetic notebooks look like simple notebooks on the surface, but their covers and spines are comprised of neodymium magnets. This allows the notebooks to be attached to one another for easy storage, and separated only as needed. Each Magnote is…
When I was a kid, nothing caused more heated arguments between me and my friends than our game consoles of choice. As a Sega fanboy at the time—and a hardcore PlayStation enthusiast later—I was always in the minority at school. Console Wars, a new book by Blake J. Harris, explores the actual rivalry between the Nintendo and Sega corporations that took place…
Epic! is one of the cooler subscription services I've seen in a while. For $5 a month (the first month is free), your iPad gains unlimited access to a huge, highly curated library of eBooks for kids 12 and under. Watch the promo video to see how it works. The books work in landscape and portrait modes, and new books are added…
The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday uses the tenets of stoicism to give you an interesting perspective on life's challenges. Rather than feeling utterly defeated at every wrong turn, Holiday wants you to view such obstacles as teachable moments that can fuel your ambition rather than snuff it out. It's not about gushy optimism, it's about having relentless persistence in…
Mark Frauenfelder—editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools—recently published an awesome book for geeky dads called Maker Dad: Lunch Box Guitars, Antigravity Jars, and 22 Other Incredibly Cool Father-Daughter DIY Projects. As the name suggests, the book contains a bunch of projects intended for fathers and their daughters to have fun building together. These projects teach your kid some important skills (like programming…
Man, time really flies. It's already been a year since Commander Chris Hadfield took the world by storm and did that awesome cover of "Space Oddity" while aboard the ISS. Not content to reinvigorate the world's sense of wonder about space and science, the man has also written a top-selling book. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth is sort of a…
I've had The Golem and the Jinni on my Amazon wish list for a while. Despite all the acclaim for the book I've heard and read, it took a potentially* spoiler-ish episode of the Technical Difficulties podcast—wherein they interview the book's author, Helene Wecker—for me to finally pick up a copy. I'm only about a third of the way in as of…
Written and illustrated by Nathan W. Pyle, NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette is all about the unwritten rules of society that people in the Big Apple (and cities everywhere, really) often get wrong. The book offers friendly tips and advice to visitors and New Yorkers alike, answering important questions such as: What is a bodega? How do I walk on an escalator?…
If you like maps, this is the book for you. A Map of the World collects the cartographic designs of designers, illustrators, and mapmakers from all around the world. Some are surprisingly detailed and accurate, while others are of the 'artistic interpretation' variety. This is the kind of book you can get lost in for days, taking in all of its whimsical…
The Sketchnote Workbook is the upcoming follow-up to Mike Rohde's popular guide, The Sketchnote Handbook.* In the original book, Mike taught you how to use sketchnotes to visually capture ideas and remember key bits of information. In The Sketchnote Workbook he expands on those concepts, showing how to adapt your sketchnote skills to all sorts of areas outside of boring office meetings…
When I recently recommended 1Password, I mentioned a few of its features but there is so much more to the app than I could possibly cover here. That's why you should pick up a copy of TidBITS senior editor Joe Kissell's eBook, Take Control of 1Password. In this book, Joe takes you from 1Password's initial setup and configuration all the way to…
Perfect Coffee at Home, written by former U.S. Marines Michael Haft and Harrison Suarez and available only on the iBookstore for iPad, is all about the joys and methods of brewing an awesome cup—you guessed it—at home. They explain all the factors that go into every cup, and how you can tweak them step-by-step to get the best results. Haft and Suarez…