10.14.07
Posted in Toys & Comics, Books, Art at 11:04 am by nickeve
If you like toys or action figures, you must take a look at Super #1 Robot a wonderful book of photos looking at Japanese robot toys from 1972 to 1982. The toys themselves are amazing, ranging from your typical Voltron type gundams to wonderfully whimsical robos such as the Robo X series by Takara. No matter how fond your memories might be of Gobots or transformers, the bots in this book will blow them away. The photographs themselves are superb, showing each toy is deep detail and in an amazingly majestic light. If you are looking for the hippest pocket sized coffee table book imaginable, give this one a look.
On a design note, interior designers should be looking at these things to complement modern looks, and video game designers should be using these for the look of modern Video Games.
Click here to Shop for Super #1 Robot >>
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05.04.07
Posted in Books at 1:34 pm by nickeve
Nick Says
You Should Buy Next of Kin (click here)
You will learn many, many things from this book, but the two things you’ll never forget are that
1) Roger Fouts is a good man and a great writer
and
2) chimpanzees are amazing. Utterly amazing.
This book will make you want to learn American Sign Language so that you can converse with Washoe and the rest of her family at The Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute as well as with Chimpanzees and other primates all over the world.
It’s a very lively read, as Roger knows how to tell a story, and his story has its dramatic twists and curves with familiar characters we have all seen in our own lives (the insensitive boss, the mad scientist, the loving mother, the happy child). In brief, it is the story of Roger Fouts’ career working with chimpanzees that began almost by accident when he met Washoe in 1967 and went to work with Allen and Beatrix Gardener.
You’ll learn not only about chimps and people and their stories together, but also just how important Gestural Communication is to primates (including of course ourselves). I was glad to hear the other day that more research is being done regarding gestural language and Bonobos (you may have seen the recent NPR story about Primate Gestures).
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02.19.07
Posted in Books at 11:02 pm by nickeve
If you like stories about King Arthur, you must read The Once and Future King by T.H. White. It is an utterly charming version of the legend that makes Merlyn into at once a much more entertaining, endearing, and interesting wizard than in other versions of the tales. White’s book takes metaphors and details from tons of anachronistic periods and treats the legends more like a springboard for thought in the contemporary world than as a stuffy retelling of old lore. Much like the book Grendel which retells the classic epic Beowulf from a new perspective, The Once and Future King gives an entirely new perspective on all the characters you think you know as well as the general mythos of the knight. I love, love, love this book, and would recommend it to anyone, especially those that are still quite childish at heart.
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