so, i have been in the midst of holiday shopping for a few weeks now. i like giving lots of fitting gifts, including jewelry, housewares, and most importantly, books. this year, i found a series of really interesting self-experimental books. the one i'm most interested in buying for myself is keri smith's how to be an explorer of the world: portable life museum. keri smith has made a lot of wild, amazing books, such as the following:
wreck this journal
living out loud
mess: the manual of accidents and mistakes
basically, these are books that take an atypical approach to "books." so awesome. her books seem to encourage people to take an inquiry stance on life and on normative notions of how to live (and how to read/interact with books).
the introduction of mess states, "warning: do not try to make something beautiful. do not throw this book out when you dislike a page. do not play it safe. do not worry about legibility. do have fun. do get dirty. do try something you've never tried before." i'm pretty sure that's life advice disguising itself as book advice. in other words, life is the most important text... something like that.
anyway, i'm tempted to get myself how to be an explorer of the world for the holidays. it's a research/fieldwork workbook on life. one of the book's "rules" is to "start with whatever makes you feel a twinge of excitement." that makes me excited.
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