"Details make a big difference in a small space. That's especially true in bathrooms, where fixtures add finesse and clever storage ideas help the room seem spacious"--Back cover.

How did Richard Ford's cat influence his work as a novelist? How is Chuck Close's portraiture driven by his inability to remember faces? What pivotal moment helped Rosanne Cash understand the healing power of the stage? Creativity is an elusive subject. We enjoy its fruits--movies, novels, paintings, songs--but rarely are we privy to what happens in the creative process. In Spark, journalist Julie Burstein traces the roots of some of the twenty-first century's most influential and creative thinkers, including Joyce Carol Oates, Yo-Yo Ma, David Milch, Isabel Allende, and Joshua Redman. Burstein pulls back the curtain to reveal the sources of these artists' inspiration and the processes that bring their work into being. "These artists may not change lead into gold," Burstein writes, "but they lift materials from their familiar contexts, combining, reshaping, transforming them into works of art that change the way we see the world."--From publisher description.

Following the smashing success of Material World 1 and Material World 2, the third edition in this series, Material World 3: Innovative Materials for Architecture and Design, offers another hundred-plus materials and semi-finished products carefully selected by matériO, the library of emerging materials. Highlighting this exclusive collection, which covers materials with a wide variety of properties and aesthetic qualities, are modular, undulating wall coverings, fish-skin leathers, photovoltaic textiles, and LED lighting systems powered by wafer-thin batteries. Material World 3 promises to satisfy the demand among architects, designers, and students for product information, technical specifications, and suggestions for ways in which to use the latest fascinating materials and finishes. Above and beyond inspiration, the reader finds the names, addresses, phone numbers, and websites of suppliers—all the information needed to contact and purchase every item featured in the book. The team at matériO—intent on informing readers about materials and convinced that innovation emerges largely from maximizing the use of materials and technologies through in-depth knowledge—summarizes fifteen basic concepts to help novices gain a better understanding of this complex topic and to point out, even to the more well-informed reader, aspects of materials that are often overlooked. What do FSC, COV, Cradle to Cradle, and oxo-degradable mean? What are Damascus steel, float glass, and electroluminescence? What’s the story behind the invention of nylon, or of Velcro? Find the answers to these and many other relevant questions in Material World 3. Taken as a whole, these features make Material World 3 a virtually encyclopedic survey of exciting materials and finishes for use in interior design and architecture.

The first concise study of genius in both the arts and the sciences, using the life and work of famous geniuses to illuminate this phenomenon.-publisher description.

We humans pride ourselves on our capacity to have ideas, but perhaps this pride is misplaced. Perhaps ideas have us. After all, ideas do appear to have a life of their own. Many biologists have already come to the opinion that our genes are selfish entities, tricking us into helping them to reproduce. Is it the same with our ideas? Jonnie Hughes, a science writer and documentary filmmaker, investigates the evolution of ideas in order to find out. Adopting the role of a cultural Charles Darwin, Hughes heads off, with his brother in tow, across the Midwest to observe firsthand the natural history of ideas--the patterns of their variation, inheritance, and selection in the cultural landscape. In place of Darwin's oceanic islands, Hughes visits the "mind islands" of Native American tribes. Instead of finches, Hughes searches for signs of natural selection among the tepees.--From publisher description.

"Look who's making dinner! Twenty-one of our favorite writers and chefs expound upon the joys--and perils--of feeding their families. Mario Batali's son boasts a preference for duck testicles. Peter Kaminsky's daughters won't eat anything at all. Mark Bittman reveals the four stages of learning to cook. Mark Kurlansky would love a woman to feed him, just once. Jim Harrison shows how good food and wine trump expensive cars and houses. Jesse Sheidlower searches for words to describe his vegetarianism to his kids. And Stephen King offers tips about what to cook when you don't feel like cooking. More men cook now than ever before, and this is the first book to celebrate those good eggs who toil behind the stove, trying to nourish and please. Their culinary adventures are accompanied by over sixty family-tested recipes, time-saving tips, and cookbook recommendations as well as an array of New Yorker cartoons. Plus, there are interviews with homestyle heroes cooking all across America--a fireman from Brooklyn, a football coach in Atlanta, a lawyer in Philadelphia, a bond trader in Los Angeles. What emerges is a book not just about food but about our changing families. It offers a newfound community for any man who proudly dons an apron and inspiration for those who have yet to pick up the spatula. "--