I figure everyone must use Froogle by now, but in case you don't here is the scoop. As a tool and product junkie I can't live without it. It's simply the first (and usually the only) place to go to find out where to get hold of anything sold. Rather than winnow through web pages refering to some product, use Froogle to select only sites that are actually selling the thing. Simple, powerful, brilliant. It's Google's better half.

-- KK

Recently Paul Saffo and Stewart Brand were raving about the Buff, the all-in-one garment. I am picky and a minimalist when it comes to clothing, but the Buff, in addition to being a shape-shifter, also weighs almost nothing, so I thought I should try it. It's pretty neat, now part of my pack. --KK
Here is what Paul Saffo wrote:

Y'all probably have known about Buff forever, but in case not, this thing is way cool. Described as "the original multi-functional Seamless Wear", it is a stretchy microfiber tube that can be a neckerchief/neck-scarf, headband, wristband, foulard, bandit-mask, hand-warmer, balaclava and more. I mostly use it as a neck-scarf when biking, and on hikes when it turns cool. Because it is microfiber, it has great thermal and wicking properties -- and it is a great glasses-cleaner.

Stewart Brand adds:
Do see their online movies of the ways to rig a Buff.

Buff
About $18
Available from Amazon

The technical aspects of cooking are usually overlooked. Kitchen gear is addressed by most publications, if at all, when it is fancy and untried. This paper magazine, however, tests equipment, gadgets, and recipes -- new and old -- in a relentless quest for the best kitchen stuff. Cook's Illustrated is at liberty to be honest in their recommendations because they have no ads -- no one to please but avid readers. The tests are amazingly thorough, and astoundingly informative. They examine everything from basic ingredients (sea salt, bread flour, olive oil) to high-end equipment (what is the best mixer), as well as state-of-the-art in standard instruments like garlic presses, frying pans, oven thermometers, etc. I find their comparison methods to be more realistic and far more useful than Consumer Reports; and of course they evaluate far more items than CR ever would. They also obsessively taste-test popular recipes in hundreds of variations, and research the mysteries behind each ingredient. I learn tons each issue -- about foodstuffs, about cooking, and about eating. Best of all, these folks make it very clear when a new tool or technique is not worth the trouble, and how you could manage with an old version. Unlike most magazines, back issues of Cook's don't age. This is the 2600 for cooking nerds.

-- KK

Cook's Illlustrated
One year subscription (6 issues)
$25
800-526-8442

The most biological portrait of our planet yet. Life on earth clusters into ecological tribes, and each tribe inhabits a particular kind of place, or biome. Thus each of 86 categories of biomes, or bioregions, are mapped here in representational and related colors. This is the anatomy of our biosphere.

This map provides greater detail than the now-out-of-print CQ World Bioregions, or the UN Biome maps previously recommended. The disadvantage of this chart is that most of the pertinent text explaining each of the hundreds of biomes resides on a website and not the map itself. The advantage is the up-to-date, finely resolved understanding of which ecological systems live where.

-- KK
Wild World Map
$7.50
National Geographic
800-962-1643
303-670-3457

(This is a nifty support page for the map, but you can't order this map online; only by phone.)

The authority of a book is astounding. Take text as it appears on your screen, print it on paper, bind between covers, and those words will get more attention and respect than they would on a website or stapled as a report. We don't know how long this cultural bias will prevail, but as long as it does, you can take advantage of outfits that print short runs of soft-bound books.

I recently produced a 120-page book that reproduced a sketch journal I kept while bicycling across America. I scanned the images and sent the printer the files of the completely designed book. They sent me back 200 copies at $3.23 per copy. And I could have ordered as few as 10 books.

Sample pages can be viewed here.

I did another small run of a book of weird drawings, this time only 100 copies. The curious can find it here on amazon.

This was not only cheaper than having them copied at Kinkos, it was more handsome and handy since the pages were perfect bound. I use them as gifts; they appear as authortative as any other book on your bookshelf.

Two recent advances are behind this service. The first is a high-speed Xerox document machine called DocuTech 6100 series, which prints rapidly (180 pages per minute) using inexpensive toner driven by computers. There is no ink, film or plate.

This high tech machine is finding a home in clean rooms of printing plants; you feed it digital files; it looks like a long copy machine. For print runs of less than 1,500 copies, this process will be cheaper per book; beyond that it's cheaper to print with ink. The advantage of this short-run zone is that there is little penalty for printing only a few books; the cost per copy remains the same, unlike in most print jobs. Technically, since you aren't producing each book as you need it (that's true books on demand) but in very small lots, this type of printing is called Print Quantity Needed (PQN).

The second piece of equipment that makes this small-time publishing work is the binder, such as the Amigo Perfect Binder. Small lots of books can be squarely and instantly glued into paper-back books at very little cost, and with minimal skill.

The combination of both tools produces a book that is indistinguishable from one you would buy in a book store, yet can be produced in more personal quantities. (All I've said applies to black and white printing. On-demand color printing is used primarily for the cover only.) Since Amazon now accepts any book with an ISBN number and bar code, anyone can truly be in the publishing channel. On-demand books are sold on Amazon.

To capture the full economy of on-demand printing, you need to ready your material digitally. You should do any scanning that might be needed. The book should end up in a layout program such as Quark or InDesign, with font and picture files inserted. Aim to deliver the entire book on a CD. Any book with pages larger than a normal 8 x11 will be problematic. There's a sweet spot in this technology at a page size of about 6 x 9, which is your standard trade paperback, so think that size. New York publishers use this technology all the time now to print the 300-500 "advance" copies (called gallies) that they send to reviewers. As the technology progresses they will eventually use something similar to print all the books.

Because a load of books can be heavy, delivery at the finish can be a problem. Local is good. If you find a great bargain out of state, it could be worth having them shipped to you by postal media rate.

The dream of going from a Word or Quark file to a printed book, in small quantities, for reasonable rates is here. But printers are not publishers. If you want to peddle your book yourself on Amazon (and why not?), you'll need the additional advice of the Self Publishing Manual to steer you through the procedure.

After some scouting in Calfornia for a reliable on-demand book printer I get the best quotes from DeHART'S; they printed my first two books.

DeHART'S Printing Services
3265 Scott Blvd
Santa Clara, CA 95054
1-888-982-4763

Outside of California, we've used Commercial Communications, Inc.

Commercial Communications, Inc.

1225 Walnut Ridge Drive
Hartland, WI 53029
262-369-5634
800-332-2348

525 W. Alameda Dr. #101
Tempe, AZ 85282
877-224-9378

The fetish aspect of new gadgets leave me cold. I much prefer to hear about stuff that people have lived with and worn down, but still find love for. The web tends to offer sanctuary to the former, and not the latter. In my constant search for a decent web site that tracks and review gear with street cred I have only landed a few keepers. My favorite all-around gizmo site right now is Gizmodo. Run almost single-handedly by a freelance Wired writer, it is a simple blog detailing the newest gadgets each day. Occasionally he will review a particular item, but most times he is merely pointing to a product release. The chief attraction to me is the broad scope of his collection, and a sensible restraint of enthusiasm.

Gizmodo

The ever-innovative Amazon has a cool site that is little known, and is somewhat helpful in tracking what's new in gear. Their "Early Adopters" page automatically generates a list of new stuff they are selling. It's naked data, but cleanly delivered.

-- KK

Amazon Early Adopters

I enjoy Japan because it is so richly Other. Central to Japanese "otherness" is the bath. Like the famous tea ceremony, it's larger than it seems. The shortest route into traditional Japanese culture is a soak in a very hot bath, preferable in a communal bathhouse, more preferably in an intimate, well-crafted hot spring located in a mossy thatched inn with paper doors and tatami floors at the end of a trail. Problem is this romantic ideal is very hard to locate, especially for foreigners. But they do exist. This wonderfully small, intimate and well-crafted book will guide to you the few remaining really traditional hot spring (onsen) in Japan. Despite this guidebook, you'll only find Japanese staying there. The author has visited several hundred Japanese onsen (I've been to maybe a dozen) and will save you the incredibly depressing experience of winding up in a hideous concrete over-commercialized urban disaster - which is what most of the springs have become. Any one of the chosen here are little-known national treasures worth going way out of your way to soak in overnight and soak up.

-- KK

Japan's Hidden Hot Springs
Robert Neff
1995, 180 pages
$11 from Amazon

How to get unstuck. Pick a card at random and either 1) do what it says or 2) let it lead you to another idea. It's amazingly effective. This handsomely boxed stack of cards was created by the lateral genius Brian Eno and good friend Pete Schmidt in 1975 to get themselves and other musicians unstuck in the studio. It's been through four updated editions since.

I use this tool in any design situation to think differently. In life I've found it more productive than throwing the I-Ching or staring at the wall.

This fifth printed edition on heavy silky stock will pop your rut. Or, you can click on over to an Eno-fan web site where a button will reveal a random card on the screen. Go to enoweb

But the form of Oblique Strategies I currently find most useful is a tiny desktop utility that pops up on my computer screen on demand. A click on the beautiful silver card will produce a random rule. Since I do much of my work at the screen, having the digital cards "always on" is perfect. This little gem is free, but only runs on MacOSX. The one improvement I crave is to be able to add my own strategies -- I have a bunch. Ideally, there'd be a place to share and swap oblique strategies.

More than you wanted to know about Oblique Strategies in its various editions and forms, plus links to digital versions for other platforms including Windows and the Palm (!) are available at this amazingly complete fan site: Oblique Strategies

-- KK

Oblique Strategies
One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas
5th Edition
30 Pounds, or about $50
From the Eno Shop
enoshop

Oblique Strategies
MacOSX software
Free from
curvedspace

For a long while I've been looking for an expert who could guide me through the complex world of typography. I didn't need another artsy typographical design book. I wanted a reliable friend who could introduce me to the philosophy of type and then also practically guide me through the jungle of fonts to ones that work best. Mr. Bringhurst is that guru. Under his apprentice I understood for the first time how to architecturally shape a page with text, as if I were building a house. I figured out when to kern, or not. Now I find myself drawn back to his study every time I need to craft a book, a webpage, or format a report. The wisdom and experience in this book is astounding. It's for anyone who makes words visible. That's all of us. The book is regularly updated. Blessings on Bringhurst.

-- KK

The Elements of Typographic Style
Robert Bringhurst
2001, 350 pp
$30

Amazon