Because Everything Looks Better with a Butt In Brian Cook’s debut collection of fun, offbeat illustrations, beers have rears, Tetris® becomes Butris and balloons bear backsides. Hot dog buns have buns of their own, and condiments are down-right cheeky. Shatter your assumptions about who and what can rock a rump because with a little imagination, anything is possible. Whether you’re seeking a good chuckle, are into unconventional art or are simply looking to get to the bottom of an eccentric curiosity, you won’t want to put this gem of a book down.
Have you ever wondered why some video game characters wear trousers and others don’t? Or pondered the connection between a character’s toned, muscular derrière and their level of dexterity? What about the depth of a crack, the jiggle of a cheek? When it comes to video game character designs, one of the most overlooked aspects is the buttocks. Sure, we might appreciate a nice toned butt on a character or giggle at GIFs of farts from time to time, but how often do we stop to really think about the meaning of the butt? In Things I Learned from Mario’s Butt, video game critic Laura Kate Dale brings backsides to the foreground, analysing dozens of posteriors and asking the important questions: Has Mario let himself go? Do Link’s small buttocks hold him back? When he dies, is Pac-Man eaten by his own caboose? Wedged full of original artwork by Zack Flavin, and featuring interviews with game developers and guest butt reviews from gaming favourites such as Jim Sterling, Stuart Ashen, Brentalfloss and more, this book is a deep dive into why butts are downright integral to the games we play. So, crack it open and have a cheeky look inside at some of the most interesting bottoms the world of video games has to offer.
“Winning, cheeky, and illuminating….What appears initially as a folly with a look-at-this cover and title becomes, thanks to Radke’s intelligence and curiosity, something much meatier, entertaining, and wise.” —The Washington Post “Lively and thorough, Butts is the best kind of nonfiction.” —Esquire, Best Books of 2022 A “carefully researched and reported work of cultural history” (The New York Times) that explores how one body part has influenced the female—and human—experience for centuries, and what that obsession reveals about our lives today. Whether we love them or hate them, think they’re sexy, think they’re strange, consider them too big, too small, or anywhere in between, humans have a complicated relationship with butts. It is a body part unique to humans, critical to our evolution and survival, and yet it has come to signify so much more: sex, desire, comedy, shame. A woman’s butt, in particular, is forever being assessed, criticized, and objectified, from anxious self-examinations trying on jeans in department store dressing rooms to enduring crass remarks while walking down a street or high school hallways. But why? In Butts: A Backstory, reporter, essayist, and RadioLab contributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out. Spanning nearly two centuries, this “whip-smart” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) cultural history takes us from the performance halls of 19th-century London to the aerobics studios of the 1980s, the music video set of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” and the mountains of Arizona, where every year humans and horses race in a feat of gluteal endurance. Along the way, she meets evolutionary biologists who study how butts first developed; models whose measurements have defined jean sizing for millions of women; and the fitness gurus who created fads like “Buns of Steel.” She also examines the central importance of race through figures like Sarah Bartmann, once known as the “Venus Hottentot,” Josephine Baker, Jennifer Lopez, and other women of color whose butts have been idolized, envied, and despised. Part deep dive reportage, part personal journey, part cabinet of curiosities, Butts is an entertaining, illuminating, and thoughtful examination of why certain silhouettes come in and out of fashion—and how larger ideas about race, control, liberation, and power affect our most private feelings about ourselves and others.
Feeling like she does not fit in with the other members of her family, who are all thin, brilliant, and good-looking, fifteen-year-old Virginia Shreves tries to deal with her self-image, her first physical relationship, and her disillusionment with some of the people closest to her. 10,000 first printing.
"I've been in Florence for now two days, still brutally jet-lagged. I keep waking up at a 4 or 5 in the morning. These have been slow, long days. Already a pace aggressively different than the last few weeks in LA for me. It feels good though. There's a kind of whiplash, still reeling from the absurd, unnecessary non-stop-ness of my end-of-semester weeks in late April/early May. Many things to learn from, which is why it feels so good to be here. And why I write to you now, not simply because it's been far too long, but also because you are an inspiration! I cannot help but think about your travels and yes, your wisdom, when reeling slowly and pleasurably, freshly here in Tuscany." --Erik Benjamins, Butts of FlorenceIn 2006, Erik Benjamins, a Los Angeles-based artist, spent six months in Florence, Italy as an American student abroad. Eight years later, in 2014, he returned for six weeks to teach, walk, watch, think, eat, and learn. Butts of Florence, published now for the first time by No Style Press, is a collection of writing and photographs taken during this six-week stay. Formally stunning black and white photographs of the butts of various Florentine sculptures punctuate writing that adopts the forms of diaristic entries, appropriated letter writing, travel guide tips, restaurant reviews, and poetic prose. Together, text and image build the arc of a humorous, hungry, critical, introspective, romantic, and grateful visitor to one of the most storied cities in history."This compact volume packs a punch--the perfect literary companion for a jaunt to Italy. A game changer." --Dr. Anthony Martin, molecular biologist and director of PATAO
We just can’t get enough of the funny stuff kids say. We share our own children’s gems with friends and family. If we’re smart, we write down these scraps of accidental poetry. And we turn them into books. Martin Bruckner is an artist and father who not only recorded the sayings of his daughter, Harper, but used each as the inspiration for a work of art. After posting them on social media, Bruckner became the artist that other parents sought out to transform their own children’s funny words into artwork. Collected here are 100 mini-posters of pure delight, a marriage of the children’s surprising wisdom and the artist’s nimble style, plus the occasional backstory that amplifies both. Every parent will recognize the spirited declarations of personality—“I’m training to be a wolf.” The endearing mangling of language—“Mommy, I don’t need your mouth to talk to me right now.” The creative mixing of metaphors—“I need a tissue to wipe my feelings.” Those precious, heartbreaking outbursts without guile or filters—“I only love you at the toy store.” Illustrated with sweetness and whimsy, each is a window into the irresistible innocence of childhood, even if the sentiment is “Dad, please wipe the bum of this beautiful princess.”
Did you know manatees swim using farts? Or that herrings communicate by passing gas? Butts are used for breathing, eating, swimming, talking, and even killing in the animal kingdom. Focusing on ten different animals and their derrières, and offering fun facts about their origin, habitat, and "posterior power," this hilarious book captures the wonder of our ecosystem. Which animal has the coolest butt power? That's up to you to decide! An MASL Dogwood Reader's Award Title Towner Award Winner 2024 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List Selection
Tall butts, short butts, round butts, flat butts. Butts on mummies and butts on mommies. Butts on giraffes and elephants and dogs and... FISH? Yes, even fish butts are celebrated in this tribute to backsides, rumps, tushies, keisters, heinies, and derrieres. Dozens of funny rhymes and pages of laugh-out-loud pictures pay homage to a body part that keeps kids and grown-ups giggling with glee. Bottoms up!
