Creative Acts for Curious People
Creative Acts for Curious People

Author: Sarah Stein Greenberg

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Published: 2021-09-21

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1984858173

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WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • “A delightful, compelling book that offers a dazzling array of practical, thoughtful exercises designed to spark creativity, help solve problems, foster connection, and make our lives better.”—Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author and host of the Happier podcast In an era of ambiguous, messy problems—as well as extraordinary opportunities for positive change—it’s vital to have both an inquisitive mind and the ability to act with intention. Creative Acts for Curious People is filled with ways to build those skills with resilience, care, and confidence. At Stanford University’s world-renowned Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, aka “the d.school,” students and faculty, experts and seekers bring together diverse perspectives to tackle ambitious projects; this book contains the experiences designed to help them do it. A provocative and highly visual companion, it’s a definitive resource for people who aim to draw on their curiosity and creativity in the face of uncertainty. Teeming with ideas about discovery, learning, and leading the way through unknown creative territory, Creative Acts for Curious People includes memorable stories and more than eighty innovative exercises. Curated by executive director Sarah Stein Greenberg, after being honed in the classrooms of the d.school, these exercises originated in some of the world’s most inventive and unconventional minds, including those of d.school and IDEO founder David M. Kelley, ReadyMade magazine founder Grace Hawthorne, innovative choreographer Aleta Hayes, Google chief innovation evangelist Frederik G. Pferdt, and many more. To bring fresh approaches to any challenge–world changing or close to home–you can draw on exercises such as Expert Eyes to hone observation skills, How to Talk to Strangers to foster understanding, and Designing Tools for Teams to build creative leadership. The activities are at once lighthearted, surprising, tough, and impactful–and reveal how the hidden dynamics of design can drive more vibrant ways of making, feeling, exploring, experimenting, and collaborating at work and in life. This book will help you develop the behaviors and deepen the mindsets that can turn your curiosity into ideas, and your ideas into action.

The Secret Language of Maps
The Secret Language of Maps

Author: Carissa Carter

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1984858017

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A highly visual exploration of diagrams and data that helps you understand how "maps" are part of everyday thinking, how they tell stories, and how they can reframe your point of view, from Stanford University's world-renowned d.school. “This book is the ultimate legend to mapping all kinds of data.”—Jessica Hagy, Webby Award-winning blogger of Indexed and author of How to Be Interesting (In Ten Simple Steps) Maps aren’t just geographic, they are also infographic and include all types of frameworks and diagrams. Any figure that sorts data visually and presents it spatially is a map. Maps are ways of organizing information and figuring out what’s important. Even stories can be mapped! The Secret Language of Maps provides a simple framework to deconstruct existing maps and then shows you how to create your own. An embedded mystery story about a woman who investigates the disappearance of an old high school friend illustrates how to use different maps to make sense of all types of information. Colorful illustrations bring the story to life and demonstrate how the fictional character’s collection of data, properly organized and “mapped,” leads her to solve the mystery of her friend’s disappearance. You’ll learn how to gather data, organize it, and present it to an audience. You’ll also learn how to view the many maps that swirl around our daily lives with a critical eye, aware of the forces that are in play for every creator.

Why Fish Don't Exist
Why Fish Don't Exist

Author: Lulu Miller

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-04-06

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1501160346

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Nineteenth-century scientist David Starr Jordan built one of the most important fish specimen collections ever seen, until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake shattered his life's work.

Molly Match
Molly Match

Author: S. Sharron

Publisher:

Published: 2020-11-15

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780982364093

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A rhyming book for children about socks and having mixed match fun with them.

Official Stories
Official Stories

Author: Laurie Brand

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2014-09-03

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780804789608

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Until the recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, the resilience of authoritarian regimes seemed a fundamental feature of regional politics. While economic, political, and internal security policies are most often considered in discussions of regime maintenance, Laurie Brand introduces a new factor, that of national narratives. Portrayals of a country's founding, identity, and bases of unity can be a powerful strategy in sustaining a ruling elite. Brand argues that such official stories, which are used to reinforce the right to rule, justify policies, or combat opponents, deserve careful exploration if we are to understand the full range of tools available to respond to crises that threaten a leadership's hold on power. Brand examines more than six decades of political, economic, and military challenges in two of North Africa's largest countries: Egypt and Algeria. Through a careful analysis of various texts—history and religion textbooks, constitutions, national charters, and presidential speeches—Official Stories demonstrates how leaderships have attempted to reconfigure narratives to confront challenges to their power. Brand's account also demonstrates how leaderships may miscalculate, thereby setting in motion opposition forces beyond their control.

Drawing on Courage
Drawing on Courage

Author: Ashish Goel

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 1984857991

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A practical, illustrated guide to overcoming the challenges of creative work, including where to start, how to give or get feedback, when to change direction, and how to stand up for what matters, from Stanford University’s world-renowned d.school. “Ashish Goel’s magnificently beautiful book illuminates a powerful new way to think about, discover, and act with your own personal courage.”—Dan Roam, international bestselling author of The Back of the Napkin and Draw to Win The everyday moments of creative work can be rife with fear and fraught with risk. Bringing ideas into reality takes courage! In Drawing on Courage, designer, entrepreneur, and d.school teaching fellow Ashish Goel examines what it takes to be courageous. Using comics to illustrate real-world situations with humor and insight, Goel explains the four stages of every courage journey: fear, values, action, and change. And he helps you develop the skills you need to master each stage (even if it scares you), from embracing fear and defining the values that drive you forward to taking action when you're unsure and adapting to the changes that result from your courage. Each chapter features a series of tools designed to develop a mindset of fearlessness: Open the Tap to generate new ideas; develop A Risky Streak to take the all-important first step; or create an Origin Story to remember your purpose. Whether you're launching a side hustle or trying to convince your company to recycle, creativity takes pluck, nerve, and grit. This indispensable guide will help you develop all of those skills and more.

Back Stories
Back Stories

Author: Amahl A. Bishara

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2013-01-09

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0804784272

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Few topics in the news are more hotly contested than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—and news coverage itself is always a subject of debate. But rarely do these debates incorporate an on-the-ground perspective of what and who newsmaking entails. Studying how journalists work in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Nablus, and on the tense roads that connect these cities, Amahl Bishara demonstrates how the production of U.S. news about Palestinians depends on multifaceted collaborations, typically invisible to Western readers. She focuses on the work that Palestinian journalists do behind the scenes and below the bylines—as fixers, photojournalists, camerapeople, reporters, and producers—to provide the news that Americans read, see, and hear every day. Ultimately, this book demonstrates how Palestinians play integral roles in producing U.S. news and how U.S. journalism in turn shapes Palestinian politics. U.S. objectivity is in Palestinian journalists' hands, and Palestinian self-determination cannot be fully understood without attention to the journalist standing off to the side, quietly taking notes. Back Stories examines news stories big and small—Yassir Arafat's funeral, female suicide bombers, protests against the separation barrier, an all-but-unnoticed killing of a mentally disabled man—to investigate urgent questions about objectivity, violence, the state, and the production of knowledge in today's news. This book reaches beyond the headlines into the lives of Palestinians during the second intifada to give readers a new vantage point on both Palestinians and journalism.

Salt in My Soul
Salt in My Soul

Author: Mallory Smith

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2019-03-12

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1984855433

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The diaries of a remarkable young woman who was determined to live a meaningful and happy life despite her struggle with cystic fibrosis and a rare superbug—from age fifteen to her death at the age of twenty-five—the inspiration for the original streaming documentary Salt in My Soul “An exquisitely nuanced chronicle of a terrified but hopeful young woman whose life was beginning and ending, all at once.”—Los Angeles Times Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of three, Mallory Smith grew up to be a determined, talented young woman who inspired others even as she privately raged against her illness. Despite the daily challenges of endless medical treatments and a deep understanding that she’d never lead a normal life, Mallory was determined to “Live Happy,” a mantra she followed until her death. Mallory worked hard to make the most out of the limited time she had, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, becoming a cystic fibrosis advocate well known in the CF community, and embarking on a career as a professional writer. Along the way, she cultivated countless intimate friendships and ultimately found love. For more than ten years, Mallory recorded her thoughts and observations about struggles and feelings too personal to share during her life, leaving instructions for her mother to publish her work posthumously. She hoped that her writing would offer insight to those living with, or loving someone with, chronic illness. What emerges is a powerful and inspiring portrait of a brave young woman and blossoming writer who did not allow herself to be defined by disease. Her words offer comfort and hope to readers, even as she herself was facing death. Salt in My Soul is a beautifully crafted, intimate, and poignant tribute to a short life well lived—and a call for all of us to embrace our own lives as fully as possible.

Navigating Ambiguity
Navigating Ambiguity

Author: Andrea Small

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 1984857975

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A thought-provoking guide to help you lean in to the discomfort of the unknown to turn creative opportunities into intentional design, from Stanford University's world-renowned d.school. “Navigating Ambiguity reminds us not to run from uncertainty but rather see it as a defining moment of opportunity.”—Yves Béhar, Founder and CEO, fuseproject A design process presents a series of steps, but in real life, it rarely plays out this neatly. Navigating Ambiguity underscores how the creative process isn’t formulaic. This book shows you how to surrender control by being adaptable, curious, and unbiased as well as resourceful, tenacious, and courageous. Designers and educators Andrea Small and Kelly Schmutte use humor and clear steps to help you embrace uncertainty as you approach a creative project. First, they explain how the brain works and why it defaults to certainty. Then they show you how to let go of the need for control and instead employ a flexible strategy that relies on the balance between acting and adapting, and the give-and-take between opposing approaches to make your way to your goal. Beautiful cut-paper artwork illustrations offer ways to rethink creative work without hitting the usual roadblocks. The result is a more open and satisfying journey from assignment or idea to finished product.

Reclaiming John Steinbeck
Reclaiming John Steinbeck

Author: Gavin Jones

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-06-10

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 110894518X

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John Steinbeck is a towering figure in twentieth-century American literature; yet he remains one of our least understood writers. This major reevaluation of Steinbeck by Gavin Jones uncovers a timely thinker who confronted the fate of humanity as a species facing climate change, environmental crisis, and a growing divide between the powerful and the marginalized. Driven by insatiable curiosity, Steinbeck's work crossed a variety of borders – between the United States and the Global South, between human and nonhuman lifeforms, between science and the arts, and between literature and film – to explore the transformations in consciousness necessary for our survival on a precarious planet. Always seeking new forms to express his ecological and social vision of human interconnectedness and vulnerability, Steinbeck is a writer of urgent concern for the twenty-first century, even as he was haunted by the legacies of racism and injustice in the American West.