beulahbondo's Diaryland Diary

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Why do certain things charm us so?

"Taking Things Seriously," the book that so many of us (me, KB, the Greyhound, Al Bradley, Harry the Greek) contributed to, is being released sooner than expected, thanks to early reviews in the LA Times and NY Times Book Review.

The best place to check in for the horn-tooting is here, updated frequently.

You can preorder from Amazon and even "peek inside." Amazon is offering it for $11.90, which is a whole lot less than the other soon-to-be book to which I'm a contributor.

Here's an excerpt from the LA Times review of "Taking Things Seriously":

**Why do certain things charm us so? In their new book, "Taking Things Seriously" (Princeton Architectural Press: 176 pp., $17.50 paper), Boston Globe columnist Joshua Glenn and designer Carol Hayes delve into this "human drive and capacity to invest inanimate objects with meaning." They asked artists, designers, writers and thinkers to contribute photos of their precious belongings and explain their significance.
The result is a wonderfully eccentric collection of "things" and thought-provoking essays that underscore French philosopher Bruno Latour's challenge to regard objects as more than merely matters of fact but, Glenn writes in his introduction, as "an association, a network, a gathering" of meaning and ideas.**

I wrote my essay such a long time ago that I don't love it anymore, but it's got to be better than what I'm writing these days, i.e. comments on Gawker and Jezebel.

1:58 p.m. - 2007-08-14

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