books

Notes on Anthony Bourdain’s ‘Hungry Ghosts’

June 30, 2019 Design General

There was always that element of surprise and awe in travelling with the towering Anthony Bourdain as the legendary celebrity chef & author ventured into unknown places around the nook and corners of the planet savouring unfamiliar gastronomical delights. Indeed some of the episodes were barbarous and revolting but it was Bourdain’s elucidation of the cuisine and the culture that made the show absorbing. Personally, I wasn’t the strictest follower of Bourdain’s sojourns except when ‘The Layover’ debuted on Netflix, which I binged upon, if not for the food the show was an interesting exploration of the places one might visit.

Anthony Bourdain's 'Hungry Ghosts'

But just like his stunning TV shows where he surprised the audiences with local delicacies I was enthralled to read about a graphic novel, the ‘Hungry Ghosts’, that he co-authored with Joel Rose. It’s a terrifying piece, and if I may add, graphically explicit in its textual content and colour set in mostly Japanese storytelling. Inspired by the Japanese Edo period parlour game of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, it reimagines the classic stories of yokai, yorei, and obake with, of course, the centrepiece of the narrative being food. According to Wikipedia, a ‘Hungry Ghost’ “is a concept in Chinese Buddhism, Chinese traditional religion, Vietnamese Buddhism and Vietnamese traditional religion representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way.”, in Hinduism the term they use is preta, and that is evidently showcased in the graphic novel. Incidentally, I haven’t written about graphic novels since I finished the Watchmen in 2010 but this book somehow inspired me to write once again.

Continue reading…
Spring Season Reading List

My Book Reading List For 2018…So Far!

July 15, 2018 Design Technology

In between a hectic project schedule, I have also committed myself to a reading list of books, the first half of 2018 is already behind me (can’t believe!) and I’m just letting myself wade through this hot summer with some practical knowledge books. I am already through a few titles and I am attempting to get that number up with some interesting non-fiction titles lined up for the latter half of 2018, so fingers crossed. I only decided to read about design so far, but now I’m accessing titles on communications, psychology, strategy, business and marketing. My overarching goal from reading the books is to broaden my vision of how I could commit to my long-term objective of merging creativity with building a value proposition for products while staying focused on service innovation & customer experience. Lastly, instead of doing an annual review/recommendation of books I decided to write a post as soon as I finish some volumes just so that I get my views out to the world quickly. Which also helps me to remember the value of my reading list and the freshness of the knowledge I gain each year.

The Business of Design: Balancing Creativity and Profitability (by Keith Granet)

The Business of Design - Book CoverEven though the target audience for this book seemed like the architects and interior designers, this book didn’t disappoint me so far as comprehending the principles of business were concerned. Keith Granet brings his insights from his experience of 30 years from bringing profitability to customers and setting up his architecture design firm Granet & Associates from spending considerable time on projects as a full-time employee. There are some terms and details which could be only be comprehended by someone from that industry, like for instance, the promotion cycles for employees or the contractual obligations for clients, etc., but despite that seemingly nonessential information, the rest of the principles in the book from billing and human resources, to managing a team, stay pretty much relevant as foundations for setting up any business. In the end, this book is profound and inspirational in its approach towards design entrepreneurship, even if you don’t plan to work as an architect or an interior design.

Continue reading…

Books

Books On Design Which I Enjoyed In 2017

December 29, 2017 Design
My zest for ‘change’ led me to read books in 2017. here’s my short review of the publications I enjoyed on design and design-thinking.

As 2017 draws to an end, I had resolved from the beginning to make this a productive year, and more than anything, it turned to be a remarkable one as far as my reading goes! At the onset, there was sufficient appetite to read academic books on design and venture on a learning spree with the sole aim to pick new stuff and refresh my knowledge, challenge some preconceived notions, and change some of my perspectives and help me to go beyond the typical ‘design’ paradigm. In my search of knowledge, I also didn’t realize that I was unknowingly being influenced by the experience and writings from IDEO’s brilliant books and I was lucky to have found some lying on my shelves (that I would refer once in a while) but never got myself around to reading them completely. Now was a good opportunity then!

This is my short review of the magnificent and insightful books on design thinking and innovation this year!

Creativity Inc. - Books I Read In 2017

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (by Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace / Publisher: Random House) [Book Website]

In this fascinating essay, Ed Catmull charts his career graph alongside the founding and management of Pixar. From his childhood dream of working for Disney to becoming the current President of Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, Catmull recounts his love for animation, leadership, and creativity. In all that, he became instrumental in developing the technology which enabled a newly co-founded animation studio ‘Pixar’ in the 90s to create award-winning movies and disrupt the animation industry forever. In general, this book explores various perspectives in successfully leading initiatives that range from collaboration to communication, and in trying out new ideas fearlessly even if they’re destined to fail. I particularly cherished the chapter, ‘Afterword: The Steve We Knew’ that is dedicated to Steve Jobs – he bought the niche Graphics Group from Lucas Films and spun it into Pixar. My impression about Pixar from reading the book was reinforced, not just as a path-breaking studio but for spearheading the use of technology and collaborative efforts in bringing the finer details of the movie characters on the big screen. And that’s not all, it was most humbling to read about Catmull’s humane qualities as an inspiring leader and an entrepreneur in leading Pixar/Disney’s teams on the large movie projects. It’s an exceptional book and a must read for innovators.

Why Should You Pick This Book?

Having read extensively about Pixar and Steve Jobs’ contribution I was already convinced on getting an ‘insider’s look’ into the processes of the studio. So, just like me, if you are curious about Pixar’s legendary mechanism of making their animation movies that create box-office history over and over again then this book is for you. It’s also inspiring to discover Ed Catmull and his humble beginnings as a computer scientist and leading up to his current standing at Disney. There are some valuable insights to have here. Besides, if you have read the several books on Steve Jobs, you will enjoy reading more about the legendary entrepreneur from a newer perspective.

Continue reading…

Kobo And The Cloud Trouble

December 27, 2013 Design Technology

I own a Kobo Aura HD and love every inch of it. Being in Canada, the choice of an eReader (that supported the E-Pub format) was easier to make. Very recently I discovered that the product experience wasn’t seamless – that ‘knot’ between software/hardware and the cloud was missing.

After a software update about a few weeks ago, I noticed that there were instances of duplicate collections under Library > My Collections (collections are like “shelves” to categorise your books). I opted to remove instances on the device but realised I couldn’t delete them! It was the most frustrating experience ever with my Kobo Aura HD. I finally gave up and contacted Kobo support. The representative gave me options to resolve the issue. The Basic Reset did not work and the duplicate collections were back in business, so the executive gave me the option to proceed for a Factory Reset. It was even more frustrating to understand that the Factory Reset will wipe clean my notes, bookmarks and annotations forever. The toughest job would be to reload the digital books data for which I did not have a list with me. However the Factory Reset did not solve the issue and the duplicate collections were back. It meant that the device was communicating with ‘something’ outside my system, maybe a cloud service. I later learned that Kobo offers cloud sync of bookmarks, annotations and notes (probably collections too) only on books purchased from their online store. Since I’m a designer my books are definitely not purchased on the Kobo store. Also as a Kobo device customer it’s disappointing to know that the company offers cloud services discriminately and there’s no way to control what gets synced on the cloud.

Here’s what I think Kobo should do to improve its customer experience. It’s time they reassess the cloud sync service they offer to customers. Allow all customers to choose whether they want the service at all and how they want it. Update their free Kobo software for PCs and Macs and make it more useful by allowing customers to sync/backup ALL their bookmarks, list of books, annotations and notes from their Kobo devices onto their PCs and Macs. They also need to look at Dropbox or Google Drive to augment that offering if possible. And none of what I just described is difficult or unthinkable. That apart let’s not forget that I have lost all my bookmarks, notes and other data, and my problem remains unresolved for now.

Edit: Kobo suggested I create a new account on Kobo (using a different email ID). And the duplicate collections were gone. The tough task was to create a new collections and putting the books into it. Hope the Kobo cloud database doesn’t go berserk again, I am running out of email IDs now.