Quoted: Open College Textbooks. Created by Experts. Enhanced by Users. Free to All.

Great Minds are Evenly Distributed. Great Textbooks are Not. Until Now.

I finally got around to posting a sample Whodoku puzzle. Enjoy!

Quoted: Whodoku - Sudoku with Personality by Roy Leban. Famous names and intriguing riddles add spice to these popular sudoku puzzles. Sterling book by Roy Leban. Similar to Wordoku and Letter Sudoku.

It's a book! No, it's a light!

Quoted: What is this thing we are raving about you ask? It is a light. In a book. A pop-up book. So basically a pop-up light… Presented in such a beautiful way: A big (we are talking something like 16" x 12" / 41 x 30 cm) beautiful linen bound book (either red or grey) and if you open it, a lamp pop's up and starts to light up. Fantastic.

My first puzzle book just came out.

Read my blog post on thistangent.com for some more information.

Quoted: Who knew that sudoku could have so much personality? They can—when famous names and intriguing riddles add spice to these popular puzzles. Here’s how it goes: on top of the page is a fun, partially completed clue about an unnamed person; for example, “He was in _____ for 27 years before being elected president.” There’s also a series of nine letters to use in solving the “who-doku,” and the grid itself has a number of circled spaces, as well as shaded areas. When it’s totally filled in, the circled letters provide the answer to the clue, while the shaded ones reveal who the person is. So the solution to the question above is, “prison” and the man is question is Nelson Mandela.

Refaved from Mohit:

I've never heard this before, but it makes perfect sense (and the post is an interesting read).

In my work (even at large companies), I've always tried to be an entrepreneur in this sense -- creating things that will survive after I'm gone, whether that's writing specs or writing code (like writing comments :-). And some of my proudest moments as a consultant were helping a company be able to accomplish something without me (rather than justifying my continued engagement, like most consultants).

Quoted: True entrepreneurs make the transition from working for someone else to working on their own much differently. Entrepreneurs invent businesses that work without them. Technicians create businesses that work because of them.

Awesome book! Got one for myself and liked it so much I just ordered one for my father-in-law. Unlike most books in this genre, doesn't overly concentrate on Escher. I was surprised to see that I am friends with at least 4 people in the book (maybe I'll find more as I go through it).

Quoted: Rings of seahorses that seem to rotate on the page. Butterflies that transform right before your eyes into two warriors with their horses. A mosaic portrait of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau made from seashells. These dazzling and often playful artistic creations manipulate perspective so cleverly that they simply outwit our brains: we can’t just take a quick glance and turn away. They compel us to look once, twice, and over and over again, as we try to figure out exactly how the delightful trickery manages to fool our perceptions so completely. Of course, first and foremost, every piece is beautiful on the surface, but each one offers us so much more. From Escher’s famous and elaborate “Waterfall” to Shigeo Fukuda’s “Mary Poppins,” where a heap of bottles, glasses, shakers, and openers somehow turn into the image of a Belle Epoque woman when the spotlight hits them, these works of genius will provide endless enjoyment.

Quoted: After all, the idea behind BookCrossing.com is simple. You drop off a book in a public place. Or pick up one someone else left behind. Eventually the whole world becomes one big, free library. More than 600,000 people engage in “catch and release” missions worldwide. I wanted to be one.

Quoted: Amazon.com: LogoLounge: 2,000 International Identities by Leading Designers (LogoLounge): Books: Bill Gardner,Catharine Fishel by Bill Gardner,Catharine Fishel

This book takes all the logos that were in Rockport Publisher's best-seller, LogoLounge and collects them in one small, neat, pictorial handbook for easy reference.

There are no lengthy case histories, just logos, logos, and more logos. It's a fast-paced book featuring one to six logos per page to allow designers to easily shop for ideas. Logos are among the most important elements a designer can create, so it is no surprise that they are always looking for new, fresh ideas. LogoLounge delivers just that. Its predecessor showcased the logos along with the stories of how they came to be; this compact version puts the spotlight on the logos alone, making it the perfect handbook to logo design.

Brochure ideas. Clever 9 on the cover.

Quoted: Amazon.com: The Best of Brochure Design 9 (Best of Brochure Design): Books: Jason Godfrey by Jason Godfrey

Brochure design is a perennial in the world of marketing and graphic design, yet it can be challenging to execute successfully. This collection of the world's best brochure design offers hundreds of ideas, pages of inspiration, and armloads of advice for professional graphic designers and students alike. Using a clean, unfussy presentation, this book is a highly visual collection of ideas for everything from choosing type to photo treatments, and everything in between.

Rockport's Best of Brochure Design series is a best seller the world over. This ninth installment is much like its predecessors: a stunning collection of work from internationally-acclaimed designers.