THE BRILLIANCE! Book club (First Edition) ft. Jeff Staple, Andrew Kuo, & Benjamin Edgar!!!1!
For as long as I can remember, I've loved being around books. My dad had quite a library growing up and when I turned 16 I got a job at Borders Books (RIP), pretty much for the fact that I knew employees got discounts and could even check books out like a library. There's always been something comforting to me about just being surrounded by books. The irony is that I've never particularly loved to read(!?). So the middle ground became art and design books. I could enjoy these books the way a kid enjoys books - with words broken up by many large pictures, lol. Today, art books are one of the few things I would say I collect. I've discovered amazing artists, learned a lot about making and running a creative business, and just generally found inspiration when I've needed it most from these books. I thought I'd ask a few of our friends on occasion for a new series of posts to share their favorites and for this first post we've got Jeff Staple, Andrew Kuo, and Benjamin Edgar. Enjoy:
Jeff Staple
•Moleskine: The Detour Book // Jeff's note: The ultimate Moleskine.Who doesn’t want to peek into the greatness of someone’s sketchbook?
•The Field Study Handbook by Jan Chipchase // Jeff's note: My friend Jan fucked around and got a triple double. He wanted to make a book about his experiences being a field researcher. Needed $20k to make the book so he went to Kickstarter. Raised over $300,000! Needless to say, its worth it.
Andrew Kuo
•Theories of Everything by Roz Chast // Andrew's note: A collection of cartoons from one of the all-time greats. Inside the neurotic brain of the tri-state area.
•FreeDarko Presents: The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac // Andrew's note: A wonderfully detailed, funny and unique snapshot of the league at a certain time. The precursor to what became “NBA twitter".
•American Fine Arts by Colin De Land // Andrew's note: A collection of snapshots documenting the life of the late great art dealer and downtown fixture Colin De Land. It captures the melancholy spirit of 80s and 90s downtown NYC.
Benjamin Edgar
•Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
•Life by Keith Richards
•The Social Animal by David Brooks
•Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain