S,M,L,Xl
by Rem Koolhaas, Bruce Mau, Hans Werlemann
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 May, 1998)
list price: $75.00 -- our price: $47.25
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

This extraordinary, massive, and mind-boggling1,300-page book combines essays, manifestos, diaries, fairy tales, travelogues, a cycle of meditations on the contemporary city--and complex illustration--with work produced by Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture over the past twenty years. This almost overwhelming accumulation of words and images illuminates the condition of architecture today--its splendors and miseries--exploring and revealing the corrosive effects of politics, context, the economy, and globalization. In some ways, this is the"Medium is the Message"of 1990s architectural discourse: guaranteed to be hugely influential in the coming decades, but grosslymisunderstood by those who have not read it. The corearguments it makes about metropolitan architecture--acceptingcomplexity and lack of centralized control--are similar to those of Kevin Kelly'sOut of Control:The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World. Very highly recommended. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Extra Medium...
There's a terrific line in Breakfast at Tiffany's. George Peppard proudly hands neighbor Audrey Hepburn a copy of his just-published book. She has no idea what to do with it, so she puts it on a shelf next to a vase, backs away and says "Doesn't that look nice?"
This book is a lot like that. A self-conciously designed object for the homes of style consumers who already have the right clothes and the B&B Italia furniture. A prop for the still-life they want to inhabit. If they ever got around to "reading" it, they'd discover to their great relief... it's NOT a book to be read in any strict classical sense.

It also reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon where one associate asks another, "Read the first few pages of any good books lately?" The age of the short attention span is not going away any time soon. This hefty grey slab is easily recast as the shiny new headstone for verbalized intelligence.

As Kracauer holds it, there's nothing wrong with framing a culture via fragments, but I have plenty of qualms about advancing one's own ideas that way. And I'm suspect of ideas that trowel on style in the abundance seen here. If I could believe Bruce Mau's intentions were more than just trying to look new, (This 'look' now permeates architecture publications) I'd have more respect for this, but it was obviously calculated as a totem of style and style-suffusion.

For better or for worse, the book got noticed, the industry was distracted by the pretty surfaces and the ascent of Koolhaas is a done deal.
If you want to actually READ a book full of Koolhaas' thoughts, skip this and get a copy of Delirious New York.

S,M,L,XL
Possibly one of the many great books on architecture of today with plenty of references and clean graphics.A must have for all architecs or if you just want a wonderfully beautiful book for your home or office.

S,M,L,XL
Quite simply, the Bible of architecture. ... Read more

Isbn: 1885254865
Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Architecture    3. Architecture (General)    4. Architecture, Modern    5. City planning    6. General    7. History - Specific Styles    8. Modern architecture    9. Planning    10. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings   

A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia
by Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, Brian Massumi
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 December, 1987)
list price: $22.95 -- our price: $22.95
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (19)

The Crowning Achievement Of (Post)Modern French Philosophy
That this book is receiving one star, given the title of my review, should surprise no one.

Look, say what you will; I am a classically trained, analytic, Anglophone philosopher with a penchant for clarity and rigor.That is where I stand.If you are looking for a text which purports to be theoretical, and yet is obviously densely literary and aphoristic, perhaps I don't understand what you're on about, and perhaps you don't either.

This book is neither clear nor rigorous.Where it doesn't mutate truly elementary understandings of science (not to say that either Deleuze understands what the difference between science and pseudoscience is), psychology, and economics to suit its incoherent purposes, it avoids any understanding whatsoever.

The philosophical work contained herein is non-starting.That is, it is not philosophy, as it is neither argumentative, interpretive, nor logical.There are no discernible conclusions (which is not to say that there are none in this pig latin dog's dinner, but they probably aren't deduced from premisses ) where there is anything like 'argument' at all.

To say that I'm missing the point, you'd first have to show that such work can have a point.That it violates hard-won conventions of philosophical discourse, which are taken as primitive (I can't tell you how many times the Law of Excluded Middle was violated), is not a victory for this work.It is a setback.That it has not been translated into English, but rather some retarded cousin of English, is perhaps partly to blame for my lack of understanding.I tend only to be able to read natural languages.

But then, again, perhaps my rhizomatic foreshortening (to wit: to SHORTEN is also to LENGTHEN) is in part quasiculpable (that is, retrodogmatically) as a blamematic(viz. contraposto) which tends inter alia to produce (and re-produce, as Malreaux reads Sartre in referential milieus of Darwinian technologies of traffic control) my congnitive disfunctionabilities.

I recommend the work of W.V.O. Quine if you're looking for a 'philosophy of our time,' as one reviewer suggested we must.

Works Well with Techno Music

This is a highly provocative and fascinating book. Even neutral librarians get confused when classifying it: I once saw it filed under psychiatry! No wonder classical analytical thinking fails to grasp "A Thousands Plateaus", which is often a source of irritation among conventional intellectuals.

"A Thousand Plateaus" provides a radically new language for conceptualizing globalization and modern subjectivity, while criticizing master narratives (psychoanalysis, Marxism and structuralism). Nomadology and schizoanalysis are proposed as new styles for inquiring our brave new world. To wit, Foucault declared that the 21st century belongs to Deleuze!

Of course that reading scholarly commentators provides an easier way to digest Deleuze and Guattari. Yet, my favorite method for immersing into "A Thousand Plateaus" is by plugging loud techno trance music on my headphones to read this book as pure Power Poetry, "harnessing its forces" as Deleuze puts it: a war-machine that undermines monolithic thought, opening up multiple possibilities for the renewed experiencing of reality. (Deleuze and Guattari confessed to have had hallucinations while writing it...).

Book translator Brian Massumi suggests that "A Thousand Plateaus" may be better handled like a musical album: freely, affectivelly and pragmatically. As Deleuze teaches us: create affect, employ philosophy, do not to cultivate dead concepts, but foster multiple thinking...

Long live the barbarian nomads of reason!

October 17 2004 - a review
I don't normally bother reviewing books.However I had to respond to something another reviewer said:

"you can't read this while listening to music, trust me"

Actually you can but I recommend the music of anti-essentialists, Phoenicia's "Brownout" is an excellent soundtrack to the plateau on the refrain.The text of the book is the opsign of time-images, music, or, rather, sound, of deterritorialisation is the sonsign.Fittingly, the releases from Germany's Mille Plateaux label are really good for reading these works.

I can't recommend this book enough but I will give some advice in your approach:

1.Even though this might seem the most intimidating entry to D&G's thought I suggest it anyway.Compared to "Difference and Repetition" or "The Logic of Sense" this is a walk in the park when it comes to penetrating the prose.

2.Don't expect a book of philosophy where an argument is clearly defined and developed.This is nothing like that.It's a work of "nomad thought", just try and follow what's happening *before* you judge it.

3.Come back to it.Regularly.Your appreciation and engagement will deepen as your knowledge of Deleuze's oeuvre deepens.You won't 'get it' at first but you have to enter his work somewhere.Eventually you'll realise this is a challenge to develop new ontologies, you were never meant to get it.You were and are meant to think it in new directions.After all, that's the basic lesson of the return.

4.Read widely.I really recommend Rodowick's 1997 book "Gilles Deleuze's Time Machine".On the surface Rodowick is working with the cinema books but the cinema books themselves are philosophical works developing Bergson.If you grasp Rodowick's less dense (though just as challenging) argument for deterritorialised thought you'll be on your way.Another area: Nietzsche's concepts of return, the will to power and active/reactive force is crucial.Read Deleuze's Nietzsche book.

5.The geology stuff isn't a metaphor, it's an isomorphism.If nothing else read DeLanda's "Immanence and Transcendence in the Genesis of Forms" in the 1999 book "A Deleuzian Century" (edited by Ian Buchanon).

And last but certainly not least, Deleuze & Guattari's work is playful, enjoy the challenges they set you.You'll never see the world the same way again. ... Read more

Isbn: 0816614024
Sales Rank: 60088
Subjects:  1. History & Surveys - Modern    2. Philosophy    3. Postmodernism    4. Psychoanalysis    5. Psychology    6. Psychopathology - General    7. Radicalism   

A User's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Deviations from Deleuze and Guattari
by Brian Massumi
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (06 March, 1992)
list price: $15.00 -- our price: $10.20
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (3)

Great book, but not about Deleuze and Guattari
Massumi's user's guide is a wonderful little book, but unfortunately is not a book about Deleuze and Guattari.At the outset, one initially thinks that Massumi will be giving a close reading of _A Thousand Plateaus_, but quickly finds that the text is a patchwork pieced together out of Deleuze'svarious writings. For instance, the first part of Massumi's book, entitled"Force" discusses D&G in the context of the Plateau in ATPentitled the "Geology of Morals", but greatly broadens thisdiscussion by interpreting D&G's appropriation of Hjelmslev's semioticsin the context of the reading of force Deleuze gives in _Nietzsche andPhilosophy_.Now, not only does Massumi severely simply D&G'sappropriation of Hjelmslev, but he does the same with Deleuze's account offorce in Nietzsche.Moreover, in Deleuze's own independent philosophicalworks and in the context of his work with Guattari, Deleuze never makes useof the concept of force.Now, in and of itself this is not a bad thing andMassumi ends up producing a very useful model of analysis, but it'squestionable as to whether such a reading really helps the reader penetratewhat D&G are up to in ATP.

It seems to me that this sort ofstrategy is symptomatic of a lot of works on both Deleuze and Deleuze'swork with Guattari.No one would deny that the works with Guattari andDeleuze's works "written in his own name" are exceedinglydifficult and require a lot of work to unlock, and that as a rule hiswritings in the history of philosophy are remarkably clear.As a result,there seems to be a refusal to read the independent works on their ownterms and a tendency to attempt to reduce them to the historical writings. While I would be the last to claim that the histories are to be ignored, itis nonetheless the case that the use of them ought to center arounddemonstrating how they converge with the independent works, how Deleuzerethinks their problematics, and where Deleuze diverges from them.

Itis also likely that much of this textual practice comes from the latentimperative in Deleuze's philosophy to create.This has to do withDeleuze's textual strategy of "getting behind the author and creatinga monsterous offspring."As a result, those that write on Deleuzesimultaneously experience the necessity of merely doing commentary on whathe said in order to show how it belongs to a philosophical tradition andproblematic, while nonetheless being forced to remain silent on what hesaid.What seems to be forgotten are Deleuze's words immediately followinghis pronouncement of getting behind the author, where he claims that theonly rule is that the author himself must be shown to have said it. Moreover, much of the "creating" that goes on in the name ofDeleuze and Guattari comes to look like an arbitrary activity based on thewill of the author, rather than an expression of the impersonal andnecessary that D&G were always quick to emphasize.In other words,sometimes the greatest usefulness in writing about a text consists ingetting clear on what that text actually says in its own terms.

Massumi'sbook can be highly illuminating and is a great and exciting read, but isnot necessarily the best source for coming to understand Deleuze andGuattari's difficult texts. One would do much better to first readsomething like Eugine Holland's book if their seeking to get an accuratepicture of what's going on in Deleuze and Guattari.

A postmodern self-help manual
Ten minutes out of the box and I had made my very own desiring machine

a practical survival manual
Finally!...a user's guide to Deleuze and Guattari's opus magnum. The rough guide to the skull-splitting mazes of AntiOedipus. Step by step instructions! Maps! Illustrations! The works! ... Read more

Isbn: 0262631431
Sales Rank: 142408
Subjects:  1. Capitalism    2. Capitalisme et schizophrenie    3. Deleuze, Gilles    4. General    5. History & Surveys - Modern    6. Philosophy    7. Schizophrenia    8. Social aspects    9. Social psychiatry    10. Philosophy / General   

Earth Moves: The Furnishing of Territories (Writing Architecture)
by Bernard Cache, Michael Speaks, Anne Boyman
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (05 October, 1995)
list price: $20.00 -- our price: $13.60
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

spatial thinking in flattened space
i found this text to be a significant resource in thinking about practice and design, and their blending of intentions. using furniture as a medium for thinking about architectural space, the author identifies methodologies of investigation that are forward but readable. this book is not about furniture, it is about spatial movement, its architecture in the broad sense of spatiality. its a good resource for anyone interested in layering, trans-anything, and folding concepts. ... Read more

Isbn: 0262531305
Sales Rank: 345439
Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Criticism    3. Esthetics    4. Form (Aesthetics)    5. General    6. Philosophy    7. Philosophy Of Architecture    8. Planning    9. Space (Architecture)    10. Architecture / General   

A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History
by Manuel DeLanda, Manuel De Landa
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (18 September, 2000)
list price: $18.00 -- our price: $12.24
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (12)

A Thousand Re-Readings
Just re-read this for the third time straight through (I've dipped in and out many other times). This is indispensable work. The sections on the growth of cities, creoles and the history of language, and the Body Without Organs still dazzle me.

Gibberish
The author is trying to communicate with us, but
by using Klingon Battle Language he'd be more intelligible.
The terms and concepts in the book appear not to have
ordinary meaning, but follow a lexicon inspired by someone who had too much graduate level deconstructionism.I gave it an honest try, on recommendation of Terence McKenna and Mark
Pesce. It would seem that the author is writing for
an audience with IQs above 200, or I'm hopelessly out
of touch.

Understand the BwO!
The pot of gold at the end of this rainbow covered book is De Landa's explanation of Deleuze and Guattari's Body without Organs. Worth it for that alone. ... Read more

Isbn: 0942299329
Sales Rank: 30193
Subjects:  1. General    2. Geology    3. Historiography    4. History    5. History - General History    6. History Of Science    7. Nonlinear theories    8. Philosophy    9. Philosophy & Social Aspects    10. Philosophy Of Science    11. Science    12. Science/Mathematics    13. World - General    14. History / General   

Blur: The Making of Nothing
by Ricardo Scofidio, Elizabeth Diller
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (03 September, 2002)
list price: $35.00 -- our price: $22.05
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (2)

Visually awsome
This book was designed extreamly well.The book consists of emails, faxes, photos, sketches, CAD, essays, and much more in a scrap book fasion.The whole thing is talking about this project for the Expo, but that isn't what is interesting about it.The design of the book allows you to page through and look at the pictures, read snippits of emails or faxes, and shows you their process of concept and design.If you were to ignore the fact that it is all talking about this one project you can use it to inspire new ideas for your own use.This is one hell of a book.The copy i go was a slightly different version but the inards are essentially the same.

the good against the bad
diller & scofidio are the best. and everyone has to know it. so read the book and support them on their fight against the rest of the bad, bad world. you can manipulate every fact that it fits your purpose, but sometimes it's too transparent for mature people, probably this book would work as a fairytale for children. ... Read more

Isbn: 0810921235
Sales Rank: 279200
Subjects:  1. 21st century    2. Architecture    3. Architecture and technology    4. Avant-garde (Aesthetics)    5. Blur Building (Expo.02, Switze    6. Diller + Scofidio    7. General    8. History    9. Individual Architect    10. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    11. Switzerland    12. Yverdon    13. Art / General   

Informal
by Cecil Balmond, Jannuzzi Smith, Christian Brensing, Charles Jencks, Rem Koolhaas
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 November, 2002)
list price: $45.00 -- our price: $29.70
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (8)

A behind the scenes of great architecture
It was quite interesting to get a look at the somewhat unusual engineering process of Cecil Balmond.

And to discover his inputs behind some famous building, from Koolhas, Libeskind to Siza.

The book is quite easy to read and don`t think you are going to get a structural crash course from Balmond (I must admit, I was bit disapointed of not finding that) but you do get the kind of passionate and heartily discussions you would get if you had the chance of drinking down a few drinks with Balmond and ending up with his famous sketches he drew on the bar's napkins.

Expect a book with graphics and layout of Koolhas' SMLXL / Big fonts, dual-tone pictures.

GOod read, good essay, not for someone looking for glossy pictures

Balmond Student
Cecil Balmond is passionate and inspirational. When working with him, you know there is something amazing happening.I had the pleasure of having him as a studio instructor at Yale University, School of Architecture.Cecil believes in the possibilities of architecture and engineering working together in ways that enhance and grace both fields.This book brings his insight and passions together.I highly recommend it to engineers and architects alike.

A dialogue
Informal is a terrific read; it places me right at the table as the author engages with his architect collaborators pursuing innovative building designs.The range is fascinating, from a box shape in the Villa Bordeaux to a curvilinear form in the Arnhem Interchange to the serene and effortless canopy in Lisbon.In each project the author establishes simple initial moves which lead ultimately to new configurations and importantly develops throughout the book a rigorous basis for exploring the non linear.This is welcome in an age when so much architectural form making is whimsical.As an architect I was fascinated how this book also brings out the lyrical and poetic inherent in structure.Best of all perhaps is the 27 sectioned speculation at the end on the anatomy of form, and an insight into the structure of organisation itself.In conjunction with his intriguing earlier book Number 9 Balmond sets out a new agenda for designers everywhere, including architects and engineers. ... Read more

Isbn: 3791324004
Sales Rank: 150649
Subjects:  1. Architectural Design    2. Architecture    3. Drafting & Mechanical Drawing    4. Engineering - General    5. Engineering Design    6. General    7. Interior Design - General    8. Mathematics    9. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    10. Technology   

Folds, Bodies & Blobs : Collected Essays (Books-by-architects)
by Greg Lynn
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 June, 1998)
list price: $29.95
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

waiting for deeper exploration
Again we should be amazed at these wonderful algorithmic creatures that have continued to sprawl for the last half a century or more. The innovation about this type of experimentation if at all it is anymore should lie on the reality and materiality of the projects. We cannot let technology invent architecture but to at least keep up if not produce it. Lynns dialogues will only be convincing if the show doesn't end up or formulate by gyp board. ... Read more

Isbn: 2873170689
Sales Rank: 687669
Subjects:  1. Architecture / Criticism    2. Architects    3. Architecture    4. Architecture, American    5. Authors, American    6. Criticism    7. Essays   

Animate Form
by Greg Lynn
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (September, 1998)
list price: $40.00 -- our price: $40.00
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (2)

experimentation?
Again we should be amazed at these wonderful algorithmic creatures that have continued to sprawl for the last half a century or more. The innovation about this type of experimentation if at all it is anymore should lie on the reality and materiality of the projects. We cannot let technology invent architecture but to at least keep up if not produce it. Lynns dialogues will only be convincing if the show doesn't end up or formulate by gyp board.

Inanimate Publishing
The text contained in Animate Form, assembled from previously published articles, continues Lynn's rhetoric announcing the emergence of a new dynamic paradigm for architectural design [animation software]. It readslike skimming a stone across the liquid surface of current [digital]architectural discourse. Each bounce touches a relative key pointmaintaining enough speed to progress to the next without requiring anyperceived depth of substance. This presents the reader with a wide scopingtext offering potential to rethink architecture as a non-static art, butdoes little to critically place this mode of production withinpractice.

The major difficulty I have with this book [animate form] isthat the projects chosen have become already dated. Although monographculture can be blamed for the presentation of more recent work, for abook's whose content is all about a newness of direction and dynamicqualities of change, the material seems incredibly inert. Even the CDRom isa very traditional piece of homepage publishing. It simply catalogues theanimations for the projects and does not provide another level ofunderstanding through hyperlink connections.

The book competentlycollates the work of Greg Lynn up to 1996 and is still required reading forthose involved with producing new modes of architectural design throughtechnological advancement. I guess I was expecting a More innovativeapproach to the publishing of Greg Lynn's material. ... Read more

Isbn: 1568980833
Sales Rank: 436747
Subjects:  1. Architectural Design    2. Architecture    3. Design & Drafting    4. Exhibitions    5. Individual Architect    6. Individual Architects Of The 20th Century    7. Lynn, Greg   

Stalking Detroit
by Georgia Daskalakis, Charles Waldheim, Jason Young
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (15 December, 2001)
list price: $39.00 -- our price: $25.74
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

stalking detroit
This book is an extraordinary intellectual effort that compiles landscape projects (landscape urbanism), essays, articles as well as photographs of Detroit. Perhaps this is the first time in which the radical notion of Detroit as the most modern city has been proposed. No nostalgic attemps to go back in time as if it would have been a better time. In addition to the depth of the writing and the projects, this is a beautiful book published by Actar with great photos of the city. ... Read more

Isbn: 8495273772
Sales Rank: 152515
Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Criticism    3. General    4. U.S. Architecture - General   

Contemporary Techniques in Architecture (Architectural Design)
by AliRahim
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (03 April, 2002)
list price: $60.00 -- our price: $47.45
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

Gorgeous and important, but points off for theoryspeak
What I really appreciate about Rahim's volume is the nuts-and-bolts (or NURBS-and-splines) seriousness with which it approaches the real-world challenges of digital architecture. This means that it gives as much attention to the optimal design of some frankly squamous-lookin' load-bearing and stress-distributing structures as it does to the (largely post-Deleuzian) theory underlying this work.

Up until now, most of the reference materials commonly available on the topic have contented themselves with providing pretty pictures of next-generation architectural blobjects - all skin and no interior - so I'm grateful that someone is finally wrestling with (some of) the practicalities. (And if you just have to talk High Theory, there's no better guide than the brilliant, insightful, and reasonably accessible Manuel deLanda.)

I just wish Rahim could have done it without resorting to (or permitting the other authors in this volume to indulge in) the usual jargon-choked theoryspeak. I mean, come on: "dynamic structuration of mobile relations"? This material is sufficiently important that there shouldn't be any need to pump it up with jargon to make it impressive.

Worth buying, worth working with, but not for the faint of heart. (And damn, are some of these things pretty.) ... Read more

Isbn: 0470843209
Sales Rank: 135250
Subjects:  1. 20th Century Architecture    2. 20th century    3. Architectural Design    4. Architecture    5. Design & Drafting    6. General    7. History    8. History - General    9. Architecture / General    10. Computer modelling & simulation   

Droog Design
by Renny Ramakers, Gijs Bakker
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (June, 1998)
list price: $42.00
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

today's design
great book showing great dutch design.There is hope for design when you see this fellows working. If you already know their work then you won't doubt it to have it if you know a bit of them then trust me is somethingthat will provocate you a big smile. ... Read more

Isbn: 906450301X
Sales Rank: 1072351

The Art of Innovation : Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm
by Tom Kelley, Jonathan Littman, Tom Peters, Tom Peters
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (16 January, 2001)
list price: $29.95 -- our price: $19.77
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

IDEO, the world's leading design firm, is the brain trust that's behindsome of the more brilliant innovations of the past 20 years--from the Applemouse, the Polaroid i-Zone instant camera, and the Palm V to the "fat" toothbrushfor kids and a self-sealing water bottle for dirt bikers. Not surprisingly,companies all over the world have long wondered what they could learn from IDEO,to come up with better ideas for their own products, services, and operations.In this terrific book from IDEO general manager Tom Kelley (brother of founderDavid Kelley), IDEO finally delivers--but thankfully not in the step-by-step,flow-chart-filled "process speak" of most how-you-can-do-what-we-do businessbooks. Sure, there are some good bulleted lists to be found here--such as thesecrets of successful brainstorming, the qualities of "hot teams," and, towardthe end, 10 key ingredients for "How to Create Great Products and Services,"including "One Click Is Better Than Two" (the simpler, the better) and "GoofProof" (no bugs).

But The Art of Innovation really teaches indirectly (not to mentionenlightens and entertains) by telling great stories--mainly, of how the bestideas for creating or improving products or processes come not from laboriouslyorganized focus groups, but from keen observations of how regular people workand play on a daily basis. On nearly every page, we learn the backstories ofsome now-well-established consumer goods, from recent inventions like the PalmPilot and the in-car beverage holder to things we nearly take for granted--likeIvory soap (created when a P&G worker went to lunch without turning off hissoap mixer, and returned to discover his batch overwhipped into 99.44 percentbuoyancy) and Kleenex, which transcended its original purpose as a cosmeticsremover when people started using the soft paper to wipe and blow their noses.Best of all, Kelley opens wide the doors to IDEO's vibrant, sometimes wackyoffice environment, and takes us on a vivid tour of how staffers tackle a designchallenge: they start not with their ideas of what a new product should offer,but with the existing gaps of need, convenience, and pleasure with which peoplelive on a daily basis, and that IDEO should fill. (Hence, a one-piece children'sfishing rod that spares fathers the embarrassment of not knowing how to teachtheir kids to fish, or Crest toothpaste tubes that don't "gunk up" at themouth.)

Granted, some of their ideas--like the crucial process of "prototyping," orincorporating dummy drafts of the actual product into the planning, to work outbugs as you go--lend themselves more easily to the making of actual things thanto the more common organizational challenge of streamlining services oroperations. But, if this big book of bright ideas doesn't get you thinking ofhow to build a better mousetrap for everything from your whole business processto your personal filing system, you probably deserve to be stuck with themousetrap you already have. --Timothy Murphy ... Read more

Reviews (51)

Good in Theory
...but so is Cold Fusion.

Kelley and IDEO have a great culture for a start-up that has morphed along with their growth.At 300 pages, there isn't much new that is not coverd in the first third of the book.

Though it sounds like a great place to work (IDEO), Kelley doesn't really make the case for how an established entity that has a less inviting culture can overcome their environment and obstaclesHe suggests how it should be (or could be), but not practicle ways to get from points A to B (though he might say I don't think innovatively enough).

As others have mentioned here - IDEO has has some great successes, but much of the book reads like a pat on their own back and a list of all their achievements more than it is a management guide.

This is the way I would run my company
This should be the first book you read when you get out of college.Much of what Tom Kelley says would probably make your boss turn away, going against many theorems taught in management classes.

But just maybe he is re-defining the perfect environments for the the ideas that change the way we interface.

a handbook of innovation
It is a handbook for innovation, the book share the experience of IDEO, the methods and the work practice to generate new ideas and the process of turning ideas to product. The first one is observation, people many ignore this point or pay little attention on that point. Tom mentioned a point that, we should user-oriented. Observed people how actually use a product instead of only interview them. Because some of customers are lacking product knowledge they cannot express the difficulty of using the product, even they do not fully utilize the product, so you may only get limited insight from interviewing them only.
I know that many people know the term of Brainstorming, which is a method of ideas generation. However, how to have a good brainstorming is a difficult task.

The third process is making prototype. It helps to solve the problem in 3-D, and let you know the problem or mistake in early stage of the process.

The last insight is about the quality of the team members. They should broad in their skills and interests, deep in their knowledge and experience in one or more disciplines. All these could enhance the cross-pollination. All they should accept the divest within the team. ... Read more

Isbn: 0385499841
Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Case studies    5. Corporate & Business History - Strategies    6. Creative ability    7. Creative ability in business    8. Economics - General    9. New Product Development    10. Operations Research    11. Structural Adjustment    12. Technological innovations    13. Technology    14. Business & Economics / General   

West 8
by Klazien Brummel, Stefano Boeri
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 December, 2000)
list price: $25.95
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

dynamic landscape
Dutch architecture is very famous in this new centry. Almost everything is about Holland. It become more dynamic, colorful, and choatic. The projects of West 8 also have these characters. To see their works is like to connect with the future environment. ... Read more

Isbn: 8881186594
Sales Rank: 571213
Subjects:  1. Architectural Firms    2. Architecture    3. Landscape    4. Architecture / Individual Architect   

Digital Gehry
by Bruce Lindsey
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 February, 2002)
list price: $15.95 -- our price: $10.85
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

Great Book!!!
Bruce Lindsey is now the head of Architecture at the distinguished, Auburn University.He is a very intelligent and cognitive person, and really has done a great job presenting the facts about Gehry.I recomend this book to anyone who has the slightest inclination towards the designs of Frank Gehry, because it is a very imformative and interesting journey into the world of digital design. ... Read more

Isbn: 3764365625
Sales Rank: 326684
Subjects:  1. 1929-    2. Architectural design    3. Architecture    4. Criticism and interpretation    5. Data processing    6. Gehry, Frank O.,    7. General    8. Individual Architect    9. Technology & Industrial Arts    10. Architecture / General    11. Bilbao    12. Frank Gehry    13. Gehry, Frank O    14. Guggenheim-Museum    15. Informationstechnologie    16. digitales Entwerfen