The Shape Of Ideas

“[Snider has] created something unique: a synthesis of comics, philosophy, and poetry: a thoughtful new way of packaging eternal ideas in cartoon boxes.” —The Los Angeles Review of Books What does an idea look like? And where do they come from? Grant Snider’s illustrations will motivate you to explore these questions, inspire you to come up with your own answers and, like all Gordian knots, prompt even more questions. Whether you are a professional artist or designer, a student pursuing a creative career, a person of faith, someone who likes walks on the beach, or a dreamer who sits on the front porch contemplating life, this collection of one- and two-page comics will provide insight into the joys and frustrations of creativity, inspiration, and process—no matter your age or creative background. “A creative kaleidoscope of humor, insight, and truth. An inventive window into the creative experience filled with hope and encouragement for daydreamers and doodlers, sketchers and scribblers, inventors, explorers, and spinners of yarns.” —Clare Vanderpool, New York Times-bestselling, Newbery Medal-winning author “Grant Snider’s work delivers introspection, humor, and inspiration in visually stunning drawings. They are a colorful look into the creative process—from the moments of quiet contemplation to the days of frenzied desperation.” —Susan Cain, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking “A friendly, encouraging depiction of the creative process, with its highs and lows, from a comics creator.” —The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

This handy sketchbook is top-bound (suitable for the left- and right-handed), lies flat, and has an elastic pen holder so that your favorite pen or pencil is always at hand. The cover design is by Grant Snider, author of the Shape of Ideas, a collection of comics about the creative process. Offering empathy, humor, and inspiration to creative types of all kinds, this handsome sketchbook has a few pieces of Snider's art tucked here and there throughout its blank pages. Whether you are a professional artist or designer, a student pursuing a creative career, or someone who spends their spare moments dedicated to creative pursuit, this sketchbook will motivate you to explore the world and capture pieces of it through your own unique perspective.

How four revolutionary ideas from the Enlightenment shaped today's world This panoramic book tells the story of how revolutionary ideas from the Enlightenment about freedom, equality, evolution, and democracy have reverberated through modern history and shaped the world as we know it today. A testament to the enduring power of ideas, The Shape of the New offers unforgettable portraits of Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx—heirs of the Enlightenment who embodied its highest ideals about progress—and shows how their thoughts, over time and in the hands of their followers and opponents, transformed the very nature of our beliefs, institutions, economies, and politics. Yet these ideas also hold contradictions. They have been used in the service of brutal systems such as slavery and colonialism, been appropriated and twisted by monsters like Stalin and Hitler, and provoked reactions against the Enlightenment's legacy by Islamic Salafists and the Christian Religious Right. The Shape of the New argues that it is impossible to understand the ideological and political conflicts of our own time without familiarizing ourselves with the history and internal tensions of these world-changing ideas. With passion and conviction, it exhorts us to recognize the central importance of these ideas as historical forces and pillars of the Western humanistic tradition. It makes the case that to read the works of the great thinkers is to gain invaluable insights into the ideas that have shaped how we think and what we believe.

"A succinct account of the life and art of Sean Scully, widely considered to be one of the leading abstract painters of our time. This work sets his entire output within a detailed biographical framework, closely examining the relationship between the artist's paintings and his lesser-known drawings, pastels, watercolors, and prints-areas of Scully's production that are rarely considered together"--

This fascinating entry in the “Big Idea” series is a well-informed, comprehensive and accessibly written look at the very nature of the universe. What Shape Is Space? is a question with far-reaching implications for our understanding of the very nature of reality and our place within it. The concepts involved may be sophisticated, but Giles Sparrow’s effortless prose style renders them understandable, allowing readers to come to grips with the overarching debates at the cutting edge of cosmology today. Illustrations, diagrams, and astronomical visualizations demonstrate and clarify the various astonishing implications of a universe of infinite space. This entry in the “Big Idea” series explores four key topics: “Mapping Space,” featuring the evidence that favors the expanding and infinite universe theory; “The Expanding Universe,” which examines the rate at which the cosmos is expanding; “The Omega Factor,” which explores the possibilities for different types of hypothetically infinite universes; and “The Shape of the Multiverse,” which analyzes the effect of each possible shape on the likely future of the universe. Well-informed and lucid, What Shape Is Space? is an in-depth and approachable exploration of the ideas and possibilities born from this seemingly simple question.

"A personal and pictorial narrative, it features a collection of Jamie's latest garden designs. From his work throughout Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and America, to art and nature, it reveals how ideas can be found in the simplest of places, and how Jamie translates these ideas into remarkable spaces for outdoor living. Abundant with stunning gardens, Jamie's personal photography, inspiring imagery and essential information on plants and materials throughout, Inspired also includes cameo profiles of international architects, designers, artists and sculptors who have been influential to Jamie's designs"--Jacket

"What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see?" This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, posed to more than 100 of the world's most influential minds. Exhilarating, visionary, sometimes frightening, but always fascinating, their responses provide an eye-opening road map of our near future.