Creative Pep Talk


Book Description

Every artist needs a little pep talk now and then. An inspiring tool and beautiful art book in one, Creative Pep Talk offers illustrated words of wisdom from 50 of today's leading creative professionals. With full-color, typographic prints and explanatory statements from a host of creative luminaries—including Aaron James Draplin, Oliver Jeffers, Lisa Congdon, Mike Perry, and many others—this volume encourages artists to stay excited, experiment boldly, and conquer fear. "Create curiosity," "Learn to say no," and "If you can't be good, be different" are just a few of the motivational maxims in this visually rich collection that's perfect for students, designers, artists, and creatives at any stage in their careers.




The Power of Your Other Hand


Book Description

Brain researchers have in recent years have discovered the vast, untapped potential of the brain's little-used, right hemisphere. Art therapist Lucia Capacchione discovered that our nondominant hand is a direct channel to that potential. Her research and fieldwork with people using their "other hand" provides the raw material for this classic, first published in 1988. In workshops and private sessions, Lucia has worked with thousands of people, employing these techniques to help them become more creative, expressive, and intuitive in their day-to-day lives and also experience improved health and greater fulfillment in their relationships. Lucia will show you how to: Channel the deep inner wisdom of your True Self Change negative attitudes about yourself Unlock creativity Uncover hidden artistic abilities Heal your relationships Through various drawing and writing exercises, Lucia Capacchione hopes you will discover the power that lies hidden in your other hand. The techniques will help you explore and understand your thoughts and feelings on a completely different level and reconnect with a sense of playfulness you may have left behind in childhood.




Blindsight


Book Description

Hugo and Shirley Jackson award-winning Peter Watts stands on the cutting edge of hard SF with his acclaimed novel, Blindsight Two months since the stars fell... Two months of silence, while a world held its breath. Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune's orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever's out there isn't talking to us. It's talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route. So who do you send to force introductions with unknown and unknowable alien intellect that doesn't wish to be met? You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won't be needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called vampire, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist—an informational topologist with half his mind gone—as an interface between here and there. Pray they can be trusted with the fate of a world. They may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.




Sophie's World


Book Description

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.




Actionable Gamification


Book Description

Learn all about implementing a good gamification design into your products, workplace, and lifestyle Key FeaturesExplore what makes a game fun and engagingGain insight into the Octalysis Framework and its applicationsDiscover the potential of the Core Drives of gamification through real-world scenariosBook Description Effective gamification is a combination of game design, game dynamics, user experience, and ROI-driving business implementations. This book explores the interplay between these disciplines and captures the core principles that contribute to a good gamification design. The book starts with an overview of the Octalysis Framework and the 8 Core Drives that can be used to build strategies around the various systems that make games engaging. As the book progresses, each chapter delves deep into a Core Drive, explaining its design and how it should be used. Finally, to apply all the concepts and techniques that you learn throughout, the book contains a brief showcase of using the Octalysis Framework to design a project experience from scratch. After reading this book, you'll have the knowledge and skills to enable the widespread adoption of good gamification and human-focused design in all types of industries. What you will learnDiscover ways to use gamification techniques in real-world situationsDesign fun, engaging, and rewarding experiences with OctalysisUnderstand what gamification means and how to categorize itLeverage the power of different Core Drives in your applicationsExplore how Left Brain and Right Brain Core Drives differ in motivation and design methodologiesExamine the fascinating intricacies of White Hat and Black Hat Core DrivesWho this book is for Anyone who wants to implement gamification principles and techniques into their products, workplace, and lifestyle will find this book useful.




Archimedes' Bathtub


Book Description

Drawing on the fields of artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology, offers a theory that integrates knowledge of how intellectual breakthroughs occur.




The Artist's Way


Book Description

"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.




Generative Art


Book Description

Summary Generative Art presents both the technique and the beauty of algorithmic art. The book includes high-quality examples of generative art, along with the specific programmatic steps author and artist Matt Pearson followed to create each unique piece using the Processing programming language. About the Technology Artists have always explored new media, and computer-based artists are no exception. Generative art, a technique where the artist creates print or onscreen images by using computer algorithms, finds the artistic intersection of programming, computer graphics, and individual expression. The book includes a tutorial on Processing, an open source programming language and environment for people who want to create images, animations, and interactions. About the Book Generative Art presents both the techniques and the beauty of algorithmic art. In it, you'll find dozens of high-quality examples of generative art, along with the specific steps the author followed to create each unique piece using the Processing programming language. The book includes concise tutorials for each of the technical components required to create the book's images, and it offers countless suggestions for how you can combine and reuse the various techniques to create your own works. Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book. What's Inside The principles of algorithmic art A Processing language tutorial Using organic, pseudo-random, emergent, and fractal processes ========================================​========= Table of Contents Part 1 Creative Coding Generative Art: In Theory and Practice Processing: A Programming Language for ArtistsPart 2 Randomness and Noise The Wrong Way to Draw A Line The Wrong Way to Draw a Circle Adding Dimensions Part 3 Complexity Emergence Autonomy Fractals




How Learning Works


Book Description

Praise for How Learning Works "How Learning Works is the perfect title for this excellent book. Drawing upon new research in psychology, education, and cognitive science, the authors have demystified a complex topic into clear explanations of seven powerful learning principles. Full of great ideas and practical suggestions, all based on solid research evidence, this book is essential reading for instructors at all levels who wish to improve their students' learning." —Barbara Gross Davis, assistant vice chancellor for educational development, University of California, Berkeley, and author, Tools for Teaching "This book is a must-read for every instructor, new or experienced. Although I have been teaching for almost thirty years, as I read this book I found myself resonating with many of its ideas, and I discovered new ways of thinking about teaching." —Eugenia T. Paulus, professor of chemistry, North Hennepin Community College, and 2008 U.S. Community Colleges Professor of the Year from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education "Thank you Carnegie Mellon for making accessible what has previously been inaccessible to those of us who are not learning scientists. Your focus on the essence of learning combined with concrete examples of the daily challenges of teaching and clear tactical strategies for faculty to consider is a welcome work. I will recommend this book to all my colleagues." —Catherine M. Casserly, senior partner, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching "As you read about each of the seven basic learning principles in this book, you will find advice that is grounded in learning theory, based on research evidence, relevant to college teaching, and easy to understand. The authors have extensive knowledge and experience in applying the science of learning to college teaching, and they graciously share it with you in this organized and readable book." —From the Foreword by Richard E. Mayer, professor of psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara; coauthor, e-Learning and the Science of Instruction; and author, Multimedia Learning




7th Son: Descent


Book Description

As America reels from the bizarre presidential assassination committed by a child, seven men are abducted from their normal lives and delivered to a secret government facility. Each man has his own career, his own specialty. All are identical in appearance. The seven strangers were grown--- unwitting human clones---as part of a project called 7th Son. The government now wants something from these "John Michael Smiths." They share the flesh as well as the implanted memories of the psychopath responsible for the president's murder. The killer has bigger plans, and only these seven have the unique qualifications to track and stop him. But when their progenitor makes the battle personal, it becomes clear he may know the seven better than they know themselves.