Books
How to Work in a Mortuary
Down Among the Dead Men by Michelle Williams tells the story of a year in the life of a mortuary technician; doing a job many people would rather die than do. It’s full of detail of what happens between unexpected and hitherto unexplained death, and disposal of the body. Just as fascinating are the stories [...]
Teens in Solitary Confinement
I Don’t Wish Nobody To Have a Life Like Mine: Tales of Kids in Adult Lockup by David Chura, who spent ten years tutoring teenaged inmates at Westchester County Jail, New York, describes what it’s like to be a young person committed to an isolation unit. Mother Jones wonders whether isolation does more harm than [...]
Patterns for Life
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction is a classic design text written in 1977 bby Christopher Alexander. It ambitiously catalogues, with photos and illustrations, everything in the build environment – from parks to tower blocks to bedrooms – and explains how good design enhances life and community. High-rise apartments and uniform ceilings: bad. East facing [...]
The Animal Review
The Animal Review: The Genius, Mediocrity, and Breathtaking Stupidity That Is Nature, by Jacob Lentz and Steve Nash is an objective (and humorous) review of animal species. The king cobra gets A+ and the garden snail D- (although garden snails regularly outwit TV Mole despite regular mass murder attempts in order to preserve the vegetable [...]
Meet Mr Haynes – Manual Man
Ever wondered who the Mr Haynes behind the Haynes manuals is? Find out here.
Fifty Cars That Changed the World
Fifty Cars That Changed the World by Andrew Nahum, Principal Curator at London’s Design Museum explores the design impact of classic cars such as the 908 Ford Model T, the 1957 Lotus Elite, and the 1998 Smart Car. Also in the series are Fifty Dresses…, Fifty Chairs… and Fifty Shoes….
Authors in Hiding
Flavorwire has smoked out some of the 20th century’s most reclusive authors in a defense of their refusal of celebrity. Featured authors include Marcel Proust, J.D. Salinger, Cormac McCarthy and Harper Lee. Read their analysis here.
Award-Winning Prison Library
Saughton Prison in Edinburgh has won an award for its library that includes designs and fittings built by prisoners. The library has changed imates’ lives by introducing them to the joy of reading. In one year it had 12,500 prisoners visit the library and vandalism to the books has been reduced from 80% to nil. [...]
Criminology Books
Sage is publishing a new series of books on criminology, including Crime and Terrorism, which explores “the often murky interface between organised crime and terrorism” and Crime and Risk that looks at the influence of the excitement of risk-taking on criminal behaviour and how the harm can be reduced rather than risk-taking behaviours controlled. Visit [...]
The Museum of Innocence
The Museum of Innocence by Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk is about a character called Kemal who collects items from his love in order to construct a shrine to her. This shrine is called the Museum of Innocence, and is complemented in real life by a the author’s own Museum of Innocence containing 83 objects, one [...]
