spacekadet blog

I recently started and never finished a book called The Gift by Lewis Hyde. This book isn’t bad, in fact, it’s thought-provoking and probably very relevant. The first half of The Gift describes the evolution of gift exchange and how this has inspired creativity throughout history. The second half describes the modern commercialization of gift-giving and addresses how artists can continue to be creative in the face of that ever-present need to make money.

Sounds good, right? Well, Lewis Hyde is an academic. He uses lots of professory phrases like “in a general sense” and “integrated body of theory” and “prospectus points”. My patience for this is pretty short, and in the end I couldn’t get through it. But what I did read reminded me how much I like to make things and give them away, especially during Christmas time. So this Christmas I made a photo book of all my favorite photos from 2007. Check it out at Blurb, where you can view a PDF preview of the book, and even order yourself a copy if you’re so inclined (which you will be, ’cause this book is bad-ass!).

This was the first time I used Blurb and was very impressed by its book-building software and the professional quality of the results. Here’s a few other things I liked:

• Blurb lets you design and arrange the book in a bit of software called BookSmart that’s independent of the web browser
• BookSmart has lots of custom layout options, and templates for photobooks, cook books, printed blogs, journals, and other neat stuff I can’t remember
• The printed result looks really sweet, and hardcover editions even come with a fancy book jacket (that you design)
• The books are reasonably priced. I made a 66-page 7×7 hardcover book for $25.95
• You can share your book online so other admiring fans can order a printed copy of their own
• Blurb lets you sell your books online and make a profit. My book was a labor of love, so I haven’t changed the base price

A word of warning: it takes time to build a Blurb book. Sure, you can use the default layout and let the software organize the pages for you. But the fun is in toying with the design and writing clever captions. The creative process is so fun that it’s hard to stop experimenting and commit to a final product. But this is what I love about Blurb: anything that facilitates my desire to make things is pretty cool, and Blurb made me want to make lots and lots of photo books. Best of all, at the end of the process I have my digital photos printed in something that’s nice to flip through and pass around at holiday parties. Merry Christmas, everybody!

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1. Back From Mordor
2. a university where you can’t buy books!?
3. so much for snow
4. Merry Beachmas!
5. How To Tell Birds From Flowers