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Old Media! 2000
Inkspot Books & Games was a store I opened in downtown San Jose, California's SoFA district in February of 1994. It was small, 400 square feet, and I ran it all by myself. I specialized in pleasure reading: mystery, science-fiction, fantasy, horror, humor, art, magazines and miscellaneous cool stuff. It took $22,000 to open it, $15K of which I borrowed from an investor with a serious book habit who was attracted by the prospect of getting books at cost and earning 8% interest on the loan as I paid it back over 5 years. (I did pay it back on time. I am proud to have kept my good credit and honored my debts).
In the summer of 1995 it became apparent that the store was still not going to be able to pay me a living wage (due largely to unreliable supplies of the game Magic: the Gathering which had become a whopping 70% of my business) and I found a buyer willing to take on the remainder of my lease, the store fixtures and some of my stock. The store closed in October of 1995 to my relief and sorrow.
With the growth of the World Wide Web and the advent of Amazon.com's Associates program, I realized that I would be able to do some of my favorite parts of having a store without the financial burden of renting retail space and having to commit all my time to working the counter. I have decided to reopen Inkspot as a virtual store. The change of venue and the orientation of Amazon necessitate a slight change of inventory from books, games and magazines to books and music. I consider this a plus because while I do enjoy games, recommending music is even more fun.
Over the past year, however, I have not worked on this online version of Inkspot very much. My attention has been largely focused on work and the limited time I spend working on my website since completing my thesis project is centered on my weblog. Therefore I'm facing reality and throwing in the towel on this. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well, and I am clearly not going to take the time for that. No reason to throw the baby out with the bath water, however, so here are some recommendations gleaned from the remains of Inkspot:
Books(Through the magic of alphabetization, the book I recommend with the most caveats appears first...)
Web Sites That Work by Roger Black & Sean Elder - Web Design
Some basic design rules you should know before you decide to break them.
A great overview of design principles as they relate to the web. Engagingly written and beautifully produced, but get it from the library unless you're new to design. Note: many web designers I respect think this book is not worth your time or money (one's exact words were "evil evil evil", I believe), so spend a little extra time with it before you shell out any cash and definitely take his "rules" with several grains of salt.
Midnight Blue : The Sonja Blue Collection by Nancy Collins - Horror
Kick-ass cybersuck.
Little, Big by John Crowley - Fantasy
"The things that make us happy make us wise." My favorite book in the whole wide world.
Let Them Eat Cheesecake : The Art of Olivia by Olivia De Berardinis - Art
The true successor to Antonio Vargas. Beautiful women, beautifully painted.
Mirror Worlds : Or the Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoebox : How It Will Happen and What It Will Mean by David Gelernter - Computers
Fascinating speculations on the future of computing and our relationship to the miniature worlds we create. A great "knock on the side of the head" to get you thinking about how we might live in the near future. Most amazing is that he wrote this before the World Wide Web existed.
Yes, Gelernter is the guy who was almost killed by the Unabomber. That Gelernter takes such an optimistic view about the uses of pervasive data-gathering is the primary weakness of his vision.
Burning Chrome by William Gibson - Science Fiction
Where to start with Gibson. His best stuff is here.
Andy Goldsworthy : A Collaboration With Nature by Andy Goldsworthy - Art
Something very different; simple and full of meaning.
The
Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff - Spirituality
Actually a wonderful introduction to Taoism and how
can you go wrong with Pooh?
HTML
ARTISTRY: more than code by Ardith Ibanez & Natalie Zee
- Web Design
Bringing it all together. Another great book from the
New Riders press. One big flaw: they suggest detecting the browser and
customizing the page, rather than detecting functionality. Listen to
Taylor
on this subject.
Ten
Ever-Lovin' Blue Eyed Years With Pogo by Walt Kelly - Humor
Just plain good stuff. Profound and hilarious by turns.
Clearly an influence on Bill Watterson, few other strips have been so
consistently simple and universal.
God,
As Nature Sees God : A Christian Reading of the Tao Te Ching by
Rev. Dr. John R. Mabry - Spirituality
A beautiful book; poetic, peaceful and profound. And
John is a dear friend. (Now if we could only get Amazon to carry his
dadaist poetry...)
The
Official Couch Potato Handbook by Jack Mingo - Humor
Sic semper potatum reclinus.
Web
Designer's Guide to Style Sheets by Steven Mulder - Web Design
Mulder did Webmonkey's
cascading style sheets tutorial. I liked that and his book is also
useful though it could use an update now to integrate it with dHTML.
(Go, Steve, go!)
JavaScript
for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide (2nd Edition) by
Tom Negrino & Dori Smith - Web Design
A good way to learn Javascript. The Visual Quickstart
Guides are all really helpful in the way they arrange the description
of what you're doing, the code you're writing and what you'll actually
see beside each other on the same page. The 2nd edition has a good diagram
of the Javascript objects (a.k.a. The Object Hierarchy) and you'll find
you want to place a tab on that page, you'll use it so much.
I recommend Javascript as a starting place for anyone wishing to beef
up their technical side. Scripting is the gateway to programming and
tags & objects are the wave of the future.
Another winner from Peachpit Press' Visual Quickstart Guide series.
If you see the running rabbit, you're probably buying a great book for
getting started. Only downside is poor proof-reading & code triple-checks,
so visit the website for each book for typo information.
The
Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman - Design
I have had this book recommended to me by lots of people.
Lots. And they were right. (By the way, this is the same book as The
Psychology of Everyday Things, they just changed the name when they
went to the paperback edition).
The
Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte - Mystery
Whose
Body? by Dorothy Sayers - Mystery
The first of the excellent series of books featuring
Lord Peter Wimsey.
Snow
Crash by Neal Stephenson - Science Fiction
A helluva good ride and a brilliant cyberpunk vision.
The
Diamond Age
Better written but less of a kick in the pants than
Snow Crash.
A
Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman - History
Web
Concept & Design : A Comprehensive Guide for Creating Effective Web
Sites by Crystal Waters - Web Design
A great introduction to the entire act of creating a
web site. Deals as much with the process of design as with specific
code techniques. Waters does a great job introducing traditional design
theory and adapting it to the web. Her treatment of the ideation phase
is the best I have seen. This book is a "must read" for any new web
designer and a good brainstorming tool for more experienced designers.
It was required reading in my web design class in Summer of 1999. An
update & expansion would be good, but I fear Crystal is probably
way too busy these days.
Calvin
and Hobbes by Bill Watterson - Humor
Calvin and Hobbes is one of the finest works about childhood
of all time. Absolute genius. This is the first in the series.
The
Book : On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan W. Watts
- Spirituality
A good kick in the head. Try your local library for
audio and video tapes of Watts - he's delightful.
Designing
Web Graphics 2 by Lynda Weinman - Web Design
If you're producing graphics for the web, the current
edition of this book should be first on your shopping list.
Photoshop
4 for Windows (Visual Quickstart Guide Series) by Elaine Weinmann
& Peter Lourekas
A really huge help in coming up to speed on Photoshop
for newbies or those out of practice. Once learned, it remains a handy
reference. There is also
for Macintosh. Another winner from Peachpit Press' Visual Quickstart
Guide series.
Betty
Page Confidential by Bunny Yeager (Photographer), Stan Corwin
Productions - Art
Some of my favorite pictures of Betty/Bettie/Bette with
interesting text including a great introduction by Buck Henry.
"These photographs are not about sex but about exuberance, the sheer,
physical delight of corporeal existence. Betty is Eve before the apple.
She has no shame. She is in her favorite place, doing what she loves
best, her magnetic vitality transporting us all. The secret of Betty’s
appeal isn’t mysterious. She found perfect pleasure in simply being
alive. And she gave it to us." - Gary Meyer
Music 
