Jason Kottke has been distilling his brain into kottke.org for twenty years; what would that look like printed out? — On Margins episode 005 is up, featuring Jason Kottke, the creator of now 20 year old kottke.org. You can listen to the episode or read the full transcript here: https://craigmod.com/onmargins/005/. On Margins by Craig Mod on Apple Podcasts Download past episodes or subscribe to future episodes of On Margins by Craig Mod for free.itunes.apple.com

Small tweaks to incentivize engaging with a book’s content. — I’ve been using Kindles on and off ever since they launched. Our relationship has been contentious but I’ve always been seduced or re-seduced by their potential. At their best, they are beautiful devices. At their worst, infuriating. They are always so close to being better than they are. Initially they…

On Margins ep. 003: Asia Grace — Photographing Asia in the 1970s — In the latest episode of On Margins (iTunes, Google Play), Kevin Kelly and I discuss traveling around and photographing Asia in the 1970s with just a Nikkormat and a canvas backpack filled with Kodachrome. In 2002, Kevin turned his tens of thousands of images from those travels into the Taschen…

On the making “Koya Bound”: A book of photographs from the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage walk in Japan — When making a book, I find it’s useful to walk on the book. To peek over it and look for patterns, shuffle pages, grouping and ungrouping the loose sheets. Walls work too — a book can be made on a wall. But floors are easier. And there’s something joyful about…

Talking about making books with good people who make great books — It’s probably unnecessary, and I don’t know what I’m doing, but here’s a new podcast for you.¹ As I say in Episode 001: I’ve been working on and with books for over 15 years; as a designer, a publisher, a producer, and an author, and what I’ve realized over time…

The feedback loop between our work and the objects around us — When Robert Frank finally sat down to divine his seminal photography book, The Americans, he had to sift through more than 28,000 images. In Frank’s vast collection were snapshots of an America that had rarely before been caught on film: snaps of Manhattan cowboys sitting atop garbage cans, snaps of…

Three tips for making the touch bar a little less painful — I didn’t want the touch bar, but there it is, glowing above my keyboard. The only way to get the fastest MacBook Pro, with the biggest harddrive, and the most ports is to also get the touch bar. So let’s learn to live with it. It’s fascinating that Apple has…

Surprisingly great, nearly perfect travel sandals — I’ve never owned Tivas nor Keens (I just don’t vibe with the look of either), but I have owned Chaco sandals, which are like wearing SUVs on your feet. I’ve hiked to glaciers in Tibet, all over Vietnam, and through parts of Nepal with my Chacos. They’re wonderful and wonderfully…

Tips for mapping your life — Sometime in the fall of last year I began to draw my calendar. My weeks were packed with a series of interlocking jobs and I couldn’t keep them straight. Tiny calendars on my computer weren’t cutting it. I needed something tangible — I needed a calendar-as-artifact. The drawn calendar is…