Once in a while something comes in that causes me to drop whatever I’m doing, and this brilliant form of communication by Kevin Kelly is one of them. Perfect for the 21st century. Less is better. Wow!
“One second per day for a 2-months in Asia.
I took a one-second clip each day on a two-month trip in Asia during April & May 2012. On a few days I just had to do an extra second, so this video is actually 90 seconds long. I was inspired by Ceasar Kuriyama’s one-second-per-day life summary. Since it was only one second per day I filmed it on my Lumix still camera; edited on iMovie. This is all the video I took. There is no more; but there are stills. I’ll eventually put them on my site at www.asiagrace.com. — Kevin Kelly”
I posted this 2-minute video by Jason Sussberg here a few months ago. It’s me showing the process of laying out the Tiny Homes book by hand — using scissors, removable scotch tape, and a cheap color copy machine (Brother DCP-9040CN) — before it enters the digital process.The video has had 23,000 views so far.
I started this blog 7 years ago. A bit reluctantly at first. (Sort of the same way I began using a Macintosh.) As the years have gone by, it’s become part of my life; I’m committed to getting up at least one post a day, it gives me a quick and easy way to tell people what I discover in the world around me.
In a way it doubled my workload: I have my work as an author, photographer, and publisher — making books — and there’s the blogging. Along with the occasional Tweet, a full plate.
Then along came Facebook. I just didn’t have the time to get involved in this different form of communication, so Lew (Lewandowski) started doing a Shelter Facebook page. I didn’t really understand how Facebook worked until yesterday when Lew and I looked over his work. I was impressed. At left is a photo that caught my eye: the mobile farm stand of the organic Four Season Farm of Harborside, Maine. Lew scans the web for items of interest.
With the blog I’m basically broadcasting; I don’t have time to reply to many comments. With Lew’s Facebook page, there’s a flow. People don’t just comment, they send photos, videos, they share with friends; it’s a web of communication. So I’ll keep blogging, and Lew will keep Facebooking, and this should give you a pretty good picture of what goes on in our work and with our interests: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shelter-Publications-Inc/91849471589?ref=ts
A great review of Tiny Homes appeared on the flagship of the tiny house movement, the Tiny House Blog, run by Kent Griswold.
Due to that, and the Wall Street Journal’s and New York Times‘ article last week, we had web orders for 41 books today.
More on the tiny homes front: Our neighbor. fisherman Todd, told me that a few weeks ago he gave a book to a farmer friend, and the guy is already building something he saw in the book. Last night I saw John Korty, the filmmaker, at a movie in San Rafael and he said that his son was looking at the book and getting ready to build something out of it. It never occurred to me that the book would be such a motivator.
Article by Penelope Green with short mention of our book
Excerpt:
“…Lloyd Kahn, once the shelter editor of The Whole Earth Catalog, and the dean of the hand-built movement.
Mr. Kahn, 76, has been publishing steadily under his own imprint, Shelter Publications, since 1973, and has influenced generations of passionate D.I.Y.ers. He has his own new book, Tiny Homes, Simple Shelter: Scaling Back in the 21st Century ($24.95), a glorious portfolio of quirky makers and dreamers…”
“It may be one of the most intriguing trends in homebuilding: do-it-yourself tiny homes.Š Lloyd Kahn’s ‘Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter,’ a quirky photo-rich book that preaches the benefits of a ‘grassroots movement to scale things back.’ It has already sold 5,200 copies in the U.S. and Canada since going on sale Jan. 15, making the title a genuin e hit in a distinctly niche market.
‘It’s about fantasy,’ said Jonas Kyle, one of the owners of Spoonbill & Sugartown Booksellers in Brooklyn, N.Y., which reordered it after a modest initial order sold out.…
‘What all these books reflect is that people are interested in living more simply,’ said Patricia Bostelman, vice president of marketing at Barnes & Noble Inc. “The economy declined, and people are finding ways to downsize.” Barnes & Noble is carrying “Tiny Homes” in several hundred stores in major markets.:
‘What I’m saying with this new book is don’t get a mortgage, don’t pay high rent, and don’t go into debt,’ said Mr. Kahn. “If you’re young enough or you’re just starting out and don’t want to work 12 hours a day, here’s an alternative.”
GIMME SHELTER is an email newsletter I send out to about 600 people every few months. It used to be my main form of communication with people in the book trade and friends until I started blogging. We also post them on the Shelter website. Here’s the latest, from mid-January: https://www.shelterpub.com/_gimme/_2012-01-19/gimme_shelter-2012-01-19.html
This video showed up yesterday. At 1:10 min. into it, they show a photo of Tiny Homes, Don’t know how they got the book so fast, it’s just out. Glad to see they used phrase “tiny homes.…”
The reason we now have such a nice chicken coop is that it was built by Billy Cummings and not me. All I did was put on the exterior siding, The chickens absolutely love the place. They have a big yard outside (with surround aviary wire — going down into the ground at perimeter) and a cozy rat-proof room in which they roost. Concrete floor, covered with straw. The roof is filling in nicely.
The weather has been blue-skies, clear, warm during day, which I find a bit creepy. The woods are dry. The aquifers need replenishing.
“Really love the rain, against my window…” –Toots in Memphis. Fabulous album, 1988, with Muscle Shoals backup, I swear Toots in channeling Otis here.
Saw first episode of new season’s “Shameless” last night. Wicked!
