The Unabridged Contents of my Nightstand
In no particular order…
Designing Identity, Marc English
Fantastic Folders and Exceptional Envelopes, Patricia Belyea and Jenny Sullivan
three issues of Interior Design magazine
two boxes of tissues
one empty caffeine-free Diet Coke can
The Delaware Business Ledger, January 2008
Service Included, Phoebe Damrosch*
1,000 Restaurant, Bar, & Cafe Graphics, Luke Herriott
Remarkable Restaurants, Francisco Asensio Cerver
Architectural Digest, November 2007
two issues of Fortune magazine
one black Slick Writer, fine point
two pads of small sticky notes
three rolls of 35mm film
Black and White and Two Color Design, Lesa Sawahata
1776, David McCullough
The Great Bridge, David McCullough
four issues of Dynamic Graphics
How magazine, February 2008
one lamp, one alarm clock, a bookmark my daughter gave me
8–10 pieces of scrap paper, two with middle-of-the-night blog ideas scrawled on them
a black Uniball Vision pen, micro point (Vision… what else?)
Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi**
Great Design Using Non-Traditional Materials, Sheree Clark and Wendy Lyons
a huge (2”) folder full of half-written blog articles and snippets of titles and ideas for future posts
one pair of Levi’s
Whoa.
Yah, yah. How does it all fit? It’s a huge three tier medical stand of some sort. (Shh! Medical-inspired is so 90s.)
I think you might just find a few good ideas for your own Experience Design learning sitting on my stand, or at least get an appreciation for all the stuff I stuff into my head in order to let the overflow of ideas pour onto these pages…
According to one source, 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school (http://www.bookpublishing.com via http://BookStatistics.com). Get inspired, and don’t let this happen to you!
What’s on your nightstand? Write your unabridged contents below so we can be inspired by your nighttime reading!
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
*I read Service Included last weekend in one sitting. I literally couldn’t put it down. It’s a memoir of the highest heights to which Experience Design can aspire, and the inevitable human reality behind even the finest facade. Gripping, catty, behind-the-scenes look at the theatre that a great restaurant can be. Think laterally, and you’ll find that Ms. Damrosch is giving tips you can use no matter what industry you’re in. Don’t miss the story of the man who raved about dessert.
**I’d like to shelve Keith Ferrazzi’s fabulous book, but almost every day since I bought and devoured it last summer I think, “let me just read that one part again,” or, “what was it he said about X?” I can’t put it on the big shelves, so far away in the living room, because I’m still coming back for his fresh perspective on the intermingling of business and relationships in this brave new Experience economy, over and over again. You will, too. If there’s one book on my stand that you ought to own, it’s this one.
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20 March 2008, 10:23 pm
I read your list aloud to hubby. After the 3 rolls of 35 mm film he laughs, “Good grief, does she have a dresser for a nightstand?!”
…and come to find you do
How cool is that?
Okay, here’s my cluttered nightshelf:
Unleash the Warrior Within by Richard Machowicz
World Without End by Sean Russell (recently BookMooched)
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
a small ceramic dish of coins from faraway places, with hair ties and earrings tossed in
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh
a bamboo-embossed journal I haven’t written in since Nov 13
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan, (also BookMooched)
an ugly-ass clock radio
a tube of pepper spray from a friend who worries I’ll be trapped alone in the loft with no defense but the hair ties
Best,
Crystal
21 March 2008, 8:12 am
Crystal,
There was the thought of editing it first, but then I decided unabridged gave a real feel for why an Experience Designer gets little sleep. Amazingly there’s nothing of my daughter’s on it, but then you should see her nightstand. Mine’s a medical cart, like the kind of thing they wheel in at the hospital with awful instruments on each shelf. Hers is a gorgreous, tricked-out changing table (I know this is hard to imagine but I’m a designer so I couldn’t let it alone) with three huge shelves stuffed to the gills.
I’ve been wanting to read The Four Agreements, but… I have a little reading to finish first. : )
BTW in case you think they’re all gathering dust: I chuckled as I wrote it, because if I’d written it a month ago there was a whole different bunch of books there and an April followup would be different again. I keep rereading bits of Never Eat Alone, but other than that it’s very project-dependent.
The tissues stay. Never know when an allergy attack will strike.
Regards,
Kelly
22 March 2008, 9:48 pm
Oh mannn, those both sound so cool! What wouldn’t I do for a whole dresser (or changing table, or cart, or whatever) next to the bed?!
I love our “bed in the sky”, but the loft doesn’t hold much more than that. With little space around the bed, we added floating shelves to hold the necessities.
No business books by my bed, but my desk? Welllll…
Looking forward to your April follow up!
~CW
23 March 2008, 8:09 am
Crystal,
This place is small too. That’s why we’ve got shelves everywhere. I love to have everything in its place. We moved from a much bigger home, where there was room to spread out, and now there’s no choice but to go up!
Floating shelves sounds very neat. I looked around as I wrote that but nearly every wall is filled, with only a few calm places for the eye to land. That’ll have to be for the next place, which I hope will be much bigger again. For now, we’re good with the whole cozy thing. It’s a change.
Regards,
Kelly
8 August 2008, 3:43 am
I enjoyed seeing that the book I wrote was on your bed stand. My goal was to create a book that was more than pretty pictures. The two chapters at the front aimed at making the fabrication of custom folders and envelopes accessible to any reader. The publisher’s goal was that 1/3 of the portfolio be from outside the USA. The project took 18 months in our studio, with three entry calls to collect enough good stuff!
8 August 2008, 7:19 am
Patricia,
Welcome and thanks for your comment!
Your book… I danced around it at the bookstore for weeks, just delighted with every page of it, until I finally decided I had to own it. There was one in particular, made of a circle—the simplicity of it blew me away. I think that one folder was responsible for finally deciding to purchase it!
You did a great job selecting, and writing just what your readers would need to know in the book. It’s a wonderful inspiration.
Regards,
Kelly