Smart Read
April 09|2003

I'm one of those people that spends a lot of MONEY and EFFORT, selecting books and magazines. Whatever triggers me to fresh inspiration and ideas. It pays off to have diverse resources. I feel like a damn library.

Since I'm always on the subway, I've got some time to kill. On Fridays, before I go anywhere else, I get off at UNION, and head over to the BCE place. There's a fairly large mag shop; a lot of imported material, except for Archive (I don't why they don't carry it). For that, I go to Pages on Queen, across from Much Music. Now, they have an amazing selection of books! I could be there for hours, just like an HMV. Forget Chapters, they carry much of the main stream stuff only.

But Besides all the ARCHIVES, CA's, Applied Arts mags, and the HOWs. It's important to get deeper insight from books that point out Life in a commercial world, case studies, and essays. We, as advertisers, artists, and odd-balls should absorb everything to keep our minds working.

If you haven't yet, I highly recommend you read "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" by Hermann Vaske. An exclusive collection of interviews with Helmut Krone, Lee Clow, Jo Pytka, Ridley Scott, and so on.

Another would have to be "Five Faces of Genius" by Annette Moser-Wellman. This is one of those books that can help you understand yourself better.

"Creative Advertising" by Mario Pricken. It's a little pricey, but it's worth it. It identifies ideas and techniques from the worlds best campaigns. It takes you through the entire process that other creatives have gone through to achieve their results. Hey, what's the Pirelli doing in there?

Anyway, I thought this might come in handy, for some of you.

alek, keeping mind open.