What’s in my NOW? — Sarper Erel – Cool Tools

What's in My Bag

What’s in my NOW? — Sarper Erel

issue #171

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Sarper Erel is a digital product designer. Currently lives in southernmost Sweden, longs for summer days and works on how ubiquitous computing can improve our living spaces.

PHYSICAL

Patagonia Ultralight Black Hole Tote Pack — By all means, this must be the best backpack ever made. Long vacations or short walks to the library alike. It suits for everything. Perfect size, perfect pockets, packable, durable and somehow manages to stay clean.
Anker GaN Prime 67W USB-C Charger — This ended my entire cable/charger mess. One charger to rule them all.
Thermos Light & Compact — I love my coffee to go, but I hate waiting 15 minute queues for €5 Americanos.

DIGITAL

NYT Cooking — I tried so many of these apps and books. Concluded that NYT Cooking has the most interesting, mostly vegetarian recipes that are easy to follow.
Menubar Controller for Sonos — I love many things about Sonos systems. Their apps are not on that list. This simple Mac app made me love my Sonos speaker again.

INVISIBLE

“Yes, And…” Long time ago, I have been to an unconference for “yeasayers”. Since then again and again I witness how things just unfold and reveal themselves when you say “yes” to the ideas.

What’s in your NOW?

We want to know what’s in your now — a list of 6 things that are significant to you now — 3 physical, 2 digital and 1 invisible.

If you’re interested in contributing an issue, use this form to submit: https://forms.gle/Pf9BMuombeg1gCid9

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03/20/24

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Memento Mori / Atlas Obscura

MEMENTO MORI – SPECTACULAR BOOK OF ESSAYS AND 500 PHOTOS OF THE DEAD AMONG US

Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us
by Paul Koudounaris
Thames and Hudson
2015, 208 pages, 9 x 13.3 x 1 inches (hardcover)

One of my most unforgettable travel experiences was visiting the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutná Hora, near Prague. This small 19-century monastery chapel would be unremarkable, except that it is decorated with thousands of human bones and skulls. There are skull- and femur-decorated columns, hanging garlands of bones, a chandelier made of every bone in the human body, and a replica of the Schwarzenberg family coat of “arms” – that also includes leg, finger, scapula, and coccyx bones! The memory of that space makes any Halloween display seem tame and unimaginative.

If Kutná Hora isn’t in your travel plans, check out Memento Mori, a spectacular book of essays and photographs by UCLA PhD and art historian Paul Koudounaris. His 500 color photographs here are arresting, both in subject matter and photographic technique. The handsome hardbound book includes a stunning centerfold of a bejeweled and gold-encrusted mummy. The detail and visual opulence of the photo justifies the giant four-page spread. I enjoyed reading the informative essays about the use of human bones as a form of remembrance in cultures around the world, from Europe to Thailand, Japan to Peru, and from ancient times to the present day. Here’s just one fun fact: there are two venerated human skulls (ñatitas) enshrined in the homicide division of the national law enforcement agency in El Alto, Bolivia. These two cranium crime-stoppers have provided “clues to difficult cases and have been credited with helping to solve hundreds of crimes.” – Bob Knetzger

ATLAS OBSCURA – THE INTRIGUING WEBSITE OF LIFE ODDITIES MOVES TO ILLUSTRATED BOOK FORM

Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders
by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton
Workman Publishing Company
2016, 480 pages, 7 x 10.5 x 2.1 inches (hardcover)

It’s a big world we live in, full of fortune-telling fox-woman hybrids, libraries where books are chained to the shelves, rusting shipwrecks, and amusement parks at the bottom of salt mines. The website Atlas Obscura collects the most intriguing of them, and now Atlas Obscura is in book form, perfect for flipping through while waiting for water to boil. It’s plentifully illustrated, with photographs or drawings on every page.

This is not The Book of Lists, and it is not for young children. Many of the entries concern war or atrocities, and some photos are gruesome; the world is full of mummified limbs. The authors treat the subjects respectfully, and have done their research. The story of the Bicycle Tree in Washington State, for example, has both the glurgy and the factual versions.

Some entries are not location based, such as the two pages of entheogens from around the world, or the list of abandoned nuclear power plants. But most entries have the latitude and longitude for each attraction, and sometimes street addresses; you could use this as a guidebook for a particularly unconventional wanderjahr. – Sara Lorimer

Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

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