Here are 100 books that Painting Culture fans have personally recommended if you like
Painting Culture.
Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I am a Canadian social anthropologist living in England, and my research is about material culture and heritage in Mexico. I have always been fascinated by the ways that people make their cultures through objects, food, and space; this almost certainly started with my mum who is always making something stitched, knitted, savoury, or sweet, often all at the same time. I hope that you enjoy the books on my list – I chose them as they each have something important to teach us about how our consumption of things affects those who make them, often in profound ways.
Bill Wood’s engaging and accessible book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in travelling to Mexico or Mexican arts and crafts. Based on research with Zapotec weavers from Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Made in Mexico shows how it is impossible to understand how and why such items are made today without also knowing about the ways that Oaxaca and Zapotec people are marketed as part of an industry that sells authenticity and “Zapotecness.” Through clear analysis of the marketing of Oaxaca as a tourism destination and the making and marketing of Zapotec textiles as indigenous art and artifacts in both Mexico and the United States, Made in Mexico shows how Mexican craftworks today are very much global cultural commodities.
Made in Mexico introduces us to the people, places, and ideas that create Zapotec textiles and give them meaning. From Oaxaca, where guides escort tourists to weavers' homes and then to the shops and markets where weavings are sold, to the galleries and stores of the American Southwest, where textiles are displayed and purchased as home decor or ethnic artwork, W. Warner Wood's ethnographic account crosses the border in both directions to describe how the international market for Native American art shapes weavers' design choices. Everyone involved in this enterprise draws on images of rustic authenticity and indigenous tradition connecting…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I am a Canadian social anthropologist living in England, and my research is about material culture and heritage in Mexico. I have always been fascinated by the ways that people make their cultures through objects, food, and space; this almost certainly started with my mum who is always making something stitched, knitted, savoury, or sweet, often all at the same time. I hope that you enjoy the books on my list – I chose them as they each have something important to teach us about how our consumption of things affects those who make them, often in profound ways.
In Thiefing a Chance, Rebecca Prentice shows us what life is like for women who make clothing in a factory in Trinidad – a livelihood shared by more than 75 million people worldwide, most of them in the Global South. I recommend this book because although Prentice discusses the ways that late-capitalism and neoliberal structural reforms have produced the difficult economic and working conditions that her research participants must cope with, she also shows how the women are not passive subjects in these processes. She documents how they take every opportunity on the factory floor to informally gain skills and to make ‘illicit’ garments out of spare materials, which they can sell outside of work.
However, Prentice resists the temptation to analyze these practices as ‘social resistance,’ and instead shows how such informal practices actually encourage these women to embrace neoliberal identities of competitive, enterprising individuals.
When an IMF-backed program of liberalization opened Trinidad’s borders to foreign ready-made apparel, global competition damaged the local industry and unraveled worker entitlements and expectations but also presented new economic opportunities for engaging the “global” market. This fascinating ethnography explores contemporary life in the Signature Fashions garment factory, where the workers attempt to exploit gaps in these new labor configurations through illicit and informal uses of the factory, a practice they colloquially refer to as “thiefing a chance.”
Drawing on fifteen months of fieldwork, author Rebecca Prentice combines a vivid picture of factory life, first-person accounts, and anthropological analysis to…
I am a Canadian social anthropologist living in England, and my research is about material culture and heritage in Mexico. I have always been fascinated by the ways that people make their cultures through objects, food, and space; this almost certainly started with my mum who is always making something stitched, knitted, savoury, or sweet, often all at the same time. I hope that you enjoy the books on my list – I chose them as they each have something important to teach us about how our consumption of things affects those who make them, often in profound ways.
Like the other works on my list, Susan Terrio’s book considers how globalization transforms the production, meanings and markets for goods, and the lives of those who make them. Terrio considers how artisanal chocolate makers in Paris and the Bayonne area worked to carve out a high-value market niche for themselves by re-educating the public about the quality and prestige of French handmade chocolates. She documents how they managed to succeed in this project by borrowing terminology and practices from wine connoisseurship, and by linking their handmade chocolate to French identity. I love this book because it provides insights into how our own ideas about taste, quality, and enjoyment are deeply connected to economics, politics, policy, and identity – and because it’s about chocolate, of course!
This absorbing narrative follows the craft community of French chocolatiers--members of a tiny group experiencing intensive international competition--as they struggle to ensure the survival of their businesses. Susan J. Terrio moves easily among ethnography, history, theory, and vignette, telling a story that challenges conventional views of craft work, associational forms, and training models in late capitalism. She enters the world of Parisian craft leaders and local artisanal families there and in southwest France to relate how they work and how they confront the representatives and structures of power, from taste makers, CEOs, and advertising executives to the technocrats of Paris…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I am a Canadian social anthropologist living in England, and my research is about material culture and heritage in Mexico. I have always been fascinated by the ways that people make their cultures through objects, food, and space; this almost certainly started with my mum who is always making something stitched, knitted, savoury, or sweet, often all at the same time. I hope that you enjoy the books on my list – I chose them as they each have something important to teach us about how our consumption of things affects those who make them, often in profound ways.
This book is highly recommended by myself and my small son, Adam. Pumpkin Soup captures something essential about making things for a living that is not often discussed in more academic texts: how difficult it can be to collaborate with others. The book tells the story of a squirrel, a cat, and a duck who make pumpkin soup together every night. All goes well until Duck decides he wants to do things his way, and a loud and angry argument ensues! The book does not end with a moral for small children about cooperation, but something altogether more ethnographic and familiar to those who work with others – another argument!
Cat, Duck and Squirrel live in an old white cabin, with a pumpkin patch in the garden. Every day Cat slices up some pumpkin, Squirrel stirs in some water and Duck tips in some salt to make the perfect pumpkin soup...Until the day Duck wants to do the stirring...This is a funny, rhythmical story about friendship and sharing, with fabulous animal characters, illustrated in glowing autumnal colours with a brilliant CD featuring music and sound effects!
I’ve been writing, speaking, blogging, and tweeting about the history of American children and their childhoods for many decades. When I went to school—a long time ago—the subject did not come up, nor did I learn much in college or graduate school. I went out and dug up the story as did many of the authors I list here. I read many novels and autobiographies featuring childhood, and I looked at family portraits in museums with new eyes. Childhood history is fascinating and it is a lot of fun. And too, it is a great subject for book groups.
Toys! Dolls! Amusement Parks! They aren’t just playthings and play places; they are part of our national character and our consumer culture, as well as our private objects and experiences. Childhood is manufactured—created in our homes, communities, schools, and yes, by play. This book has a lot to say about our history but it is also a fun reminder of the things many of us grew up with or wish we had. It just might have you rooting through your attic or old photo books.
Since the advent of the American toy industry, children’s cultural products have attempted to teach and sell ideas of American identity. By examining cultural products geared towards teaching children American history, Playing With History highlights the changes and constancies in depictions of the American story and ideals of citizenship over the last one hundred years. This book examines political and ideological messages sold to children throughout the twentieth century, tracing the messages conveyed by racist toy banks, early governmental interventions meant to protect the toy industry, influences and pressures surrounding Cold War stories of the western frontier, the fractures visible…
I was introduced to small business when I was six years old—my parents purchased a drug store to run (that drug store, after being sold forty years ago, is still in business). When I started my agency, there were few books on how to start, grow, and stay in business that didn’t tout traditional thinking. I think outside the triangle. I never thought I would be an author, and I am writing book #6! I write books today that I wish were available when I started my business journey: unique strategies coupled with actionable steps to grow. I hope these books provide inspiration and ideas!
As the final book on my list, I refer to this book often, and you will, too. I wrote one of the chapters in the book, and the level of expertise in this book still shocks me!
This book helps me to do all things marketing, and provides specific actions that I can take as a business owner today to up my digital marketing game.
35 marketing experts joined best-selling author, entrepreneur, and marketing strategist Mark Schaefer to write this practical guide for small business owners.. You’d love to spend less for better marketing results. . The challenge is knowing what will work.. With market conditions, your customer base, and marketing itself evolving, getting the maximum return on your marketing investment is a moving target.. Yet your business’s growth depends on your ability to adapt.. And with so many voices vying for attention, how do you stand out?. This guide answers the questions small business owners are asking to make smarter, more cost-effective marketing decisions..…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I grew up reading my dad’s hardcore sci-fi and my mother’s romance, horror, and thrillers. This led to my desire to become a published author. Prior to 2012, I was a bestselling Canadian author with a handful of titles published. After hitting #4 on Amazon’s Bestsellers list, I was approached by agents and publishers. Within weeks I signed multiple contracts. Trident Media Group asked to represent me. Yes! I signed two audio deals with Audible, and multiple deals with foreign publishers. One of my mottos has always been to help other writers when I can, so I share my marketing expertise and experiences.
As Godin states: “Great marketers don't use consumers to solve their company's problem; they use marketing to solve other people's problems.” This book is for anyone in sales. For writers, you may find you see book marketing in a new light after reading this book. Not only is there psychology in how consumers (readers) make their decisions, learning to sell books also has a psychology behind it. Once you know who you are selling to and understand their needs, you can and will sell more.
#1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller & Instant New York Times Bestseller
A game-changing approach to marketing, sales, and advertising.
For the first time Seth Godin offers the core of his marketing wisdom in one compact, accessible, timeless package. This is Marketing shows you how to do work you're proud of, whether you're a tech startup founder, a small business owner, or part of a large corporation.
No matter what your product or service, this book will help you reframe how it's presented to the world, in order to meaningfully connect with people who want it. Seth employs his signature blend…
I have been building guitars and related instruments since 1994. My enthusiasm for guitar construction led me to deeply explore all aspects of the art and to share as much information as I can with others via my lutherie information website, writing for American Lutherie, published books, and my research publications. I am fortunate to count myself among those that consider building stringed musical instruments to be one of the best things one can do.
Electric guitars and basses are the most popular stringed musical instruments.
Many players dream of building their own instrument. This book provides step-by-step instructions for doing just that. The author is an enthusiastic builder himself, and is also a teacher of instrument construction.
The book is written in a direct and personal style, and anticipates all of the questions a novice builder will ask. This is amazingly confidence-building. For first-time builders of electric guitars, there is no better place to start than this book.
This book tells you everything about making electric guitars following professional standards, phase-by-phase, step-by-step.
It's all about leaving your dent in the universe in the shape of the most beautiful, incredibly sounding guitar you can make—that's clear. But building guitars professionally starts before you even cut the wood: You need to setup your workplace, you have to define your identity as guitar maker, and decide the guiding principles of your endeavor as luthier. What kind of guitars will you build? For whom? What is going to be the winning characteristic of your instruments?
When you have online influence, you have the ability to transform minds, behaviors, and outcomes. Dario Sipos is a Digital Marketing Strategist, Branding Expert, Keynote Public Speaker, Business Columnist, and author of the highly acclaimed books Digital Personal Branding and Digital Retail Marketing. Dario has spent significant time working all over the world in the digital field, helping clients and developing brands. He helps leaders influence positive outcomes in all directions, even under the most difficult, changing conditions. Dario will help you build your influence in all directions of your online presence.
One of the most crucial elements of my marketing journey was to understand the use of
“hooks” that clever brands build into their products and messages. I found this book explains the most effective strategies to bring innovation to your business while scaling it to become an influential brand both online and offline. Because social media reshaped our world in a way that people have short attention spans, from the book I learned how to grab potential audiences’ attention by communicating effectively. The book is an excellent guide on succeeding with brand communication in our short attention span world, so highly recommended to everyone.
Hook Point: How to Stand Out in a 3-Second World, by out of the box thinker Brendan Kane, breaks down the most effective strategies to generate new opportunities, innovate and scale your business, and create a compelling brand-both online and off-so you can thrive in the new micro-attention world in which we live.
A lot of people know who they are, what they do, and a few even know why they do it-but even when brands or individuals have clarity in these areas, they often struggle to grab a potential audience's attention for long enough to get them to learn…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
The traditional way of commercializing an invention — patenting, prototyping, then marketing it — doesn’t work very well and never has. When I found an easier way to share my creativity with the world, it changed my life, because the feeling you get when you hold something in your hand that you first imagined in your head is second to none. My 10-step process breaks down barriers so that everyone who has an idea — young or old, rich or poor — can get in the game of bringing it to market. I’ve published 5 books, 1,000 articles, and more than 700 videos to help others take advantage of the power of open innovation.
This is the best book I have read about how to become a profitable toy inventor. Richard Levy, the toy inventor responsible for the Furby and many other massive successes, is the real deal. His inventing tips and advice are absolutely priceless. He is the perfect example of the right person to take inventing advice from! By that I mean, he is an inventor who has achieved repeat commercial success.
Presents information on how to successfully market an invention covering such topics as licensing options, negotiating deals, patents and trademarks, and copyrights.
