Mixology 101
New York’s famed Please Don’t Tell nails the hidden speakeasy vibe like few other establishments in the city. For example, gaining access to the snug cocktail lounge requires patrons to find the hidden entrance located behind the vintage phone booth in the attached hot dog joint Crif Dogs. Jim Meehan’s inventiveness behind the bar, however, [...]
Edible Americana
From the foodstuffs syndicate of Serious Eats comes their new book: Serious Eats: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Eating Delicious Food Wherever You Are ($18). Ed Levine and the editors have brought the same refreshingly approachable, high-energy style that have Serious Eats a must-bookmark site, to the epic 368 page book celebrating the best [...]
Redefining animal cruelty
The internet meme Awkward Family Photos has certainly faded from its former glory days as the golden child of internet humor, but that hasn’t stopped authors Mike Bender and Dough Chernack from developing their next great wrinkle on the same embarrassing theme — Awkward Family Pet Photos ($10). As you’d expect from the title, the [...]
Domestic Delights
When go-to resources like Travelzoo and Jetsetter are just a click away, it’s tough not to let wanderlust get the better of you and your real world budget. Thankfully, there’s plenty of gems right in our own 9,400,000 sq mi backyard — and the Grey Lady can prove it. Filled with photography and gorgeous illustrations, [...]
Learn from the best
Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues is the second book from Brett and Kate McKay, the husband and wife team behind the always awesome The Art of Manliness. The idea for the book spawned from one of their namesake web series, which shares inspiring words from famous men throughout history. [...]
Munchy Manuscript
Crack pie isn’t a label most bakeries would readily slap on one of their confections, but then again most bakeries aren’t run by Christina Tosi. Inspired by her nostalgia for the teeth-depleting sugared cereals of Saturday morning fame and probably more than a few hits off of the peace pipe, her offbeat sweet tooth captured [...]
Well read journeys
Since the Spring of 2007 the dedicated journalists at Overland Journal have shared their avid passion for adventure travel and overlanding in a magazine we just can’t get enough of (we’re four issues deep). Season after season they craft archival quality editions, issued five times a year — packed with feature-length stories chronicling their global [...]
Frankenstein's Fontster
Typography mishaps, philanthropy and Frankenstein. If it sounds like a genius mashup, then you’d be correct. The Frankenfont project takes Shelley’s classic and incorporates incomplete font sets that commonly plague half-baked PDFs to create a progressively devolving book. The layout begins with the most commonly used characters and worsens into obscure typography — making the [...]
A history of the new world in 10 cocktails
William Faulkner once said, “Civilization begins with distillation.” Sounds about right. The more history you read, the more entwined it becomes with booze, and not just because you’re often drinking while reading. In his book And a Bottle of Rum ($11), travel writer Wayne Curtis tells the tale of rum-soaked America, from its innocent beginnings [...]
Know Your Place
The first thing you should know about Maphead ($15) is that it’s written by Ken Jennings. Yes, it’s the same Ken Jennings who won Jeopardy 74 times in a row, taking home $3,172,700 in winnings and claiming the title of all-time leading money winner on American game shows. The second point worth mentioning is the [...]
A Study on Suds
Clearly, we’re fond of books that teach us more about the things we love. The subject matter alone of The Oxford Companion to Beer ($38) is enough to tempt most men to flip through its pages, but when you factor in that it’s been edited by Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver, it becomes a must [...]
Wine Know
Wine is a subject we prefer studying with a glass, friends, and a good meal. However, if you’re looking to read up on the subject, Matt Kramer on Wine: A Matchless Collection of Columns, Essays, and Observations by America’s Most Original and Lucid Wine Writer ($12) is a great resource. The title is a little [...]
Hardly Formulaic
The 20′s may have roared, but for Formula 1 racing, there’s arguably no era better than the 70′s. Packed with over 200 pages of captivating photographs by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch, Formula 1: The Roaring 70′s ($53) is an homage to the sport during a simpler, more visceral time. Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti [...]
How an entire galaxy was designed
Bringing together over 250 blueprints created for the trilogy Star Wars: The Blueprints ($500), by J.W. Rinzler, is nothing short of epic. Everything from Jabba the Hutt’s palace to the Millennium Falcon as well as never before seen technical drawings are included in this master collection. In addition, 336 pages packed with 500 photographs and [...]
A Detailed Look at Crime from a Keyboard
Does the name Kevin Mitnick mean anything to you? Unless you happen to work for the FBI or a prominent internet security firm, the answer is probably no. Still, long before groups like Anonymous were practicing their own brand of hacktivism Mr. Mitnick had earned the title as the most wanted computer criminal in the [...]
