How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum (Paperback)
November 2008 Indie Next List
“Keri Smith has written another book to spark creativity and to help us remember who we are. How to Be an Explorer of the World will make a great gift.”
— Keri Holmes, The Kaleidoscope: Our Focus Is You, Hampton, IA
Artists and scientists analyze the world around them in surprisingly similar ways, by observing, collecting, documenting, analyzing, and comparing. In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists.
The mission Smith proposes? To document and observe the world around you as if you’ve never seen it before. Take notes. Collect things you find on your travels. Document findings. Notice patterns. Copy. Trace. Focus on one thing at a time. Record what you are drawn to.
Through this series of beautifully hand-illustrated interactive prompts, readers will enjoy exploring and discovering the world in ways they never even imagined.
Praise for How to Be an Explorer of the World
“Both daring and meditative, How to Be an Explorer of the World is part Maira Kalman, part Wendy MacNaughton, part its very own kind of whimsy, delivering—beautifully—exactly what it says on the tin, with an invitation to be just a little bit more alive each day.” —Brain Pickings
“This book serves as an example of what the author is trying to teach us: creating, documenting, collecting. Analog instead of digital, natural in place of artificial.” —Wired Magazine
“What Keri Smith achieves in this book is one of the most accessible articulations of a psychogeographic mindset I’ve come across. This book is an optimistic treat, a wonderfully practical, fun and engaging encouragement to open our eyes and minds to the mundane minutae of the world around us and see revealed the beauty in things might otherwise go unnoticed.” —The Museum of Thin Objects
“The book is deliciously simple but thought-provoking. [Smith] engages you to try and deviate from the norm when it comes to living your life—living consciously, rather than unconsciously strolling through life.” —Pikaland
Praise for Keri Smith
“Keri Smith may well be the self-help guru this DIY generation deserves.” —The Believer
“A conceptual artist and author luring kids into questioning the world and appreciating every smell, texture and mystery in it.” —TIME Magazine