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  • Jasper Johns at The Whitney

    An enjoyable retrospective which made me appreciate Johns more than I did before. The exhibition shows just how versatile he is, though putting all the works together highlights both his strengths (conceptual flag/map art) and weaknesses (‘traditional’ painting).

    The map/flag room is particularly good, both in terms of the works chosen and the way they’re displayed. It’s quite impressive to see just how different an effect his maps have, depending on the colours/styles chosen (see two examples below). I also enjoyed seeing his surrealist works, which were new to me and pretty good.

    The only criticisms I have is that the exhibition is too long (go when you are neither hungry nor tired!), and in general The Whitney isn’t very good at creating defined pathways through exhibitions, which annoys completionists like me.

    (Sidenote: I wonder how many visitors to the NYC exhibition will also go to the Philadelphia exhibition? I assume it’ll be significantly fewer than Philly-to-NYC visitors.)

    Book tickets here.

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  • Cook As You Are, a cookbook by Ruby Tandoh

    I’ve made four or five recipes from this so far and they’ve all been delicious and, importantly, easy. It’s a cookbook that exemplifies user-centered design: Tandoh genuinely considers your needs and wants as a cook. And it has introduced me to flavours and ingredients that I was otherwise unfamiliar with.

    It is easily the most useful book I’ve bought this year. Highly, highly recommended (both for yourself, and as a great gift for almost anyone) — you can buy it here.

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  • Books I have recently bought

    The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant — at The Strand

    This was cheap, and I’ve been enjoying the audiobook of his The Life of Greece. So far the introduction has been excellent (and very prescient).

    Caps Lock by Ruben Pater — at Mast Books

    Seemed like an extremely visual book, so it’s nice to have a paper copy of it rather than reading on Kindle. And it appears to be very interesting, all the more so because I instinctively disagree with its conclusion that capitalism is bad. Importance of diverse perspectives etc…

    The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson — at Codex Books

    Have heard lots about this and been meaning to read for ages, so I finally picked it up. After 40 minutes of reading I’m enjoying it, though it’s maybe a bit too self-indulgent so far.

    The Quintessence of Ibsenism by George Bernard Shaw — at The Strand

    I’ve been thinking a lot about theatre and its criticism thanks to this Ivo van Hove book, with a particular interest in Henrik Ibsen after watching Simon Stone’s Ibsen House. So when I saw this I felt I had to buy it.

    The Turn of the Screw by Henry James — at The Strand

    I’ve never read any Henry James and felt like I ought to start.

    The Old Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville — at The Strand

    I’ve vaguely been wanting to learn about the French Revolution for a long time, and I liked reading de Tocqueville at uni.

    Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson — at The Strand

    Isaacson’s Steve Jobs book was great, and this book seems like it will tie into my current rabbit holes of progress studies and great people (reading it alongside Dealers of Lightning, The Dream Machine and The Idea Factory will be very interesting, I think.)