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Click the image below to visit the book's web site!

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The answer to the above question is "a lot." We can learn how to solve problems better. How to look at the world around us with a fresh eye. How to think more creatively, and ultimately, how to open up new possibilities in our lives.

These are the things that great designers do every day. But the premise in my new book Glimmer is: "You don't have to be a designer to think like one." There's a whole way of thinking used by designers, and a step-by-step process they follow, that really can be embraced by anyone-whether you're in business, out there trying to contribute to the world in some way, or if you're just looking to improve your own life.

What I found, in studying some of the world's most innovative designers, is that--in addition to being immensely talented and bright people, of course--they tend to have two big things they rely on. First, they have a certain mindset that enables them to be fearless and optimistic and open to all kinds of new possibilities. And second, they have a framework they use--a proven methodology that helps them to bring their ideas and plans to life, to get things done, and to be successful. I sort of dejargonize this methodology and give lots of examples of how it works in Glimmer.

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"Vlad, the Impaler," I'm afraid, is my first attempt at a graphic novel.  I have edited several in the past, even one by my co-creator Ernie Colon, but this is the first one I've ever written.  Ernie and I have had successes in NON-fiction graphic novels, especially in our rendition of the graphic 9/11 Commission Report. But Vlad is fiction.

Not pure fiction by any means.  The creep actually existed and is the inspiration (sinspiration?) for Dracula. He existed and perpetrated most every vile act we depict and describe in the book and certainly caused more pounds of blood to fall than Ernie's red ink indicates.

His personal life may not have been as damning or, if you prefer, as delicious as is illustrated here.  But, frankly, I don't know.  I made assumptions that it was and wove the story around those assumptions and judgments of his personality.

But Vlad, the historical Vlad Dracula (for so was he named) was indeed the source for Bram Stoker's creation of Count Dracula, the vampire. The two even lived in neighboring provinces: Vlad in Wallachia, Count Dracula in Transylvania, both provinces of today's Romania.

Now why would I choose such a man to be the central character (I retreat from calling him the protagonist) of my first graphic novel?  My answer, to begin with,  is embarrassing.  You see, I was researching a person named Janos Hunyadi, known as the White Knight-and who incidentally makes a bloody appearance in the book-and came across the story of Vlad.  To tell the awful truth, I had never heard of Vlad before. 

VIDEOS  (5)

VIDEO The Scarpetta Factor Patricia Cornwell (Putnam Adult)

VIDEO Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones Judy Schachner (Dutton Children's)

VIDEO Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble Judy Schachner (Dutton Children's)

VIDEO SkippyjonJones in the Dog House Judy Schachner (Dutton Children's)

VIDEO Skippyjon Jones, Lost in Spice Judy Schachner (Dutton Children's)

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Actor Mario Lopez Garners Major Media for New Celebra Picture Book, Mud Tacos!

Actor and “Extra” Host Mario Lopez has written his first children’s book with his sister Marissa Lopez Wong titled Mud Tacos!, which was published this week by Celebra children's books, simultaneously in English and Spanish. Mud Tacos! is a loving tale about their family and the nurturing bond between a brother and sister. The story follows Mario and Marissa and their cousins Chico and Rosie playing in their nana’s backyard and using their imagination to have fun.

Mario Lopez was on "Live with Regis and Kelly" yesterday morning and also did a cooking segment on “The Today Show” where he made tacos. Mario has been talking about his book all week on “Extra” and will also be featured on “Ellen” and the “Wendy Williams Show.” People, OK!, amNewYork, Hartford Courant, San Diego Tribune, WNBC, and News12 Long Island, among many others, will all feature Mud Tacos! and Mario Lopez.
 

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Penguin’s Ann Lauterbach Is Named Finalist for 2009 National Book Awards

The 2009 National Book Awards finalists were announced this week and Penguin's Ann Lauterbach is among those selected in the Poetry category for Or to Begin Again. The winner in each of four categories – Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and People's Literature – will be announced at the 60th National Book Awards Benefit Dinner and Ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Wednesday, November 18th. Each winner will receive $10,000 and a bronze statue, and each finalist will receive a bronze medal and $1,000.

The Foundation will also announce the winner of its Best of the National Book Awards Fiction Poll where Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow (Penguin) was one of the six finalists.

In addition, as reported last week, Ceridwen Dovey, author of Blood Kin (Viking/Penguin), has been selected by 2008 National Book Award Fiction Finalist Rachel Kushner for the National Book Foundation’s fourth annual “5 Under 35” Honor, which recognizes and celebrates the next generation of fiction writers, as determined by past National Book Award winners and finalists.

To view the complete list of 2009 finalists, click here.

And, to vote for the best National Book Award Fiction winner, click here.

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This week is National Design Week and Warren Berger is our guest blogger. If you have any questions for Warren Berger, add a comment to any of his posts.

Here is more information on Glimmer:

The first book to reveal how thinking like a designer can help solve the greatest challenges we face in business, society, and our daily lives.

What can we learn from the ways great designers think-and how can it improve our world? In this highly original book by journalist Warren Berger, in collaboration with celebrated designer Bruce Mau, ten groundbreaking principles of design are shown in action-addressing business, social, and personal challenges and improving the way we think, work, and live.

Glimmer takes readers on a journey through today's fascinating world of design, where the formerly distinct disciplines of graphic, product, and social design are undergoing "smart recombinations." In the cutting-edge studios of Mau and other visionaries, everything is ripe for reinvention-including the ways businesses function, children learn, and communities thrive. Designers are solving problems at an unprecedented pace today by using improved technology and the highly practical design principles described in this book, such as "Ask stupid questions," "Make hope visible," "Work the metaphor," "Embrace constraints," and "Begin anywhere." Glimmer inspires readers to apply these same principles to their own life challenges.