2026-09-25 00:00:00
In my young backpacker days, I was staunchly an anti-tours person, but as I started to have more money to solve problems or save time, I started seeing the advantage of sometimes handing the planning to someone else. I recently went on a terrific tour of Uzbekistan with G Adventures and it would have taken many more hours than I had available to make all those bookings for transportation, hotels, and guides. Some friends who tried to do it on their own the same month had a tough time getting transportation between cities too, while ours was all set and easy. You can see the “Highlights of Uzbekistan” tour we took on this page, as well as options some in our group were taking to extend it to the other Stans like Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
In more fallout from the drawn-out war in Iran, airBaltic of Lithuania went bankrupt this past week, the second after Spirit Air to fall apart as jet fuel prices doubled. While airBaltic was a small carrier, it was majority owned by a national government and what comes next could get worse. This travel trade article says that EasyJet is trying to sell to a U.S. investor savior and AirAsia—the largest budget airline in that part of the world—is looking for money to keep it afloat as well.
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You don’t need to scramble to set up basic travel insurance if you’re heading to Panama on vacation. The country is offering it for free to any traveler arriving by air, with a max of $15,000 for emergency medical treatment up to $50,000 for repatriation as needed, as well as coverage for emergency dental, lost medicines, or legal assistance for a stay of up to 10 days. No application is required; it’s automatic for anyone up to age 86. Keep in mind too that Copa Airlines (a Star Alliance partner) has a free stopover program, so you could head onward to South America or stop on the way back.
Do you know any long-term nomads who eventually settled into a base? Or ones who mainly stopped moving because they got lonely? This article on the key to happiness across all cultures might explain why. The very act of being constantly on the move makes it difficult to maintain lasting friendships, spend time with family, and stay in a meaningful couple’s relationship. All of these challenges have solutions that nomadic types have figured out, but only if the challenges are recognized, addressed, and worked on regularly. “Social capital’s importance to well-being cannot be overstated.”
A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.
2026-09-24 00:00:00
My name is Martynas Sagaitis. I live in Lithuania and work as a courier. I have many interests, and I’ve shared a few of them here. That’s a little bit about me, for now.
You can swap the leaves for flowers depending on the season or your mood. I don’t own much LEGO, but I really liked this particular set. It now lives on my bookshelf. It’s beautiful to look at — and, honestly, fun to pick up and play with.Psalm 23:1
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
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2026-09-23 00:00:00
Inside the Artist’s Studio
by Joe Fig
Princeton Architectural Press
2015, 256 pages, 7.2 x 9.5 x 1 inches (softcover)
I’m a gigantic snoop. I love to peruse people’s bookshelves, rifle through the magazines on their toilet tank, look at their media Likes on Facebook, etc. I am endlessly fascinated by people and the media, tools, and ideas that inspire them. I also like workshops and the unique way in which people set up and use their spaces. These interests converge to great effect in artist and author Joe Fig’s Inside the Artist’s Studio.
Given my nosey proclivities, I have read a number of similar collections of artist studio tour books. This book has a slightly more satisfying weight to it. The questions Fig asks are more interesting and far ranging, from childhood memories to working techniques to each artist’s working “creed.” And the photographs he takes are especially lovely, artful, and create a distinct mood that reflects each artist.
The really special dimension to this book is Joe Fig’s artwork. Fig is known for being an artist whose subjects are often art, artists, and art spaces. In this book, after interviewing and photographing such artists as Ellen Altfest, Byron Kim, Laurie Simmons, Adam Cvijanovic, Tara Donovan, and Roxy Paine (24 artists in all), Fig creates a piece of art inspired by that artist, their studio, and their work. The subject of each piece is the artist’s studio. All of this works to create a surprisingly rich, intimate, and informative collection. – Gareth Branwyn
Attack of the Journal (Star Wars: Jedi Academy)
by Jeffrey Brown
Scholastic Inc.
2015, 112 pages, 5.8 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
When an author who writes books for grown-ups is successful at translating his voice into books for kids it’s a win-win. Jeffrey Brown, author of graphic novels such as Clumsy and Funny Misshapen Body has done just that with his series Star Wars Jedi Academy. These graphic novels follow Roan, a young Jedi fumbling his way through middle school’s version of the Jedi Arts. This latest installation, Attack of the Journal, is part activity book part sketchbook and a great accompaniment to the series. It features familiar characters from the books, but you don’t need to have read the actual novels to enjoy the journal. Unlike many character-based activity books for children, Attack of the Journal gives the reins over to the reader. Instead of preprinted mazes and simple seek and finds, Brown’s activities are open-ended and challenge readers to try drawing new things and to write their own stories.
The book is great for elementary-aged kids, but even younger can have fun with the “Draw Your Friends As Aliens” page or attempt a self-portrait. I found it’s a great way to practice letters and words with kids in a way that is fun for everyone. Even the fact that it’s a hardback makes whatever you create inside feel more important. Jeffrey Brown’s sense of humor and kind encouragement are felt in the journal activities, helping young authors and illustrators not take it too seriously if their “Create your own Lightsaber” page looks more like a Wookie. And be prepared to grab some extra paper – because I guarantee big kids (aka grown-ups) will want to take a crack at drawing the “Ewok pilot.” – Amy Lackpour
Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.
2026-09-22 00:00:00
Hire smart, your company wins; hire dumb, you die. People are the scarce resource in the new economy, but no one teaches employees how to hire people. Successful fast-growing companies have caught on. They now hire people who are good at hiring others. Between these book covers is a million dollars worth of hiring advice, the best anywhere. If you are in business, ignore at your peril. — KK
Elance is a global marketplace for freelancers. You post a job you want done, and freelancers around the world will bid on it in a matter of hours. Once the price and deadline are agreed upon, the work will be delivered to you very rapidly. Because of its global nature, your costs may be very low.
Elance has a pool of 135,000 pros expert in programming, design, writing, and legal matters. People use them to design a logo, create marketing materials, tweak a database, code a website, create an iPhone app.
I’ve used Elance to outsource projects at least 8 times by now and have had fantastic results. I’ve been most surprised by the high quality and professional management, particulary from overseas workers. It’s indeed inexpensive, but also great work. For one scripting job I got estimates from US shops as high as $6,000; it would take months from specs to testing. We went on Elance, got a bid for $250 to do it manually (without scripts) and it was done perfectly in a week. I’ve used Elance for Photoshop work, to hire designers, artists, and proofers. A lot of the work on this book was done by free-lancers hired through Elance. You could start a company with them. In fact Kevin Rose hired an Elancer to code the first version of the now popular website Digg.
Elance’s escrow service holds the payment and protects both the work provider and you the employer. The site provides status updates on work done, and plenty of communication between the parties. Workers must pass a competency test to qualify to be listed. Some freelancers can also pass expertise tests in a mild form of certification, say for working on java or ajax, etc. Elance freelancers did about $200 million of work last year and less than 1% of the jobs had any kind of dispute, and most of those were self-resolved by the fact that the entire transaction correspondence is logged.
While I first went to Elance for cheap labor, I now also go to get jobs done in a hurry, or to find expertise I can’t find locally. (Fifty percent of Elancers live in North America.) If you have work, and you know what you want, this is a great service.
The real trick in using Elance, or its competitors like oDesk, is in being able to specify the deliverable you want without spending more time that it would take to do the project itself. This kind of outsourcing is best for bite-sized chunks of work. The more precise you can detail your job the better that Elance or the others will work for you. It’s not good for consulting, hand-holding, or mind-changing assignments. But it can be cheap enough that you can try lots of things. It costs you nothing to post a job on Elance.
The way this work is: If you accept a bid, you pay the amount agreed up front and the site places your fee in escrow. (You can pay with PayPal.) They pay the talent when you are satisfied the work is complete and good. This protects them and you. The site’s commission comes out of the talent side; The winning free-lancer will pay a 8.75% fee to Elance. (You don’t pay the site anything).
It works very well. BTW, the bidders are often small companies rather than just individuals. Fees I’ve paid for work have ranged from half to one tenth of what we might otherwise have to pay. And it is not just for coders. I hired a guy to run ethernet cable in our home, and others have found a videographer for their wedding, or a translator for their manual, etc. Some of the folks I have hired live in Turkey, or India, Argentina. Like any remote relationship, you get what you put into it.
It’s a great tool when you need to hire expertise.— KK
At Work at Home: Design Ideas for Your Home Workplace
Not all home-office work is typing at a keyboard. That’s why this home-office design book is heads above the others. Maybe you are a weaver, or a landscape architect, or antique toy restorer. When I had a chance to design my own home office attached to our house I found the clear advice, helpful design ideas and visual inspiration in this portfolio to be the best of the bunch. —KK
Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.
2026-09-21 00:00:00
This Instagram account – DesignPatentDaily – simply posts one ink drawing from a US patent every day. The drawings are stunningly beautiful: functional and elegant. Crisp line diagrams, no fluff. Print out and frame. Much prettier than most modern art. — KK
Origin Myth Map is an interactive world map of the stories cultures have told about where the universe, Earth, and humanity came from. There are almost too many ways to navigate it — you can move through time, filter by themes, or follow the lineages and relationships between myths. Every creation archetype, from primordial waters and cosmic eggs to world trees, opens another path, so I think the best way to explore it is simply to follow your curiosity. — CD
I don’t know why I didn’t get a real magnifying desk lamp a long time ago. Amazon has many different models available. This is the one I got. It has a large magnifying glass with an LED illumination ring. It comes with a heavyweight metal stand and a clamp. My wife uses it to make collages, and I use it to draw and practice my cursive penmanship. You can adjust the brightness and color temperature with the control attached to the power cord. It uses USB power and comes with an AC adapter. — MF
Here is a cool tool that will appeal to maybe 1% of this audience. The Jorgensen Ratcheting Bar Clamp is a new style of bar clamp that ratchets tight and then quickly releases with one hand. You squeeze it to tighten and squeeze another part to release. It’s the fastest clamp I’ve seen. Great for tasks that require a lot of clamping and unclamping. Comes in 4, 8, and 12-inch bars. About $15 each. — KK
On r/BuyItForLife, a Redditor said he’d snapped the blade on a pair of Fiskars loppers from around 2010. He filed a claim on Fiskars’ website, telling them he didn’t have his receipt from Lowe’s after 16 years. Fiskars sent him a shipping address for the broken loppers, and 10 days later a brand new pair showed up — an upgraded design, judging from his photos. Commenters shared experiences with other brand names that also honored replacements without a receipt. One person got Calphalon to replace scratched 15-year-old nonstick pans. Moen sent someone free replacement faucet cartridges. Philips replaced an out-of-warranty Hue-Lite strip. And someone got a replacement pair of sunglasses from Maui Jim. — MF
Peter McEwen wrote a generous contemplative guide to meeting and metabolizing difficult emotions. The essay is structured into pith, concise, and elaborate versions of the same practice, so it’s worth returning to over time. But if you only have time for one takeaway, it’s this: when a difficult emotion shows up, you don’t have to resolve it. You drop out of the story and into the actual sensation in your body, and you stay with it in small doses, even if it’s only a few seconds. Practiced over time, this small, kind act builds your capacity to let conflicting feelings sit side by side without needing to fix them. For me, I know an emotion has metabolized when there’s no charge left, and I feel open and spacious inside, not tense or clinging. — CD
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2026-09-19 00:00:00
Aretha Franklin (1942-2018) began singing as a child in the 1950s at her father’s church in Detroit. Reverend C.L. Franklin became her manager when she was 12, so she could sing on the “gospel caravan” tour circuit. She transitioned to jazz, soul, and blues in 1960 when she was 18, recording “Today I Sing the Blues” for Columbia Records.
By 1967, she was at Atlantic Records, where she released dozens of hits, including “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You), “ “Baby I Love You,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” and her smash single “Respect” (a cover version of Otis Redding’s 1965 song, which sounded a lot different!)
Aretha: From These Roots traces her journey from child prodigy to “Queen of Soul.”
Aretha developed her voice in the gospel tradition at her father’s church. She never forgot her roots, even when singing pop and R&B songs. Your foundation can be a source of power that makes you stand out.
When Aretha performed “Respect,” it touched something universal. As she wrote, “It was the need of a nation, the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher — everyone wanted respect.”
Of Sam Cooke, Aretha wrote: “Some men can sing, charm, and shine; some are easy with their good looks, others radiate confidence. Sam had all of this and more. Yet for all his abundant talent, he exuded simple humility, the sign of a great person. He treated everyone with respect.” Great people don’t have to remind other people that they are great.
Despite being a global icon for whom the red carpet was rolled out whenever she stepped off a plane, Aretha was a homebody who loved cooking, crocheting, and gardening. She balanced single motherhood with a demanding career, and her public persona with her private self. If you have different “sides” in your own life, you don’t need to choose one over another — learn to accept and enjoy parts of who you are.
“It was the need of a nation, the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher—everyone wanted respect.”
Book Freak is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run Recomendo, the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.
