8 
BOOKS 
A YEAR

Eilon Paz, Dan Epstein, James Rotondi
Stombox
100 Pedals of the World’s Greatest Guitarists
Dust & Grooves Publications, 2020

Dear friends of 8 books a year,

When I was 14, I bought an electric guitar. A little later, I formed a punk band. It was called “Eure Roheit” and our most important song was about something as rebellious as riding the Ulm public transportation without paying for a ticket. I hardly knew more than three chords on my instrument – and our singer couldn‘t sing. This then prompted him to learn guitar with the help of an accomplished jazz musician. He quickly became very good. In the meantime, we all had matured a few years and loved bands like “Dan Reed Network” or “Living Colour”. Because I couldn‘t keep up on guitar, I switched to bass. Our own band project was ambitious, we even won a competition for newcomers which inclu- ded a record contract with an indie label. The recordings were made, but the record never released, I don‘t remember why. When we started studying, we scattered into various different cities and directions. Playing bass was great, but since it was never really my innermost passion, ma- king music unfortunately disappeared from my life. It took me 20 years to remember that I had once dreamed of becoming a good guitar player. When I got back into it, it was with body, soul and ... equipment. This included so-called pedals: little magic boxes that can do strange things with the sound of a guitar. In their entirety, they form an auditory – and visual – subculture that tells music history and yet is often completely unknown, even to music lovers.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Peter Fischli, David Weiss
Plötzlich diese Übersicht
Edition Stähli, 2001

Dear friends of 8 books a year,

We seem to be living in a time where it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. First, what we once called “facts” has eroded, and then, in addition, a culture of discussion has disappeared, in which the other party – despite all substantive opposition – was still perceived as an opponent and not as an enemy. Pandemics, wars and inflation thrown into the mix, I think it‘s perfectly okay to open the window once in a while shouting out: “What the hell is going on right now, with this world?” What helps? Looking up, at the starry sky for example. Me at least, it makes quickly aware again of how relatively insignificant the events on this small blue planet probably are. And what else helps? Looking down, from above! On those small and big incidents that have prepared and formed our contemporary life – or still accompany it. This little book by the former artist duo Fischli Weiss (unfortunately David Weiss died almost exactly 10 years ago) does just that and is in the very best sense a perfect non-fiction book: Let us be aware that all the situations listed in it (in the form of wonderful clay figures) must have happened as depicted. That moment, when Mick Jagger and Brian Jones went home after com- posing “I Can‘t Get No Satisfaction”. Or earlier, the invention of the first wheel. Much earlier still: the last dinosaur. It‘s that sudden, weird overview that can bring us back a lovingly detached (and sometimes head-shaking) view of the now. Feels good, in times like these.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Martin Margiela, Guillaume Houzé & Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel
Martin Margiela at Lafayette Anticipations
Walther König, 2021

DEAR FRIENDS OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

During the lockdown, we brought a new piece of art into our home: a white, plain wooden chair. However, one with wheels on its legs. Four large, poison-green wheels made from hard rubber, the kind where usually only hospital beds are mounted upon. The slender legs of the chair are actually much too narrow for the mounting of these oversized wheels, so artist Marina Faust constructed complex connections of steel plates, pins and screws to accommodate them. With this the chair – originally unmovable – is transformed into a mobile vehicle. Faust has produced many such "Traveling Chairs" since the 80s (it's worth googling them). What we particularly appreciate about ours is that it was made during the pandemic and its colors are reminiscent of a hospital. Despite this sad association, it became a rather rebellious icon for us: during times we hardly dared to go outside ourselves, this chair traveled the length of our long wall of books with its fast wheels. And thus showed us that journeys above all, take place in the mind. Since the 1990s, Marina Faust has also worked as photographer with the brilliant fashion designer Martin Margiela, who to this day manages to conceal his face from the public. In a spectacular cinematic documentary, he recently commented on two decades of his work for the first time himself (but even then only off-camera). I actually bought the physical DVD – because of the bonus material. It features films by Marina Faust. Let's keep traveling!

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Andrew Zago
Accident
Art Paper Editions, 2018

DEAR FRIENDS OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

It took me a while to understand the diagram at the back of this book. But finally it made me realize that every accident is an intermediate step between human creation and the influence of natural circumstances. From the decaying ruin of a castle, the classic accident really differs merely in its suddenness. Also, this is the only reason why we perceive accidents as "anti-normal". But what if an accident is suddenly no longer sudden – lasting not seconds, but years? A seemingly endless accident like Covid, for example. A meta-accident, that has tangentially affected nearly every human being on this planet, in one form or another. If we‘d been told about it two and a half years ago, we might have suspected that such an accident would weld us together as human race. Unfortunately, the opposite has happened. And so this greatest of all conceivable accidents (at least in terms of scope) strikes me as this caricature of two people wildly arguing from two sides, looking at a number. One stubbornly insists on seeing a "6" – while the other asserts that the digit in front of him clearly is a "9". At least in spirit, as we leaf through this book, we can ponder all these accidents and wonder, what they must have meant to those involved. Fortunately, all accidents have an end.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Elisabeth Neudörfl
Out in the Streets
Hatje Cantz, 2021

Signed by the artist for our subscribers

DEAR FRIENDS OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Let's talk about traces. Traces have a paradoxical quality: On the one hand, they are invariably signs from the past – documenting, after all, something that has already happened. On the other hand, however, we mostly follow traces when we set out on our own – in this way, they show us a way into the future. The artist and photographer Elisabeth Neudörfl traveled to Hong Kong in the spring of 2020 – just shortly after mass protests against the law change that was supposed to allow the extradition of convicted criminals to China. She arrived in a metropolis whose streetscape was marked by the first, rigidly enforced Covid lockdown. Where just a moment ago hundreds of thousands of mainly young people had taken to the streets, there suddenly was an eerie calm. The virus and the pandemic were probably not inconvenient for the government. Which also seemed eager to quickly erase any remnants – i.e. traces – of the protests from public life. Neudörfl, however, looked very closely and found remains of slogans and political graffiti in countless places. The attempts, sometimes more, sometimes less successful, to make these immediately invisible again, announces the desire to preserve the appearance of stability. Whether the traces discovered by Neudörfl – and documented in detail in the last section of the book – will be those that will have ended up in a dead end, or those that will, despite temporary invisibility, have marked a starting point, we do not yet know. Just as we do not know about all the other traces we are following.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Trisha Hope
Just the Tweets – 2020 Election Edition Self-published, 2021

DEAR FRIENDS OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Among the two most seductive satisfactions is, first, the supposed certainty of knowing something for sure – and, second, the idea that everyone else should share this insight. Instead of confronting the complexities of our contemporary world, many desperately cling to a particular worldview, and thus the illusion of security they have lost. Fascinated, such people then often look to others who seem to have no doubts and who claim to know what is right and good and what is wrong and evil. Trisha Hope looks at Donald Trump in this way. Perhaps her last name represents what she seeks in life? An ardent admirer of her president, she documented his most direct channel to his voters from the beginning: his Twitter tweets. Free of any editorializing or selection, these tell us a lot about what kind of character Donald Trump is, even in retrospect. Trisha Hope has published the collected tweets of his presidency in a total of five books. The first four are bound in blue cloth, only the latest, the fifth, has a red cover. It is the "Election Edition" and it gathers all Trump tweets between November 03, 2020 (Election Day) and January 08, 2021, the day Twitter banned heavy-user Trump presumably forever. As such, this book also documents the very phase that some have described in retrospect as an attempted coup d'état. It is a rare document that should also remind us not to fall for the aforementioned temptations – no matter from whom or from which side they come.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Lin May Saeed
Arrival of the Animals
Yale University Press, 2021

Including a second publication as a special present for our subscribers produced by the artist in small print run

DEAR FRIENDS OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

In 1952 – almost 70 years ago – psychologist and mystic C. G. Jung and quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli published a jointly written book titled “Naturerklärung und Psyche”. It contains an essay on so-called synchronicity as “a principle of acausal connections.” On a few dozen pages the two thinkers build a bridge between modern natural science and traditional spirituality – possibly for the first time in recent history. At the heart of the matter is the non-random occurrence of external, physical events as reflections of internal, psychological states. Some of us experience such phenomena quite often and also to myself the explanation of unusual chains of events as pure “coincidence” often seems to be the most improbable of all conceivable. At this moment, while I am writing these lines, my girlfriend and I have been living with a dog for less than 2 weeks. Her name is Ada, after Ada Lovelace, who was born in the 19th century and who is acknowledged to be the world’s first female programmer. Ada is almost 6 months old and looks amazingly similar to the drawings I did in my own book of “Pig’s Dog” (sent out from 8 Books A Year in December 2020). And as fate would have it, I now have the pleasure of writing the text for this book entitled “Arrival of the Animals” by artist Lin May Saeed. What she’s done is way more than just publishing a book about her wonderful work. Actually it’s an introduction and exploration of how we look at animals and how we choose to live with them. Pig’s Dog, Ada, the “Arrival of the Animals” ... perhaps all just a beautiful coincidence. Or synchronicity?

All my best,
Christian Kasper Schwarm

Phil Champagne
The Book of Satoshi
The Collected Writings of Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto
e53 Publishing LLC, 2014

(Some insiders, by the way, have an idea who Satoshi Nakamoto might be. A fascinating thesis comes from Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, another increasingly important cryptocurrency. You can listen to it right at the beginning of this exceptionally substantive Youtube interview: https://youtu.be/NX3fGKMd004)

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

A Youtuber recently asked: “How much money would you have today if you bought 10,000 Bitcoins exactly 10 years ago?”, adding “At $1 per Bitcoin”. I was about to do the math, but he answered the question himself: “Probably $9,700.” Why? Because in his opinion, inexperienced crypto investors panic at the first price slide and tend to sell everything immediately. Anyone who had actually bought back then AND held out would be sitting on about $600 million today. But let’s move from the subjunctive back to reality: The anonymous inventor of Bitcoin, still known only by his pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, demonstrably mined 1.1 million copies of his own digital currency between January and July 2009 – and, for all we know, still holds most of them. Which, at the current rate, equates to almost $66,000,000,000 (in words: sixty-six billion untouched U.S. dollars). So, is Bitcoin the digital replay of the tulip bubble of 1637? Or, as the very first digital, mobile, bank-independent and deflationary store of value, the new gold? Some have predicted a price of $500,000 or more – others zero. Either way, with nearly 10,000 cryptocurrencies now in existence, we are dealing with a phenomenon that deserves our attention. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a really outstanding and up-to-date book about Bitcoin – but my girlfriend has discovered an amazing one: the collected writings of Satoshi Nakamoto, maybe the greatest phantom of our time. His last sign of life: a forum entry from 03/07/2014 (see page 328). Thanks to its commentaries, this book is not only very comprehensible but as exciting as a true story can get. What’s your estimate for BTC being worth in 5 years?

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Avi Loeb
Extraterrestrial
The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Have I mentioned before that I’m a huge admirer of Japanese artist On Kawara’s “date paintings”? (If you don’t have them in front of your eyes right now, you can just google them.) By painting a specific date – and only ever within the 24 associated hours – On Kawara directs our gaze to the value and uniqueness of every single day. Without exception, each day in our world is a maximally complex structure of natural and artificial processes, interactions and consequences. And yet it is not too often that a very specific date finds its way into the collective memory of mankind. 07/20/1969, 11/09/1989, 09/11/2001 – maybe only those, after 1945? However, the most fascinating dates might be the ones that will one day appear in all history books (or their digital equivalents), even though all of us did not perceive them as “earth-shattering”. The invention of the telephone or the Internet may be such examples – although in both cases there is disagreement about the exact authorship and especially about the exact date. Thursday, October 19, 2017 may become a candidate for being learned and remembered by future generations of students. That day, in fact, marked the beginning of the sighting of an object that crossed our solar system. Probably no one would have noticed anything special about it had it not behaved rather abnormally in terms of its trajectory and speed. Avi Loeb, professor of astrophysics and former chairman of the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University, sees only one possible explanation. Since On Kawara died in 2014, there won’t ever be a date painting for that day.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Christian Kaspar Schwarm
Unser Leben mit Schwein
Ein Wunder-Buch für Ausgewachsene United Landscapes, 2020

Including alternative cover options, exclusively for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Let me tell you the truth about this book. Yes, I'm the author. And I willingly admit that I promised myself to put whatever first book I'd ever write into my choice for 8 Books A Year (usually I'm humbler than that). However, this story is about how it came into life. All last year, I wanted to write a book. Part of my job as a strategist is the task to take in a lot of complexity, in order to distill an essential concept out of it. While most people seem to fear complexity, I regard it as a kind of primeval soup or a huge construction kit which can be so much fun to play with. Therefore, I wanted to reflect on how we deal with all kinds of situations where too many variables are out of (our) control. And how it could be joy instead of scaremongering. Anyhow … this book project turned out to be one thing in particular: too complex! I already had interviewed some inspiring people and done a lot of research – but the scope was just too big. I put the plan aside. Then came Covid19. As many other people, I felt somehow restless and every day woke up way earlier than normal. At one point I decided to take a bath, at 6am in the morning. I also asked “Schwein” to keep me company (no, it's not a cuddly toy – Schwein is our “personal philosopher”). What unfolded is still a bit inexplicable to me. You might call it “intuitive writing” or a total improvisation. In any case, I had no conscious idea what actually happened. I just knew that I had to take a bath every single morning and had to write down Schwein's answers to my curious questions. It was never meant to become a book. So, the universe delivers – just differently than expected, as it happens most of the time.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Fritjof Capra
The Tao of Physics
An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism Shambhala Publications, Updated Edition 2010

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Let's be completely honest, among us book lovers: Do you read more new books than older ones? Maybe way more new ones? I guiltily confess: It's true for me, at least. But why is that? We all know that a lot of older books aren't outdated at all. I had my own epiphany when I read Plato's “Allegory of the Cave” for the very first time in my early 20ies. Besides the sudden insight of how well-written and easily understandable it was, I was more than just astonished how valid some thoughts can be that were written down around 2,400 years ago. I think it was then when I invented a personal term for the relative blindness we can suffer from (without noticing it, of course): “The Arrogance of Now”. From time to time, I remember myself about this secret illness of our social media dominated minds. And it can be (temporarily) cured by reading something which is old and new at the same time. It definitely has not to be as old as some Greek philosopher's writings. Let's just jump back to the 70ies. No Internet around back then, no cable TV, no mobile phones. One year before Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne (ever heard of him?) founded Apple, physicist Fritjof Capra published a book building a bridge between modern natural sciences and the mysticism of ancient wisdom teachings. Today, almost half a century later, words such as “resonance”, “mindfulness” and “spirituality” are increasingly heard behind the scenes of the business world. Sometimes they are still carefully whispered – but more and more often those who want to dismiss such concepts as hocus-pocus find themselves on the defensive. I find Capra's ideas about connecting “the rational and the intuitive” as contemporary as any brand-new book could ever be.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Sam Chermayeff (et al.)
Creatures
Apartamento Publishing, 2020

Including a unique hand-drawn advertisement by the author, for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

May I introduce you to Sam? Sam is an American who lives in Berlin. He is an architect who mostly builds things that are smaller than houses. He is the son of a very famous graphic designer (Ivan Chermayeff), the grandson of an at least as famous architect (Serge Chermayeff) and he has a “MOM” tattoo on his forearm. His bizarre hand-drawn sketches are of fascinating beauty, especially if you know how much Sam can be enthusiastic about an idea. In such moments, his mind rushes ahead of his hand, which hectically tries to keep up with the shapes and explanations that gush out of him. When I first saw Sam's new book, I missed these wild drawings a little. All those wonderful objects only appear in their domesticated form, veiling their raw origins. What a joy, therefore, that Sam has offered to integrate a unique idea sketch to every single book – hand-drawn and exclusively for our subscribers. In most cases, he even added a price tag. Prices range from 100 Euros for a “Banana Holder” to 7,200 Euros for a “Cooking and Dining Table”. Do you need a “glass fridge with a curtain” or a “bed with a safe as leg”? Regarding the latter Sam explained: “I am not personally worried about losing things, but I like the suggestion of value.” For those who are curious, our website shows a larger selection of these artistic advertisements, which in their entirety almost become a conceptual work of art. However, you can always take Sam on his word: Just give him a call if you feel the love, the fun and the urgency to bring one of these unborn “Creatures” into life.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Kris Martin
Idiot
Distanz Verlag, 2020

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Our project is not only about finding and sharing great books, but also about exploring the edges and borders of non-fiction literature. We once sent out a wonderful children’s book (in October 2015) where the context of how the book came to be was whata built the bridge between fiction and non-fiction for us. Other examples were the printed true-to-scale reproduction of the runway of Berlin’s former Tempelhof airport (September 2015) or an everlasting calendar which could become your own personal (non-fiction?) diary (February 2018). It’s 2020 already – so I felt we could dare once more to choose a book which might be more of an artwork in and of itself than something you’ll read page by page. Fjodor Dostoyevsky wrote “The Idiot” in 1867 and 1868. It’s a complex novel with Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin at its center. Prince Myshkin is an outsider who returns home to Russia from the isolation of a Swiss sanatorium. His warm-hearted openness and positive attitude towards his fellow humans collides with the primarily calculating and machinating behavior of St. Peterburg’s fine society. The Belgian artist Kris Martin took Dostoyevsky’s novel and wrote it out by hand, word by word, sentence by sentence. The only thing he changed was the name of its main character: Kris Martin just replaced Prince Myshkin with his own name wherever he found him in the 1,494 pages. A gesture worth thinking about. Also a minor procedure which, for me, once more marks the border between what we call fiction and our own lives.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Charlie Koolhaas
City Lust
Scheidegger & Spiess, 2020

Including 2 printed emails from the author, for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

I dared to set my Instagram account on “pause”. I did it 7 months ago, I just had enough. What had started as a nice tool for me to inspire myself had finally become too much of an omnipresent distraction. However, what disturbed me even more was how the character of most of the posts has changed over the last years: from picture sharing to self-positioning. The vast majority of all posted photos nowadays come with a clearly noticeable but quite bitter ingredient: the tactical anticipation of their expected mass effects. in simpler words: Whoever shares a photo today acts like they’re on stage and part of a beauty or singing contest. Not one where you have the chance to truly express yourself, but the kind where you’re judged by a calculating jury. For me nothing less than an alienation from life. I’m still trying to experience the opposite. When you page through this book you hopefully won’t be reminded of Instagram or other social media channels. With her words and photos, Charlie Koolhaas almost gave me the feeling that I was being led by the hand of a friend who showed me all these interesting places in London, Guangzhou, Lagos, Dubai and Houston while telling me more about them. It made me jealous, happy, curious and sad. I wondered about the lives of the people portrayed. I often imagined the ambient sounds or even the smell of some of the streets and corners pictured. If Instagram were like that, I wouldn’t have needed a break.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Jean-Paul Coussy
Roucadour – I'art initial gravé
2005

Including the “Berlin Bookshop Map” (with 175 independent bookshops) as a special present for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Among my personal discoveries in the last year are some pretty old works of art. Before, I was always more interested in art produced by artists from my generation — or in the meantime by even younger ones. I’ve self-critically asked myself about the reason for this. Am I ignorant? Fortunately it’s not that easy. I’ve always had a lot of respect for “older” art — in most cases it just didn’t reach and touch me like some seminal artworks which have been produced “today”, within the context of my life. But there’s more: From my perspective the most relevant art is often that which also acts as a signpost for our future. Therefore — and because I’m simply not able to look at artworks from the 22nd century — I usually stuck with current, contemporary art, until last year. In the spring, I dared to walk quite far in the opposite direction. I had the chance to visit nearly a dozen caves in France where you still can explore thousands of original paintings or engravings which were actually produced long before mankind’s written history started. Imagine: some date back 20,000, 30,000 or even 40,000 years ago! It was a recurringly overwhelming feeling to stand just centimeters from these incredibly impressive works of art. These first creators have so obviously influenced a lot of the greatest artistic minds in modern times — just take Picasso, for instance — that they might have been the most futuristic artists yet. Since this trip, I haven’t been able to stop searching for books about these marvels. This one here is among the most beautiful ones I’ve found — independently produced by the private owner of the Roucadour Cave.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Rudolf Zwirner
Ich wollte immer Gegenwart
(Autobiografie, aufgeschrieben von Nicola Kuhn)
Wienand, 2019

Vom Protagonisten für unsere Abonnenten individuell signiert

LIEBE FREUNDE VON 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

an Ausnahmen mag ich vor allem, dass sie Regeln nicht nur bestätigen, sondern vor allem auch brechen. Und gerade wenn es um die eigenen, also um die selbstgemachten Regeln geht, sollten wir nicht zögern, diese hin und wieder und in bester Absicht zu dehnen. Hier deshalb gleich drei Ausnahmen auf einmal: Erstens haben wir noch nie ein deutschsprachiges Buch versandt. Zweitens noch nie zwei Bücher im selben Monat. Und drittens, obgleich schon einige unserer Titel von ihren Machern für unsere Abonnenten signiert worden sind, geschah dies bislang noch nicht in personalisierter Form. Nachdem ich Rudolf Zwirner im April dieses Jahres kennenlernen durfte, verbindet uns ein inspirierender Dialog über die Freuden und Untiefen der aktuellen Kunstwelt. Sein ganzes Leben schon war Rudolf ein Pionier des Neuen in der Welt – und hat auch jetzt, im stolzen Alter von 86 Jahren, nichts von seiner Begeisterungsfähigkeit und seinem Scharfsinn verloren. Als Deutschlands wohl bedeutendster Kunsthändler hat er Menschen sein Leben lang zu lohnenden Ausnahmen verführt. Oft genug auch in monetärer Hinsicht, wenn man bedenkt, dass ein großes Gemälde von Gerhard Richter bei ihm einst noch um die 4.000 Mark zu haben war. Noch wichtiger aber waren Rudolf Zwirner schon immer die konstruktiven Brüche, die gerade die Kunst in ein oberflächlich geordnetes Leben bringen kann. Schon als ich zum ersten Mal von der Veröffentlichung seiner Autobiografie hörte, plante ich alle erforderlichen Ausnahmen, um Ihnen dieses Buch zu schicken. Siehe oben.

Herzliche Grüße,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Heiko Hoffmann, Felix Hoffmann (eds.)
No Photos On The Dancefloor
Berlin 1989–Today
Prestel, 2019

Comes with the original exhibition flyer for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

There have been a few moments in modern history when advertising was way ahead of its time. Do you remember the “1984” commercial created by apple? Or – going back to the late 50s – the incredible “Think small” ad for Volkswagen? Being respectively 35 and 60 years old, both campaigns still seem as modern as can be. (If you don’t recall them, you’ll easily find them online.) But intentionally or not, advertising has always been a valid snapshot of the current zeitgeist – not always in a flattering way, of course. I just rediscovered a poster which I found so weird in the 90s that I ordered it back then (which was not a typical thing to do, but I contacted the agency and finally got a print of it). It’s an ad by the tobacco brand “West” and it shows two female military pilots. There’s also a headline saying “The Power of Now”, raising the unsettling question of which form of power could be meant here? Ironically, a book with the exact same title, written by Eckhart Tolle, became one of the most important spiritual bestsellers shortly thereafter and, as a result, a forerunner in the up-and-coming trend of mindfulness. As I mentioned, I just recently rediscovered that poster in my storage, where it has been boxed for over 20 years. But no more than one week later did I re-encounter the same ad in a totally different context: as a part of a photo in a current photo exhibition. A very surprising synchronicity? Or just another coincidence? Either way the catalogue of this exhibition is both a journey in time and into a subculture which heavily contributed to Berlin’s creative reputation. You’ll find the West ad on its first few pages.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Ania Rosinke, Maciej Chmara
Essays on Kitchens
Spector Books, 2019

Signed by the authors and including an exclusive signed and numbered color study for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Radio can still be relevant. A few years ago I remember sitting in a car, listening to an interview with the berlin-based architect Arno Brandlhuber. Knowing him from some former projects, I already knew about his basic approach of creatively breaking the rules, especially any norm-based construction or building regulations. In this specific radio feature, Arno talked about the different rooms in our homes and about how we usually use them. We’re so heavily influenced by the names of the different spaces – take the dining room, the living room, the bedroom as examples – that we don’t dare to question their actual function in and for our lives. Instead of just adopting floor plans which always follow the current zeitgeist, we should come up with our own personal use concepts. No sooner said than done! Before, our so-called “living room” was not only the biggest one in our flat, but also the one used least often. To be honest, we only really needed it when friends came by. Today it also hosts my little (and pretty nerdy) home recording studio and there’s still plenty of space for visitors – even though we all know that the coziest place of every party is a different one: the kitchen. For me, Ania and Maciej are among the most relevant young designers of our times. Their ideas are rule-breaking but always functional, strict but always joyful – all at the same time. They were recently thinking a lot about kitchens and this is their very first book. They didn’t want it to just be an overview of their own designs, so they invited some very smart friends to write essays about a place which should be as individual as we all are.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Erling Kagge
Walking – One Step at a Time
Viking, 2019

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

I’ve just started walking again. To our office. I live in Berlin-Kreuzberg and it takes me about 35 minutes to arrive at the door of our library, located close to the Nollendorfplatz. Most of my way leads me through a beautiful park and I’ve no idea why I missed out on the opportunity to start my day like this for so long. There’s one thing you experience as a walker, though: even in the park you’re an absolute minority. For 1 walker you see about 20 cyclists, a lot of them riding in a rush not unlike the one we know from car drivers. Break. It was in the context of art where I first heard about Erling Kagge. He started collecting contemporary art over 30 years ago – and then wrote a book about his passion: “A Poor Collector’s Guide to buying Great Art”. Independent Collectors – the art platform I founded in 2008 – did a short interview with Erling 3 years ago that you can still look up online. In the end we asked him to tell us the best advice he’s ever received about collecting art. He explained that it was actually the same advice he got early on as an explorer: “Think ahead, travel light and leave your fears behind.” I think it’s not presumptuous to say that Erling Kagge has actually made the most out of this small and simple piece of wisdom. He walked to the North Pole. Then he walked to the South Pole. Finally he climbed Mount Everest. Fortunately it’s not the goal of this book to make us into some kind of extreme pedestrians. In an unagitated and unpretentious style, Erling shares his insights about something we take so much for granted that we even forget to think about it. I’ll continue to walk to my office.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Dongwoo Yim Rafael Luna
North Korean Atlas
DAMDI Publishing House, 2014

Exceptionally delivered to our subscribers as a sold-out, rare title of Korean storage stock

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Some German sayings are quite idiosyncratic. One goes like this: “Ausnahmen bestätigen die Regel.” The English equivalent is similar in this case: “The exception proves the rule.” The question is: How many exceptions can any rule bear before it topples – and before the exceptions turn out to be the new standard? A pretty political topic indeed, since over the recent years politics have become the playground where exceptions were once a rare and sensitive thing, but now seem to drive the whole circus. Two men who both love the exceptions and the circus – and even more actively stage themselves as spectacular exceptions – are Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. The latter, born in 1984, has been serving as “Supreme Leader” since 2011. Compared to other nations, North Korea itself is a gigantic exception to what we’d refer to as “normal”. However, most of us likely wouldn’t be any more familiar with other similarly sized countries. In order to close this gap and because of its current relevance, I’ve decided to make some exceptions, too: 1) I usually try not to send 2 books with similar topics too close to each other. Since the last book you got from us was about Tokyo, one could say we’re focusing too much on Asia now ... but please judge for yourself. 2) Normally we send out new, untouched books. This amazing atlas about North Korea was sold out and is therefore a so-called “rare” title. Nonetheless, we managed to find just enough copies for all of our subscribers. They have all traveled around the globe already. Let’s travel back there together now, by reading.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Tokyo Totem – A Guide to Tokyo
Flick Studio, 2015

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Have you ever thought about Japanese ambulances? Me neither, until I visited Tokyo recently. Still the biggest city in the world (with almost 39 million inhabitants in the greater metropolitan area), Tokyo is also the safest one. There are a lot of reasons for that, including the Japanese mentality and the wealth of the country – not to mention other forces that still seem to be at work helping to keep the streets free from petty crimes. Within my nearly 2 weeks there, I didn’t even hear cars honking – with one single exception. But it was the ambulances which surprised me even more: never before had I seen vehicles with red lights and sirens in operation driving so slowly and carefully. Have a look at a video I found: https://youtu.be/aocanuLfCWk (“Japanese ambulance introduction, For Foreigner”). When these cars enter an intersection, their driving behavior seems almost to apologize to everyone else using the road for brutally interrupting the city’s steady, quiet traffic. Sometimes it’s the smallest detail that makes you understand the bigger picture. Besides all the huge challenges Japan is facing, this country is still a place where thoughtful awareness and inspiring devotion play crucial roles in daily life. People show so much respect for their peers, for their labor and even for the objects which surround them. I’m not romanticizing, I’m just highlighting the strengths I’ve experienced there. This book here is my personal “role model” for any travel guide. I wish I could have such a thing for every city or region I visit in the future.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

James Gleick
The Information
Fourth Estate, 2011

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Some people wonder how we find the books we consider special enough to make it into 8 BOOKS A YEAR. There’s no single answer. As some of you already know, we actually work in a library – I had always wished to have my books around me at work. And, since we want our library to be a contemporary one, we feel obliged to be sure we have plenty of new arrivals all the time. So here’s my first answer: We choose the candidates out of what has already made it into our library – a few hundred outstanding titles per year. But how do we find those? A lot of them in independent book stores, all around the world. Newsletters from amazing (and mostly independent) publishers are another source, also book covers we stumble across in diverse social media channels. Rarely reviews. At this point I’d hope that you’ve noticed I’ve left something out – maybe the most powerful thing when it comes to books: recommendations. Most of my most beloved books were recommended to me by someone I already knew. However, the act of recommending a specific book to somebody else is a very personal thing. It reveals a lot. The book you’re holding in your hands right now found its way into my life through one of our subscribers. He’s a scientist and we went out to lunch together. He told me many great things about “The Information” and that it was one of the most important and inspiring books he had ever read. Thank you so much, Rick, for sharing this amazing and superdense book first with me – and now with all of us. You’ll get another one on top, of course.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Slavs and Tatars
Wripped Scripped
Hatje Cantz, 2018

Including a stamped postcard and an artist poster for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

How often do you hold a book in your hands that you immediately feel will literally change your life? I remember such a moment six years ago, almost to the day. The book I held in my hands appeared to be a supermodern, printed version of a cabinet of curiosities – or like we say in German: a so-called “Wunderkammer”. It was obviously meant to function as a melting pot for the most diverse things like historical events, old writings and bits of wisdom, political, economic and religious perspectives – combined with a lot of unexpected fragments of modern pop culture and sudden surprising insights. Since I believe that we actually live in a time where all forms of creativity are no longer driven by linear but intuitive processes of overlapping playgrounds and increasingly by blurred intersections between professions and disciplines, this book instantly became my perfect example for this way of thinking, and also for combining the past with our present in a coherent but completely unpredictable manner. This book broke through the current frontiers of both art and science (too thorough for the one world, too jumpy for the other). Yes, I confess that it shocked me, but only in an extremely positive way. I asked, “Who made this book? These guys have to be crazy ...” It turned out that it was written and designed by “Slavs and Tatars”, an international art collective. And it would be too much (and also way too rational) to list here in how many ways it brought new knowledge, thoughts, ideas and (even more importantly) new friendship into my life. The work of Slavs and Tatars, as unique as it is important, can be seen in a lot of places and museums all around the world. Right now (and until the middle of october) at the Albertinum in Dresden. On the occasion of this latest show, the collective published this new bilingual book. Another stunning Wunderkammer.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

David Clarke
UFO Drawings from the National Archives
Four Corners Books, 2018

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

I must confess: I was obsessed with UFOs when I was a young boy. There was a balcony at my parents’ house where I often stood at night, impatiently watching for a “close encounter of the 3rd kind” that unfortunately never came. I didn't even observe a single shooting star: it took me a few decades more before I spotted my very first 1. Since I had so few success in discovering extraterrestrial life in plain sight, I read a lot of books about UFOs and other unexplained phenomena at that time. I still regard that phase as a pretty formative one. It might be helpful to deal with a whole banquet of the inexplicable when you’re still a child – it protects you from all too linear cause-and-effect thinking and from the illusion that mankind already knows a lot. Throughout history people have felt like they’ve already discovered most of what can possibly be discovered. And throughout history that has turned out to be completely untrue for every era up until the present. Even if there aren't any aliens around (I’m no longer as certain as I was a few decades ago), they still would be of the greatest value to us. David Clarke, the author of this wonderful little book with all its innocent beauty, talks about UFOs as a modern myth. In contrary to the past, today we usually know what’s going on behind these dark forests, behind these wide marshlands and behind those great mountains. This is why fairy tales have lost what is perhaps their most important function: unleashing our curiosity. UFOs (and all the other things I was fascinated by as a boy) keep us looking – into the skies, around the next corner, into ourselves and into the eyes of the other.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Daniel Young, Christian Giroux
Berlin 2013/1983
ARCH+, 2017

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

When you live in a huge city, nature isn’t always easy to access. so last year I started something I call “endstation-Wanderung”. The idea is to simply take any underground or city railway line – without any planning beforehand – to the very last station and walk home from there, using your phone to navigate. For my first trip I took the S1 line and ended up in oranienburg, which is 33 kilometres from my apartment. It took me over 7 hours to get back that day, but without a doubt it was one of the most fascinating walks I’ve ever been on. I travelled through beautiful pinewoods and old villages without asphalted streets until I eventually set foot in berlin again. I wondered what the first house and street would look like. After another hour I began to pass places I had been before. From there on it worked like a funnel: more and more streets, junctions and buildings seemed familiar to me, before I finally stood in front of my house again. It was a unique experience, and since then I have done it several times. If you’d like to do the same in your hometown, I’d love to share 2 insights. Do it alone – it can be fun with a friend but maybe you won’t make it home on foot. And don’t choose a Sunday for such a trip, you’ll enjoy the various possibilities a regular workday will offer you on your way. The artists Daniel Young and Christian Giroux hiked Berlin too, but in a more profound and systematic way: in 2015 they crossed the whole city, zigzagging east and west to document every single building that was completed in 2013. They also photographed the closest neighbouring building that was erected one generation (approximately 30 years) earlier. Since I don’t know anybody else who has seen so much of Berlin, I asked Daniel, a Canadian, what he found the most remarkable thing. “The fences,” he said.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Martin Grothmaak
evertime
An everlasting calendar, diary and sketch book
United Landscapes, 2018

Including an exclusive behind-the-scenes photograph for our suscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

By chance, a smart man once met the devil in a breakfast bar. Being an atheist, the man didn’t believe that he was really talking to the guy who has been described as a “fallen angel” throughout the ages. But somehow he felt challenged and started to negotiate with the stranger. “Could you tell me the 3 most important things in life?” the devil asked. “What would they be?” he wanted to know. “Oh, that’s simple: health, wealth and love,” said the man, adding, “What serious problem could ever befall me if I could rest assured of these things?” The devil seemed to think about what he had just heard and answered, “You’re a clever man, so I’ll give you what you want. And my price is the same as always: your soul.” Since the man didn’t really believe that there is a soul or something like life after death, he said to himself, “Let’s give it a try!” “So we have a deal?” the devil asked. The man gave him a firm handshake and confirmed the contract. After 1 more drink the devil had to leave, but stopped in the doorway of the bar, turned and told the man, “I’m really sorry to say this, but I’ll insist on collecting your debt quite soon. You’ll experience great health, enormous wealth and incomparable love in your life – until tomorrow evening. I‘m afraid you forgot to add time to our deal.” I guess we can imagine the look on the man‘s face when he heard that. Time is something we should never take for granted. It’s precious, it‘s relative, it moves, it flies, it‘s up. This book might help to catch it and will become your most personal time capsule.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Daniela Comani
1975 – Diario di strada
Archive Books, 2017

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

How old are you? I was born in 1972 and some of my strongest childhood memories relate to cars. I still know how incredibly relaxing it felt to be lying down, sleeping unstrapped in the back of my parent’s car when we went on vacation together. I also remember when I went 200 kilometers per hour for the very first time: our father had picked up a his new Mercedes-Benz “123” – I remember that it was a brown one – and tested its limits while our mom and I sat next to him, both of us on the edge of our seats, but for different reasons (I enjoyed it very much). The craziest situation I can recollect was probably the one when our mother had to drive me somewhere while a maneuver of the US military was taking place in the meadows directly in front of our house. She had a thin-walled red Renault 4 (a popular model at the time) and actually dared to enter the street on which terrifying American battle tanks were driving immediately in front of and behind our pretty little French car. I remembered this story when I rediscovered the “r4” in Daniela Comani’s book, right in between a Saab 99 and a Ford Capri. This book deals both with personal and collective memory. As a child, Daniela thoroughly noted all the plate numbers of the vehicles that overtook her parents’ car – or were overtaken by it – while she sat in the back and stared out the window. She often added the make and its specific model. Forty years later, Daniela stumbled over one of her old notebooks: a planner from 1975 with her list of cars. She did some research and found neutral photographs of the models which were taken by the manufacturers for brochures. What was “daily scenery” on our streets back then looks almost like an excerpt from a design museum now. Is it nostalgia playing a trick on us? Or do you think it’s possible that most things just looked better back in those days?

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Dennis DeSantis
Making Music
74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers
Ableton, 2015

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Do you know what we believe to be the biggest misunderstanding about non-fiction books? It’s the idea that the more a title directly relates to the topic you’re interested in, the more you can learn from it. That’s why the bestseller lists are filled with so many how-to manuals and all sorts of self-help literature. It simply doesn't occur to most people to read an old travel report when they’re about to change jobs – why should they? Because it works. If we dare to read a book not just for its obvious content but also for what it can teach us on a completely different level, we open up a whole new universe of discovery and understanding. Isn’t this in fact the only way to create new and original ideas? As strategists we work with books on a daily basis and we actually made our Berlin office a library. Besides the knowledge our books offer, we also use them as inspirational tools. Every couple of days we build mood boards out of the most diverse books, just to become aware of the variety of meanings a specific term can have. Books have often helped us to develop radically new ideas – but believe me: It was never the ones we’d expected. And one more thing: It’s usually the right book that finds you, not the other way around. Even if we were to try to explain this as being some form of sub-conscious perception it still provides a strong argument for not always choosing the books which promise the most at first sight. So yes, I’m totally aware that most of our subscribers (probably 98 or 99 percent) don’t ever produce any electronic music. But since reading this well-made book for the first time I’ve really considered it an amazing advisor. It discusses a lot of different “problems” – and presents wonderful answers – not only for producers, but also for your life and business. We just have to do what musicians call “transposing”: performing a composition in a different key.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Alexander Chizhevsky, Robin Watkins
Physical Factors of the Historical Process
ATLAS Projectos, 2017

Edition of 200 handbound copies, accompanied by a printed email from Robin Watkins for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

This book got me into trouble at first sight. I already had planned to pick a future project by its maker for 8 BOOKS A YEAR. When I discovered this treasure here I thought I’d have exactly 2 options: either sending out this book to you now – or waiting for the other one to be produced. But how stupid is this? Nobody, not even me, ever defined such a rule for us. So why not simply select both? I became aware that we might reduce our possibilities too often without any need to do so. There’s a witty quote from a rather famous American lawyer series (if you ever watched it you’ll know from which one): “What are your choices when someone puts a gun to your head? You take the gun. Or you pull out a bigger one. Or, you call their bluff. Or, you do any one of a hundred and forty six other things.” Or, how President Underwood (you know this one, don’t you?) stated: “If you don’t like how the table is set, turn over the table.” I also remember a gallerist who once said to me “there’s always another one” when I asked for an artwork which had been sold already. So, yes, there’s always another one: another option, another choice, another chance. And: another perspective! The theory in this book was originally published in 1924 by the Russian biophysicist Alexander Chizhevsky. He concluded: “The existence of a dependence of the behavior of humanity on sunspot activity should be considered established.” You should take a look at page 12 and read at least the summary on pages 23-25. Even if you don't agree, isn’t it refreshing to hear of such an extraordinary idea for the first time? It just opens something up in the mind and creates some form of constructive instability. The list of our choices is – always and literally – unlimited.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Alfredo Brillembourg, Hubert Klumpner, Alexis Kalagas, Katerina Kourkoula
Reactive Athens
Ruby Press, 2017

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

A few days ago, documenta 14 opened in Kassel again. Since it only takes place every 5 years, expectations are always high. And there was something different this time: documenta opened first not in its hometown, but in Greece. The curators also made a motto out of what this implied: “Learning from Athens”. As much as I liked this surprising twist when I first read about it (most of the time it’s much more interesting to listen to the underdog than to the champion), I have to confess that I was a bit disappointed when I eventually visited Kassel. Instead of discovering a lot of inspiring, brave, uncommon and uncomfortable art, I was confronted with a myriad of critical (which I love) but obsessively direct and lecturing works which could already have been around a few decades ago. I think it’s a privilege of artists (and curators) to jump ahead of their times and to drive the discourse – and they definitely should make use of this privilege. After having walked around 1 day at documenta, I thought again about their motto, which I mentioned above. I guess we all agree that “learning from” somebody is always a great thing to do – as long as no one makes an imperative out of it. This just turns learning into teaching and dialogue into proclamation. The idea of knowing exactly what to do or how to deal with the challenges we all face today is an illusion we should scrupulously recognize as such. Therefore our new choice is not a book about documenta, but one about Athens. It provided me with a lot of fresh ideas and concepts on how some problems could be dealt with in a very different way. Problems we all know, ideas which can be realized everywhere. So, even if it’s not a book about art, it finally became my better documenta 14.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Ken Wilber
A Theory Of Everything
An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality
Shambhala, 2000

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

2 years ago I stepped out of my own company. I had founded it 12 years earlier and nobody wanted me to leave. On the contrary: Most of my colleagues couldn’t understand why I’d leave a working environment which I had built myself and which I could have changed if I’d wanted to. So why did I do it? There were 2 reasons. The first one was just a feeling. It came overnight and grew constantly, from month to month. My second motive was a sudden insight: Even a place or a situation you created yourself can become a golden cage. You might still be able to change something there, but the task of rearranging it also carries the potential of preventing you from thinking about whether you should leave or not. Months after I dared to go, I found a 1-page PDF online with the title “Integrales Kompetenzmodell” (“Integrated Competence Model”). It was pretty shocking: Everything I had been feeling – my vague hunches – were precisely described in it. This document, published by a German institute, active in organization development and change management, is actually based on a sociological model called “Spiral Dynamics” and on the work of the American crossover-philosopher Ken Wilber. I dived deeper, read more about this concept and watched a lot of interviews with one of its pioneers, Don Beck. I can’t say that this changed my life (as mentioned, I had already done so), but it changed my perspective on the ongoing changes in the world. Don’t worry: It’s by far the most undogmatic and open-minded model I know. But if you’d like to understand better e.g. why populism is rearing its ugly head right now in so many wealthy countries, you’ll find some excellent answers in just the first 2 chapters of this book. It was published in 2000 but feels more topical than ever.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Giovanna Silva
Syria, A Travel Guide to Disappearance
Mousse Publishing, 2016

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

An older friend of mine is an experienced art collector. Some years ago, when I started to get to know him better, he revealed some of his secrets to me. One was about his insight that quite often those artworks in particular which had not been sold at the end of a gallery show became – in the long run – the most relevant and therefore valuable ones. And I also learned a German word from him which I didn’t know before: “Wahrnehmungswiderstand” – it describes the potential of an object to successfully resist being deciphered. It’s not only artworks that can have this weird quality but also books: The ones which strike me the most are actually those which unfold their multiple layers to me very slowly. I mean those books which do not support our lives by delivering a lot of tangible advice, but which make us think about life. Take Syria. We’ve heard and read so much about this country over the past few years. But for what reason? Can we still imagine another Syria, one without war and flight? Or even a “boring” Aleppo like the one Pier Paolo Tamburelli remembers in his introductory text? Are we able to see the beauty in the photos by Giovanna Silva which were glued by hand onto these travel guide copies from another era? Why did she – as the photographer and maker of this book – choose such an apologetic and modest way to present her work? And what is this book? A journey through time? A change of perspective? An exhibition? An archive? An accusation? An encouragement? You see: a lot of Wahrnehmungswiderstand we have to deal with. I promise, it’s worth it.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Raymond Clemens, Deborah E. Harkness
The Voynich Manuscript
Yale University Press, 2016

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

If you were given a time machine, what would you do? Without any doubt there are a lot of tempting possibilities. You could travel into the future to see whether it’s really possible to fall in love with a computer voice in, let’s say, 20 years. Or whether Apple stocks gained or lost value in 2. Is democracy still in place and Europe still united in 10? And will there be completely new forms of art, music and literature in 100? But don’t ignore the other direction this thought experiment could go: Driven by your curiosity, you could also travel into the past. How was it? What really happened? For instance, you could be the first and only twenty-first-century person to meet Siddhartha Gautama, nowadays better known as Buddha – what kind of man was he? Who shot John F. Kennedy and why? How did it feel to follow Joan of Arc? Were Johann Goethe and Friedrich Schiller more than just best friends? How did the ancient Egyptians manage to build the pyramids? You shouldn’t tell anybody about your new abilities, of course, because there are thousands of mystic secrets and unsolved enigmas mankind is so completely fascinated by. While some of the experiences you’d (hopefully) come back with could certainly help us learn from ancient times and understand more about our history, others might just be thrill seeking. But you definitely shouldn't forget to tell us the truth about the so-called Voynich Manuscript: known as “the world’s most mysterious manuscript”, written some time between 1404 and 1438 CE, never deciphered (neither the language nor the pictures), published for the first time as a complete facsimile 3 weeks ago by Yale University. Please, solve the riddle. Enter your time machine!

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Edmund Clark and Crofton Black
Negative Publicity: Artefacts of Extraordinary Rendition
Aperture, 2016

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

This book is a real life James Bond file. One without dangerous ladies, wonder weapons or pompous temples of evil. Instead, it comes with bureaucrats, torture and run-down warehouses. And while watching a 007 movie might be entertaining, I'd describe the experience of going through these pages as disconcerting. No worries, there's not a single photo in this book which you should be warned about looking at beforehand. No, it's the kafkaesque feeling that engulfs us when we get an idea of the tremendous apparatus which is at work here. It's hidden, poorly monitored, ugly and ultrabanal all at the same time. The incredible amount of work Edmund Clark and Crofton Black had to invest to collect all these snippets and pieces of evidence – or "artefacts" as they themselves call them – made me realize how difficult it is to unveil such obscure activities … not to mention the risks the authors very likely have to take. I once learned that it is not hate that is the opposite of love, but fear. We also know that the idea of "fighting fire with fire" usually just results in more fire. I regard the making of this book to be a fearless act of love. It's still a privilege to live in a society where we're allowed and able to produce, to purchase and to read a book like this. With its help we should dare to look behind the curtain. After having done so already, I'd suggest starting with the excellent afterword, written by Eyal Weizman. The yellow pages provide the required background information on the documents and photos. What you're holding in your hands right now really deserves your attention and maybe 1 or 2 hours of your time. Less than an average visit to the cinema.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Annebella Pollen
The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift: Intellectual Barbarians
Donlon Books, 2016

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Nowadays even electronic music labels are already celebrating their 20th anniversaries – I just realized that and I would guess there are even older ones. The one which led me to this insight is Raster-Noton, an independent company co-founded by the artist Carsten Nicolai. On the occasion of their anniversary the label rebuilt a huge light and sound installation at Berlin’s most famous club. Just google "White Circle" and "Berghain" to get an idea of the project and of the location. I’m mentioning this here because besides its visual and acoustic power, it also had a spiritual quality. People gathered themselves in a circle created out of a lot of vertical lights and some nearly invisible speakers and subwoofers. Everybody sat or laid down and many visitors closed their eyes at some point since you were still able to perceive the bright light signals through your shut eyelids. Some even meditated. Eventually the word "ritual" occurred to me and the whole thing suddenly felt like a reinterpretation of some old mystical event where all members of a tribe or a village came together to share an exceptional experience. There’s a kind of archaic yearning in all of us, looking for chances to drop our guard and connect to each other on a deeper human level. However, especially we Germans still become very sceptical when cult moments merge with political contexts. The Nazis seem to have discredited this mix forever, although there were also such modernist, pacifistic movements in the 20ies of the last century. They dared to bring together what likely belongs together: progressive thinking, natural sciences and metaphysics. Have you ever heard of the Kibbo Kift? I hadn’t until I recently discovered this book. They were far, far ahead of their time.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Bill Maurer
How would You Like to Pay?
How Technology Is Changing the Future of Money
Duke University Press, 2015

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

After finishing school, my grandma Anna worked as a maid on a remote farm in the Bavarian mountains. It was a time of scarcity, but every February 2nd she got her annual wage of 20 German marks. Since she was given free board and lodging, she was able to save most of her money. After 12 years of hard work and a life full of privation, she suddenly heard of a threatening phenomenon going on in the distant cities: hyperinflation. The 27 year old woman grabbed her savings, borrowed the only bike around and drove from Obermurbach to the village of Lenggries as fast as she could. All she got there for 200 marks was 2 skeins of yarn. A little later, by November 1923, an American dollar was worth 4.2 trillion marks. As my grandma died before I was born, I could never ask her what effect this had on her. But we can imagine that her relationship to money was different than ours. Maybe hers was a more accurate one, unmasking money to reveal a mere agreement that functions only as long as all the players still agree. Today all the world’s money (including cash and checking deposits) is estimated to have a value of 28.6 trillion US dollars, with the market capitalization of all stock markets equal to 70 trillion. At the same time we face global debts of 199 trillion and – hardly conceivably – at least 630 trillion dollars for the size and scope of the global derivative markets. How many skeins of yarn would that be? This little book, written by an anthropologist, opens up a new perspective on money, describing it as a “chain of promises”. And it doesn’t forget the developing world, where most people are as far away from the stock exchanges as my grandma Anna was in her time.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

David Horvitz
Mood Disorder
Chert (Berlin), Motto Books (Lausanne/Berlin), New Documents (LA/Vancouver)

Including a personal letter from the artist to our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Hacking means infiltrating a network using technology. Social hacking does the same by taking advantage of the weak point we call “the human being”. We seem to be calculable, even predictable. Take the Trojan horse as an early example of an effective social hack: a gigantic victory trophy at first sight, but it came with a price tag. Nowadays lotteries just have to place a car in a shopping mall to collect shoals of addresses in a few days – totally understandable … how else should they know where to deliver their first prize? But let’s not feel too safe just because we see through this simple marketing game, there’re a lot of others. The American artist David Horvitz played his own: He took a photo of himself, sitting by the sea, seemingly desperate with his face buried in his hands. David then put this picture onto Wikipedia's page about “Mood Disorder” and made it “free-to-use”. The bait was in the water. Look what happened. When I flipped through the pages of this artist's book, I really felt like I had stumbled into the commoditized third world of the internet. It seems to have its own economy based on interchangeable articles with stereotypical stock-images. Who in the world produces them? Who reads them? David Horvitz used them and created a conceptual artwork. It consists of frozen screenshots. It will become a time capsule and it’s being shown at the New York MoMA right now, appropriately enough as part of its ”New Photography” show. Your copy comes with a personal letter from the artist.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Ruth Slavid (text), James Morris (photographs)
Ice Station: The Creation of Halley VI
Britain‘s Pioneering Antarctic Research Station
Park Books, 2015

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

While thinking about this book’s introduction, I saw a lot of options:

• Nearing winter and upcoming cold (Berlin changes when that happens: believe me, it's like living in a whole different city)
• My embarrassing difficulties in correctly remembering whether the Antarctic is in the north or in the south …
• ”I spy with my little eye, something blue and red”
• The discovery of a hole in the ozone layer in 1985 (p. 76)
• Paris, still in a state of shock, now hosting the UN Conference on Climate Change, which some experts think might eventually be called ”mankind's most important event ever”
• The inspiring success story of a relatively unexperienced architect who started by building a ”Girl Guides headquarters”
• A house on skis – how weird is that??
• The challenge of living in total darkness for 106 days (p. 13)
• My surprise at hearing the term ”Antarctic Architecture” (p. 89)
• The tip to flip back and forth between pages 15 and 10
• The insight that sometimes it can be an option not to choose between different options
• Another insight that I should do that only once

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Sven Völker and Sting
There‘s a Little Black Spot on the Sun Today
NorthSouth Books, 2015

Signed by the designer and his son for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

The relationship between father and son has always been a special one. On both a conscious and subconscious level it often oscillates between straightforward encouragement and undetected rivalry, honest recognition and hidden suppression, large-hearted sharing and anxious restraint. Throughout the centuries these complex layers have been the raw material for countless novels, plays and movies and will continue to engage us, most likely forever. My own father just turned 81 and the older I get, the more patterns of behavior I discover in me which were obviously influenced by him – whether I like it or not. After we visited my father to celebrate his birthday, I travelled to California where I picked up a car and started driving up the West Coast, heading to Oregon. Believe it or not, I spotted one of the best bookstores I’ve ever visited in a wonderful small town called Mendocino. Among dozens of interesting new titles, one caught my attention. It’s called “Sons + Fathers” and presents cultural icons reflecting on their begetters. Quite interestingly, sometimes a single case can tell you more about life than a collection of 100 stories. Take Sven. He has 2 sons, 1 of whom, Malo, became terribly ill at the age of 3. During one of their drives to the hospital, Malo asked his father about the song that was playing on the radio … and about its lyrics. These were written by Sting when he realized how much it still hurt to think about his ex-wife. On hearing this, Malo immediately claimed the song’s title “King of Pain” for himself. His father thought of making a book for his son when he recovered. He has, and so we have this book. Signed by father and son.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Andreas Trogisch
Runway
Peperoni Books, 2015

Edition of 180 signed and numbered copies

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

How do you define non-fiction? The German director Werner Herzog once characterized his documentaries as often being more fictitious than his feature films and his feature films as sometimes more documental than his documentaries. One of the most interesting things in life is to explore such gray areas, where the world neither is white nor black – in your mind, in your actions or sometimes just beneath your feet. The latter is what happened to the maker of this extremely rare book. His object of investigation is a single runway strip, which in reality measures 90 centimeters in width and 30 meters in length. You find it at the Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin, a huge area that was part of the former Tempelhof Airport. Today a much-loved public park, this place really has a lot of stories to tell: started as a parade ground for the Prussian army, it first became a recreational area and then an airport. As such, Tempelhof was among the most important infrastructure projects of Nazi-Germany. From 1948 to 1949, the Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift via Tempelhof – over 200,000 flights provided the isolated people of West Berlin with an incredible amount of life-saving goods, up to 12,000 tons per day. In 2014, a majority of the citizens voted against a large real estate project that the local government had planned to realize on the site. And the world keeps turning: Just a few days ago, Berlin decided to set up a camp for refugees at the former airport – at least 40,000 are expected to arrive in the city by the end of this year. In one way or another, all these events leave traces. Keeping that in mind, even an abstract picture can turn out as great non-fiction.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Eran Ben-Joseph
ReThinking a Lot:
The Design and Culture of Parking
MIT Press, 2012

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Some months ago Hillary Clinton claimed she would become the future US president for all “everyday Americans”. Sounds down-to-earth, but what does this “everyday” mean? When politicians talk of “everyday people” they sometimes misuse this term, attempting to justify a kind of resistance to looking at things from different angles and to discussing them in a more profound way. Or – you could say – it betrays a lack of willingness to see things in all their complexity. On the other hand “everyday” can mean rather the opposite: It has the potential to open our eyes to the “everyday wonders” of life. Do I seem cliché now, talking about stopping to smell the roses on your way to work? Not necessarily, since even our least subtle fellows appreciate a rose’s beauty. But take the Swiss artists Fischli & Weiss who, for decades, took hundreds of photos of airports – anonymous airfields with planes being loaded and unloaded, busses and trucks driving around. They might seem boring at first sight, but they simply aren’t. Instead they show technological and social microcosms, highly organized cross-border intersections and the backbones of one gigantic organism called global infrastructure. Boring? Not at all. So, being an “everyday human” could also mean becoming conscious of what is usually hidden. We can surprise ourselves by discovering the concepts, both the good and the failed ones, behind some structures we are confronted with every single day. Do you own a car? Where is it right now? What is it doing? Most probably, nothing. It’s parked.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Martin Eberle
Voyager – The Grand Tour
Drittel Books, 2015

Edition of 300

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Jodie Foster got me wondering. I was playing around on the internet while Contact was being shown again on TV. I already knew the movie, but I realized that I know almost nothing about the sheer dimensions of our universe. It took me a short while to find some basic but by all means astounding facts. For example, have you ever wondered how many stars you can see with your bare eyes when you look at the sky on a dark and cloudless night? You won't be able to count but about 5,000. Fewer than most people expect. Every visible shining dot belongs to the Milky Way, our home galaxy. How many stars would you guess it hosts? Since Earth lies within one of the Milky Way's gigantic spiral arms – each a wall of stars that even our most modern telescopes simply can't see through – astronomers can only estimate. Still, it is certainly between 200,000,000,000 and 400,000,000,000 suns. Indeed, we're talking about billions here in 1 of, again, billions more galaxies. Keeping that vastness in mind, jump back to 1977 when a team of scientists grabbed the unique, foolhardy chance to step into the void and explore all 4 outer planets of our solar system in 1 grand tour. 2 unmanned spacecraft were sent out. Both are still functioning. Both are about to leave our planetary neighborhood behind. Each has a golden record on board which, in a distant future, could become mankind’s greatest document. Imagine yourself, as an alien, flipping through its pictures from the 1970s. What would you think about humans? An incredible book project.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm

Stefan Sulzer
The day my mother touched Robert Ryman
Edition Taube, 2015

Signed by the artist for our subscribers

DEAR FRIEND OF 8 BOOKS A YEAR,

Every true story can still be told in a thousand ways. What is your perspective on what happened? Your conclusion? Your dramaturgy? These 3 decisions have to be made – consciously or not – before you share any narrative. While established media too often fails to make this process transparent to us, this small book is an overwhelming example of how a true story can be revealed in another, more differentiated, way. By looking through the lenses of both protagonists’ perspectives, it creates something invaluable in a fracturing world: empathy and, therefore, tolerance. Line by line it digs deeper and deeper for what really counts. Without ever dictating to you what to think about the written, it only blocks one exit for us: judging too easily, too quickly. I thought of my mother. Subsequent generations can enjoy the privilege of learning more about nearly everything. Who knows … in 30 years you might damage your son’s quantum fridge by opening it the wrong way. Fortunately this won't matter as long as not only technology evolves, but also the way we describe and perceive what goes on around us. Great artists sometimes have the ability to predict a future. This is undoubtedly an artist book – but certainly not one only about art. I'd rather call it poetic and political. I read it thoroughly from front to back: I recommend you also give yourself a chance to let its pure, radical concept unfold.

All my best,
Christian Kaspar Schwarm