How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum Paperback – Illustrated, October 7, 2008

This is a great book for homeschoolers, all teachers, even adult writers. It's presentation is unconventional: a smorgasbord of pictures, words, and very creative graphic organizers. As students, teachers, and writers we all are prone to just get 'stuck' sometimes. This book can give a jump start to looking at things differently. Things could be anything from a chair, to cracks in the sidewalk. The book gets one to start thinking outside the box, so to speak. It is not a book meant to be read cover to cover from start to finish. It works best by randomly opening to a page an seeing how it fits with what you are trying to do. Seeing how it helps to propel you forward in your current quest.

This book encourages collecting -- you'll start a collection of things you find on the ground, things you overhear, things that simply interest you and you've got no real use for. And through these collections, and the arranging and documentation of them, Keri Smith will teach you how to look at the world with new eyes. Once you've hoarded and organised thirty bits of something, you'll have a deeper understanding of the shapes and colours and wonderful uniqueness that can be found anywhere -- in rocks, leaves, sea glass, bottle tops, typography... in anything!The exercises are inspired by different creative minds, including Leonard Cohen and Tom Robbins, and ask you to try experiencing the world through all of your senses, and documenting it using different writing techniques, photography, sketching exercises, and ways of storing, organising and arranging. Space is provided in the back for limited notes, in a lovely format, which it's possible to copy so that you have unlimited pages.Keri Smith is, of course, famous for giving you books that you can destroy. This book is slightly different. Yes, you'll want to take it everywhere with you, and there are spaces to tape, glue, doodle and write inside, but this IS a book, not a coaster, not a place mat, not a chew-toy for your dog. It is not another exercise in creativity through wreckage, but explores a different source of inspiration, in the same easy-going, friendly and encouraging tone as all your other favourite Keri Smith books.

I purchased two of these books for different children, and each is using the book in their own ways to learn about the world in which they live. Not a day goes by that one or the other doesn't discover, on their own, something else amazing about the environment they occupy. Want to get your child away from the video games? Off the cell phone for hours at a time? Offer this book as a gift, and watch their knowledge grow page by page as they themselves become to authors of their own experiences in learning. These books are truly amazing, and do not have to be limited to children. Many bored adults who could use an inspiration that life doesn't have to be mundane can benefit from the use of this book. I recommend it for all ages and a book for each family member. If each one has his own book, discussions can begin at any time with everyone participating on different discoveries while the book has given each person the same suggestion for an 'assignment.' Fun and informative gift for anyone for any occasion.

Smith's newest book is the most recent installment in her passionate, ongoing process to distill life and the art process (indistinguishable to most artists) down to it's bare matter. If you can embrace playfulness, open courageously to the idea of art as life, are willing to turn off the television and look around you, love to challenge yourself to learn to BE and create from essence as opposed to trend or fancy, Explorer is for you.As an author, she seems to live her life exactly the way she writes (as one can easily pick up when visiting her blog The Wish Jar Journal).As an artist, she is apparently very well read on the subjects of art and life and willing to push beyond art school rules to find her own voice among so many artsy voices that seem to blend together these days. For an insightful, modern perspective on gathering the fodder to create amazing experiences, I was not disappointed with this book.I completely disagree with other reviews which state that this book is not for deep thinkers. I find her simple, freshened concepts to be timely and revolutionary, just what artists have been missing from our creative processes.I also recommend Wreck This Journal and Guerilla Art, also by Keri Smith.

The messy fonts kind of drive me nuts, but the content is inspiring and high quality. I'd be careful giving this book to a kid, since the author basically encourages you to pick up garbage off the street and bring it home. There could be some hazards and cleanliness issues there. I use it as an inspiration tool, since some of the quotes appeal to me or challenge me, and it does encourage you to open your eyes and see the world. It's cute, interesting, and clearly made with love.

Expand your horizons with the ideas and images in this book that will have you outdoors for hours using "all your eyes", as Jules Verne says. Interspersed with quotes, this book sparks the imagination in ways you may not have anticipated.

Just ordered and perused briefly. Gave it as a gift to children who are on summer holidays. Also gave them a SmashFolio or scrapbooking journal, and so it seems this will aid them in observing their surroundings more purposefully, exploring more deeply and uniquely, and recording that suggested in this "How to Be an Explorer" book, in their new journals. I like the informal, handwritten font, which is much more captivating for kids and adults than monotonous font which they would never read all the way through. I am very excited to see what they do with their new book, and cannot wait to read it more in depth myself! I highly recommend it!