The Monocle Guide to Better Living

by Monocle, Andrew Tuck (Editor), Santiago Rodriguez Tarditi (Editor)

Full of writing, reports, and recommendations, The Monocle Guide to Better Living is original, informative, entertaining, and comprehensive. Monocle is one of the most successful magazines to be developed in the past decade. Armed with an unmistakable sense of aesthetics and journalistic tenacity, its team—led by editor-in-chief Tyler Brûlé—has created an intelligent publication that continually inspires a global readership who are interested in everything from diplomacy to design. For its first-ever book, the editorial team looks at one of their core themes: how to live well. The result is The Monocle Guide to Better Living, a collection of writing, reports, and recommendations. This is not a book about glitz but rather an upbeat survey of products and ideas meant to be treasured and last. Structured into chapters on the city, culture, travel, food, and work, the book also provides answers to some key questions. Which cities offer the best quality of life? How do you build a good school? How do you run a city? Who makes the best coffee? And how do you start your own inspirational business? The Monocle Guide to Better Living works as a guide but also includes 10 essays that explore what makes a great city, why craft is desirable, how to run your own hotel, and why culture is good for you. This is not a book about fashion or the next big thing. It's a book about finding enduring values—from a career you want to keep to furniture that will last a lifetime. It's a book designed to stay relevant, loved, and used. An indispensable guidebook to contemporary life, The Monocle Guide to Better Living embodies everything that makes the magazine such a success: easy style and journalistic substance.

Genres: Nonfiction, Design, Lifestyle, Philosophy, Coffee Table Books, Travel, Self Help

400 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2013

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a weird book.

Coffee table travel/hipsterporn with an overt 1960's layout and aesthetic.

Do you love turtleshell eyeglasses, sweaters, discussions of urban density, wood grain, and pictures that look like they were taken with VSCO filters? This the book for you!

[Oward Bodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compendium of different tidbits from Monocle's past publications. Past reviewers are right that it's already a bit dated: reading it in 2018, after Brazil's economic contraction after years of promise and growth, got a whiff of dusty, early 2010's BRICs fervor. And the rapid rise of vertical e-commerce solutions that promote access to artisanal quality products is, naturally, absent.

The book is beautifully laid out, and the writing is always sharp and at times insightful, although the same could not necessarily be said of the editorial (Monocle seems to think that the ideal world would basically just consist of Nordic countries, Japan, and a smattering of Australia and Brazil).

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for civic planners, CEOs, and business-minded creatives.

[Mark Askew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this and I think your enjoyment will be based on what you are looking to get out of it.

I was looking for something to add to my book collection by sprinkling it about my book shelves and coffee table to add to the aesthetic. Secondly, I wanted a "coffee table" book. Lastly, I wanted to have something that would provide inspiration that varied from articles to pictures, and this did just that. I really enjoyed paging through this book, and reading the essays. I was not expecting a refreshing and honest takes with the subject matter. I especially liked the second on Home the best. The need to apologize for living in your home when guests come over was of particular interest. The obsession over an instagram/pinterest worthy place makes you wonder where YOU are in your home and if someone actually lives there. Granted, that is no excuse to have your dishes piling up ;-)

[Tram-Anh Huynh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good housewarming coffee table gift. I assumed it was going to be about health and diet, and it was much more and for the better. The layout stays interesting, enough white space, most pages matte but some sections are glossy. Many cultures, cities, examples. General essays provide food for thought, then zooming into neighborhoods. The Happiness section is done in B&W. Like traveling while on my couch.

[Naomi Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this over a year ago on vacation and finally finished. Some essays were amazing, thought provoking and lovely to read (have a holiday romance + do we need nations?) and others had me scratching my head (cities withor politics + trashing the recycling symbol). But I think the point is that you don’t necessarily need to agree with everything the essays posit but they open up a discussion on the possibilities for a better world.

[thaís bambozzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

O guia hipster sobre uma vida melhor conta com fotografias maravilhosas e me apresentou muitos lugares, estabelecimentos, marcas e coisas diferentes. As reflexões sobre urbanismo foram as minhas preferidas. Os itens referentes ao Brasil são bastante estereotipados e elitizados, deixa bastante a desejar ao tentar mostrar um pouco da nossa identidade.

[M.A (maianh)]

don’t feel like rating this magazine book because not everything can be rated.

i enjoyed this one so much — very well-done. it’s classy, sophisticated, knowledgeable, amusing, and highly stunning! (if the book was a person, they would sound like that)

[Ruben Baetens · Rating 5 out of 5]

From now on a.k.a. 'The Monocle Guide to a Better Society' ...

[Frances Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favourite section was the one on home!
A great design book with fantastic photographs - precise + passionate without being pretentious or concerned with an instagram-like aesthetic.

[Areej Alhussan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Random articles that recycles what is in the main stream media.. only 3 of them introduced new concepts and were worth reading.

[Andrew Dugas · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a small business owner, I absolutely love both their business model of focusing on creating good products and how they report on the best found things in wonderfully diverse cities all over the world. As a magazine, I'm always amazed at the breadth of each issue and this, their first book is no different. Great writing, inspiring businesses and perfect photography. I've enjoyed reopening and rereading this book now for a few weeks and it always delivers.

[Antonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is rather the hipster guide to travel. Enjoyed the photographs and the well synthesized short texts accompanying them however I wasn't very keen on the selections accented in the book. Especially the section "Services" I found very weak and clumsy. You can easily substitute the gap with Todd Selby's books - "Selby at Your Place" and "Edible Selby".

[Ștefania Ioana Chiorean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy guide, longer magazine. An interesting gathering of recommendations for traveling, health, culture, house and many more. I wish it was a bit more diverse ( I felt the recommendations would float around 10 max 15 counties) just for the sake of discoverability. I had a really good time reading it, it sets a nice, calm, hygge mood.

[Wei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring read.

[Giberjikey]

meh