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The Imaginary World of...

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What kind of world would you like to inhabit?

To imagine something different, better, or more interesting is to push the existing world into a state of change. Some of the greatest revolutionary acts of our time came to be because someone had the courage to imagine something new.

In The Imaginary World of…, Keri Smith asks readers to imagine something new: a unique world of their own making.

Readers start by creating a list of everything to which they’re drawn: things they love and collect, colors, shapes, ideas, people, and creatures that fascinate them. The items in the list will become the building blocks for their imaginary worlds, used to create texture and establish a foundation for the new place they’ll begin to inhabit. Readers will then be prompted to think about landscape, place names, maps, currency, residents, logos, foods, histories, and more for their world.

An indispensable guide for artists, dreamers, activists, and kids of all ages, The Imaginary World of… will encourage readers to become revolutionaries of everyday life, chronicling the possibilities in the brave new worlds they envision.

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2014

61 people are currently reading
1327 people want to read

About the author

Keri Smith

58 books1,849 followers
Keri Smith is an author/illustrator turned guerilla artist. She has several bestselling books, including Wreck This Journal, This is Not a Book, How To Be An Explorer of the World, Mess, Finish this Book, and The Wander Society all published by Penguin Books. Read more at her website http://WWW.KERISMITH.COM
http://kerismithbooks.tumblr.com/
http://pinterest.com/penguinbooksusa/...

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5 stars
144 (48%)
4 stars
84 (28%)
3 stars
43 (14%)
2 stars
18 (6%)
1 star
5 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Michichi.
4 reviews
Currently reading
October 6, 2014
First I'd like to start with saying i'll probably never finish this book. Not because it's not a good book, but I don't think I'll ever stop having fun using this book and will probably use it again and again to create my own worlds (or expand the one I'm creating now).

Just like 'Wreck this journal' and 'mess' are 'the imaginary world of' is a book to help you create and to look at things differently. It is also not just a book for 'writers' or 'artists' (though we are all artists in a way) but also for 'normal' people who want to create their own worlds, keep there minds active, be entertained with being busy in a child-like way, or set goals.

I am currently using this book to create a world where I can freely set my clothing designs lose, and see them evolve with the different people that wear them. But that's just my use and I'm sure others will find a zillion other ways to use this book either for real reasons or just for pure fun!!!
Profile Image for Fern A.
875 reviews66 followers
November 11, 2022
A fun book in which you create your own imaginary world complete with animals, words, concepts, manifestos and financial systems. It is great sometimes to take time to be creative and completely free with your imagination with no end goal other than creativity itself which this book is perfect for! Interesting to think how every single person will come up with something completely unique to everyone else despite working their way through the same book.
35 reviews18 followers
July 22, 2015
I'm rating this based on the concept of the book and I love it. Although I haven't actually finished filling it all in - which I'm sure will take a long time - it is a great way to just be as imaginative as you want and let loose with no restrictions whatsoever (until you run out of space on the pages, that is).
Profile Image for Eli.
126 reviews
Read
March 4, 2022
Aunque no sea una lectura como tal, siento que es un buen libro para aprovechar toda nuestra creatividad y realizar cosas asombrosas a partir de ella. En tiempos de cuarentena, me ayudó a desestresarme y poder descansar de las pantallas por un tiempo.

Me gusta la forma en que te trata la autora, de que te diga que está bien si hay actividades que no quieres realizar y, al igual que con "Destroza este diario", puedas interpretar las instrucciones como gustes. Me gustaría que esta mujer fuese mi profesora de artes en el colegio, siento que me ayudaría muchísimo a expresarme mejor y así. Además me encantó la selección de frases que están puestas en el libro y la forma en que está diseñado.

Lo recomiendo como regalo de navidad o cumpleaños, en especial para niños y quienes quieran volver a sentirse como que son dueños del mundo.
Profile Image for Emma.
71 reviews38 followers
May 27, 2016
Everyone needs to buy a copy of this book and carry it with them at all times. It's a great stress reliever and helps me escape the world when I need to . It guides you without holding you back, allowing you to create whatever your heart desires. I don't think I'll ever really be finished with this book.
Profile Image for Eva  Hough.
182 reviews23 followers
July 12, 2016
I never actually finished this book as such, I just kept writing in it. I don't think it's a book that you can actually finish since you write and draw in it yourself. I thinks its good they have books like this for adults/teenagers because its more challenging that stuff like this for children is, and it keeps your imaginations going even when your an adult.
Profile Image for mayday.
119 reviews18 followers
August 4, 2017
if you already love worldbuilding and have invested hours and days and weeks of your life in doing it for yourself, this book is probably going to be for the birds. but when i made my classroom library, this one always got borrowed, and those kids were ninth-graders! i'm giving it to a very creative eight-year-old student soon; i have a feeling she'll like it.
Profile Image for Wanderbook.
127 reviews40 followers
August 25, 2019
Ini sih bukan buku untuk dibaca 😁
Tapi untuk diisi. Asyik banget pertanyaan pertanyaan tentang dunia yang kita inginkan.

Ini buku Keri ke-3 yang saya punya. Dan ketiganya belum abis-abis untuk diisi. Tapi yang ini lebih asyik ngisinya dibanding buku lainnya.
Profile Image for Karlis Alejandra Ch'.
51 reviews1 follower
November 11, 2021
Como buena adulta joven que soy guardo especial cariño por los libros raros e interactivos, este es uno de mis favoritos. Tengo completándolo ya más de un año y siempre pasó un buen rato cuando lo tengo en las manos.
Profile Image for Cpt. Disco.
23 reviews
March 9, 2026
Invaluable resource for creatives and daydreamers in general. This book is so much fun to work with, so many ideas I wouldn't be able to come up with on my own. It surpasses every worldbuilding sheet I've ever found. Helps make an imaginary world feel real and lived in.
Profile Image for Widya.
Author 1 book10 followers
May 13, 2019
Sebenarnya ide dan konsep-konsep dalam buku ini sangat unik dan segar. Namun sayangnya beberapa instruksinya kurang praktis (apa mungkin sayanya saja ya yang malas?)
Profile Image for Our memories tonight.
139 reviews
February 26, 2023
Divertido, entretenido, una buena forma de sacar tu creatividad y entretenerse al máximo. Lo terminé hace uno o dos años.
-L.
Profile Image for Willow S..
288 reviews9 followers
October 22, 2023
*The Imaginary World of...* is probably my favorite of Keri Smith's activity books.
Profile Image for Lemurkat.
Author 13 books51 followers
Read
March 3, 2016
Read through this last night!
Now I'm totally looking forward to getting started on actioning it - expect another update as they come. First I have to find my special notebook... now where did I pack that last?
1 review
December 20, 2014
I'm new in good reads, so can somebody reach me how to read books? They just show me descriptions
Profile Image for FLAMES (Roberta Frontini).
435 reviews42 followers
January 13, 2019
" (...) Este livro apela à imaginação de outra forma... também se podem usar colagens, cores, canetas e lápis, mas o exercício imaginativo está presente em cada folha em forma de pergunta e, no final, teremos reunidas todas as condições para a criação de um mundo só nosso! Um mundo que deixará de ser imaginário e passará a estar materializado em livro. "

Opinião completa aqui - http://flamesmr.blogspot.pt/2017/01/l...
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews

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