The Imaginary World of...

by Keri Smith

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.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Writing, Journal, Self Help, Reference, Creative

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2014

About the author

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/...

Reviews

[Michichi]

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!!!

[Fern Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Katrina Sark · Rating 3 out of 5]

“All grown-ups were once children… But only few of them remember it.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

p.vi – Imagination creates reality.
The act of creating a world is an act of revolution. To imagine something different, something better, or something 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.

p.vii – What kind of world would you like to inhabit?

p.ix – Steve Lambert, artist and coordinator of the Center for Artistic Activism, an organization committed to strengthening connections between social activism and artistic practice.

p.x – Choose the documenting format that works best for you (writing, drawing, collage, or a combination).
The beginning prompts are designed as a warm-up, but feel free to skip around. Go directly to sections that make you the most excited.

p.xvi – “Don’t bend: don’t water it down: don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” (Franz Kafka)
What invokes wonder in you? Include everything that you are fascinated by.

p.28 – “out imagination flies – we are its shadow on the earth.” (Vladimir Nabokov)

p.34 – “Everything you can imagine is real.” (Pablo Picasso)

p.58 – “There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” (Victor Hugo)

p.105 – Create a soundtrack.

p.123 – Create a time capsule – it can be a shoebox with things you like

[Meg Gabarda · Rating 5 out of 5]

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).

[Eli]

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.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Eva Hough · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[mayday · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Wanderbook · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Karlis Alejandra Ch' · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Widya · Rating 3 out of 5]

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?)

[Our memories tonight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Divertido, entretenido, una buena forma de sacar tu creatividad y entretenerse al máximo. Lo terminé hace uno o dos años.
-L.

[Willow (Taylor's version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*The Imaginary World of...* is probably my favorite of Keri Smith's activity books.

[Lemurkat]

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?

[Czarina Narido · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm new in good reads, so can somebody reach me how to read books? They just show me descriptions

[FLAMES (Roberta Frontini) · Rating 4 out of 5]

" (...) 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...