We’re living in a coffee culture. Café signs—now visible on almost every block of certain cities—point to a growing pandemic of caffeine addiction. There’s no denying our thirst for perfect brews and expert espresso. Author and distinguished coffee roaster Anette Moldvaer has gleefully taken the “blue bean,” charting a global, all-encompassing matrix of coffee. Coffee Obsession is the title of the book and the name of the game. Coffee lovers are not content any longer to sit and sip a cuppa. We have to know where the beans came from, how they were harvested, what constitutes their complex flavoring and how they can be brewed, dripped, pressed, siphoned, phin-ed or ibrik-ed (these last two being the names of brewing devices from Vietnam and the Middle East, respectively). We also want to know how to make cute foam hearts on our lattes. Moldvaer shares everything about coffee, and she gives it to us on a cross-cultural, time-traveling, -recipe-inventorying saucer. The only thing missing is a chapter on ethical and ecological aspects of coffee production and marketing, but a growing awareness in coffeehouse signage and point-of-sale packaging puts customers in the know. 

Entrepreneurial Spirit
Professional web designer Alannah Moore understands that expediency is of the essence in our web-based culture. Whereas your grandparents may have taken years to establish a viable business, now you can Create Your Own Online Store in a Weekend. For those of us who have not yet grasped the fact that the Internet has now become a comprehensive way of transacting our lives, Moore is the ultimate guru. You want to sell things online? No prob. E-commerce basics help you home in on your “unique selling point” and choose the best-fit system: a storefront like Amazon or eBay, a webstore provider like Wix, a software system like Wordpress or one of the other marketplaces like Zazzle or CafePress. From options for taking payment, to building web pages, to writing your text and optimizing your marketing, this book is your e-Bible. And all it takes is one weekend! Better make lots of coffee.

Top Pick in Lifestyles
At the opposite end of the technological spectrum from creating your own online store stands Charlotte Rivers’ Little Book of Book Making with its array of “Timeless Techniques and Fresh Ideas for Beautiful Handmade Books.” Rivers has culled—from every region of the world—the very best examples of the ancient art of bookbinding. Yes, the art is ancient, but the emphasis in this delightful (and delightfully made) book is on creative innovation. There is something both old and new—both storied and novel—in the Coptic stitches Cairo-based artist Gina Nagi uses to make her gorgeous volumes. As for American bookbinder Erica Ekrem—who binds seashells together and gives them an inner lining of recycled paper—the world of words is her oyster. The final chapter includes tutorials for “bookmaking in practice”: sew and no-sew books, cover treatments and techniques for paper decorating.

This article was originally published in the September 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.