"WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing" was one of the seminal avant-garde publications of the 1970s and early 1980s. It had a quirky, prescient editorial sensibility and was a paradigm-shifting venue for graphic design experimentation. "WET" was a precursor to, and exemplar for, later publications such as "Beach Culture," "Ray Gun," and the like. Talents such as Matt Groening ("The Simpsons") and others published their first work here. This book tells the story of the making of "WET" from its early formation in the Venice Beach creative milieu to its emergence on the international pop-culture scene. This book includes an extended commentary on the process of making "WET," along with images and reprints from the magazine. No mere retrospective, this book offers instructive advice for anyone embarking on a journey of artistic entrepreneurship.

Leonard Koren trained as an artist and architect. He was the founder and publisher of "WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing." Koren writes and consults about design- and aesthetic-related issues. Among his previous books are "Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers "and "Which "Aesthetics" Do You Mean? Ten Definitions."

Twenty-plus years after the initial publication of "Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers," Leonard Koren is back with further insights into this seminal aesthetic paradigm. An important book for art and design theorists, and other thoughtful creators.

Since its first publication in 1992, this book has become a curious classic, taking a simple (yet often incorrectly performed) activity and depicting it with a graphic, manga-style edge. In twelve drawings a young Japanese man is shown preparing, rinsing, soaking, communing, relaxing, contemplating-all an encouragement to readers to slow down, ease into the hot water, and enjoy this timeless ritual of purity and release.

This is an updated version of the enduring classic that first introduced the concept of "imperfect beauty" to the West. Text, images, and book design seamlessly meld into a wabi-sabi-like experience.

"Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete . . .
. . . wabi-sabi could even be called the "Zen of things," as it exemplifies many of Zen's core spiritual-philosophical tenets . . .
Wabi-sabi is the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of what we think of as traditional Japanese beauty. It occupies roughly the same position in the Japanese pantheon of aesthetic values as do the Greek ideals of beauty and perfection in the West . . .
Wabi-sabi, in its purest, most idealized form, is precisely about the delicate traces, the faint evidence, at the borders of nothingness . . ."

Author Leonard Koren was trained as an architect but never built anything--except an eccentric Japanese tea house--because he found large, permanent objects too philosophically vexing to design. Instead he created "WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing," one of the premier avant-garde magazines of the 1970s. Subsequently Koren has produced unusual books about design- and aesthetics-related subjects. Koren resides in both America and Japan. For more information, visit www.leonardkoren.com.

From soft sell to hardball, from sweet persuasion to total war, these powerful bargaining tactics help you win every time.

An indispensable tool for anyone who ever has to negotiate, haggle, or bargain, Seal the Deal teaches you the real art of the deal in only one hour. These 130 proven negotiating tips, tactics, and strategies work equally well in a rug bazaar, a car showroom, a lawyer's office, or a corporate boardroom. You'll learn when to cooperate, when to flee, when to parry and stall for time—and when to attack.

This book is designed for fast reference and maximum utility, with tactics keyed by graphics that indicate friendly, neutral, or hardball. It moves from overall negotiating psychology to maneuvers suited for short, protracted, stalled, and professional negotiations, to countering an opponent's dirty tricks.

Once you've used Seal the Deal, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. Originally published as The Haggler's Handbook.

"American folk strategy at its finest."—San Francisco Chronicle