Customer Reviews

The Selby Is in Your Place

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After being an avid reader of the selby blog i was reluctant whether to purchase the book or not after having seem most of the photos. i must say, its beautifully presented with clear and colourful images and very inspiring. This is a well priced addition to my collection.

Ever tag along with a friend who tells you that this guy he knows is having a party? Then when you get there you sit transfixed at all the cool "stuff" this friend of a friend has in his space, cuz it turns out this person is incredibly creative? Thats what this book feels like. Todd Selby is taking you along and dropping in a few of his friends and you stand transfixed.

I recently flipped throught the book at a local BN and I was amazed. The book is just the right size, card stock and the picture and layout is near perfection. I got insipred w every page and I could not put it down. As soon as I got home I ordered it (much cheaper at amazon. than local retailer)! Congrats Selby. Fantasic job. I just hope you continue and I look for.ward to a second book.

This is the kind of book you would find in Anthropologie on a coffee table stacked with pink shirts. I suppose it is the perfect Ironic Coffee Table Book; it's about fashion and decoration choices of people who mock traditional fashion and decorating. For example, the poetic description of the clever girl who put bookshelves above her kitchen sink, to maximize space in her tiny New York City apartment reads like she's being nominated for the Academy Award for Cleverness. Or the hero-worshiping description of the disheveled hipster man... who drives a Bentley. You're probably thinking to yourself, "Wow, I thought he was a homeless college drop-out, but he's actually a Yuppie Hipster! I wasn't expecting that."

This book is more like self-worship-for-hipsters than a guide to decorating. Apparently a blogger (Selby) has some fans and now wants to see himself worshiped. Oh wait, isn't that selling out?

The style of this book is a cross between a catalog of blog posts and a Susan Branch cookbook. Each "section" is simply a 2-to-3 page discussion about some hipster's apartment, sprinkled with hand-drawn illustrations in the margins. The graphic layout looks a lot like scrapbooking. The author's writing attempts to showcase how each person has been clever with their dwelling and decorating. It comes off as a menagerie of pretentious artists with swelled heads. All in all: This is the perfect book for a hipster with ADD. It's poorly organized and full of colorful pictures.

Funky photos, clever text and kitsched out rooms are at the heart of this colorful, coffee table tome. Todd Selby's book is a super stylized version of "Hoarders" with better stuff and cooler people (see Ninagawa Mika's kodachromed digs on page 124 and Lorie Karnath's insider's tour of the Explorer's Club on page 92). I felt so much better about my own overflowing rooms after seeing how the experts do it - how they curate all those flea-market finds to reveal a signature style!

Now if I just had a couple of taxidermied deer heads to add to the mix I might be on the way to creating my own "Selby-fied" rooms.

I had heard about the website ([...]) and the photographer and was waiting to see this book. What I saw was far better than I could imagine. The detail and attention to the little things make this a real page turner. I highly suggest adding this to your coffee table.

I love The Selby and have followed Todd Selby's work for a while now. This book has some of the things that I've seen of his before, which is why it is only getting a 4 star review... That being said I have found a lot of inspiration in this book and it's a fun book to flip though when you're looking to fill some time.

5 Stars for Selby's photography. It truly IS a beautiful book. And, I enjoy flipping through my copy often.
0 Stars for the Introduction by "Leslie."

I'm disappointed in myself for not noticing this the first time I read the intro. Leslie claims (and Selby allows) in the book's first line of text that "If there's one thing that unites us in New York City, it's not love." Whoa! I'm not sure this is a place I'd like to hang out. She goes on to say, "In this city, we're always looking over each others' shoulders. There's always a hotter person we could be going out with. There's a cooler job just around the corner. Of course, someone else's apartment is always better than our own. The grass is always greener...We're a greedy bunch...A materialistic bunch too...Basically we all just want cool stuff. And we want it now."

Uhm, please speak for yourself. When I get past that self-centered introduction I find the book is full of beautiful photos of interesting people with whom I'd enjoy hanging out. Some of them even seem to care about others - even those who may be hotter, cooler, have better jobs, and lawns full of technicolor turf.

Suggestion: treat yourself to a copy of The Selby is in Your Place. Rip out page 7/8. Then glue page 6 to page 9.
Suddenly, you have an awesome book full of interesting people whose homes you get to peek inside.

It's now a taste of vanity without the bad attitude.

this is a very cool book, interesting journal entries from the author accompany the pictures. the people photographed have some pretty cool collections and quirky homes. very brooklyn, very hip.

I'm so happy with this purchase and you will be too! Photographer Todd Selby takes the reader on a journey through all kinds of homes; quirky, creative, unique and stylish. Some people you will know and other you won't, but the photo shoots are all interesting and unique. It's a perfect coffee table book with a point of difference. BUY IT!!!