The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. Rest assured, this is not your run-of-the-mill 'How to Clean Your House' advice book. Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo has taken organizing and tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you'll never have to do it again. And she has built an enviable track record in Tokyo, helping clients transform their cluttered homes into spaces of serenity and inspiration.With a three-month waiting list, her KonMari Method of decluttering and organizing has become an international phenomenon. A big part of the appeal lies with her promise that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you'll never have to do it again - who wouldn't want that? With this book, you have a shot as Kondo takes you step by step through the KonMari Method, starting with Why can't I keep my house in order? and You can't tidy if you've never learned how and ending with The magic of tidying dramatically transforms your life and Put your house in order and discover what you really want to do.
 

Windows on the World: Fifty Writers, Fifty Views by Matteo Pericoli. This is a very cool concept and a wonderful perceptual journey for the right person. Architect and artist Pericoli explores the idea of staring out the window, searching for inspiration, by pairing his own line drawings with short essays from 50 writers - mostly international, some better known than others - musing about the view from their window.

Here's a drawing from the book, as well as the first paragraph of the essay that Orhan Pamuk wrote to go along with the view outside his window in Istanbul, Turkey.

"Most of my writing time is spent forming the next sentence in my imagination. When my mind is busy with words, all by itself my eye moves away from the page and the tip of the fountain pen. This is the landscape I have gazed upon through my Istanbul window for the last fifteen years. On the left side is Asia and in the middle the Bosphorus and its opening to the Sea of Marmara, as well as the islands I have been going to each summer for fifty-eight years. To the right is the entrance to the Golden Horn and the part of the city that Istanbul residents refer to as the Old Town, home of the Ottoman dynasty for four centuries, including Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque."