Barry Joseph – författare

By near-universal consensus, Stephen Sondheim was the greatest musical theater composer of his generation—celebrated, among other things, for the wit, sophistication, and intricacy of shows from West Side Story to Sunday in the Park with George. But a less well-known avenue for his brilliance was his lifelong fascination with designing and constructing intricate puzzles and games, from treasure hunts to crosswords to parlor and board games.Matching Minds with Sondheim is a journey into this rich but largely unmapped aspect of the composer’s creative life, illuminating how Sondheim’s playful designs delivered moments of clarity and connection for friends, colleagues, and anyone who’s ever been captivated by his genius. This book opens, for the first time, the door into what Sondheim called his “puzzler’s mind,” helping readers to better understand the man, his work, and—if they accept the challenge—themselves. Gaming expert Barry Joseph draws from over eighty years of Sondheim’s activities, including extremely rare and never-publicly-seen puzzles and game designs, scores of original interviews with the celebrity friends who played them, archival deep dives, and illuminating analysis from both puzzle designers and theater professionals from around the world. Packed with illustrations and insights, this book does more than describe Sondheim’s life in puzzles: It allows readers to match minds with the maestro by attempting to solve his puzzles and bring Sondheimian games into their own homes.

Making Dinosaurs Dance: A Toolkit for Digital Design in Museums takes the reader behind the scenes to learn how the American Museum of Natural History innovates visitor digital engagement, highlighting design techniques used both there and at museums around the world. Based on the author’s six years at the landmark institution that inspired the Night at the Museum franchise, the book introduces The Six Tools of Digital Design - user research, rapid prototyping, public piloting, iterative design, youth collaboration, and teaming up – then applies them through case studies across a range of topics: Combining digital experience design with physical museum assets in a guided format, featuring Crime Scene Neanderthal (CSN), a youth co-designed and facilitated in-Hall experience that invited museum visitors to use a mobile app and other tools to investigate a science-based mystery. Game-based learning, featuring three case: a tabletop games (Pterosaurs: The Card Game), mobile games (Playing with Dinos), and commercial off-the-shelf games (Minecraft). Mobile augmented reality games, featuring MicroRangers, which used AR to invite visitors to shrink to microscopic size and explore the Museum to combat threats to global biodiversity.XR experience design, featuring case studies about 360 videos on paleontology and virtual reality projects about ocean life. Science visualizations, featuring Galactic Golf, an astro-visualization that addressed the topics of mass and gravity through a round of mixed reality Martian golf; interactive science visualizations that invited visitors to hold CT-scans of bat skulls in their hand; and Finding Flamingos, a youth program focused on how Conservation Biologists protect endangered flamingos through GIS mapping and predictions software. In addition, the book explores related topics at institutions in Greece and France, and from Washington, D.C. to California.

Making Dinosaurs Dance: A Toolkit for Digital Design in Museums takes the reader behind the scenes to learn how the American Museum of Natural History innovates visitor digital engagement, highlighting design techniques used both there and at museums around the world. Based on the author’s six years at the landmark institution that inspired the Night at the Museum franchise, the book introduces The Six Tools of Digital Design - user research, rapid prototyping, public piloting, iterative design, youth collaboration, and teaming up – then applies them through case studies across a range of topics: Combining digital experience design with physical museum assets in a guided format, featuring Crime Scene Neanderthal (CSN), a youth co-designed and facilitated in-Hall experience that invited museum visitors to use a mobile app and other tools to investigate a science-based mystery. Game-based learning, featuring three case: a tabletop games (Pterosaurs: The Card Game), mobile games (Playing with Dinos), and commercial off-the-shelf games (Minecraft). Mobile augmented reality games, featuring MicroRangers, which used AR to invite visitors to shrink to microscopic size and explore the Museum to combat threats to global biodiversity.XR experience design, featuring case studies about 360 videos on paleontology and virtual reality projects about ocean life. Science visualizations, featuring Galactic Golf, an astro-visualization that addressed the topics of mass and gravity through a round of mixed reality Martian golf; interactive science visualizations that invited visitors to hold CT-scans of bat skulls in their hand; and Finding Flamingos, a youth program focused on how Conservation Biologists protect endangered flamingos through GIS mapping and predictions software. In addition, the book explores related topics at institutions in Greece and France, and from Washington, D.C. to California.

Now in paperback! The history and cultural impact of seltzer and its connection to Jewish identity, hipster culture, comedy, and health."Of the thousands of books written about seltzer water, this is by far my favorite--especially the part that's about me." —Mel Brooks" . . .a sparkling take on all things seltzer." —The Pittsburgh Jewish ChroniclePeople are drinking seltzer in astonishing quantities today—WHY?Seltzer has gone from a health tonic for the rich to a cultural sensation—HOW?And seltzer is FUNNY? What's THAT about?Based on more than fourteen years of original research and interviews, the extraordinary story of this ordinary drink can finally be told.Seltzertopia tells of the modern pioneers of seltzer who wrangle antique machines to fill siphons with sparkling water, keeping alive a craft that is centuries old.Using their stories to consider the social, cultural, and economic effects of seltzer, Seltzertopia tackles the question: What is it about this simplest of concoctions that has allowed it to make a difference to so many people, in such different ways?In Part One, "The World According to Seltzer," readers will learn the untold history of seltzer and about the people across America who have found themselves building a path to Seltzertopia. They will discover where seltzer comes from, the science of seltzer, and how people can become SO passionate about something SO ordinary. More specifically, readers will meet John Seekings, a public relations executive in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and join him on his unexpected journey into the modern world of old-fashioned seltzer bottling.In Part Two, "Give Me Seltzer (and the People Who Crave It)", readers will learn how, during the blizzard of 2010, John Seekings saw for the first time how much seltzer meant to his new customers. They will discover how that meaning can change over time and place, and how it is most often associated with one of four categories: health, refreshment, identity, and comedy. And it will begin with a visit far into the past, to a time when seltzer found itself pitted in a battle against another popular drink: Coca-Cola.In Part Three, "Seltzertopia," readers will enter the effervescent age. Widely available in plastic bottles, in supermarkets and corner stores, in a wide range of flavors, seltzer now has global appeal. And readers will revisit John Seekings, now a seltzer master in an emerging generation of new seltzer professionals.