Books on Shafiq Alibhai

Book Binding

Thu, 22 May 2025 11:53:25 +0200

Bookbinding is a hobby I picked up during lockdown. It’s tactile, it’s slow, and the finished object is something you can hold. Here’s what I use.

Equipment and materials

Glue strips — 50-piece packs of hot melt glue strips (285mm). I’ve ordered these from eBay and AliExpress. They’re cheap and work fine for pamphlet stitching.

PVA glue — Artway Strong PVA, 1 litre. White, works on fabric and paper. From Amazon UK.

Book Publishing Process

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 09:24:49 +0000

The stages of publishing a book, in rough order:

Writing — research, drafting, revising until you have a complete manuscript.
Editing — developmental editing for structure and narrative, then line editing for prose, then copyediting for grammar and consistency.
Proofreading — final pass for typos and formatting errors before anything goes to print.
Design — cover design and interior layout (fonts, margins, page breaks).
Production — printing or e-book formatting. Offset lithography for large runs, digital printing for shorter ones.
Marketing — promotional materials, advertising, media outreach, social media.
Distribution — getting the book to readers via publishers, online retailers, bookshops, or direct sales.

Writing

Start with a concept, do the research, outline the structure, then draft. The first draft doesn’t need to be good — it needs to exist. Revision comes after. Get feedback from beta readers or a critique group before you consider the manuscript finished.

Books that actually helped me with the people side of project management

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 04:31:03 +0000

I spent a chunk of last year reading my way through the soft-skills section of the bookshop. Not because I’d suddenly become interested in personal development — more because I was struggling with a project where the technical bits were fine but everything around it kept falling apart. Miscommunications. Teams that wouldn’t align. Stakeholders who seemed to be operating in a different reality.

So I started reading. Not the textbook stuff, but the books people actually recommend when they’re being honest. Here’s what stuck.