Following in the footsteps of anthropologists, writers, designers, and naturalists of the everyday

To rediscover a sensitivity to the world, to the beings and things that surround us, to practice the art of observation. This invitation, as necessary as it is admirable, is on everyone's lips. Manuals abound, from botany to landscape analysis, including anthropology and urban planning, but few pages are dedicated to the possible methods of observation, as if the capacity to cultivate perceptive attention to the world were innate. Nothing could be further from the truth: observation is a cognitive ability that is learned, nurtured, and honed.

So how can we put it into practice? Where do we begin? This book answers these questions through a series of exercises inspired by the methods of writers, anthropologists, ethnographers, designers, and artists. Presented as practical instructions, Observation exercises It invites the reader to become an explorer of what Georges Perec called the "infra-ordinary".

Taking this book seriously is a gamble. Practice its exercises for a few weeks and it will change the way you perceive the world.

Nicolas Nova (1977–2024) was a researcher, writer, and designer. His work focused on new digital practices and the analysis of environmental, social, and technological changes. He was a co-founder of the Near Future Laboratory and an associate professor at the Geneva University of Arts and Design (Switzerland). He is the author of *Bestiary of the Anthropocene*, co-published with disnovation.org (Menguantes, 2021), which won the National Book Award for Best Edited Book. He was fascinated by forests, alpine glaciers, and sun-scorched, rocky deserts.