The Great Google Book Search Settlement
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009I found an interesting bit of news linking the book world to the geek work recently in Timothy Lee’s report over at Ars Technica on remarks by Richard Sarnoff, the chairman of the Association of American Publishers, at Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy. Mr. Sarnoff pointed out that the market for downloadable books is [...]
New work from an old friend: Stephenson’s Anathem
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008I like big tales. A fat book allows an author more chances to fail, I think, than to excel. But a big story well told transports you to a new world, at least for a while. Still, I must admit I approached Neal Stephenson’s new book, Anathem (just over 900 pages) with a little trepidation. [...]
Open Source Textbooks: Menace AND Blessing?
Thursday, September 11th, 2008I came across an interesting intersection of the worlds of Book and Geek yesterday. Previous rants in this space have discussed in detail the cost of textbooks, and how that impacts the poor and worthy demographic of students. On the other end of the spectrum, the state of Virginia has released a Request for Collaboration [...]
Seven words you can’t upload
Friday, August 22nd, 2008Many of us older than compact discs (they turned 26 yesterday, hooray) remember George Carlin’s classic comedy routine, Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV. The routine was controversial, memorable, and (at least to me) quite hilarious. Carlin’s routine has recently come to mind here at Biblio World Headquarters, as we’ve realized that certain [...]
Digital Generation Gap for books?
Friday, August 8th, 2008I’ve collected books my entire life. I treasured my Hardy Boys collection above all things (yes, more than the dog), back when I was four feet tall (my treasured books today are considerably older, better written, and more significant, but I digress). And I’m also the parent of two teenagers. I strongly doubt there’s such [...]
Written versus spoken books
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008I had a chat the other day with a colleague about audio books. It turns out we’re both longtime listeners to books on tape, and now books on CD. I got started years ago when my job required a longish commute, and I tired of listening to music. The selection of available audio books was [...]
The Spies of Warsaw
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008I just got my copy of Alan Furst’s new novel, The Spies of Warsaw. There are only a handful of authors whose next work I actively pine for, but Furst is definitely at the top of the list. He refers to his series of Night Soldiers novels as “historical espionage.” I can’t put my finger [...]
Summer gardening
Thursday, June 19th, 2008I love helping things grow. I admit it, I’m a pretty superficial gardener. I like to grow things you can eat. If you can’t eat it, but it grows large (sunflowers, gourds, and pumpkins and such – no one at my house eats pumpkins), that’s OK too. Gardening is very much an avocation, and one [...]
Books and Their Natural Enemies
Monday, June 9th, 2008I recently realized I didn’t know as much as I thought about caring for books. As someone with several rare books, it seemed a good idea to get better informed. While the worst enemy of books is probably humans (ahem, guilty), this discussion is about natural enemies: water, heat, light, gravity, and biology. Know about [...]
Where has all the Sci-Fi gone?
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008First off, a confession. I grew up reading science fiction, and have read lots of it. There are different types of reading. I’ve read a lot of non-fiction for strictly education purposes, because I had to, or because I was interested in the subject. I frequently read literature because I like the writing, or because [...]