For you fellow old fogies (in the internet age, that means anyone over 30) who lament the fall of the English language into some kind of weird pidgin language filled with “AFAIK” and “BOSMKL”. Robert Lanham’s got a fun piece on McSweeney’s called Internet-Age Writing
In perhaps one of the best bits of book-world news that we’ve seen in awhile, the New York Times is reporting today that the US DOJ has finally opened an antitrust inquiry into Google’s book scanning project. For awhile, it was really looking as if
Author Joseph Finder is trying to get a new “holiday” on the calendar: international buy indie day. This Friday, people everywhere are pledging to visit a local independent bookstore and make a purchase. Here’s to hoping you’ll be one of them! Why, you ask? Why,
I read two books simultaneously recently: Aravind Adiga’s White Tiger, and Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Talk about a really fascinating juxtaposition! Both are what you would call bildungsroman novels, meaning the plots center around the development of a central character. But talk about a brutal
I had the dubious privilege of working in the newspaper industry in the final heady years before its collapse. It has often worried me that the book industry carries a similar hubris about technology as newspapers did in, say, 2001. My job as director of
So, what really happens if CPSIA isn’t overturned? Those books you read and loved as a kid? Gone. Osbolete. Illegal, in fact. Books as contraband? Yes.
In our recent customer newsletter, we featured “green” books in celebration of Earth Day. And, of course, we got some feedback from customers. Without further ado, presenting evidence that People are Weird: Why are you sending out “green” books for Earth Day, but no Atlas
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez recently presented US President Barack Obama with a copy of Eduardo Galeano‘s Open Veins of Latin America, prompting an enormous surge in interest in the 1971 work. He even inscribed it: “To Obama, with affection.” – now how’s that for a
The Internet Archive has thrown in its opposition to the Google book scanning settlement, requesting they be allowed the “same limitation of potential copyright liability as Google.” In fact, we think that if Google is given this broad indemnity against copyright infringement, every individual and
Childrens’ book author Carol Baicker-McKee does. She is doing what many others should be doing – taking an activist approach to the unfortunate CPSIA bill and putting a little heart and soul (and sweat) behind it. She’s devoted most of her blog recently to covering