Menu

Subscribe

book

Are You A Certified Asshole?

Sure it’s a promo for his new book, but Bob Sutton is offering us all a chance to see if we’re assholes with the Asshole Rating Self-Exam (ARSE). After 24 questions like “You secretly enjoy watching other people suffer and squirm” (hey, what’s wrong with a little schaedenfreud?) you’ll find yourself placed somewhere on the […] » about 300 words

Two Ton: One Night, One Fight

Tony Day is June 28th, but today is the day I received my copy of Joe Monninger’s latest work, Two Ton: One Night, One Fight — Tony Galento v. Joe Louis. I learned a lot about the characters and times during the two years of research Joe invested in the book, but other than sneaking […] » about 400 words

longest book title ever

Geography Made Easy : Being An Abridgement Of The American Universal Geography, Containing Astronomical Geography, Discovery And General Description Of America, General View Of The United States, Particular Accounts Of The United States Of America, And Of All The Kingdoms, States And Republics In The Known World, In Regard To Their Boundaries, Extent, Rivers, Lakes, Mountains, Productions, Population, Character, Government, Trade, Manufactures, Curiosities, History, &c. : To Which Is Added, An Improved Chronological Table Of Remarkable Events, From The Creation To The Present Time, Illustrated With Maps Of The Countries Described : Calculated Particularly For The Use And Improvement Of Schools And Academies In The United States Of America

is it really the longest book title ever? i don’t know.

And We’re Discarding This?

I read <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/149529625/" title="Photo Sharing">enough of this to get a good laugh</a>, but not enough to understand if it was serious or not. Some of it reads like satire, but other parts as are dry as, well, they're dry (who really needs a simile anyway, they're just dry, okay?). » about 100 words

Getting Things Done, And Feeling Okay About It

[The pictures tell this story, click through to see.] How's a guy supposed to feel when his manager gives him a copy of David Allen's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/ref=maisonbisson-20/104-1865310-3771904" title="Amazon.com: Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: Books: David Allen">Getting Things Done</a>? » about 100 words

Art Deco Hair

Daniela Turudich knows vintage fashion. Her books include not only hair, but how to recreate a vintage wedding, vintage recipes and candy making, and Beauty Secrets of History’s Most Notorious Courtesans. Here’s the description from Art Deco Hair: Art deco has long been associated with uncompromising style and sophistication, and this guide to recreating the […] » about 200 words

The Mystifying Aroma Of Rot

I love libraries, and I love books, but there the needs of our students and limitations of our budgets have no room for misplaced romantic attachments. That’s why I’ve found myself paraphrasing something from Ibiblio’s Paul Jones (via Teleread):

That smell of an old book, that smell of old libraries? That’s the smell of the books rotting.

We must remember that libraries catalog and share information and knowledge, not books. Our students and faculty have already voted with their feet and demonstrated that our paper (and microform) collections of periodicals are useless compared to the online, fully searchable versions. How long before the same happens for books as well?

Connections: some people don’t get this, but there are a number who do (too many to list, actually). This issue is bigger than ebooks alone, but OpenReader deserves a plug here too.