Archive for the 'Books' Category
Simplicity Parenting
September 3rd, 2012Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne with Lisa M. Ross
Ray Bradbury FBI File: Sci-Fi Legend Suspected Of Communist Sympathies
August 30th, 2012Via: Huffington Post: Late science-fiction legend Ray Bradbury was actively investigated by the FBI during the 1960s for suspected Communist leanings, according to FBI files released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Huffington Post. Bradbury aroused the suspicion of the FBI due to his outspoken criticism of the U.S. government […]
10 Ray Bradbury Predictions That Came True
June 8th, 2012Via: Bangor Daily News: The literary, tech and thinking worlds are mourning the loss of Ray Bradbury, the revered science-fiction writer who died Wednesday at age 91. Bradbury, best known for his 1953 novel “Fahrenheit 451,” used his imagination to take a hard look at a world locked in a growing love affair with technology. […]
Sci-fi Publisher Announces Tor and Forge Will Go DRM-Free with All E-Book Titles
April 26th, 2012Via: Tor: Tom Doherty Associates, publishers of Tor, Forge, Orb, Starscape, and Tor Teen, today announced that by early July 2012, their entire list of e-books will be available DRM-free. “Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time,” said president and publisher Tom Doherty. “They’re a technically sophisticated bunch, and […]
U.S. Sues Apple, Large Publishers Over Ebook Price Fixing Scheme
April 11th, 2012Via: Reuters: The Justice Department accused Apple Inc and five major publishers of conspiring to push up the prices of e-books and limit retail price competition. The conspiracy has caused e-book consumers to pay “tens of millions of dollars more for e-books than they otherwise would have paid,” the Justice Department said in a lawsuit […]
J.K. Rowling Sells Harry Potter Ebooks Herself and They’re DRM Free
April 4th, 2012Overall, I think that this is a good development. Rowling has just routed around powerful publishers and Amazon and gone straight to people who want to buy her ebooks. There are, however, some howlers in the terms and conditions on the Pottermore site. This is from section 12.3: 12.3 You may not and may not […]
Letter from Aldous Huxley to George Orwell About 1984
March 8th, 2012Via: Letters of Note: Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and […]
Obama Administration Moves to Aid Syrian Opposition
March 7th, 2012In the piece below, we read that this, “Stops short of providing any direct military assistance to the armed opposition.” If you want to read detailed, voluminous accounts of how the U.S. covertly and illegally provides weapons to any state or group it pleases, see, Spider’s Web: The Secret History of How the White House […]
Sorry iBooks, Paper Books Still Win on Specs
January 22nd, 2012Apple’s vision for ebooks is to make them like webpages, complete with embedded music, videos, lectures, 3D models, etc; the more distracting, the better. One of the most irritating experiences that I can think of is being interrupted as I’m trying to concentrate. When I sit down to read a book, I don’t want my […]
Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System That Shapes Their Lives
January 5th, 2012Be warned: If you are having difficulties with maintaining appearances at work, this book won’t make it any easier. Via: Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System That Shapes Their Lives by Jeff Schmidt: For understanding the professional, the concept of “ideology” will emerge as much more useful than that […]
