Amazon.com’s “commitment to principle” lasted about twelve hours, and then it showed that it’s still in the business of turning a profit and dependent on the good graces of its customers to do so. In pulling from its virtual bookshelf the disgusting The Pedophile’s Guide To Love & Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct, Amazon… Continue reading Amazon reluctantly does the right thing
Category: Reading & Writing
In Progress Book Review: “Warriors”
I’m about halfway through a compilation of short stories and novellas entitled Warriors. It’s edited by acclaimed sci-fi/fantasy authors George R.R. Martin (whose Wild Cards series I’ve been devouring whenever I can find a volume in e-book format) and Gardner Dozois. The anthology is filled with stories that go beyond the genres that its editors… Continue reading In Progress Book Review: “Warriors”
What I’ve Been Reading (Instead of Blogging)
There are a number of reasons for the absence of posts around here, but at least one of the more valid ones is that I’ve been reading more books lately. I figured I’d break the blogging drought and share a bit about those books, which fall into two categories: memoirs and zombies. In the former… Continue reading What I’ve Been Reading (Instead of Blogging)
Recommended Reading: “Freddy and Fredericka”
I’ve previously recommended The Oil Drum blog as a resource for all things energy-related, but it also directed me to one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time, Mark Helprin’s 2006 Freddy and Fredericka. I’ll even borrow the blog’s summary of the book’s premise, if you’re not inclined to click over:… Continue reading Recommended Reading: “Freddy and Fredericka”
Forgetting J.D. Salinger
The media is filled today with stories about the impact that J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye made on impressionable [mostly] young readers. For example, the co-hosts of NBC’s Today Show shared their recollections of how the book affected them, with Matt Laurer stating that he remembered being proud that Catcher was his first… Continue reading Forgetting J.D. Salinger
Book Review: “Under the Dome”
Is it just me, or has Stephen King gotten grosser in his old(er) age? I confess that it’s been a long time since I read one of his books (Pet Sematary? The Tommyknockers?) but having recently completed the 18,000 pages* of his latest novel, Under the Dome, I confess that I was shocked – shocked,… Continue reading Book Review: “Under the Dome”
Bird
I see a lot of websites during the course of a week. Many of them are design-related and thus represent what should be the most striking, innovative, and creative examples the profession can build. Still, it’s not often that I run across one that simply takes my breath away. This is one. Andrew Zuckerman is… Continue reading Bird
Amazon.com: Disrupting shared informational heritage since 2009
A writer for the LA Times worries that Amazon.com is amassing too much control over, well, pretty much everything.
Interrobang Character Entity
In which we consider the elusive interrobang
Book Review: “The Metamorphosis”
When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. Thus begins Franz Kafka’s novella, The Metamorphosis, as translated from the original German by Stanley Corngold. The rest of the story is spent describing the remainder of Gregor’s short and painful existence as a… Continue reading Book Review: “The Metamorphosis”