Archive for May, 2009
On the Same Page May 30th, 2009
I have just finished reading Clive Thomspson’s WIRED artcile on the Future of Reading. The notion of unleashing the book online to prod readers into interacting with text sounds like fun and I like the idea of focusing on the reader. I look forward to all the variations and trials that publishers put forward in [...]
- Posted by trav
- Tagged Book Talk, Digital Publishing, E-Books, On the Web, Technology
- Comments
For those of us not at BEA May 29th, 2009
Yes, once again, it’s that time of year and BEA is in full swing up nawth in New York. And once again I’m down south… not at BEA. But the bourbon is cheaper here and I didn’t have to stress over what books to pack as my “trip books”, so I guess I have that [...]
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Punny Book Contest May 27th, 2009
I saw this via @weknowbooksetc Twitter feed… and it made me laugh.
I warn you though, you must be able to handle REALLY bad puns to click through this year’s offerings at this year’s Edible Book Contest hosted by the Duke Univeristy Library System. You have been warned… Ha!
- Posted by trav
- Tagged News, On the Web
- Comments
Secret Student-Run Library May 27th, 2009
In the vein of “if it’s on the internet it must be true”, here is a private schooler running a blackmarket lending librray from their locker. Basically, the school banned and pulled a bunch of books. Many are titles on everyone’s banned lists The Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22, The Evolution of Man, etc. [...]
- Posted by trav
- Tagged Book Talk, News, On the Web
- Comments
Allowing Comments to in-progress Manuscripts May 22nd, 2009
O’Reilly Media’s Programming Scala won’t hit bookstore shelves for a long time. But the entire working manuscript has been posted to their site! Each and every paragraph, sidenote, chart and graph has a comment box underneath it. They are hoping that the community will contribute knowledgeble bits of information and ideas, which the author will [...]
- Posted by trav
- Tagged Book Talk, Digital Publishing, New Releases, On the Web, Publishers, Technology, Upcoming Titles
- Comments
Books, Beans and Candles MS May 18th, 2009
Books, Beans and Candles MS is in an old Birmingham house going up 20th on your way to Vulcan. It’s on the righthand side, just after you pass the “Y-split”. Owners Mitchell and Darby Hagood have been at this location since August 2008, though they’ve been in business for two and a half years. Ever [...]
- Posted by trav
- Tagged Birmingham, Bookstores
- Comments
Poor Kindle-Laden Students May 13th, 2009
I read this post this morning and thought about students being forced to use Amazon’s new Kindle DX. While I don’t shy away from eBooks and think the Kindle DX is a step in the right direction for textbooks and newspapers, I really think this is a bad move, for one major reason. That is [...]
- Posted by trav
- Tagged Book Talk, Digital Publishing, E-Books
- Comments
Alabama Booksmith Sells eBooks May 12th, 2009
I just noticed this on the Alabama BookSmith website, you can buy ebooks from them.
The interwebs are all a Twitter with the new IndieBound iPhone app, but I had not read deep enough into all the news to realize that the stores had started competing in this space too.
Though they may not have many customers [...]
- Posted by trav
- Tagged Birmingham, Bookstores, Digital Publishing, E-Books, On the Web
- Comments
Patsy Riley signing at Milestone Books May 7th, 2009
Alabama First Lady Patsy Riley will be at Milestone Books this Saturday, May 9th, 10am-12pm. She’ll be signing her new cookbook When the Doorbell Rings at the Governor’s Mansion. And if you want that book, you better go to Milestone because I can’t find it on Amazon or Indiebound.org. It seems to only be available [...]
- Posted by trav
- Tagged Authors, Bookstores, Events
- Comments
Why Twitter only allows 140 Characters May 6th, 2009
Having been bitten by the Twitter bug, I found this article interesting. I mean, in this day of streaming HD video over wireless networks, why are text messages limited to 160 characters? The answer is so practical (that it is borderline boring) and it dates from the 1980’s.
SMS-father Friedman Hillebrand pounded out random statements, questions [...]
- Posted by trav
- Tagged On the Web, Technology
- Comments









