BookTV has re-posted an appearance Bill Bryson did back in 2003 when he was traveling to promote his then-new A Short History of Nearly Everything. You’ll need the Real Player to watch, but he always makes me laugh.
Greencup Books goes Guerilla
One of Birmingham’s more eclectic literary spots is breaking out the guerilla tactics to help keep the doors open. Home to one of the best local collections of used books and staffed by volunteers, Greencup Books sponsors local music shows, reading and classes. Most of which bring in a few dollars in donations as best. The shop has tried to make a go at it on meager foot traffic and online sales, but they’re just not footing the bill.
So, the every energetic and creative staff have organized a Read-a-thon. They’re asking local Birmingham folks to gather up “nickle a page” sponsorships and then stop by the store and start reading 8am Friday, December 19th through 8am Monday, December 22nd.
That’s a lot of coffee to stay up reading… but I did just start Dan Simmons’ 784-page Drood…. hmmmmm.
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Amazon’s Editors Need Glasses
Now, I’m no Alvin Lustig or Paul Rand, but does anyone at Amazon REALLY think these are the “10 Best Covers of 2008” in all of the tens of thousands of books that were printed this year? Really?
I mean, there were some GORGEOUS covers done this year. Maybe Amazon’s editors just let some random number generator pick these. Even with the Chip Kidd cover included, this list is just weird, at best. Feel free to disagree and if you do, please explain why. I just don’t get it.
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Reading makes you happy
The numbers have been tallied and it’s official, reading makes you happy (or was it you are happy so you read?). The December issue of Social Indicators Research contains the results of a 30-year University of Maryland study which kept up with 30,000+ adults. Their findings seem to be pretty straight forward:
…unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing.
Another interesting tidbit was that half of the unhappy television watchers felt they had too much time on their hands and the unwanted free-time just added to their woes. Whereas less than 20% of the happy reading socializers said they had extra free-time to fill.
I’m not real sure what all this says about our culture, but after studying it for 30 years, they should get some props. And to be honest, all these numbers and percentages make me grumpy. So I’m just going to go read.
