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Customize It
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276 pages
ISBN 9780385527828 Published April 2009
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Posted April 23, 2010 12:24 p.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
➻ It was Earth Day this week, which prompted some to look at the eBook v. Paper from an environmental angle. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence (one of The 100 Best) and Ecological Intelligence, wrote the most comprehensive analysis, and after crunching the numbers concluded:
With respect to fossil fuels, water use and mineral consumption, the impact of one e-reader payback equals roughly 40 to 50 books. When it comes to global warming, though, it’s 100 books; with human health consequences, it’s somewhere in between.
All in all, the most ecologically virtuous way to read a book starts by walking to your local library.
If you'd like to see how he came to that conclusion, you can check his Eco-Math.
➻ Bob Sutton likes his iPad, but he doesn't love it. After discussing why he doesn't like it for watching movies due to the glare and weight (He was watching Blade Runner, so you know it wasn't the movie's fault) he moves onto reading books on the device, writing:
It especially sucks for that—if reading books is important to you, do it the old fashioned way or buy a Kindle.
➻ Ken Auletta at the New Yorker, in the meantime, wonders whether the iPad can topple the Kindle, and save the book business, writing:
The industry’s great hope was that the iPad would bring electronic books to the masses—and help make them profitable. E-books are booming. Although they account for only an estimated three to five per cent of the market, their sales increased a hundred and seventy-seven per cent in 2009, and it was projected that they would eventually account for between twenty-five and fifty per cent of all books sold.
➻ Giving credit to Peter Waldock of North 49 Books, Andy Ross posted a very insightful bulletin on a New Book Technology, the *BOOK:*
*BOOK* is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use, even a child can operate it. ... *BOOK* is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.
➻ Andrew Altschul, the Books editor at The Rumpus, spoke with Critical Mass about the love of books and why reviewers contribute to the online literary magazine:
It's definitely not money--we don't pay our reviewers. We would love to pay reviewers. We really wish we could. But we can't. They get the book, of course, and whatever benefits come from having published in The Rumpus. But as far as I can tell, the main reason they're doing it is because they love books, and they want to contribute to the conversation about books. It's the same reason things like Goodreads and Shelfari are so popular--people still love books, and they can't help but talking about books.
This is what's so frustrating when you talk to people in the mainstream publishing industry. They're so sure no one loves books anymore--because the corporate accountants are telling them they can't hit a 15% profit margin. And so they're bending over backwards to find the magic bullet: Is it e-books? Can the iPad save us? What if we get Sarah Palin to write a vampire novel? But people still love books. Period. And they want to talk about them. They want to be a part of that conversation. And it's a much more important, healthier conversation for us to be having as a society than talking about stock options or Grand Theft Auto or America's Next Top Model all the time.
➻ Breaking Down the Mojo, Diane Sawyer sat down with on of our favorite folks this week—Marshall Goldsmith, author of Mojo. Marshall says "You have two choices in life: I can change me, or I can change it."
➻ Michael Lewis granted The Christian Science Monitor an interview for their recent Books podcast.
➻ Flashlight Worthy posted the 10 most "challenged" books of 2009 this week, and by challenged, they mean "someone requested the book be removed from their public library because of its offensive nature (and usually that means 'offensive to children')." Those books were:
- ttyl (series) by Lauren Myracle
- And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
I'm rather surprised nobody challenged Spointra, which is very graphic in nature.
➻ Alison Leigh Cowan of The New York Times reported this week that Mark Twain wrote in the margins of the books he was reading, following one of Todd Sattersten's rules for How to Read a Business Book. Being rather curmudgeonly as he was, however, Twain's marginalia was not generally of the useful sort Todd encourages, but of a more critical, acerbic nature.
➻ My favorite book, Voltaire'd Candide is turning 250 years old, and I'm missing it's birthday party.
➻ Scientists are now speculating that last week's volcano eruption can be traced to Iceland's Jonsi, and the recent release of his Go Quiet.
