LISNews: Librarian News

Story at Teleread.org

Line in article that I find most interesting:

As book-related marketing goes, this is quite an interesting idea. It could both draw interested readers to Starbucks, and interest Starbucks patrons in a new book. It does seem to run counter to the idea of e-books being location-independent—but on the other hand, location-based Internet services such as FourSquare are pretty hot right now.

Amazon is offering seasons 1,2,3 of Mad Men for $9.99 a season from Nov 25-27.

Mad Men: Season One

Mad Men: Season Two

Mad Men: Season Three

Young adult author Gayle Forman picks her favorite teen novels of the year, from a Parisian adventure to a high school student affected by life during wartime.

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/19/131442476/oh-to-be-young-the-year-s-best-teen-reads

Facebook is a few steps away from trademarking the word “face,” according to a filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Full article here

Article in the NYT about the book The Search for Philip K. Dick

Picture on Flickr of a Kindle next to a Softbook. The Softbook is an ebook ereader than came out in 1998. In addition to the picture is some commentary about e-ink.

Article in the NYT: Mark Twain’s Autobiography Flying Off the Shelves

Excerpt: When editors at the University of California Press pondered the possible demand for “Autobiography of Mark Twain,” a $35, four-pound, 500,000-word doorstopper of a memoir, they kept their expectations modest with a planned print run of 7,500 copies.

Now it is a smash hit across the country, landing on best-seller lists and going back to press six times, for a total print run — so far — of 275,000. The publisher cannot print copies quickly enough, leaving some bookstores and online retailers stranded without copies just as the holiday shopping season begins.

Book: OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word

Book Review in the NYT: The 'O' Word

NPR: OK: How Two Letters Made 'America's Greatest Word'

Budget Watchdogs Warn of Worsening Deficit, Explore Strategies to Cut

This morning, Facebook announced its new messaging system. CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that the system was "not email" and not intended as the media-hyped "Gmail killer". Zuckerberg did say, however, that "this simpler type of messaging is going to be how people shift their communication."

Full story

At the start of the year the word “refudiate” didn’t exist. In mid-July Sarah Palin, Alaska’s former governor, changed that when she used the word in a Twitter message, somehow mashing up “refute” and “repudiate,” while trying to say something like “reject.”

Full piece here.

By understanding that money is simply credit, we unleash it as a powerful tool for our communities.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/time-for-a-new-theory-of-money

Each of us can help build a resilient financial system that will serve real people in real communities.

Article here:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/7-ways-to-transform-banking

In the reviews on Amazon to this book - The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence - there is a review by Abraham Bolden who was a Secret Service agent.

Bolden is the author of the book: The Echo from Dealey Plaza: The true story of the first African American on the White House Secret Service detail and his quest for justice after the assassination of JFK

Bolden's book was reviewed by Publisher's Weekly. You can read the review on Amazon.

Book: A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness--and a Trove of Letters--Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression

Article in the NYT about book: Kindness of a Stranger That Still Resonates

Excerpt: “I am writing this because I need clothing,” Ms. Palm, 90, read aloud on Friday evening. “And sometimes we run out of food.”

Ms. Palm was one of hundreds who responded to an advertisement that appeared Dec. 17, 1933, in The Canton Repository newspaper. A donor using the pseudonym B. Virdot offered modest cash gifts to families in need. His only request: Letters from the struggling people describing their financial troubles and how they hoped to spend the money. The donor promised to keep letter writers’ identities secret “until the very end.”

With clocks being built into almost every digital gadget and machine, wristwatch sales have seen a decline in the past few years. But market analysts say the centuries-old time-telling tool is trying to make a comeback.

Wristwatch sales are actually on the rise this year, according to June Rhee, the fashion watch buyer for the Macy's department store chain.

"The overall watch business and the watch industry have been experiencing an unusual growth this year ... it's explosive, and people who've been in the industry for 20, 30 years have never seen numbers like this," Rhee says.

Rhee says the watch has become the "it" accessory of the year.

Full piece on NPR

Postcards from Penguin: One Hundred Book Covers in One Box

This is a collection of 100 postcards, each featuring a different and iconic Penguin book jacket. From classics to crime, here are over seventy years of quintessentially British design in one box. In 1935 Allen Lane stood on a platform at Exeter railway station, looking for a good book for the journey to London. His disappointment at the poor range of paperbacks on offer led him to found Penguin Books. The quality paperback had arrived. Declaring that 'good design is no more expensive than bad', Lane was adamant that his Penguin paperbacks should cost no more than a packet of cigarettes, but that they should always look distinctive. Ever since then, from their original - now world-famous - look featuring three bold horizontal stripes, through many different stylish, inventive and iconic cover designs, Penguin's paperback jackets have been a constantly evolving part of Britain's culture. And whether they're for classics, crime, reference or prize-winning novels, they still follow Allen Lane's original design mantra. Sometimes, you definitely should judge a book by its cover.

Painting based on Hemingway's "Torrents of Spring"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280585917719

Painting depicts the train station in Petosky, Michigan
from Hemingway's book "The Torrents of Spring"

Petosky is the birthplace of Claude Shannon

Signed limited edition of Decision Points by George W. Bush

Guess how much? Click here to find out: Decision Points (Limited Edition)