Hitting the Books: A look at the 1920s airship that nearly made it to the North Pole

During the Roaring '20s just about everybody was convinced that dirigibles were not just the future of luxury travel but that these lumbering airships could also serve as platforms for scientific exploration and adventure. Why slog through malaria-infested jungles, parched deserts and frozen tundra when you could simply float an expedition to its destination? Among the technology's most fervent adherents were famed Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and Italian airship designer General Umberto Nobile. In 1928, Nobile attempted to lead the first expedition to land people at the North Pole aboard Airship Italia. However, a brutal storm forced the vessel to crash land, stranding its survivors with precious few provisions and setting off the largest arctic rescue effort in history. N-4 Down, by journalist and author Mark Piesing chronicles that rescue effort, led by Amundsen himself. In the excerpt below, we get a quick look at just what level of technological prowess the crew of the ill-fated expedition were actually dealing with.Harper Collins PublishersFrom N-4 Down by Mark Piesing. Copyright © 2021 by Mark Piesing. Reprinted by permission of Custom House, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.Amundsen may have dreamed of multiple air bases in the Arctic Circle, but in 1925 his was one of the only ones. It consisted of two flying boats, no hangars, and a rough runway made from ice.For the flight he had a team of six men who would be split between the two planes. Lincoln... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2021-09-18 15:30:21 UTC ]
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Other Publishing stories related to: 'Hitting the Books: A look at the 1920s airship that nearly made it to the North Pole'


Shift to digital will hit revenue, says Barnsley

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 09:03 Publishers are unlikely to be able to replace the revenues lost in the shift from print to ebooks unless they can significantly grow volume sales, according to HarperCollins c.e.o. Victoria Barnsley. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yellow Jersey hat trick at British Sports Book Awards

Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 08:24 Random House imprint Yellow Jersey Press has scored a hat trick of wins at the British Sports Book Awards, with W H Smith also taking home the best sports book retailer prize. Catrine Clay's Trautmann's Journey won best biography, while Promised Lane by... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book sales "well down" as general retail rises

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 08:59 Book sales for April were "well down" in a month where general UK retail sales rose by 5.2% on last year. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) today (10th May) reported like-for-like sales were up 5.2% in value from April... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nurturer of Authors Is Closing the Book

The editor Robert Loomis, who is retiring from Random House after 54 years, is known for nurturing writers including Maya Angelou, William Styron, Shelby Foote and Calvin Trillin. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Drama Book Shop—Award Winner

And the winner of this year’s Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre is... the Drama Book Shop, an independent New York City bookstore dating to 1917, 30 years older than the Tony Awards. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Baddiel kicks off "Blokey Book Club"

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 09/05/2011 - 15:19 BBC Radio 5 Live has launched a “Blokey Book Club” to encourage men to read more fiction. The Men’s Hour show formed the club, which will ask listeners to recommend and comment on their favourite fiction through the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers Make a Plan: A ‘One Stop’ Book Site

In starting Bookish.com, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group USA and Hachette Book Group hope to provide one-stop shopping for books and information about authors. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media Decoder: Plaintiffs Drop Suit Over Jimmy Carter Book

A $5 million lawsuit against Simon & Schuster over a book by former President Jimmy Carter was dropped by the plaintiffs on Thursday, three months after it was filed. The plaintiffs in the class-action suit had argued that Mr. Carter's "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," about the Arab-Israeli... Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random hits 2m ebook sales

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 06/05/2011 - 08:55 Random House has hit the landmark of two million ebooks sold in the UK, with other leading publishers reporting a first quarter “explosion” in digital sales. E-books currently account for 8% of RH's overall sales, with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital sales #selling ebooks #lee child #james patterson #jo nesb #biggest-selling authors


Barnes & Noble Plans New E-Book Reader [Voices]

Barnes & Noble Inc. will unveil a new electronic book reader later this month, the bookseller told analysts and investors on Wednesday, according to a federal filing released after the close of trading. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-Book Boom Boosts Simon & Schuster [MediaMemo]

All of those Amazon Kindle sales -- and, presumably, sales of competitive ebook readers from Barnes & Noble and Apple -- have made an impact at publisher Simon & Schuster. The CBS unit says Q1 digital sales doubled over the previous year, and now represent 18 percent of the company's the... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AUDIO: Are ebooks killing off paper books?

The Publishers Association have released new figures which explain how much damage ebooks are doing to their paper based alternatives. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sandra Boynton Demonstrates App, Signs Books--and a Few Nooks

Monday night’s Sandra Boynton book event at the Barnes & Noble on Manhattan’s Upper East Side looked like a pretty normal book signing--normal for Boynton, the bestselling children’s book author, anyway. Toddlers and slightly older kids, some dressed in pajamas, crammed into the event space,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-book sales at Hachette UK now 5% and catching US

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 11:42 E-book sales at Hachette UK quadrupled in the first quarter of 2011 and are more than 5% of HUK’s trade sales, the company revealed today (3rd May), adding that it was beginning to catch up with the US, where ebooks now account... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Argos takes on Amazon with book push

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 08:30 High street retailer Argos intends to increase its online book range from 500 to 5,000 titles over the next month. The chain store, known for stocking a large range of non-food products, launched its books category on its... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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St. Martin's Prepares for Run on Book by Seals

Three weeks shy of a year ago, St. Martin's Press signed up a book by a Navy SEAL Team Six sniper, chronicling how he became an elite warrior and the battle that nearly cost him his life. Today, with news of Osama Bin Laden's death reverberating around the world, SMP is getting ready for a rush... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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St. Martin's Prepares for Run on Book by Bin Laden's Killer

Three weeks shy of a year ago, St. Martin's Press signed up a book by a Navy SEAL Team Six sniper, chronicling how he became an elite warrior and the battle that nearly cost him his life. Today, with news of Osama Bin Laden's death reverberating around the world, SMP is getting ready for a rush... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Al Gore Reinvents the Book

Push Pop Press, the brainchild of two former Apple engineers, just got a boost from an innovative former U.S. vice president. After having ‘invented the Internet,’ Al Gore is back to reinvent the book. Push Pop Press is a digital tool taking books to the next level, making them even more... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Al Gore's Next Invention: The Future of Books? (Cheap Shot, But Cool App) [NetworkEffect]

Push Pop Press, a digital book publishing platform, went live with its first title this week, Al Gore's "Our Choice," available as an iOS app for $4.99. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Our Choice for IOS Pushes Digital Book Boundaries

The first time former U.S. vice president Al Gore issued his warning about the dire state of our environment, he used the traditional format of bound paper. To... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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