We Americans love to have ourselves a big old time. It's not just our waistlines that have exploded outward since the post-WWII era. Our houses have grown larger, as have the appliances within them, the vehicles in their driveways, the income inequalities between ourselves and our neighbors, and the challenges we face on a rapidly warming planet. In his new book, Size: How It Explains the World, Dr. Vaclav Smil, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, takes readers on a multidiscipline tour of the social quirks, economic intricacies, and biological peculiarities that result from our function following our form.William MorrowFrom SIZE by Vaclav Smil. Copyright 2023 by Vaclav Smil. Reprinted courtesy of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.Modernity’s Infatuation With Larger SizesA single human lifetime will have witnessed many obvious examples of this trend in sizes. Motor vehicles are the planet’s most numerous heavy mobile objects. The world now has nearly 1.5 billion of them, and they have been getting larger: today’s bestselling pickup trucks and SUVs are easily twice or even three times heavier than Volkswagen’s Käfer, Fiat’s Topolino, or Citroën’s deux chevaux — family cars whose sales dominated the European market in the early 1950s.Sizes of homes, refrigerators, and TVs have followed the same trend, not only because of technical advances but because the post–Second World War sizes of national GDPs, so beloved by the... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2023-06-04 14:30:20 UTC ]
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Vaseem Khan was reading about the history of Mumbai as part of research for his successful Baby Ganesh Agency series—which stars the newly retired Inspector Chopra and the elephant he inherits on his last day of work—when he came across a fact that made him sit up. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-28 16:04:12 UTC ]
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The law firm that successfully sued Apple and five major publishers for colluding to fix e-book prices in 2011 has filed a class action against Amazon, accusing the company of colluding with the Big Five publishers to eliminate price competition from the e-book market. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-01-14 05:00:00 UTC ]
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If you, like me, could really use some nice library-oriented news right about now, you’re in luck. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the impossibility of going to physical libraries for much of the year, readers borrowed record numbers of ebooks, audiobooks, and digital magazines from public... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-07 15:34:02 UTC ]
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In the modern digital media landscape, we are not the customers — or even the audience — we are the product. Every time we log on, our personal data including where we go, what we search for, who we interact with and what we buy is scraped, siphoned,... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2020-10-24 15:00:11 UTC ]
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Brooklyn’s Greenpoint library and environmental education center, by Marble Fairbanks and Scape, points to a climate-literate future. Here’s how. I have spent a lot of time in libraries in my day. But not one like this.Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2020-10-23 12:15:29 UTC ]
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Back in 2008, New York Times best-selling author and Boing Boing alum, Cory Doctorow introduced Markus “w1n5t0n” Yallow to the world in the original Little Brother (which you can still read for free right here). The story follows the talented teenage... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2020-10-17 15:30:50 UTC ]
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Author-illustrator Emily Gravett caps off a busy 12 months with her new picture book Too Much Stuff, a tale about how less can often be more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-01 10:27:38 UTC ]
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Figures for last year show sales of £6.3bn, up 20% on 2015, but the Publishers Association says sector needs government support to weather coronavirusBook sales in the UK hit record levels in 2019, driven by a surge in audiobook and nonfiction titles, according to new figures released as... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-07-21 23:01:08 UTC ]
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Egmont has snapped up a picture book of "The Great Realisation", Tomos Roberts' poem in response to Covid-19 that has been viewed more than 60 million times since it was posted online in April. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-29 12:53:30 UTC ]
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Stephen Rebello’s “Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!” is a more than just a gossipy look at the making of the film everyone loves to hate. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-06-12 12:12:21 UTC ]
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The days in quarantine would all blend together if it weren’t for Tuesday, which is the day new books hit the (now metaphorical) shelves. Here are a few of the titles dropping today. You can get them from your local indie and/or Bookshop (which, by the way, has now raised over one million... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-28 13:57:38 UTC ]
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It’s not a particularly hopeful time for literally anyone right now (unless maybe you’re getting a $1.7 million tax break?) but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying to help people whenever we can. I’m getting pretty tired of washing my clothes in the bathtub and have been sorely tempted to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-17 15:09:39 UTC ]
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The anthology “Burn It Down!,” edited by Breanne Fahs, collects manifestos from a range of perspectives and voices. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-04-15 09:00:01 UTC ]
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The surge at Amazon for such items as household staples and health and medical goods has resulted in extended shipping times for other products, including books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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According to the Italian Publishers Association (AIE), Italy's book market fell 25% last week, with those areas worst-hit by the coronavirus—such as Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia—seeing drops of 50% and above. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-05 21:19:43 UTC ]
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Crickhowell store Book-ish in south Wales was forced to close on Monday after flooding in the town from storm Dennis meant bookselling staff could not get to the shop. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-18 10:27:11 UTC ]
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‘Gay adults grew up reading straight romances,’ says writer Daniel Haack after US library withdraws Prince & Knight from shelvesThe author of a rhyming picture book removed from the shelves of a West Virginia library has hit back at protesters, suggesting that anyone concerned the book could... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-11-20 12:31:16 UTC ]
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“Little Weirds,” a new collection by the actress and comedian, isn’t the funny memoir you might have expected. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-10-25 09:00:27 UTC ]
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The S&S Selects PrePub Tour sends authors of books due out next season from Simon & Schuster’s five adult imprints across the country to schmooze with literary tastemakers around the country. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-10-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Libraries are awesome, don't you agree? Looking up library services, beyond the books, here are seven cool library initiatives I found and love. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-10-08 10:36:16 UTC ]
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