Latham, a bookseller for 35 years, has put together a heady mix of history, philosophy, anecdotes and entertaining factsWhat most people know about the American librarian Melvil Dewey is his phenomenal classification technique, the Dewey decimal system, which is still used in 135 countries. Less well known is how he liked to classify people, too. In a chapter entitled “Dubious Dewey”, Martin Latham describes how the great librarian created groups from A to D, banning all in the D group – Jews, African-Americans, Cubans and the “new rich” – from his Lake Placid resort. He was also a prolific groper of women. Latham speculates that Dewey’s hypocrisy, and his “obsessively domineering persona”, were what caused his lifelong constipation and piles.This is a book that is down on banning, rigidity, abuse of power and all kinds of snobbery, bookish and otherwise. It celebrates stories, scribbling in margins and the collecting, cherishing and even kissing of books – something done with surprising frequency, apparently. Latham, a bookseller for 35 years, currently runs Waterstones Canterbury, where he proudly filed the biggest petty cash claim in the chain’s history to pay for the excavation of a Roman bath house under its floor. But this is not one of those funny “anecdotes from a bookshop” books that have recently been popular – though anecdotes there are aplenty. It is rather a history and celebration of all things bookish, from Alexander the Great’s unusual habit of reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-19 09:00:45 UTC ]
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Colleen McCullough is back with a family saga, while Louis Nowra exposes the underbelly of Kings Cross. Our round-up of this week's best book reviews. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2013-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Transworld has bought a book about the 1932 Winter Olympics by senior Guardian sports writer Andy... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 28-year-old novelist from New Zealand, the youngest ever to win the prize, addressed the critics who have approached her complex novel with trite assumptions about gender.Running on a mere 2½ hours of sleep and exactly 12 hours after winning the Man Booker Prize for her novel “The... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is something rotten in the world of academic publishing? Yes, if you read a blockbuster piece in the latest issue of Science magazine showing how many open–access journals have little or no quality control, and apparently put hard cash (in the shape of author contributor fees) before... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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You can't necessarily judge a book by its cover, but you can tell a lot about the content from it. For instance, when a certain font is paired with an illustrated character portrait featuring a dangling cigarette and/or a dangerous dame, clearly you are holding a pulpy detective novel from the... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) has invited library services to compete for a part in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Depending on whom you talk to, the foreign rights markets are rebounding, or are still in decline. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new study finds that reading literary fiction “leads people to perform better on tests that measure empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence." Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Canongate editorial director Louisa Joyner and m.d. Jamie Byng have acquired UK and Commonwealth... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new Kindle Paperwhite is like the old one, but with a better backlight and upgraded software. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amid the splendour of La Mamounia in Marrakesh, one of the world's most historic and beautiful hotels, Rachid O received the fourth annual Prix Littéraire de la Mamounia with Analphabètes (published in France by Editions Gallimard). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The tech community seems especially impressed by a feature called Mayday, which calls up an Amazon tech support employee via video chat to help with tablet issues. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The number of children who rarely read—or do not read at all—has risen in the past... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's 1969 and James Bond wakes up in The Dorchester in London. It’s his 45th birthday.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Word-of-mouth has long been a driver of small business success (and failure), and these days it takes the form of online customer reviews. But the relative anonymity provided by the Web has added a new wrinkle: review fraud. In fact, fake reviews have been a real problem on Yelp. Last fall the... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In her memoir, 'Men We Reaped,' Jesmyn Ward writes about her upbringing in a poor Mississippi family and the violent, early deaths of five young men who were close to her.Jesmyn Ward's heart-wrenching new memoir, "Men We Reaped," is a brilliant book about beauty and death. The beauty is in the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sherman Alexie is encouraging authors to spend a day working in a bookstore handselling their own books, but some authors already feel overstretched. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PEN America announced the winners of the 2013 PEN Literary Awards, a list that includes both notables and newcomers. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'A Celebration of Harry Potter' is scheduled for this January. Will it include a look at the new portion of the 'Wizarding World' park? Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hollywood’s complicated relationship with ingenuity is the subject of our new ebook anthology. Fast Company has long been fascinated by Hollywood’s relationship with ingenuity; the industry relies on original thinking to create entertainment that captivates and shapes society yet it also... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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