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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A look into two of New Zealand's darker tales have made the shortlist for this year's New Zealand Post Book Awards. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2012-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Technology Review editor-in-chief Jason Pontin recently provided a one-two punch of blog posts detailing a pair of significant digital pivots for the brand. Both have caused a stir among the media crowd for their frank assessment of TR's progress in the digital space. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jason Pontin has a daunting task at hand. The editor in chief and publisher of MIT’s Technology Review is the man charged with recalibrating the 112-year-old thought-leading publication, a duty he described to Adweek as an "on some level unwelcome, but intellectually interesting task, which is... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2012-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man' is the first novel from Nick Dybek, son Stuart Dybek, and centers on a threat to a fishing community's way of life.The title of Nick Dybek's debut novel, "When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man," hints at transitions to come, and the phrase "was still"... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Friday Project has signed UK rights to Paramedico: Around the World by Ambulance by Benjamin... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Foyles is to partner with Literary Dinners to present “a unique series of intimate, pop-up... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House chief executive Gail Rebuck and authors including Jacqueline Wilson, A S Byatt and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The UK's biggest bookstore chain has announced that it will start selling Kindles alongside other digital services from Amazon. Waterstones stores will let Kindle owners digitally browse books in-store and link up with special offers, tying into the chain's plans for substantial renovations that... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-05-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel returns to the vicious world of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell's maneuverings.Bring Up the Bodies Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat' is a not-very-filling biography of the late Craig Claiborne, a food editor, restaurant critic and cookbook author who helped shape the modern American food world.The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A lawyer and a caretaker with similar backgrounds follow different paths in contemporary Jerusalem with the same motivation: to leave their small-town Arab lives behind and be accepted for the new personas they have created.Early in the novel, "Second Person Singular," a main character known... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Manchester-based independent Comma Press has sold short story collection The Corpse Exhibition by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 'Engines of Change,' Paul Ingrassia looks at history through 15 iconic cars, including the Ford Model T, Chevrolet Corvette, Volkswagen Beetle, Toyota Prius.It would be impossible to count the number of automotive makes and models that have come and gone since the car was first invented — or... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins claimed this year’s prestigious Publisher of the Year accolade at the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The cookbook has been republished after an initial run in 1947, and her great-granddaughter Elizabeth Gilbert ('Eat Pray Love') reintroduces Potter in the forward. The cookbook is insightful and funny, weaving together practical advice and recipes.At Home on the Range Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author wants American Jews to force changes in Israeli policy to protect the democratic legacy of Labor Zionism. He also explains why that's unlikely to happen.Nearly all the considerable attention generated by Peter Beinart's "The Crisis of Zionism" has focused on its final 81/2 pages.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez examine the nature of their relationship and the ways it's shaped their lives in their loving, candid new memoir.Martin Sheen was a struggling 21-year-old stage actor when his first son Emilio was born. Sheen, seventh of 10 children in a family that knew him as... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you’re more than 50 years old, you will either think this story was coincidentally familiar to your own unpredictable publishing odyssey, or immediately upon finishing “Not Extinct Yet,” you’re going to call ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 'My Life as a Sportswriter,' the Sports Illustrated writer reminisces on his time chronicling the offbeat and the mainstream in sports.A bio on NPR's website of its commentator Frank Deford notes that the magazine GQ christened him, quite simply, "the world's greatest sportswriter." (Is he?)... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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William Heinemann has acquired an anthology of 21 stories originally published in literary... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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