Thinking Outside the Perceptual Box: Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg’s Robot, by Rachel Cordasco

Book Reviews Photo by Aideal Hwa / Unsplash If reading Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg’s Robot (Penguin Classics, 2021), translated by Tomasz Mirkowicz, makes you think about Stanislaw Lem’s work, you’re not alone. Indeed, both Robot and Lem’s His Master’s Voice (published in Polish just a few years apart) take up the fascinating but insoluble problem of whether or not we’re alone in the universe. One might even call Robot surrealist science fiction and liken it to Kafka’s work, or even Lem’s Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, since the main character spends most of his time wandering around the halls of an underground shelter, unsure of his own identity and his place in the community that has formed following an apocalyptic event on the surface. His identity confusion derives from his “birth” on an assembly line under a kind of bell jar. Given instructions by a mysterious Mechanism to study the people living in the shelter, the protagonist proceeds as if he is a living machine given a modicum of free will (as explained by the Mechanism). Much of the novel focuses on the protagonist figuring out why those around him are living underground and why many of them believe that he is a physicist named Poreyra. Encountering strange “statues” that weigh several tons in one of the shelter’s rooms, he eventually moves through a mirror there into a replica of the stricken city, where time moves at a fraction of the speed experienced in the shelter.... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2021-11-10 20:14:00 UTC ]
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‘Thinking along the wrong trajectory’: Digital media mergers won’t solve the duopoly problem

BuzzFeed, Group Nine Media and other big digital publishers are floating the idea of merging to get better terms from Google and Facebook. It won't work. The post ‘Thinking along the wrong trajectory’: Digital media mergers won’t solve the duopoly problem appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Fantastic Beasts' enchants the box office with $62-million opening

Warner Bros.' "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" met expectations in winning the box office this weekend, opening in first place with $62.2 million, according to figures from measurement firm Comscore. The "Harry Potter" prequel, a follow-up to 2016's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Anna Foley Simmons scoops the inaugural Thinking Woman's Writing Award

Anna Foley Simmons has scooped the inaugural Thinking Woman's Writing Award, a new prize set up by British-Nigerian author and TV presenter Kate Jegede to address "woeful" underrepresentation of women writers of philosophy. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rachel Mann joins JULA as literary agent

Rachel Mann is joining Jo Unwin and Ella Berthoud as a literary agent at JULA, where she will build a list focusing primarily on children’s fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New Adam Kay for Christmas 2019

Paul Baggaley at Picador has acquired world rights and audio from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown for a new book by Adam Kay, author of hit bestseller This is Going to Hurt. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Report: Diversity in children’s books is even worse than you think

This 11-year old girl demands more diversity for children’s books, which are overwhelmingly about “white boys and their dogs.” The lessons of Fenty Beauty and Black Panther have not yet trickled down to the world of children’s books. Apparently, the publishing industry has not yet realized that... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Robots and Revenue Streams at SCIBA 2018

The Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Fall Trade Show opened in a brand new venue featuring such futuristic flourishes as self-driving luggage carts and automated concierges. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hamilcar Publications, New Boxing Book Imprint, Launches This Fall

Hannibal Boxing, a Boston-based, boxing-focused media company founded by book business veteran Kyle Sarofeen and partner Andy Komack, will launch a boxing book imprint this fall. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tinder Press secures Rachel Elliot’s next two novels

Tinder Press has acquired world rights in Rachel Elliot’s Do Not Feed The Bear - "a very life-affirming tale of love, and letting things go". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After living through Florence, I think few people realize how unstable the ground is beneath our feet

Last year, nine months after Hurricane Irma tore through the Caribbean, I traveled from my home in North Carolina to Anguilla to teach writing workshops to children and adults as part of a literary festival. As a prompt, I asked them to describe what they could not forget about the storm. When... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Man Booker makes online song and dance for Prize's 50th anniversary with Adam Kay

The Booker Prize Foundation has launched an online celebration for the Man Booker Prize’s 50th anniversary, charting key moments in the prize’s history. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author launches new writing prize for 'thinking women'

Author Kate Jegede has set up a new writing prize that aims to increase the visibility of women writers in the UK writing non-fiction works with a philosophical or critical thinking theme. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Industry Notes: Amazon ‘Prime Book Boxes’ for Children; National Book Festival September 1

Having tested the program on an invitational basis for three months, Amazon rolls out its children's book boxes offer to the US Prime membership. And the Library of Congress holds its annual National Book Festival this weekend. The post Industry Notes: Amazon ‘Prime Book Boxes’ for Children;... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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W&N strikes new two-book deal with geneticist Adam Rutherford

Weidenfeld & Nicolson has acquired two new books by Adam Rutherford, British geneticist, broadcaster and author of A Brief History Of Everyone Who Ever Lived. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Are We Asking the Wrong Questions About Magazines? Linda Thomas Brooks Thinks So

Although magazine media got plenty of attention earlier this year due to the blockbuster deals made by Meredith and Hearst to acquire Time Inc. and Rodale, respectively, as well as the ripple effects each deal caused, the months that followed were relatively quiet. And as the expression goes, no... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2018-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gerry Adams reveals he is writing The Negotiators Cookbook

Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has revealed he is publishing a cookbook in time for Christmas. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Subscription box for self-help books launches

Donna Louise Hay, the founder of the GozenGirls book club for self-development titles, has branched out by creating a subscription box. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yes, graphic novels are thriving. (Well done, Booker) | Rachel Cooke

Comic book Sabrina by Nick Drnaso is on the longlist for the prize, but it’s just the latest in a fine traditionHow am I supposed to feel about the fact that for the first time a graphic novel has made it on to the Booker longlist? As someone who loves comics, and who has championed them in this... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Little Box Books: the subscription service for diverse kids titles

A new subscription service for diverse and inclusive children’s books has launched in the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trump’s Supreme Court Pick Thinks Net Neutrality Was Unconstitutional

Kavanaugh, in a 2017 dissent, likened ISPs to bookstores, and calls the FCC’s net neutrality rules “half-baked” and “foreign” to the First Amendment. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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