books

Sharing eBooks

September 26, 2011

Today’s xkcd: I’ve lost grey matter beating my head on the walls of this blog and elsewhere on the internet that the advent of eBooks does not signal or signify the death of paper books, nor should it. Anyone who wants paper books to go away is in the business of reading for the sake [...]

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Michael Hart Remembered Online – UPDATED

September 8, 2011

This post serves as a roundup of good online articles on and tributes to Michael S. Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg and close friend, who passed away two days ago. If you come across any that are not here, please link to them in the comments. So much love ad respect out there for Michael; [...]

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Top 100 Science Fiction / Fantasy Book Meme

September 7, 2011

A little late to this action, but I’ve been busy. The results of NPR’s Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy survey are in. A few geos had a blog meme going as follows: Copy and paste NPR’s printable list and embolden (stronginate?) the titles you have read. I add a caveat that you may not check [...]

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On Bayes And Uncertainty Analysis

August 18, 2011

“When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?” — Thomas Bayes, British mathematician and Presbyterian minister The New York Times reviews Sharon Bertsch McGrayne’s The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes’ Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy. Three [...]

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Of Addicts And Writers And Doing And Being

July 25, 2011

I’m currently reading two books. (I probably do this in keeping with my Vatul nature; consider it an offering to my ancestors, if you will.) They are Bob Woodward’s Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi and Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. The books have nothing to do with one another and [...]

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Your Chance To Help Project Gutenberg Get Books Out

July 9, 2011

Today’s Philanthroper deal hosts Project Gutenberg: $1 shares 36,000 free books with the world. Paper books may not need batteries and you can curl up with one on a rainy day, but this is an attitude of first-world luxury. Paper books can burn, flood and not be replicated for millions of people all over the [...]

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Winter Is Coming

May 23, 2011

For those of you watching or who intend to check out Game Of Thrones on HBO, Athenae is reviewing the seven hells out of the show over at First Draft. Something I’ve always appreciated about this woman is her ability to get right to the dragon cojones of the matter when other lesser writers simply [...]

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Stuff Of Interest Today

May 6, 2011

Neil Gaiman is a renowned British author. He is also an American creator, who writes great books, sells them, makes money, and most importantly, knows exactly what his time is worth. So, clutching our political aprons over Gaiman’s $45,000 fee to address a group of people at a Minnesota public library, while saying “Tally ho, [...]

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May Flowers In Texas

May 6, 2011

Next year. The (cold) drought here is so bad this desert rat craves rain, heat and its accompanying humidity. Shorts, tank tops, barbequed ribs and cold beer now! How else is a former Kuwaiti resident to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden? Screw that, I’m more worried about the impact of the Mississippi River [...]

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Book Review: The Planet In A Pebble

December 16, 2010

A sculptor once said to me, “Science is a discipline followed with passion. Art is a passion followed with discipline.” In The Planet In A Pebble: A Journey Into Earth’s Deep History, Jan Zalasiewicz describes well how geology and its pursuit is simultaneously both discipline and passion. From the origin of its parts in the [...]

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