Category Archives: Books
Little Free Libraries Around the World
From the Boston Globe: The emergence of the “Little Free Library” demonstrates not just the agility of individuals, but the stiff-jointed hoariness of government. Even as public libraries and their advocates bemoan their increasing irrelevance in a digital culture, they … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Libraries
Leave a comment
Why We Like Lists?
From Spiegel Interview with Umberto Eco Eco: At first, we think that a list is primitive and typical of very early cultures, which had no exact concept of the universe and were therefore limited to listing the characteristics they could name. But, … Continue reading
The Penguin Paperback Takes Off
Today in 1935, the first ten Penguin Books, paperback reprints of titles previously published as hardbacks, are issued by publisher Allen Lane. Each title costs only sixpence each, the price of a pack of cigarettes, and all the titles feature the Penguin … Continue reading
Posted in Books, This day in information
Leave a comment
E-Books Born on July 4, 1971
Today in 1971, Michael Hart keyed in The United States Declaration of Independence to the mainframe he was using, all in upper case, because there was no lower case yet. Hart was a student at the University of Illinois and … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Digitization, ebooks, This day in information
Leave a comment
The Google Libray
Source: Google’s Best Perk: The Library in Building 42
Posted in Books, Google, Libraries
Leave a comment
Nineteen Eighty-Four, in 1949 and 2013
Today in 1949, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was published. “The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed–would have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper–the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Censorship, This day in information
Leave a comment
Print’s Last Stand: Reading to a Child
Pew Internet: Parents who have minor children at home are a relatively tech-savvy group. They are more likely than other adults to have computers, internet access, smartphones, and tablet computers. (This relatively high tech use may be due to the … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Digitization, ebooks, Reading
Leave a comment
The Story of Information 