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Handy
Is it possible that this book is real? Click the picture to see it a little better. Found via BoingBoing. More here. Like this gem.
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Erosion
There is something about the way that technological progress affects the world of publishing that I keep coming back to. It starts with what various pundits (and, I suppose, Karl Marx originally) called the 'means of production'. Every year it gets easier to be not only the author of a book, but its publisher - at least in the limited sense of being able to arrange the production of a pallet of professionally-printed paperbacks from the comfort of your own laptop.
But maybe that's OK because, as we all know, publishers perform other important roles besides FTPing files to the printers and saying 'go!'. For a start, they act as gate-keepers to the retailers - and the retailers in turn act as gate-keepers to the readers. Books generally have to pass through both sets of gates to stand a chance of building a readership. But that publishing gate-keeper role is not about consensus. Publishers each have their own idea about what's printworthy. I've lost track of how many blockbusting millionaire authors were turned down by the first fifteen publishers they approached.
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Spectacle
Not motivated by my love of books, but instead by my (newly discovered) love of fire, I'm linking you to an old news story about a fire in a gas pipeline last May. I don't know, there's something about a giant, churning fireball towering over suburban streets that sort of grabs my attention. (And since no one was killed I don't feel it entirely inappropriate to gasp in appreciation a little at the photos.) There's a bunch of them here on this Russian blog that I can't read a word of - and elsewhere on the web if you care to look.
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Not to worry; we're doomed
So you know Steve Jobs? The guy who resuscitated Apple computers and brought the iPhone into being? He's a bit of an electronics industry legend and guru. This is what he said a little while back about handheld e-readers:
"It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore."
Just thought you'd like to know. (Source article here.)
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Incendiary prognostications
"Most predictions for 2020 based on models derived from controlling the supply side, that is, from the monopoly on the means of producing and distributing books, will be wrong. By which I mean, the supply chain book publishing and retail model is ending. The book retail chains will disappear, just like Circuit City, Sharper Image, Tower Records disappeared. And the corporate publishers will likely all but disappear just as Atari, Digital, Wang disappeared though the backlists will be spun off to private equity companies looking for semi-predictable IP-based cash flow, and a couple of front list publishing enterprises will likely be operating trying to emulate the Hollywood blockbuster model with just about enough success to be able to stay in business."
In case you're interested, seven more straightshooting predictions from Richard Nash about the future of book publishing here.
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Snow Britain
NASA's cool space picture of what Britain looks like right now. In summary: snow. Click the pic for the larger version. Here's a link to the NASA site.
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The paperless book
Stacks of new e-readers coming out. That one above is the Skiff. There's also one called a Story. Barnes and Noble has a Nook. Sony have three new models out. There are a few smaller names out there too, like Bookeen's Cybook. And the Kindle is about to be upgraded for international use. Are we still all convinced that they won't amount to much?
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Boring predictable headlines
Why are British newspapers so boring? If I have to read another story entitled "Baboons eating hot potatoes" I'll... Wait a minute. What now with the baboons? Story here.
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Happy snow day!
Ooh, it's proper snow here today. And it's Ro's first proper time in the snow:
Stay warm!
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Mousicle (hopefully not)
Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year, everyone.
I feel a bit bad. It's maybe -4C outside (see pic) and I've just put my latest uninvited mouse house-guest out there. Keep reading if you want to see a picture of the poor cute chilly critter. I'm hoping it finds a nice straw nest or something to live in very soon.