A series of 3D-printed objects, starting by printing the iconic Utah Teapot, scanning the print, and printing the scan, iterating as the object degrades. Thi...
Directed by Francis Lawrence. With Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.
(Manhattan Beach, CA - October 13, 2020) -- When an IBPA member sent the office a link to this Wired article about ebooks flying off libraries’ virtual shelves with the question,...
“I am a bit confused by why one ebook could cost 40-60 dollars. Is that only with the Big 5?”
...IBPA reached out to Panorama Project lead Guy LeCharles Gonzalez for more information.
IBPA: Hi Guy. So, what's with the average $40 price for a library ebook?
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez (GLG): That Wired article has caused quite a stir despite being a little behind the story! The ebook pricing cited is a little too broad, but it's on the right track, especially for Big 5 ebooks which are what most of these articles tend to focus on.
This new expanded edition of Modern Welsh is the ideal reference source for all speakers and learners of Welsh, suitable for use in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes at all levels. Focusing on contemporary spoken Welsh, this new enlarged edition features a substantial new function-based section, explaining and exemplifying a wide range of sentence and phrase patterns. Notes on variations between dialects and between spoken and formal written forms have also been expanded. The Grammar presents the complexities of Welsh in a concise and readable form. Common grammatical patterns and parts of speech are discussed in detail, and extensive cross-references make the book comprehensive and easy to use.
Directed by Rian Johnson. It's Walt's 51st birthday. His return to the drug business causes Skyler to go into depression.
Tim Doner is a senior at the Dalton School in New York City who has studied over 20 languages. His interest started at the age of 13, after several years of French and Latin, when he began learning Hebrew and soon moved on to more obscure tongues such as Pashto, Ojibwe and Swahili. As he describes it, his goal is not to achieve fluency in each, but rather to learn about foreign history and culture through the medium of language. He spends much of his time perfecting his linguistic skills in different neighborhoods around the city, and to date his Youtube channel has received over 3 million hits. Tim has been interviewed (in English, Mandarin, Arabic and Farsi, among others) for media outlets such as The New York Times, BBC, The Today Show, Reuters and The Economist. He is starting his freshman year at Harvard next year and plans to study linguistics.
8:44 method of loci (locorum)
10:02 Learning words in groups based on related sounds.
11:22 Why learn languages? Some useful motivation here.
Language represents a world cultural view. This is particularly poignant because a language (and its methods of thinking, viewing the world, and usually lots of associated culture) disappears from the world every two weeks.
Directed by Brad Bird. With Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson, Holly Hunter, Jason Lee. A family of undercover superheroes, while trying to live the quiet suburban life, are forced into action to save the world.
Watched with Evie, who was reticent as always to start, but eventually liked it. “When can we see #2?”
Entertaining and fun. Jason Lee’s voice spoiled the reveal of the heavy for me.
Nothing is what it seems and there's always more than one side to the story as a group of strangers trapped in an inn slowly reveal their secrets in this new standalone mystery set in the world of the bestselling Greenglass House, from a National Book Award nominee and Edgar Award-winning author.
Comes out in 2021.
A self-published (print and digital) novella companion to my second book, THE BROKEN LANDS. Both will be released in September.
Observant folks have noticed that one of my books is much harder to find than others. The Kairos Mechanism was my first self-published book, meant as a sort of semi-sequel to The Boneshaker that would connect it to the events of The Broken Lands. It’s also a sort of sequel to Bluecrowne, if you were to follow Trigemine’s adventures rather than Lucy’s and Liao’s. I funded it on Kickstarter and used a startup e-book platform (which has since gone defunct) as well as McNally Jackson’s Espresso Book Machine (which has since been discontinued at that location). So Kairos has been basically out of print since, oh, 2018ish. I get emails almost daily from readers asking where they can find it, to which I always have to answer, with mixed feelings, “Unfortunately it’s basically out of print. The good news is, there’s an illustrated PDF available.” Mixed feelings because I don’t like that Kairos basically doesn’t exist in real-world form, so that makes me sad; however, the illustrated PDF is a very cool thing that includes art from some amazing young illustrators, so that makes me happy.
I funded it [The Kairos Mechanism] on Kickstarter and used a startup e-book platform (which has since gone defunct) as well as McNally Jackson’s Espresso Book Machine (which has since been discontinued at that location). So Kairos has been basically out of print since, oh, 2018ish.
—Kate Milford
Thirteen-year-old Natalie Minks loves machines, particularly automata--self-operating mechanical devices, usually powered by clockwork. When Jake Limberleg and his traveling medicine show arrive in her small Missouri town with a mysterious vehicle under a tarp and an uncanny ability to make Natalie's half-built automaton move, she feels in her gut that something about this caravan of healers is a bit off. Her uneasiness leads her to investigate the intricate maze of the medicine show, where she discovers a horrible truth and realizes that only she has the power to set things right.
Set in 1914, The Boneshaker is a gripping, richly textured novel about family, community, courage, and looking evil directly in the face in order to conquer it.
Independent booksellers are desperate for customers to return, and not just for an online reading.
Avid Bookshop in Athens, Ga., sends personalized URLs to customers with a list of handpicked recommendations. ❧
Perhaps if they went the step further to set up domains for their customers, they could ostensibly use them not only as book blogs, but also to replace their social media habits?
An IndieWeb friendly platform run by your local bookseller might be out of their wheelhouse, but it could potentially help solve their proximal problem while also solving one of society’s problems all while helping to build community.
Annotated on October 16, 2020 at 12:51PM
Take Vroman’s Bookstore, a 126-year-old institution in Pasadena, Calif. It has more than 200 employees, 20,000 square feet of space and the rent to go along with it. In a normal year, it hosts anywhere from 300 to 400 events, bringing in authors for readings and signings, along with customers who buy books and maybe a glass of wine from the bar. But none of that is happening this year. ❧
Coincidentally I bought two books at Vroman’s yesterday and it looked reasonably busy for mid-day. (Maybe because of this article?)
It’s a bit disingenuous to mention wine at their bar as their wine bar was only finally open for a minute before the pandemic shut everything down.
Annotated on October 16, 2020 at 12:54PM
Like many other stores, Vroman’s is hosting online events to promote new books, which can attract attendees from all over the country but generally bring in almost no money. ❧
Maybe they need a book paywall for admission into those events? Buy a book to get the zoom code to get into the event?
David Dylan Thomas essentially did this for his recent book launch.
Annotated on October 16, 2020 at 12:55PM
In the best of times, the margins at a bookstore are paper thin — traditionally, a successful shop hopes to make 2 percent in profits — but operating during a pandemic is even more expensive. ❧
Yes—they said paper thin…
Annotated on October 16, 2020 at 12:57PM