Some Member Book Selections
|
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
![Cover Image of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy, 3) [ABRIDGED 6-CD Set] (Audio CD/Audiobook) by Steig Larsson published by Quercus](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00312P7SO.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy, 3) [ABRIDGED 6-CD Set] (Audio CD/Audiobook) by Steig Larsson published by Quercus") 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
LATEST Feature Articles
Gear to Jumpstart 2012
by - Sunday, January 01, 2012
With an eye to keeping up with the latest technology trends, here is a list of gear and gadgets you'll want to take with you into 2012.
Apple iPad 2
Rightly called "the game changer" the iPad2 sold out on all channels with 500,000 units flying out the door on the first weekend alone. The reason? Our smart phones aren't really large enough to read books or browse websites and many of the new apps are easier to see and use on an ipad. Our laptops are too cumbersome to pack and carry for international travel, or for that matter commuting by bicycle to work. Two cameras make FaceTime and HD video recording possible. Using the ipad as a surrogate office station is possible through the free (or larger data subscriber rates) of iCloud, where all your memory heavy programs and data is kept on a remote server you can access and update from anywhere. The dual-core A5 chip and 10-hour battery life keep you powered. Over 200 new software features in iOS 5. Manipulate and share photos art. Carry all your digital and audio books, music & films, world newspapers and magazines in one slim device. Use the GPS positioning system for every app that you now rely on: google maps, cinema and restaurant locator, taxis, that wine label locator, etc.
Boxee Live TV ($50)
Now that you've streamlined your office, why not dump your cable company? How many times have you lamented that you were paying for hundreds of stations that you never use or want to see or have to negotiate around? Boxee Live TV ($50) uses an HDTV antenna or unencrypted cable connection to access to local broadcast stations with a friendly show-finding interface that lets you receive recommendations from friends, and even remove channels that you never watch. Boxee puts viewers in control of their television viewing preferences for the first time! It's a positive revolution that may save us all from a Kardasian-esque future idiocracy.
The Audio Bulb:
It's a light bulb and a wireless audio speaker. Just screw it into your light bulb socket for added sound. What a great idea!
...More >>
LATEST Author Interviews
Dickens 2012: The Biggest Literary Celebration
by - Saturday, December 17, 2011
Next year will mark the 200 anniversary of the birth of English author Charles Dickens, and all kinds of things are planned to mark the occasion. Check out www.dickens2012.org. I just downloaded a cool App for my iPad. It's a narrated and illustrated copy of Dickens: Dark London by the Museum of London that is interactive, and takes users on a journey through the darker side of Charles Dickens’ London in a unique series of interactive graphic novels narrated by Tinker Tailor Solder Spy actor Mark Strong. It's compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.2.1 or later.
Since it is "that festive time of year" let us focus on Dickens' classic short novel A Christmas Carol. The book has remarkably been in print continuously for 167 years. The novella was first published by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843 during the Victorian era when people were experiencing a nostalgia for traditions - the Christmas carol and the German tradition of decorating evergreen trees. In fact, Dickens is credited with changing the way Great Britain, the rest of the Commonwealth and western Christian society now celebrates this holiday, which before the runaway success of A Christmas Carol wasn't even a bank holiday. This Penguin copy, Classics Christmas Carol And Other Christmas Writings has a wonderful combination of stories you can read aloud in your family to start your own family aural tradition.
Each year our local library puts on a collective reading of A Christmas Carol for the public. And each year our family watches the black and white remastered film version starring Alister Sims on Christmas Eve, all of us huddle together on our old couch at the ski cabin with a fire blazing, hot rum toddies and various savory treats along with Nana's traditional Christmas fruitcake with a large chunk of aged cheddar on the side, and Purdy chocolate balls wrapped in green or red tin foil being tossed around the room along with Mandarin oranges that we compete to remove the skins in one intact piece. Get the new Blu-ray version. ...More >>
Feature Articles >>
Christopher Hitchen Dies at 62
by
Friday, December 16, 2011
It might seem ironic that the man considered one of this generation's best, if not most controversial, essayists and speakers, prone to a prodigious often vitriolic verbal attack on his topic or target d'moment (Mother Teresa, Henry Kissinger, the royal family—God) has died of complications of esophageal cancer. It's as though the words and the cigarettes conspired against him. He was a great friend of other great literary personalities and minds: Ian McEwan, Martin Amos, Salman Rushdie, and I watched him with great interest on all the Charlie Rose interviews. He could recite in entirety several of his favorite books and also his favorite plays by Shakespeare. A prolific writer he contributed articles to: The New Statesman, the London Evening Standard, London’s Daily Express, Harper’s, The Spectator, and The Times Literary Supplement, among others. He was an editor and writer at Vanity Fair and wrote for Slate, The Atlantic among others. His books include The Trial of Henry Kissinger (Verso, 2001), Letters to a Young Contrarian (Basic, 2001), God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Twelve, 2007), Hitch-22: A Memoir (Twelve, 2010), and Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens (Twelve, 2011), a collection of his later essays. He took pains to assure people he had not changed his views on religion after being diagnosed with cancer. The world shall miss his brilliant mind, "slashing polemicist in the tradition of Thomas Paine and George Orwell" to use a quote from William Grimes of The New York Times eulogy in today's paper.
Here is a selection of tributes:
....More >>
Book Reviews >>
The Fear Index by Robert Harris
by
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
If you have an interest in these two things; CERN and the consequences of algorithmic trading, then Robert Harris's new novel The Fear Index (Hutchinson UK, Knopf NAmerica Jan2012) is a must read. I told my husband about it and he picked up a copy at Heathrow airport and says it's a real page-turner, er, iPad-turner.
Bloomberg's correspondent Hephzibah Anderson met up with the author to discuss his book the premise to which is a "physicist-turned-hedge-fund-manager unleashes a trading algorithm that feeds on human emotions to predict market fluctuations. In just a week, VIXAL-4 makes a profit of $79.7 million. Then, on May 6, 2010 -- the day of the so-called flash crash, when the Dow briefly dropped 9.2 percent -- it goes rogue, catapulting its creator into a paranoid universe of murder and market mayhem."
“The fund is like a malevolent creature,” says Harris, 54, the author of bestselling novels including “Pompeii,” “Fatherland” and “The Ghost,” the basis for Roman Polanski’s movie about a thinly veiled Tony Blair. Speaking from the depths of a leather chair in a London hotel, he shares some of his own anxieties over club sandwiches and lounge music.
Anderson: What inspired the switch from historical and political thrillers?
Harris: I see myself as writing books about power and this is the same -- it’s all about control.
A dozen years ago I wanted to write a version of George Orwell’s “1984” in which the threat to the individual wasn’t the state, but rather corporations and computers. I got very interested in artificial intelligence. It wasn’t until the financial crisis that I realized I could marry finance and computers.
Financial Research
Anderson: How much did you know about finance going into this project?
Harris: I didn’t understand what a short was, or a credit derivative, or even precisely what it was that a hedge fund did. I asked a lot of very embarrassing questions of very busy people.
Anderson: So plenty of research, then?
....More >>
Publisher News >>
Hachette Livre: Second Largest Publisher in the World
by
Monday, September 13, 2010
A colleague just published his latest book in the category of Political Science. As it is a page-turner I wanted to write a review and went online to get further information. The search revealed that his stated publisher (Little and Brown) is owned by Hachette Livre, who it emerges is the second largest publisher in the world. Intrigued by this distinction, I set out to discover - who is Hachette Livre and what has contributed to their success? First, Hachette Book Group USA is a leading US trade publisher headquartered in New York, and owned by Hachette Livre. In one year, HBGUSA publishes approximately 450 adult books, 150 young adult and children’s books, and 60 audio book titles. In 2007, the company had a record 82 books on the New York Times bestseller list, with 20 of them ranked #1. In addition to selling and distributing its own imprints, HBG distributes publishing lines for Chronicle Books, Microsoft Learning, Arcade, Time Inc. Home Entertainment, Harry N. Abrams, InnovativeKids, Phaidon Press, Filipacchi Publishing, Kensington, MQ Publications, Strictly By The Book, Weinstein Books and Gildan Media.
Conclusion #1: It helps to have your fingers in the pot of several successful brands that bring volume and quality.
....More >>
Whistler Reads >>
Whistler Reads: A WORLD ELSEWHERE
by
Monday, August 22, 2011
For Whistler Reads members, our next book discussion will be Canadian author Wayne Johnston's new novel, A World Elsewhere (RandomHouse CA 2011). Click on the link to purchase from amazon.ca for $20.56, or locals go see Dan Ellis at Armchair Books in Whistler and receive our 10% WR member discount off retail. GREAT NEWS! The author is coming to Whistler for the Whistler Readers & Writers 2011 Festival on Sunday October 16th from 10-2pm along with another award-winning Canadian author, Miriam Toews. Purchase your ticket ($35 includes breakfast) here if you'd like to attend. Check out the rest of the festival line-up here for daily blog entries promoting the program and inspiring us all to write and read.
True confession: Wayne Johnston is the reason I created this website 9 years ago. I don't know whether to thank him or taunt him with the fact that he essentially changed the course of my life?
It all began in Los Angeles circa April 2002. ....More >>
WGBH Boston >>
Masterpiece: December Returns to Cranford
by
Friday, December 02, 2011
Cranford is the mythical setting for Elizabeth Gaskell's novels. Sue Bertwhistle has a love affair with period pieces. She adapted Gaskell's Wives and Daughters and of course the ever popular Jane Austen"s Pride & Predjudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle and Emma starring Kate Beckingsdale. When asked how she came upon the Carnford series she replied that it was recommended to her after the success of Pride & Predjudice and she quickly became entranced with the author who uses her characters over and over with each new work of fiction substituting different names and scenarios, but whose work remains true to her own life experiences: a brother that went off to sea at age 16, the death of an infant (her own). Like Austen these tell the minutia of women's country lives in the period, and adhere to all the details Masterpiece productions are well know for, including a repertoire of wonderful actors such as: Dame Judy Dench, Claudie Blakley, Julia McKenzie and Alex Jennings, to name but a few here. This story has the addition of curious animal behavior - a cow that is dressed up in pajamas daily that is based on a real sartorial cow in the author's hometown of Knutsford,. Oh those Brits! Get the DVD package here Elizabeth Gaskell Series.
More details from the Masterpiece interview between Bertwhistle and Richard Maurer. ....More >>
Wine & Book Club >>
Wine & Book Group Pick for December
by
Friday, November 25, 2011
There has been a general trend in western society toward political apathy to the point where both the US and Britain have gone down on the "democracy index" as compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a think tank that examines information collected on countries around the world. Evidence shows poor voter turnout, bounding cynicism, young people like those of the occupy movement disenfranchised with the political system, the candidates running and disgust for the collusion between big money and big government. The US is frustrated by political gridlock and a seemingly backward mandate by fully 50% of the political combatants. The Euro debt crisis further shows government mangling our collective economic future.
As a timely respite, Canada Reads —the countrywide competition to choose the next book that Canadians will read en mass, discuss and possibly become influenced by—was announced yesterday. The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis is a great way for folks on both sides of the 49th parallel to enjoy a political satire addressing all of the above. The Globe writes:
"[Best Laid Plans is a] political satire about a crusty old engineering professor named Angus McLintock who agrees to run as an MP because he's certain to lose. He is accidentally swept into office and decides to see what good an honest MP, who doesn't care about being re-elected, can do in Parliament and hilarity results."
Ali Velshi, the CNN journalist who defended Best Laid Plans, said Canada needs people like [the fictional character] McLintock. "This book is about the current thing that affects us now in our world, which is the people who make decisions for us," he said. The book "speaks to frustration and disenfranchisement around the world."
Former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque agreed, saying the book could inspire interest in the political process in younger readers. "Today, in Canada, people don't vote and we live in a democratic country. If people read this book, they would want to vote. We need this," he said.
Best Laid Plans also won Canada's Stephen Leacock Award for Humor. We're picking a wonderful Canadian winery for the spirit side of things: Laughing Stock Winery in BC has some fabulous choices. Join the group, purchase the wine and discuss this book with your group! ....More >>
Author Interviews >>
An Economist's Views On The Occupy Movement
by
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Jeffrey Sachs is a writer economist with numerous distinctions; he's on the list of the 100 most influential people in the the world, the 50 most important leaders in globalization, the 500 most influential foreign policy advisors, and he's the director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. In his previous 14 books and publications Sachs has written about the economies of the developing world and macroeconomics of the globe. He's been a champion of people in extreme poverty and as director of the UN Millennium Project he helped write the Millennium Development Goals among other groundbreaking initiatives. He's been criticized as "leftest" and "neoliberal". His latest book, The Price of Civilization: Economics and Ethics After the Fall (Random House 2011) turns the telescope away from those "other nations" and focuses it firmly on the USA. And although the book was written before the "occupy movement", he feels that it is the banner to which his book's message speaks.
The following video posted on You Tube comes from a talk he gave at the Toronto Public Library. It is a 3 part series. ....More >>
Technology Corner >>
The Easy Way to Pick Colors: Kuler Color
by
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Even if you are not a design professional, there are situations when you need to come up with a palette of color swatches: you're picking wall paint or furniture fabric after a house reno, you're designing a new web site and need a set of colors - or like me, you're in publishing and need to determine colors accents for a large format coffee table style book. Check out kuler Kuler is the web-hosted application that is part of the Adobe suite used for generating color themes that can inspire any project. No matter what you're creating, with Kuler you can experiment quickly with color variations and browse thousands of themes from the Kuler community.You can load in a picture and kulercolor.com will come up with a set of swatches automatically that you can brighten or mute as needed. Name and save the chip sample, post it to friends or colleagues. It's an indispensable tool in several industries. Here's how it works. After registering as a user (it's free) you can create your own swatches by uploading a photograph and then letting the program do the work. It picks 3 to 4 or 5 colors from your sample and you can select a mood, "brighter, muted, deep, darker or custom." These make subtle changes to the palette that might be more in line with your project goal. You can save swatches and refer to them again and again, and you get to see what other users have come up with when they name a swatch set. Go ahead, give it whirl.
....More >>
Events >>
Live At The NYPL: Billionaires Against Bull
by
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The New York Public Library has a speaking series that makes you wish you lived in the Big Apple. Here's one to catch if you're planning to be in town:
Billionaires Against Bull: From Charity to Justice. Ralph Nader speaks to Ted Turner and Peter Lewis.
Wednesday, May 4th at 7:00 p.m.
Celeste Bartos Forum, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
$25 General Admission, $15 FRIENDS of The NYPL, Seniors & Students
In "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!", Ralph Nader imagines a coalition of billionaires who join forces to answer the question: “What if several of America’s wealthiest individuals decided it was time to work for the collective good?”
On May 4th, Turner and Peter Lewis, two billionaires portrayed in Ralph Nader's fictional narrative, will appear on stage in real life for a taboo-free exchange with the author.
The two "billionaires against bull," as Ralph Nader characterizes them, will join the consumer advocate and provocateur to envision how philanthropy can spark key redirections of our society, our country, and the world. ....More >>
MASH UP >>
Loading
Some Member Book Selections
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
|