Category: publishing

“The ethos of 50 years ago was that there was one kind of English that was right and everything else was wrong; one kind of access that was right and everything else was inferior. Then nobody touched language for two generations. When it gradually came back in, we didn’t want to go back to what we did in the 1950s. There’s a new kind of ethos now.”

“It should be noted that while people have been trying to puff up their vocabulary for hundreds of years, for just as long there has been a small number of dissenters complaining about the practice. Few people, it seems, are thought to be content with learning new words merely to have something pleasant to think about.”

“Since he began blogging in 2006, Han Han, 28, has been delivering increasingly caustic attacks on China’s leadership and the policies he contends are creating misery for those unlucky enough to lack a powerful government post. With more than 300 million hits to his blog, he may be the most popular living writer in the world.”

“Libraries are infrastructure for families to help themselves. This is infrastructure for self-help in our community.”

“Although dozens of tablets are scheduled to hit the market this year — from companies like Apple, HP and Dell, as well as upstarts like JooJoo — executives in the e-reader industry aren’t particularly worried. Instead, they say, tablets and E Ink-based reading devices are likely to co-exist, targeting different groups of consumers based on their purchasing power, the extent of interactivity they need and their reading patterns.”

Amazon wants to open a warehouse and shipping center in Canada, and the government is leaning toward approval. “Canadian booksellers have called on Ottawa to reject Amazon’s application, arguing that it would hurt domestic businesses and amount to a scaling back of this country’s protectionist policy toward its cultural sector.”

“On Wednesday, Google announced that it will scan ancient Italian texts … as part of the Internet company’s first publishing partnership with a national government.” Norway’s “national library last year signed a deal with a group representing all of the Scandinavian country’s publishers and authors to put 50,000 copyrighted books online that can be read for free.”

“At long last, scientists have developed a ‘sniff test’ to measure the telltale aroma of old books and irreplaceable historical documents. You know the smell – that ‘combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness,’ as the authors put it. Inhale and smell the Industrial Revolution!”

“It’s a trend that seems to be gathering momentum, with the number of book apps outnumbering games almost two to one over the past month. Next month’s launch of the iPad, Apple’s new tablet reader, alongside a dedicated book store, is set to accelerate the shift to electronic reading still further.”