Reading Wired this month, I learned the author of Risk — Dan Gardner — is a Canadian journalist. Didn’t know that. Also didn’t know the US folks changed the title and cover. I have seen Risk in the bookstores. I wasn’t interested in it until I saw the US edition. I think the US concept [...]
In university I went on a F. Scott tear. I read everything he ever wrote except for Trimalchio. I am pretty stoked that the movie of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is due at Christmas. The trailer just hit the net. It looks amazing. Can’t wait.
I just followed a blind link to Charles Petzold’s blog where he was writing about Ian Fleming’s operation RUTHLESS. Fun stuff. I was pleasantly surprised to see Petzold is an author with a new book on the way about Alan Turing’s landmark 1936 paper on what is computable and what is not (computability) — the [...]
When I was out and about last week, a friend produced Claudia Dey’s Stunt from her handbag. She raved about it. I stared back blankly. Never heard of it. Then a profile of Dey appeared in the paper today. I am intrigued.
vs
From today’s Globe & Mail…Faulks wrote Devil May Care in just six weeks.
“That was the biggest danger,” he says, “that this would become just a pastiche of a character and a genre that’s already close to self-parody. I had to be very careful to make it Ian Fleming, and yet pull up in some way [...]
Ok. Here is the thing — the below comment isn’t meant to be snippy. I think this is wicked good. I also think it is a shame…
Last week I posted about a funny youtube video I saw on Michael Cairns’ site PersonaNondata. Michael “hat tipped” Peter Brantley. I credited Michael.
Since then I have seen the [...]
An editor once told me it was too early to promote an unwritten book. At the time, that kind of statement had a built-in logic I was unprepared to counter. I sighed when I saw this site go up today. I should have dug my heels in. The tag-line on the site is “Experience the [...]
A friend of mine was determined to deliver Guy Vanderhaeghe’s The Englishman’s Boy into the hands of Viggo Mortensen. She loved the book and she loved Viggo. She wanted to play match maker for the good of all concerned. When Viggo was in town shooting a movie he actually dropped into my friend’s workplace unexpectedly. [...]
I tracked down a book by a Canadian 9-11 widow called The Alchemy of Loss. After reading it on the plane this weekend, I passed it on to my mom. It is a mom-kind of book. The book’s author — Abigail Carter — is an attractive narrator because she is so self-aware. Her interaction with [...]
I am trying to get my head around how a brand can have a successful presence on Twitter. I think it is probably best to have a spokesperson tweet on behalf of a brand, rather than the brand itself twittering.
I am not sure about that, but that is my position for now.
Harpercollins Canada, Simon, and [...]
In the Bookseller article “Travel content ‘must be better than free’” the following section caught my eye…
“A writer needs to be a partner in the business,” he said. “Incentivise me to write the best guidebook I can so that I can get royalties, not a fixed fee.”
My question is when should you use “incent” and [...]
Each time a Malcolm Gladwell book has come out, the folks at Indigo debated where to put it. Is he a business writer or should his stuff go in “Community & Culture” with the books on urban planning and drug dealing?
It seems Gladwell’s next book will be similarly vexing. He is writing about the workplace. [...]
Just checking their website I was happy to see a friend’s play due at the Tarragon on April 22.
In a gritty New York police station, a vagrant is being interrogated by two policemen. But he’s not answerin’ their questions, just complainin’ that he’s going to be late for an important [...]
From last night… a crumby photo from an awesome + crowded event.
Ibi Kaslik on stage. This is Not A Reading Series. The Gladstone. 7:45pm
Just caught up with news of the new Neal Stephenson novel — Anathem. Amazon doesn’ have a dust jacket. It isn’t on Indigo yet.
BTW — the user experience on nealstephenson.com licks balls
Michael Enright makes me want to throw my radio at the wall — most of the time. This morning I caught his interview with Chris Hedges, author of I Don’t Believe in Atheists. I really enjoyed Hedges’ 2002 book War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning. Last year Hedges called the Religious Right [...]
The title of this post is a great line from this paidcontent post. In a nutshell — Bryan Caplan “argues that typical voting schemes create bad policies.” I am not sure if schemes create policies or if the people voted-for do, but it is the kind argument that I like — one that tries to [...]