Three major publishers have joined together to create a new reading recommendation engine called “Bookish.” The site allows you to find books that are similar to other ones you like, share suggestions with others and create your own “bookshelf.” Bookish joins a host of other sites trying to capitalize on …
A new story at the Guardian on how McDonald’s is planning on distributing 15 million children’s books over the next few years through it’s happy meal program. What a great way to make parents forget that the food is terrible — they give us books! Actually, the story made me …
A new series of exhibits at the Goethe Institute in New York City called “The End(s) of the Library.” David Horvitz will be producing an exhibit on the problems of DRM called “How can a digital be gift?” and Julieta Aranda, Fia Backström, and R. Lyon will be exploring “the way …
I’ve just returned from a fantastic conference in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Women’s Writing Instruments in the Eighteenth Century. We learned about the types of things that a woman would have at her desk when she sat down to write, including seals, wax, ink, quills, knives, …
A beautiful and clever art project by Nina Katchadourian where the artist sorts books in people’s collections by focusing on titles and shapes that are somehow related to one another. It’s text-mining the old-fashioned way: by hand (and heart). Here is my favorite example:
Yes, instead of thinking about the death of libraries these days (and the universalization of retail), in McAllen, TX, a library replaced Wal-Mart. It turns out it is extremely beautiful. While this might be a pretty sensational example of how libraries aren’t dying off, I think it is an important …
I’m going to sign off for the summer — and get to my summer reading — with an image of my favorite new reading project: Tatsuya Narita’s Tenkipan, which uses an RSS feed to print out the weather on your morning toast. The latest in ubiquitous reading.
I was recently at an exhibit at the MOMA in New York called “Foreclosed.” It was about imagining new architectural forms and new urban spaces. I was struck by this particular image: what does the ideal town of the future need? A bookstore of course (and fresh eggs). Look way …
A neat piece in the Chicago Tribune by Chris Borelli on the pleasures of reading on public transit. As Borelli writes, one reason for this is the way reading on trains, planes, buses, and subways allows you to be alone in public. There is something deeply pleasurable about being immersed …
I’m sure many saw this classic New Yorker cover recently. A lot of people mentioned it to me. Look, they were saying, a funny cartoon about the death of the book. But what I like most about it is the way it highlights one of the ways through which books …