Clipmarks | kelvin273's 'books' clips

J.K. Rowling's Crazy Copyright Caper

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:24:30 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: I'm still trying to figure out how having a website with all the book's information doesn't interfere with the market for Rowling's future Potter Encyclopedia.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

“I feel as though my name and my works have been hijacked, against my wishes, for the personal gain and profit of others and diverted from the charities I intended to benefit,” she said in a declaration to the court.

And what perfidious act of “hijacking” has RDR Books committed? It planned to publish a book by Steven Vander Ark, who maintains a fansite called the Harry Potter Lexicon.

So long as the Lexicon was a free Web site, Ms. Rowling looked kindly upon it. But when Mr. Vander Ark tried to publish part of the Lexicon in book form — and (shudder!) to make a profit — Ms. Rowling put her foot down. She claims that she wants to publish her own encyclopedia someday and donate the proceeds to charity — and a competing book by Mr. Vander Ark would hurt the prospects for her own work.

But more than that, she is essentially claiming that the decision to publish — or even to allow — a Harry Potter encyclopedia is hers alone, since after all, the characters in her books came out of her head.

Tags: books, harry potter, publishing, copyright

Free Books - Free Minds

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 22:26:05 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.wowio.com

Norman Mailer wins bad sex award

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:48:11 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Late Mailer wins 'bad sex' award

Norman Mailer is the first author to win the award posthumously

The US writer, who died earlier this year at the age of 84, won for his novel The Castle in the Forest.

Now in its 14th year, the prize is awarded by Literary Review magazine in an attempt to discourage authors from writing such accounts.

His mouth lathered with her sap, he turned around and embraced her face with all the passion of his own lips and face, ready at last to grind into her with the Hound, drive it into her piety.

Norman Mailer, The Castle in the Forest

Tags: books, norman mailer, literature, sex

Harvard cooks the books on weight and mortality

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:15:37 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273

Clip Source: www.tnr.com

The story is simple: That it's well-established scientific fact that being "overweight"--that is, having a body mass index figure of between 25 and 30--is, in the words of Harvard professors Walter Willett and Meir Stampfer, "a major contributor to morbidity and mortality."

According to this line of argument, there's simply no real scientific dispute about the "fact" that average-height women who weigh between 146 and a 174 pounds, and average-height men who weigh between 175 and 209 pounds, are putting their lives and health at risk.

t's difficult to exaggerate the extent to which the actual scientific evidence fails to support any of this. In fact, the current evidence suggests that what the Harvard crew is saying is not merely false, but closer to the precise opposite of the truth. For the most part, the so-called "overweight" BMI range doesn't even correlate with overall increased health risk. Indeed "overweight," so-called, often correlates with the lowest mortality rates.

Tags: medicine, harvard, overweight, health, science, statistics

Antidepressants most prescribed drugs in U.S.

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:54:45 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Antidepressants such as Paxil, Prozac and Lexapro are among America's most-prescribed drugs.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Dr. Ronald Dworkin tells the story of a woman who didn't like the way her husband was handling the family finances. She wanted to start keeping the books herself but didn't want to insult her husband.

The doctor suggested she try an antidepressant to make herself feel better.

She got the antidepressant, and she did feel better, said Dr. Dworkin, a Maryland anesthesiologist and senior fellow at Washington's Hudson Institute, who told the story in his book "Artificial Unhappiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class." But in the meantime, Dworkin says, the woman's husband led the family into financial ruin.

"Doctors are now medicating unhappiness," said Dworkin. "Too many people take drugs when they really need to be making changes in their lives."

Tags: medicine, science, drugs, depression, antidepressants

1001 books to read before you die

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 19:43:10 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: www.listology.com

1001 Books You Have to Read Before You Die

Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus

[ Inspired by 1001 Books You Have to Read Before You Die by friedgoatee. ]

Tags: books, reading, literature, titles, lists

Robert Jordan's illness

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 02:00:48 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: Fans of the Wheel of Time series have known about this for a while, but this is the first mention I've seen in the major media. Most of me feels a great deal of sympathy for someone stricken by such a horrible disease, but part of me also wants to say, "Don't you wish you hadn't dragged this series out now, Bob?"

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

My Author, My Life

12.01.06, 12:00 PM ET

There are readers, and then there are fans. Readers offer condolences when a favorite author falls ill. Fans offer bone marrow.

Robert Jordan, author of the best-selling Wheel of Time series, has fans. And if you want to understand them, take a look at his blog. Since last spring, when he announced he had a rare blood disease called amyloidosis, Jordan, 58, has been chronicling his life-and-death struggle online. Whenever he's well enough to write, he thanks the fans who sent care packages, and those who donated to the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., where he is being treated. Then there's this: "For Jaime Platt and her sister, your offer touches me deeply. They were able to harvest enough of my own bone marrow stem cells that I don't need marrow donation from elsewhere, but thank you very much. That was a kind and generous offer."

And you thought Harry Potter fans were enthusiastic?

Jordan's readers are offering help because they've developed a close connection with him through his books. They're also desperately hoping he lives to finish the series. Wheel of Time is like Lord of the Rings on steroids. Since Jordan launched the series in 1990, he's added another ten books, and more than 14 million copies have sold. Fans are patiently waiting for book No. 12, A Memory of Light, which Jordan promises will be the last, even if it reaches 2,000 pages. "I've told people you might need a forklift to get it out the door," says Jordan, speaking by phone from his home in South Carolina.

Jordan's fans are full of sympathy, but also fright of a more personal and perhaps selfish kind. His readers have been following the lives of Rand, Egwene, Elayne, Mat, Nynaeve and Perrin for more than 16 years. Fans have shared their concerns on Web sites like Dragonmount, Theoryland and WOTmania. "Of course you wouldn't ever wish a possibly terminal disease on anyone," wrote one poster, codman25. "But what happens if he doesn't finish the book?"

Tags: entertainment, books, robert jordan, wheel of time

Wiki-based collaborative book

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 01:25:04 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: Wow. It's just like Wikipedia except that the content is eventually set in stone. This project won't result in any blood feuds among the participants at all. [/irony]

Clip Source: wearesmarter.org

BE PART OF A PUBLISHING REVOLUTION

Be an author of the first networked book on business. Together we will write the book on how the emergence of community and social networks will change the future rules of business. Collaborate with authors from MIT, Wharton, and thousands of professionals from around the world. See your name in print when the book is published next fall by Pearson Publishing. Meet your co-authors in March, 2007 in Las Vegas at the Community 2.0 event.

Tags: internet, books

What to Read Next? Resources

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:37:11 GMT

clipped by: bunnicula
clipper's remarks: I created this list a couple of weeks ago and I thought that it might interest some people here. It's still not complete, but there are enough resources there to keep you reading for quite a while.

Clip Source: eatreadbemerry.vox.com

Interactive and/or Social Websites

AllReaders.com (http://www.allreaders.com)
This website allows users to search for book reviews by title, author, plot, setting or character. It also allows users to browse by genre or recent reviews.
Gnooks (http://www.gnooks.com/)
Reader2 (http://reader2.com)
This social website allows users to create lists of their favourite books (or their entire collection) and to search for book recommendations based on other books they have enjoyed, on user-created tags, etc.
Reader 2 Reader (http://www.reader2reader.net/)
Reader's Robot (http://www.tnrdlib.bc.ca/rr.html)
This website allows users to search for book recommendations by genre, keyword, or "appeal factors" such as book length, writing style, and characterization.
Story Code (http://www.storycode.com)
This website allows users to get recommendations based on books that they have enjoyed.
What Should I Read Next? (http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/books/search)
This social website allows users to get recommendations based on books that they have enjoyed.
Whichbook.net (http://www.whichbook.net)
This website allows users to search for books based on desired style (e.g. funny, conventional, short, etc.), characters, plot, and setting.

Booklists and Reviews

Book Bitch (http://www.bookbitch.com)
Book Bytes by Marylaine Block (http://www.marylaine.com/bookbyte/index.html)
Genreflecting (http://www.genreflecting.com/)
Hennepin County Library - If You Like...Fiction (http://www.hclib.org/pub/books/iyl/)
MCPL - Based on the Book (http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/movies/)

MGPL Webrary - Reader's Corner (http://www.webrary.org/rs/rsmenu.html)
Overbooked (http://www.overbooked.org)
Waterboro Public Library - Mostly Fiction: Booklists! (http://www.waterborolibrary.org/bklista.htm)

Discussion Forums and Lists

ChickLit Forums (http://www.chicklit.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi)
Fiction_L (http://www.webrary.org/rs/FLmenu.html)

Tags: books, readers advisory, reading, book reviews, leisure, hobbies