The Future Of Publishing Blog by Thad McIlroy
June 10th, 2010
This blog entry was prompted by a contemporary cartoon strip about book burning. It’s by Randall Munroe of xkcd.com (via Kate Eltham’s Electric Alphabet blog). This led me down a long road of inquiry, first into the history of book burning, then over to Ray Bradbury’s wonderful 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451. Although most associate book burning historically…
May 14th, 2010
My friend Bob McArthur recently wrote to me, “Am nearing the end of Chris Hedges Empire of Illusion…a dark and angry book about the rotting from within of North American culture.” Later he sent an excerpt, which itself contained an excerpt from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show…
March 24th, 2010
I’m catching up on some very old email, and found a note from my sister Sue from before Christmas directing me to AbeBooks’ Weird Book Room. There’s quite a treasure trove here, and it’s tough to pick a favorite. Here’s one that’s pretty good, Andrew Kirk and Jane Moseley’s “Dead Pet: Send Your Best Little…
January 27th, 2010
When we evaluate new technology I believe that the key equation is “push or pull.” It is the rare new technology product released to the public where the reaction is an immediate: “I want that.” I suppose Facebook and Twitter are recent examples of “I want that” being a very common refrain. It certainly didn’t…
January 26th, 2010
“The McGraw-Hill Companies reported a 43.2% increase in fourth quarter EPS,” says today’s press release.(Log-in may be required). The big gains were in McGraw-Hill Education at 2.6% and in Financial Services at 10.6%. “Information & Media” declined by 11.4%; you’ll have to dig deeper than I have to figure that one out. The major message…