Strangely enough, it’s a real book…

It’s amazing what they’re publishing in For Dummies books these days… I almost wish I had made this up: Pit Bulls for Dummies This just makes me laugh. The fact that it’s for real just makes this that much more irrationally funny to me…

Open astronomy book

An idea, and a question (or the other way around). I’ve always liked astronomy; growing up I had several astronomy books and a small telescope, I eagerly consumed news and information about space (I had a newspaper photo clipping of Saturn as taken from Voyager taped to my wall), and I took Astronomy for my… Continue reading Open astronomy book

It’s the 2nd already!

No, my title doesn’t really have to do with anything… I just thought I’d use the first thing that popped to mind when I started this entry. This is pretty much a plain-vanilla blog entry, with some ramblings about books and such. I’ve been reading Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson lately, getting close to… Continue reading It’s the 2nd already!

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Sherman Alexie

Just finished up reading The Toughest Indian in the World, a volume of collected short stories by Sherman Alexie (wish he had a blog). It’s quite good; I’d never read any of Alexie’s work before, and I figured it was time I’d rectified that. …by that I mean that for the four years I spent… Continue reading Sherman Alexie

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Self-publishing thoughts

Since Shannon desperately wants me to update the blog so she doesn’t see the freaky mugshot picture right away, I thought I’d just write down some random observations and questions about the business of print-on-demand self-publishing. Of the various on-demand, self-publishing services, the only ones I’ve seen that don’t charge for publishing your books are… Continue reading Self-publishing thoughts

Dumbing down literature

Does this sound like a good idea? Woe un2mnkind! The text message is trying to summarise the great poet John Milton and a respected academic thinks this may be a smart new way to teach literature. A company offering mobile phones to students has hired Professor John Sutherland, professor emeritus of English Literature at University… Continue reading Dumbing down literature

I was in Ft. Lauderdale and forgot about Travis McGee

Okay, if that isn’t an obscure title I don’t know what is. Basically, I’m a little stunned and disappointed with myself for not remembering that Fort Lauderdale is the home of Travis McGee, John D. MacDonald‘s beach bum “salvage consultant” who lived on a houseboat, until after we got back home. I don’t know what… Continue reading I was in Ft. Lauderdale and forgot about Travis McGee

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The Ringworld Engineers

Blogging has been light lately because I’ve been reading The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven, and just finished it up last night. It was a decent enough novel, and a decent sequel to the original Ringworld, though I think I liked the original better. Niven does a great job of building a complex, consistent universe… Continue reading The Ringworld Engineers

A Fire Upon The Deep

The latest book I’m immersed in (one of them, anyway) is A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge. So far I’m hooked (I’m about a quarter of the way into it), it’s totally compelling science fiction. And it’s a refreshing reminder that there’s really no limit to what you can do, story-wise, with well-done… Continue reading A Fire Upon The Deep