Suspend Your Disbelief

Posts Tagged ‘print books’

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"I can't stop acquiring books…"

by Celeste Ng

You think you have a problem with hoarding books? The above short film, by Sergey Stefanovich, walks you through the library of writer and critic Duncan Fallowell, which “has spilled over into every available space and become an art installation in its own right.” (Via.) Fallowell narrates, with lots of meditative insights on reading and writing: “I’m so glad I haven’t read everything–I have such a wonderful future awaiting me.” However, if you really need to clear out some space, perhaps this post by Jodi Chromey, “How I Learned to Stop Hoarding and Give Away Books,” provides the solution. Further […]


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Libraries, libraries, everywhere (and we mean everywhere)

by Celeste Ng

Do you have a cell phone? Of course you do.  Everyone does.  So what will become of all those public pay phone booths that no one needs anymore? Columbia architecture grad John Locke has an idea: turn them into public bookshelves.  Reports The Atlantic Cities: [I]n the past few months, the Columbia architecture grad has slipped around Manhattan with a sack of books and custom-made shelves, converting old pay phones into pop-up libraries. The concept, sponsored by Locke’s imaginary Department of Urban Betterment, is that New Yorkers will pick up unfamiliar titles while running their errands and then, perhaps, replace […]


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An old dog reads ebooks

by Charlotte Boulay

In my early 30s, I don’t think of myself as old very often. Except sometimes when I’m on the train or at a park and I see everyone (everyone!) who looks to be about my age or younger, and sometimes people a bit older than me, too, texting like the wind. I’m a super slow texter. Even with my fancy new smart phone, I don’t see myself getting faster any time soon. I guess texting is okay, but I still like to actually talk to people most of the time Am I just not willing to work at it? Or […]


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Parsing the Percentages: Peeking Behind the Curtain of E-book vs. Print Book Sales

by Joshua Bodwell

When media outlets that cover the American publishing industry report on book sales and e-books “vs.” print books, they often cite percentages of sales increases and sales decreases as evidence of the current state of affairs. In reality, percentages don’t and can’t offer a full picture. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) recently released book sales data for November 2011. The e-newsletter Shelf Awareness had this to say about the AAP report: E-books yet again had the biggest gain, but the 65.9% increase marked a slowing of what had been triple-digit increases for most of the preceding several years. In […]


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Moby-Dick… typed on toilet paper. (Yes, you read that right.)

by Celeste Ng

Do you love paper books? How about toilet paper books? Enterprising eBay seller the_heppcat offers a copy of Moby-Dick typed on 6 rolls of (clean!) Cottonelle. Says the item description: There are four full rolls, one roll (epilogue) is about 1/5 of a roll and one half-roll All of the rolls of TP came out of a brand new — clean — package of 2-ply Cottonelle. They’ve been handled very gingerly and infrequently. As you’ll see in the following photos, one or two rolls have a tear at the beginning. This is where i was trying to pull the paper […]


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Help give away 1,000,000 books on World Book Night!

by Celeste Ng

If you love a book, then give it away. Isn’t that how the saying goes? World Book Night launched in the UK in 2011, with thousands of people handing out copies of paperbacks. This year, it’s taking place in the U.S. too, on April 23, with plans to give away a MILLION books for free to “new or light readers.” The list of books includes lots of great titles, including The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Little Bee by Chris Cleave, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Colllins, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao […]


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The Joy of Books

by Celeste Ng

Artists/designers Sean Ohlenkamp and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp—the same folks who brought you “Organizing the Bookshelf” —have teamed up again to create another exuberant video, “The Joy of Books”. Writes Ohlenkamp: After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago (http://youtu.be/zhRT-PM7vpA), my wife and I decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto. Here’s the result, in which books dance their way around a bookshop after it closes for the night. Enjoy! (My favorite part? The Moleskine carefully turning the pages of the larger book. Adorable!)


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Books in distress. Holiday shopping to the rescue.

by Celeste Ng

Are publishers just eternal optimists? Continually self-deluded? Or–could print be alive and well after all? Apparently, sales of books—actual books, those things printed on paper, bound with glue, and sold in stores—have been up this holiday season. U. P. UP. Reports the New York Times: Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest bookstore chain, said that comparable store sales this Thanksgiving weekend increased 10.9 percent from that period last year. The American Booksellers Association, a trade group for independents, said last week that members saw a sales jump of 16 percent in the week including Thanksgiving, compared with the same period […]


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eBooks? Not in this crib.

by Celeste Ng

News flash: eBooks are growing more popular by the year–wait, make that the minute. But there’s one market where paper books are still king: babies. The New York Times reports that even eBook-reading parents prefer paper books for their tots. This is the case even with parents who themselves are die-hard downloaders of books onto Kindles, iPads, laptops and phones. They freely acknowledge their digital double standard, saying they want their children to be surrounded by print books, to experience turning physical pages as they learn about shapes, colors and animals. Parents also say they like cuddling up with their […]


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Fahrenheit 451–2011 edition?

by Celeste Ng

Is there anything more disrespectful to a book–and its authors and would-be readers–than burning? Book burnings are inevitably associated with censorship and repressive ideology, from the Third Reich to the more recent Quran-burning controversy. Even without those connotations, burning any book–for any reason–sends a shiver down my spine. But can book-burning sometimes be justified? On Cracked, S. Peter Davis writes about book-burnings that are occurring now, all over many countries–and why: For the past year or so, part of my job has been to walk through library warehouses and destroy tens of thousands of often old and irreplaceable books. […] […]




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