Sundance We held a break-fast Monday — traditionally Jewish people fast on Yom Kippur, then, after the day of services, break the fast at a shared meal. And that finally prompted us to buy an Ipod so we could have the music for the gathering. I took Sasha to the electronics store and he went off [...]

History Mirror My sons were fighting this morning, as is all too often the case around breakfast time. Generally the almost 5 year old is the problem, being more fussy and demanding. But this time he was featuring his sweet side, which of course pushed the 9 year old’s buttons — feeling his younger brother [...]

Why Do You Read Nonfiction? I met with a publisher yesterday and we were talking about the matter of databases and schools that are cutting back — or even eliminating — buying nonfiction books. As we spoke I realized that, to me, nonfiction reading is pleasure reading — nearly always. Even the material is dense, [...]

Updates The Google Settlement is being renegotiated just as Best Buy and Verizon are getting into the ereader game: tinyurl.com/la47f6 The digital future of books is both here and unclear. I am still waiting for someone, anyone, to deal with those image rights questions. If you work for a school or library that wants hard research [...]

Tomorrow is the Official First Day of Fall, But Some Large Change Seems Afoot My last post was about databases and how schools are turning away from nonfiction books. Over the weekend three things happened that seemed to mark this as a clear moment of change.First, Milton Meltzer died. Ed Sullivan, who is writing his biography, [...]

Listening to What Librarians Say I received an email over the weekend that was in one sense alarming, but in another so clear I felt we all needed to talk and think about it. A friend who is on her state’s librarian’s discussion listserv forwarded to me a strand in their posts: What Are You [...]

The New York Times and Teenagers  My wife and I both grew up in New York City, and though it was in different decades in different boroughs, we had one common experience: starting in elementary school, teachers who got us to read articles in The New York Times. Being a Times reader meant being older, [...]

I wrote about Craig when he died and when his memorial was held earlier this year. Here’s one more very nice piece about Craig — prompted by an annual children’s book publishing party he and his wife hosted (and she is carrying on). tinyurl.com/cxj9su

Remember the Guys Read Club Deb Hanson Ran in Florida Last Year? I checked in with Deb to see how it is going this year. As you’ll see, they are having trouble getting going but are still reaping the rewards of last year. Her post made me think about some issues — over at Read Roger  www.hbook.com/blog/ his [...]

Better Learning Through Technology? That headline is meant to echo "better living through chemistry" the Dupont slogan that was adapted and reversed in meaning in the 1960s. Optimistic projections of what science can do for us have often wound up turned upside down ("Our Friend the Atom" being another). I’m playing with this theme because [...]