Category: Books

  • This Browser Is… So HEAVY!

    …Heavy with links! It’s time, folks, for another massive download of Links Of Interest that I’ve managed to pack-ratsave for your enjoyment, so here goes. Near-zero-G Mentos & Diet Coke! Yay, science! I’ve run into some funny automated censorship software in the past (the old America’s Army forums had a particularly aggressive one, so much…

  • Good Idea/Bad Idea

    Good idea: Defending your intellectual property via every means necessary. Bad idea: Defending your intellectual property via every means necessary by threatening to sue a competitor whose president is a former lawyer and who has the law on their side. Good idea: Reading Dave Barry’s Tax Day column. Bad idea: Reading Dave Barry’s Tax Day…

  • An Incomplete List At Best

    Wizard Entertainment has a list of the “ultimate fictional weapons”, including Glamdring (Lord of the Rings), Mjolnir (Thor’s hammer), railguns (The Eraser) and He-Man’s Power Sword, among others. Stunningly missing, however, is Neal Stephenson’s Reason. I hope Wizard are ashamed at their oversight and that they correct it with all due haste.

  • There Is No Justice Left In This World

    …For Peasant Pig and the Terrible Dragon, with Lowly Worm as the Jolly Jester, one of my all-time favorite children’s books, is out of print and unless you’re looking to pay at least double on fleaBay, you’re simply not going to get a copy. Richard Scarry’s publisher needs to get on the stick and get…

  • J.K., You Devious Fiend!

    On this, the day of the latest Harry Potter film’s release, I stumbled across Cracked.com’ Top 6 Reasons Harry Potter Isn’t For Kids. For instance, from Reason #3, “Welcome to the Wonderful World of White Supremacy”: […] Rowling, on the other hand, takes the Law & Order approach, lifting the most evil things she could…

  • Making Lord Of The Rings Accessible To All Literary Palates

    I recently stumbled across a wonderful thread on the Straight Dope message board posing the following question: What if Lord of the Rings Had Been Written By Someone Else? Some quick examples, starting with an adaptation that would make Theodor Geisel proud: “Gandalf, Gandalf! Take the ring! I am too small to carry this thing!”…

  • …Or Else, My Brother, I Might Have To Get Medieval On Your Heiney!

    The original helpdesk employees, apparently, were not brought about by the advent of the computer as previously thought. Instead, a far earlier invention spawned an entire industry: I bet those Gutenberg rollouts were a real bear at monasteries Europe-wide.

  • Stephenson’s Work On The Small Screen? Hooray! Diamond Age! Eh. George Clooney! …Wha?

    Glenn Reynolds pointed out the following highly interesting story over at SciFi.com today: Diamond Age, based on Neal Stephenson’s best-selling novel The Diamond Age: Or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, is a six-hour miniseries from Clooney and fellow executive producer Grant Heslov of Smokehouse Productions. When a prominent member of society concludes that the futuristic…

  • Good Taste Wins Out, For Once

    I was extremely surprised to find out that Fox News was readying an interview with O.J. Simpson in advance of his “hypothetical” book’s release. I was even more surprised to find out that they not only backed off the interview but also canceled the book itself. I wouldn’t have pegged Fox to be the network…

  • Magic, Mystery, Mayhem And Murder: It’s Book Review Time.

    Title: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel Author: Susanna Clarke Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Genre: Fiction Available From: Amazon, Barnes & Noble Jonathan Strange is an odd book. Its premise is simple: it’s the early 19th century and the Napoleonic wars are raging in Europe. England, once the proud seat of European magic and magicians,…