Copy of a Photograph of Charles Dickens (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Russian literature specialist Eric Naiman describes a fake anecdote in “When Dickens met Dostoevsky,” (TLS 10 April 2013), and the bizarre, convoluted, trail that led him to find multiple pseudonyms of someone who seems to be a disgruntled independent scholar. I think some points turned… Continue reading The Marks of a Hoax: Dickens and Dostoevsky
Tag: New York Times
Google Editions to premiere this Summer
The Wall Street Journal had the main story which most bloggers played off, with these interesting details: While Mr. Palma didn’t go into details, users of Google Editions would be able to read books from a web browser—meaning that the type of e-reader device wouldn’t matter. The company also could build software to optimize reading… Continue reading Google Editions to premiere this Summer
E-Book Dodge (Randy Cohen on eBooks)
Randy Cohen’s Ethicist in the NY Times Magazine responds to a reader who asks about buying a hardcover when he really wanted an eBook edition, and then downloading a pirated eBook copy. Update: 4/9/10: The Bookfinder blog adds more to the discussion, quoting from author John Scalzi’s blog.
Google Translate and Google Voice: a mass experiment
Image via Wikipedia The New York Times has what strikes me as an important article on Google’s translation service, and while it emphasizes processing power and data, there’s more here. (The section on their original data is interesting too.) Using Computing Might, Google Improves Translation Tool – NYTimes.com Google’s quick rise to the top echelons… Continue reading Google Translate and Google Voice: a mass experiment
Textbook reshaping in NYT Magazine – How Christian Were the Founders? -by Russell Shorto
[Note: I was going to let this story pass and allow my comments to sit in my personal diary because they turn on matters of religious faith and because so much of the activism described here seems to me to arise from personal insecurity and need for affirmation from external sources, and these are always… Continue reading Textbook reshaping in NYT Magazine – How Christian Were the Founders? -by Russell Shorto
Do School Libraries Need Books? (NYT)
Image by promaine via Flickr A not terribly interesting debate at the Times’s RoomForDebate blog on school libraries and whether they should have books. The discussion (not the right word for a handful of interested parties talking/emailing to a reporter) shaded into future of the book, and “they should both exist!” (And why the illustration:… Continue reading Do School Libraries Need Books? (NYT)
Apple’s iBook on the iPad
Today’s Apple announcement (liveblogged at the NY Times) had Steve Jobs diplomatically say of Amazon’s Kindle, that Apple “we are going to stand on their shoulders and go a bit farther.” The iBook app allow eBook viewing and purchasing within the application (like iTunes), so it’s not necessarily tied to a particular hardware. The Times… Continue reading Apple’s iBook on the iPad
James Patterson, Author (updated)
Image via Wikipedia Today’s New York Times Magazine has a long piece about thriller potboiler author James Patterson. Patterson, who started out as a major mover and shaker in advertising at J Walter Thompson, has been transforming an old established publishing house like Little Brown. I do admire his insight that people buy the name… Continue reading James Patterson, Author (updated)