New York Public Library turns subway cars into mobile ebook libraries

from Boing Boing:

Ten MTA cars have been outfitted as Subway Libraries by the New York Public Library: the in-car wifi connects riders to an e-reading repository containing "books, short stories, chapters and excerpts donated by publishers to the New York Public Library."

It's just one of the many excellent ways that NYPL is leading on ebooks, from lending patrons wireless hotspots ("borrow the entire internet!") to the world's greatest elending platform, to the world-beating public domain repository to the amazing, wall-climbing book-train!

“It used to be that you were ‘unplugged’ on the subway, and even though you’re connecting to the wireless now, you’ll still have the sense of being unplugged when reading books,” said Lynn Lobash, manager of reader services for the New York Public Library. “It’s a lot different than the frantic sense of checking your email or being on Twitter.”

Subway Library [NYPL]

New York Today: A City Library, on the Subway [Alexandra S Levine/New York Times]

REVOLUTION BOOKS in NYC Needs help once again...

I've had some great experiences in this store over the years, including a great public talk a couple of years ago, it obviously needs to exist. Help if you can. Thank you.
- GEF

Revolution Books has signed a lease for a new storefront and is making a big move to Harlem. Now the fight is on to ensure that the most radical bookstore on the planet re-opens in September. Donations to this $30,000 Indiegogo drive will go towards the immediate expenses of renovating the new space at 437 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue). This Indiegogo campaign is part of Revolution Books’ larger multi-pronged $150,000 emergency fundraising effort, which includes reaching out to people with more money for big donations, and organizing fundraising events.

Already, hundreds of friends of RB have made donations of $5 to $5000. But re-opening Revolution Books depends on hundreds more contributing. You. Be part of saving this unique bookstore that is at the center of the movement for revolution. This is about changing everything.

Revolution Books fills a great need
Revolution Books is a bookstore for the whole world.

An epidemic of police murder of innocent Blacks and Latinos … 2.3 million in US prisons... a global war on women ... endless US Wars for Empire … immigrants demonized and worse... the planet's air, water, and land destroyed by the ravages of this system.

This is why Revolution Books is needed more than ever: RB is the place where people come from all over the world to find the books and the deep engagement about why the world is the way it is and the possibility of a radically different way the world could be. Scientific and poetic, wrangling and visionary, Revolution Books is at the center of building a movement for revolution.

What will happen at the new Revolution Books

This new, relocated Revolution Books will be filled with people of all nationalities and ages, wrangling with the biggest questions facing humanity – getting into the poetry, novels, history, philosophy, science that fill the shelves, as well as provocative children's books that promote values of cooperation and understanding. The intellectual and cultural life at Revolution Books is marked by a critical thinking like nowhere else.

Click here:
HELP RE-OPEN REVOLUTION BOOKS ASAP

The Art of Letterpress | Crafting a beautiful book

via Boing Boing



The Folio Society interviewed master printer Stan Lane about the classic craft of letterpress printing. "Feeling print in paper... you know someone's actually been there."

Fun fact from the film: Lane says we call it a type face because a physical piece of type has a foot, a body, a shoulder, and a face. The face is the only part that gets pressed into the paper.

Book Domino Chain World Record

The Seattle Public Library launched the 2013 Summer Reading Program by setting a new world record for the longest book domino chain!

The books used to make this domino chain were either donated or are out of date and no longer in the library's collection. They are now being sold by the Friends of Seattle Public Library to help raise money for library programs and services.

No books were harmed during the filming of this video.

Filmed by Playfish Media: http://www.playfishmedia.com

Neil deGrasse Tyson Lists 8 (Free) Books Every Intelligent Person Should Read

from OpenCulture.com

A Reddit.com user posed the question to Neil deGrasse Tyson: “Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on the planet?”

Below, you will find the book list offered up by the astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and popularizer of science. Where possible, we have included links to free versions of the books, all taken from our Free Audio Books and Free eBooks collections. Or you can always download a professionally-narrated book for free from Audible.com. Details here.

If you’re looking for a more extensive list of essential works, don’t miss The Harvard Classics, a 51 volume series that you can now download online.

1.) The Bible (eBook) - “to learn that it’s easier to be told by others what to think and believe than it is to think for yourself.”

2.) The System of the World by Isaac Newton (eBook) – “to learn that the universe is a knowable place.”

3.) On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (eBook – Audio Book) - “to learn of our kinship with all other life on Earth.”

4.) Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (eBook – Audio Book) – “to learn, among other satirical lessons, that most of the time humans are Yahoos.”

5.) The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine (eBook – Audio Book) – “to learn how the power of rational thought is the primary source of freedom in the world.”

6.) The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (eBook – Audio Book) - “to learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself.”

7.) The Art of War by Sun Tsu (eBook – Audio Book) - “to learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art.”

8.) The Prince by Machiavelli (eBook – Audio Book) - “to learn that people not in power will do all they can to acquire it, and people in power will do all they can to keep it.”

Tyson concludes by saying: “If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.”

He has also added  some more thoughts in the comments section below, saying:

Thanks for this ongoing interest in my book suggestions. From some of your reflections, it looks like the intent of the list was not as clear as I thought. The one-line comment after each book is not a review but a statement about how the book’s content influenced the behavior of people who shaped the western world. So, for example, it does no good to say what the Bible “really” meant, if its actual influence on human behavior is something else. Again, thanks for your collective interest. -NDTyson