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The Fate of Books After the Age of Print (Truthdig)

Truthdig literary editor (and former editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review) Steve Wasserman, has written a great web post that looks at the future of book publishing in the age of the digital web that is both revealing and, perhaps to some, a bit alarming. It seems to combine much of Wasserman’s own personal wisdom woven into a review of Robert Darnton’s recent book “The Case for Books: Past, Present and Future” and it currently appears on the website Truthgig. An excerpt:

“James Atlas, a former writer for The New York Times and The New Yorker, and now an independent publisher, says: “Once technology is discovered you can’t stop it. We’re going to have e-books. We’re going to have print-on-demand business, …The key word is adaptation, which will happen whether we like it or not.” Jane Friedman, former president and chief executive of HarperCollins and a former longtime publishing executive with Alfred A. Knopf, proclaims that digital publishing “is going to be the center of the universe.” All the traditional models of publishing, she declares, are broken.

The predicament facing the publishing industry is best understood against the backdrop of several overlapping and contending crises: The first is the general challenge confronting publishers of adapting to the new digital and electronic technologies that are increasingly rendering traditional methods of production and distribution obsolete, and undercutting profit margins; the second is the profound structural transformation roiling the entire book-publishing and book-selling industry in the age of conglomeration and digitization; and the third and most troubling crisis is the sea change in the culture of literacy itself, the degree to which our overwhelmingly fast and visually furious culture renders serious reading increasingly irrelevant, hollowing out habits of attention indispensable for absorbing long-form narrative and the following of sustained argument.”

Read more here.

151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen – Leonard Maltin (Harper Studio)

With Oscar season upon us, we thought it would be a good time to take a look at some of the movies you won’t be hearing about on the telecast. Between all the Avatars and Clooneys of the world, there are a host of smaller movies (or box-office duds) that are well deserving of your time and attention.

Or so says film critic Leonard Maltin, who would probably be a good judge, as he probably sees about a dozen movies a week in his job as a journalist and TV personality. Maltin’s latest book singles out films from the last 20 years that, unless you are an extreme movie aficionado, chances are that most of these selections never hit your radar.

FIlms like “The Door in the Floor” (Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Mimi Rogers, Bijou Phillips) or “The Great Buck Howard” (Tom Hanks, John Malkovich, Griffin Dunne, etc.) may not have made a big splash at your local cinema, but they are among Maltin’s picks as key flicks to go back and find. (Nearly every major actor is represented from Robert DeNiro to Meryl Streep to Leo DiCaprio and all the rest.)

The films are divided into roughly three categories; mainstream studio fare, foreign and independent films that often struggle for attention here and a few choice gems from the first half of cinematic history. Maltin rightly focuses most of his light on movies from the last 20 years. (As there are already many books that highlight pictures from the golden age of cinema.)

Of course, it’s hard to tell just how great the book is without sampling a host of the films that Maltin singles out for a revisit, but next time you are at Blockbuster or on Netflix, keep this book handy and see if one of Maltin’s picks might sound worthwhile even while it would pass your normal purview. Just be ready to fire up that old VHS machine in the garage, as many of these gems have never made the leap to DVD.

Who is Mark Twain? (Video)

Who is Mark Twain? by Mark Twain himself (new never-before published works) Chapter 2: “Whenever I am about to publish a book….” by Flash Rosenberg, read by John Lithgow published by Harper Studio.

Top 10 Rock Novels Worth Reading

Ever wanted to blend your passion for books with your passion for music. Well Explore Music has made that easy with their ultimate mashup list, “Top 10 Rock Novels Worth Reading.” So, if you didn’t really get your fix sated by stopping at Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity,” (which, of course, is on the list.) there are a number of other volumes (from William Gibson to Salmon Rushdie and even two by Bill Flanagan) that should give you more, in the words of John Mayall ‘room to move.’

Check it out here:
Top 10 Rock Novels Worth Reading

Celebrating Steinbeck on Central Coast

Saturday marked John Steinbeck’s 108th birthday. Dozens of residents gathered at the National Steinbeck Center to remember his contributions through many different kinds of books and art forms.

Los Angeles Times announces finalists for its Book Prizes

Also announced: Dave Eggers will be given the inaugural Innovators Award. Finalists for the 30th annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced on Monday, and for the first time, graphic novels will be among the categories in competition. Prizes in 10 categories will be awarded on April 23, in an invitation-only ceremony at The Times.

Here is the original post:
Los Angeles Times announces finalists for its Book Prizes

Coming in March

New Releases for March:

Circle of Greed: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to Its Knees by Carl Cannon
Clint: A Retrospective by Richard Schickel
No Apology: The Case for American Greatness by Mitt Romney
Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler
Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight by Karl Rove
The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change by Annie Leonard
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero by Tom Clavin

Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (Touchstone)

We always knew that Tommy Smothers was the more political of the famous Smothers Brothers comedy duo, but perhaps we never knew just how stridently he fought to maintain it. In 1967, (pre-cable) television was not the place for making snide, clever or obtuse political references on an entertainment variety show. At least so thought the well ensconced executives who ran the Tiffany network, CBS.

WIth guests like Joan Baez, David Steinberg, Pete Seeger and The Who (not to mention in-house talent like Steve Martin, Pat Paulsen, Mason Williams (“Classical Gas”) and Glen Campbell), Tom and Dick Smothers produced a Sunday night, prime-time variety show that was made for the counter-culture times (drugs, anti-war, anti-cop, etc…) The trouble was, CBS didn’t feel like inviting push-back from it’s myriad of constituencies, ranging from big-name sponsors to the eventual Nixon White House. Thus the brothers found themselves in endless battles over content with the network censors such that each show, each skit had to be reviewed by various people in the food-chain to determine it’s appropriateness in the days leading up to each broadcast.

Such machinations ultimately created a war between Tom and the network that, by 1969, ended in the termination of the show altogether.

Television writer, David Bianculli (Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously) has painstakingly gone back through every episode, internal memos, court transcripts (they sued CBS for breach of contract) as well as conducting interviews with everyone from the brothers to Lorne Michaels (then a writer for Smothers’ competitor “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In”) to CBS executives, former managers and others, in assembling the ultimate Smothers Brothers story. (Unfortunately, it took nearly fifteen years for Bianculli to finish the book between other projects and a heavy case of self-admitted procrastination.)

While much of the material that was considered ‘too hot for television’ back in 1967-69 would seem undramatically harmless today, it is clear that the brothers were pushing the limits of network television content by 60’s standards. To witness what they went through in combining comedy and politics and the effect it had on the times (the Vietnam War, LBJ, the Beatles, etc.) one cannot help but draw a straight line between their show and the work of modern day cable satirists like Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert and John Stewart, who would not be where they are today without the work of Dick and particularly, Tom Smothers.

Two Views of the Rock: Rick Rubin and Brian Eno

On Some Faraway Beach: The Life and Times of Brian Eno – David Sheppard (Chicago Review Press) hardcover 471 pages.
Rick Rubin: In the Studio – Jake Brown (ECW Press) paperback 253 pages.

In the course of observing the rock based recordings of the late 20th Century, two names keep surfacing when it comes to exemplary album production. Brian Eno and Rick Rubin. Between the two of them, they have been responsible for some of the biggest and best selling albums of the rock era. Eno with his work on bands like U2, Coldplay and the Talking Heads, and Rubin with everyone from the Beastie Boys to the Red Hot Chili Peppers; Tom Petty to Metallica.

Yet, as much as they are icons of rock production, the similarities seem to end there.

In his book, ‘On Some Faraway Beach: The Life and Times of Brian Eno’, author David Sheppard chronicles both the life and the oeuvre of the enigmatic Mr. Eno; from his early upbringing in Suffolk, England to his days in an English provincial art school, to his joining a barely formed Roxy Music (where he is first credited with performing ‘treatments’), a decade-long solo career, on through his many cerebral and aesthetic projects (‘Oblique Strategies‘ being one of the most famous), several highly regarded avant-garde musical collaborations (first with Robert Fripp, then with David Byrne), a long series of ambient-based albums ultimately leading to his high-profile production work with David Bowie, Devo, U2, Coldplay and others.

Brown’s chronology, ‘Rick Rubin: In the Studio,’ while similar in development (sans the musician part) began in the dorms of NYU where his DefJam Records first took off, to his early years exploring hardcore rock and street based hip-hop, collecting a list of associates ranging from the aforementioned Beastie Boys, to RUN DMC, Slayer and more. Eventually, Rubin formed his own label (parting ways with co-Def Jam owner, Russell Simmons), moved to California and formed Def American (later just ‘American’) Recordings. Rubin’s stature continued to rise, and whilst not being much of a musician nor an engineer, he ended up helming records from the likes of the Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks, Neil Diamond, Linkin Park and others.

The two books have much in common with and are as diverse as their respective subjects. While Sheppard’s book is both detailed and an intelligent rendering of the events in and surrounding it’s subject, Brown’s book is more tactical and directly relating to each of the recordings involved. Sheppard’s work is much more fluid and articulate in describing the ever-weaving career path (including numerous non-music endeavors – like his ambient wallscape ‘77 Million Paintings‘) while Brown largely sticks to the nitty-gritty of the details of the making of each record outlined. (Brown’s is rightly subtitled as part of his ‘In the Studio’ series.) Sheppard seems to have spent much more time with the principals in Eno’s life’s work, while much of Brown’s book is, unfortunately, based largely on an assemblage of reworked press quotes.

In all, both books shed a light on the sometimes hidden-from-view process of the recording studio. Sheppard’s Eno tome comes across as a much more painstaking and revealing work, while a similar type of in-depth, wide-ranging examination of Rubin’s career is still yet to be written. – Tim Devine

Willie Mays Interview

Willie Mays discusses playing in the Negro Leagues, his early days in the Majors, The Shot Heard ‘Round the World,’ his father’s influence, his fanship of Joe DiMaggio and more in support of the new book ‘Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend’ by James S. Hirsch.

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