Random Observations
Wish I’d Said It (although I may have in other words): “If you accept — and I do — that freedom of speech is important, then you are going to have to defend the indefensible. That means you are going to be defending the right of people to read, or to write, or to say, what you don’t say or like or want said.”
Wish I’d Said It II: “The celebrity culture is infantilizing us. We are being trained not to think. …. It is about the death of an intelligent and curious, readership, interested in significant things and able to think critically. It is about the failure of our educational system. It is not about dumbing-down. It is about snuffing out.”
Bookish Linkage
three percent has announced its longlist for the Best Translated Book of 2008. Of the 25 books, I’ve read two, am reading another, have one in the “to be read” stack and yet another has been on my Amazon wish list for a couple months.
The NYT picked its 10 Best Books of 2008 out of its list of 100 notables. For both the fiction and nonfiction list, I’ve read one and am reading another. Galleycat notes that seven (and arguably eight or nine) of the books are from one publisher.
This appears to have been around for a long time but I just came across the most concise and effective refutation of books like The Bible Code that I’ve seen.
Nonbookish Linkage
Even though it appears to consider at least some bloggers as journalists, I find this stunning: “more Internet journalists are jailed worldwide today than journalists working in any other medium.”
It’s far from jail but a hockey fan turned blogger learns the Canadian Hockey League believes “they own the entire universe essentially.”
The ABA Journal has come up with its Blawg 100 for 2008. Only half were on last year’s list. (For the unaware, a “blawg” is a legal-related blog.)
Though we rush ahead to save our time
We are only what we feel
“On the Way Home,” Neil Young,
Sugar Mountain-Live At Canterbury House 1968
I love your theme layout, and I love books more =O)