Weekend Edition: 11-1

Bookish Linkage

After the minor uproar caused by a Nobel Literature Award judge saying the U.S. was too insular, here’s an idea: be less insular.

If you for some reason doubt we suffer literary insularity, it’s estimated that translated works account for only 0.6% of all the new fiction titles being published in the U.S. and 3.3% of all literature titles.

After taking on the rationality of belief in God, Richard Dawkins will put something else under his analytical microscope: Harry Potter.

Even though Halloween is over don’t you think South Dakota should have a haunted library?

My wife could be described as a bookstore widow but for the fact we’re both addicted — which makes both of us very happy. (Via.)

There’s a good examination of what Cormac McCarthy’s The Road owes to Walter Miller’s classic Hugo Award-winning A Canticle for Leibowitz.

I’m sorry but this entry pushed me over the edge. I’ve removed the Orwell diaries blog from my RSS reader given the persistence and cumulation of leaden entries.

Nonbookish Linkage

Favorite news story of the week.

SF Signal asks if SF plays a role in the lack of interest in space exploration.

Hmm, maybe this is why the Argus-Leader‘s Randell Beck hasn’t posted to his blog in more than seven months (after a total of 10 entries).

I may be a b.o.f. but it seems like a lot of new slang comes from prisons. I’d also be all hunched up like a dog on staples deciding between April in Paris and Queen Mum. (Via.)

Election-type Linkage

I’ve always thought “None of the Above” should be listed for every office in an election. There’s an interesting survey for the US election underway that uses a variation called majority judgment voting.

Here’s a sobering thought as we head into the election: there’s more slaves today than at any time in human history.

James Freeman Clarke, “Wanted, A Statesman!”