Michael Cooper's Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wine 2012

Publishers Hachette NZ are shortly to publish this title which for me is my annual wine bible. They have just supplied me with details of Michael's tour (see below) so if you can why not drop in and have a word with the man himself, New Zealand's leading wine writer, pick up a copy of the book and taste a wine or two.

NOVEMBER 14 – 27: MICHAEL COOPER

In November we’re celebrating the milestone 20^th anniversary of Michael Cooper’s Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wine 2012 ( on sale November 11). Don’t miss your chance to join Michael at one of our events, share his amazing knowledge of wine and enjoy a tasting of this year’s Best Buys.

Monday November 14 – GISBORNE

Evening event in conjunction with Muirs Bookshop

Location: Gisobrne Wine Centre, 50 The Esplanade

Time: 5.30pm

Tickets: $25, includes wine tasting and food. Available in-store or phone: 06 867 9741

Tuesday November 15 – WELLINGTON

Her Business Networks Lunch event with book sales thanks to Whitcoulls Wellington

Location: Wellesley Boutique Hotel, 2 – 8 Macginnity St, Wellington

Time: 12noon – 1.30pm

Tickets: $35.00pp, book online at www.hermagazine.co.nz

Tuesday November 15 – BLENHEIM

Evening event in conjunction with Paper Plus Blenheim

Location: Paper Plus Blenheim, 8 The Forum

Time: 5.30pm

Tickets: $5, includes wine tasting and nibbles. Available in-store or phone: 03 577 6363

Wednesday November 16 – OAMARU

Business Networking Opportunity, with guest speaker Michael Cooper

Location: Oamaru Opera House Empire Room

Time: 6pm

Tickets: $25 per person - includes canapes & wine tasting. Available from Oamaru Paper Plus or the Oamaru Mail

Thursday November 17 – QUEENSTOWN

Her Business Networks Lunch event with book sales thanks to Whitcoulls Wellington

Location: Sofitel Hotel, 8 Duke Street, Queenstown

Time: 12noon – 1.30pm

Tickets: HER Members and Queenstown Chamber / YP members - $35.00pp / Casual admission - $45.00pp, book online at www.hermagazine.co.nz

Thursday November 17 – WANAKA

Paper Plus Wanaka presents Michael Cooper

Location: Edgewater, Sargood Drive

Time: 7pm

Tickets $25 includes wine tasting and supper. Available from Paper Plus Wanaka or phone: 03 443 7532

Tuesday November 22 – MOUNT MAUNGANUI

Poppies Mt Maunganui presents Michael Cooper

Location: Poppies, The Cruise Deck, 169 Maunganui Rd

Time: 5.30pm

Tickets: Entry free, but RSVP essential. Reserve your place in-store or email: poppiesmtmaunganui@xtra.co.nz

Sunday November 27 – AUCKLAND

Paper Plus ‘Fab Foodies’ Books & Bubbles event

Location: Eden Park Function Centre

Time: 2.15pm arrival for a 2.30pm start – 5.30pm

Speakers: Michael Cooper, Bevan Smith, Annabel Langbein and Alison Holst.

Tickets: $40, click here for more information: http://www.paperplus.co.nz/events/?ps_filter=books

Above - Michael Cooper, - Simon Young photo

NICE PRETTY THINGS

VUP and Page & Blackmore Booksellers warmly invite you to hear Rachel Bush & Bill Manhire in conversation followed by the launch of ‘Nice Pretty Things’

Monday November 14^th, 5.30-8pm, The Granary, Founders Park 87 Atawhai Drive, Nelson.

The poems in Rachel Bush’s new collection are at once humorous, thoughtful and sad. Small moments are captured beautifully and keenly felt – things real and imagined. ‘Nice Pretty Things’ or not.

$28, Paperback, Victoria University Press

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vup/2011titleinformation/nicepretty.aspx

Owen King Sells His Debut Novel to Scribner

By Jason Boog on Galley Cat, November 2, 2011 

Owen King has landed a book deal with Scribner, publishing his debut novel with the same publisher as his father, Stephen King. Reenactment is an “epic, comic novel about a young auteur making his first film.”
Publication is set for spring 2013. McCormick & Williams agent Amy Williams negotiated the deal with senior editor Brant Rumble. Owen published his first collection of short stories, We’re All in This Together, with Bloomsbury in 2005.
Here’s more from the release: “Reenactment is the story of Sam Dolan, an aspiring filmmaker whose fledgling career takes an unexpected nosedive. Set mostly during Dolan’s post-college years, the novel centers on Dolan’s struggle to escape the trappings of professional disaster, difficult family, and questionable relationships.”

JO NESBO IN NEW ZEALAND NEXT MARCH

 Jo Nesbo is touring New Zealand 6-11 March, 2012.

He will be doing events, (including a session at Writers & Readers Week), and signings in Auckland (6/3), Wellington (10/3), Christchurch (7/3) and Wanaka (8/3). 

HEADHUNTERS, the slick movie based on Nesbo’s most recent eponymous stand-alone thriller, will be released when Jo’s in New Zealand. He’ll also speak at each of the movie premieres.
I have to say I didn't rate the stand-alone Headhunters, (although I reckon it will make a great movie); no give me the Harry Hole titles any day and on that note the good news is that the next one is due soon.
Phantom – the thrilling follow-up to The Leopard……….

Publication date: 3 February, 2012

RRP: NZ$37.99

Synopsis:

Summer. A boy is lying on the floor of an Oslo apartment. He is bleeding and will soon die. In order to place his life and death in some kind of context he begins to tell his story. Outside, the church bells toll.

Autumn. Former police inspector Harry Hole returns to Oslo after three years abroad. He seeks out his old boss at Police Headquarters to request permission to investigate a homicide. But the case is already closed: the young junkie was in all likelihood shot dead by a fellow addict. Yet, Harry is granted permission to visit the boy's alleged killer in jail. There, he meets himself and his own history. What follows is the solitary investigation of what appears to be the first impossible case in Harry Hole's career. And while Harry is searching, the murdered boy continues his story.

A man walks the dark streets of Oslo. The streets are his and he has always been there. He is a phantom.

Yay, bring it on, can't wait to read it................

Racist' Tintin book defended

stuff.co.nz -  03/11/2011

SIGN OF THE TIMES: Tintin author Herge's depiction of African people in his 1931 work is typical of the era, a Belgian judicial adviser has argued.

A Belgian judicial adviser has recommended the country's courts reject a legal bid to have a book featuring fictional boy hero Tintin banned for racism, court documents showed.

Valery de Theux de Meylandt, a Belgian Procureur du Roi whose opinion is requested and typically followed by the court, advised judges in a written statement to rule against campaigner Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo's application to have Tintin in the Congo banned for racism.
De Theux de Meylandt said in the document dated Friday and seen by Reuters that Tintin author Georges Remi (better known as Herge) did not intend to incite racial hatred when he depicted his cartoon hero on an adventure in the former Belgian colony in a 1931 work that was updated in 1946.
"The representations (of African people) by Herge are a reflection of his time," de Theux de Meylandt wrote.
Intention is a key criteria in substantiating a charge of racism. The court is expected to deliver a judgment early next year rejecting or accepting Mondondo's argument that the book's depiction of Africans is racist.
"We see in particular that Tintin in the Congo does not put Tintin in a situation where there is competition or confrontation between the young reporter and any black or group of blacks, but pits Tintin against a group of gangsters ... who are white," de Theux de Meylandt also wrote in the statement.
Tintin in the Congo was one of a series of comic books about the adventures of a boy journalist and his dog Snowy, which were first published in 1931. Mondondo has taken aim at the modern version of the updated 1946 book.
The court case comes at a time when Tintin's popularity is on a comeback with a new Hollywood film from director Stephen Spielberg about the intrepid Belgian boy journalist on an adventure alongside Snowy, Captain Haddock and Inspector Thompson.

Staffordshire bookseller's novel way to trade

 

It is hard to put a price on the value of a good book, but one Staffordshire bookseller has traded her wares for everything from shoes to a haircut.
Sarah Henshaw, from Lichfield, took to the water on her converted narrowboat to promote independent booksellers.
The 28-year-old travelled 1,000 miles through 700 locks on The Book Barge over six months.
Miss Henshaw and her shop have now returned to the barge's permanent mooring in Barton Marina.
The former journalist opened her bookshop in 2009 when she moved back to Staffordshire after spending several years working in London.

The Book Barge has travelled more than 1,000 miles

Earlier this year she decided to embark on her trip to encourage people to support independent booksellers.
"The last few years have seen a huge decline in the number of non-chain retailers in the wake of massive discounting trends by supermarkets and online stores," she said.
At the start of May she set off on her voyage travelling along the canals of England and Wales and calling in at various towns and cities along the way including Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, London, Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Worcester, Llangollen, Manchester, Skipton, Leeds and Nottingham.
For most of the journey she travelled alone but was joined occasionally by friends who offered to help out.
She said: "We've visited as many cities, towns and villages as we could in six months, teaming up with local bookshops en route for joint events and, for the whole journey, living almost entirely off our books."
More at BBC News.

Australian competition body backs TBD takeover

02.11.11 | Graeme Neill - The Bookseller

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has joined the UK's Office of Fair Trading in giving the go-ahead to Amazon's acquisition of The Book Depository.

In its ruling, it said "the proposed acquisition was unlikely to substantially lessen competition in any relevant market". It argued the merged firm would continue to face competition from Australian and overseas-based retailers.
It also said barriers to entry in the Australian market were low and drop shipping, where fulfillment could be handled by a wholesaler, means retailers do not need significant infrastructure investment to set up a web business. It claimed several international competitors could "easily" increase their presence in the Australian market.

Some Thoughts About Books as Objects

from the BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS blog

In this day of eBooks and iBooks and digital publishing; in this day when electronic displays are so sophisticated that one can actually turn pages on the screen and highlight passages and leave yellow sticky notes on the electronic page; in this day when one can carry an entire library of books in a convenient electronic case weighing no more than a pound or two; one is left to wonder about the future of books as physical, printed objects.

You must hold a real book in your hand, smell the pages, examine the type face, the spacing between letters; must note the shape and size of the book, the weight of it. Only then can you experience the book’s full import. And its magic.

A book as an object is a piece of history.

If you care to learn it, you can know a book’s age and place of publication just by recognizing the font used; or by how much spacing (leading) there is between lines of text; or by the amount of linen or acid in the paper; or whether the page edges were individually “cut” for reading as one went along, or machine cut as is common for newer books; or by the garish and graphic covers of pulp paperbacks from the ‘40’s and ‘50’s; or by seeing whether the engravings are copper or steel; or by noting the use of the letter “f” for the letter “s” and the like. You can gage the tastes of the period through the bindings most common to it.

More here.

World Fantasy award goes to Nnedi Okorafor

Nigerian-American novelist takes prize for Who Fears Death

• Alison Flood - guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 November 2011
• Nigerian-American novelist Nnedi Okorafor has beaten a host of big names to win the World Fantasy award for her novel set in a post-apocalyptic Saharan Africa.

Who Fears Death is the story of Onyesonwu – her name means "who fears death" in Igbo – a woman with great magical powers who was conceived when her mother was raped during a battle. It beat South African novelist Lauren Beukes's Arthur C Clarke award-winning Zoo City, acclaimed Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven and many-time British Fantasy award winner Graham Joyce's new novel The Silent Land to win the best novel award, judged by five authors and editors from the science fiction and fantasy genre.

Okorafor, born in the US to two Igbo parents, said it was "good to see a black writer win the prize in a genre dominated by whites", as well as to see a woman triumph in the male-dominated fantasy milieu. "What makes it even sweeter is this novel is very much about women, particularly African women," she said. Pointing to her fellow contenders for this year's best novel prize, NK Jemisin and Karen Lord, she said there were "a lot of dark faces on [the shortlist] this year. And the continent of Africa definitely made its presence known within the novels of several authors on the finalist list, too. There is a Nigerian proverb that goes, 'When the music changes so does the dance.' I think over the last several years the music within the genre has been changing and it's about to get really really interesting."
More at The Guardian.

Steve Jobs biography tops bestsellers

Walter Isaacson's authorised biography of the Apple CEO ships more than 37,000 copies in first five days on sale in UK

• Josh Halliday
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 November 2011 18.39 GMT

Walter Isaacson’s biography of Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs hit the top of the bestsellers in its first week on sale in the UK. Photograph: Jeff Chiu/AP

There may not have been overnight queues of fans like those for the release of a new iPhone or iPad, but Steve Jobs produced another hit with the final work to bear his name: the only authorised biography of the Apple co-founder soared to the top of the UK bestseller charts in the week of its release, according to sales figures released on Tuesday.
Walter Isaacson's critically acclaimed biography, published 19 days after Jobs's death, sold more than 37,000 copies – more than any other fiction or nonfiction paperback or hardback in its first five days on sale, according to Nielsen Bookscan, the official industry measurement system for retail sales. The BookScan figures include sales of physical books from the online retailer Amazon, where the hardcover version, on sale at half the suggested £25 price, has topped Amazon's bestseller charts since it was released on 24 October. They do not however include electronic versions of the book, which was 15th in Amazon's Kindle downloads chart, behind the Chris Evans autobiography, Memoirs of a Fruitcake, which was released on 14 October.
The book is already the 27th bestselling biographies of the year, a category led by Kate McCann's story about the abduction of her daughter Madeleine. Released in May, that sold more than 72,000 copies in the three days after it was released, and has so far sold 242,000.
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography, published in the UK by the Little Brown book group, outsold the second most popular book in the Nielsen charts – Kathryn Stockett's novel The Help – by more than 15,000 copies.
Jon Howells, spokesman for Waterstone's, said the Jobs biography was shaping up to be easily one of the biggest selling books for Christmas.
"This sounds like a phenomenal first week sale for a biography," Howells said. "Usually when you see huge sales for a book about a life story it's an autobiography which the subject is usually promoting. When it's a biography you don't usually see such massive sales.
"It shows just how incredibly interesting Steve Jobs is and how the fandom of Apple is translating from iPods and iPhones and into a book about the cult of Steve Jobs. There is no doubt that it will be easily the biggest biography sale of the week and one of the big books for Christmas."

Jobs biography tops bestseller lists

02.11.11 | Philip Stone - The Bookseller

Walter Isaacson’s biography of the late Steve Jobs has become one of the fastest-selling hardback non-fiction books since records began.
Brought forward from its original publication date of 24th November following the Apple co-founder’s death on 5th October, Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography (Little, Brown) sold 37,645 copies in its first week on bookshop shelves. Only four hardback biographies/memoirs have sold more in their opening week since Nielsen BookScan records began in 1998.
The biography comfortably tops this week’s Official UK Top 50, ahead of Guinness World Records and James Patterson and Howard Roughan's Don't Blink (Arrow), which sold 21,643 copies and 20,242 copies respectively.

More than 50 hardback novels officially hit bookshop shelves last week, with five of them earning a place in this week's Official UK Top 50 on part-week sales alone. John Grisham’s latest thriller, The Litigators, was the pick of the bunch. The book, his first adult novel published by Hodder following his switch from Cornerstone earlier this year, sold 12,962 copies in its first five days on sale last week, and takes eighth place in this week's Official UK Top 50.
Victoria Hislop’s The Thread (Headline Review); Michael Connelly’s 17th Harry Bosch thriller The Drop (Orion); Haruki Murakami’s Orwellian 1Q84: Book Three (Harvill Secker); and Conn Iggulden's Conqueror (HarperCollins) also all début in the Official UK Top 50.
Helped by the popularity of these enticing new releases, sales of hardback novels through BookScan’s top 5,000 bestseller lists were up 6% week-on-week and up 7% on the same week last year. Terry Pratchett's Snuff (Doubleday) was once again the bestselling hardback novel of the week, outselling Martina Cole's The Faithless (Headline) by 19,567 copies to 17,466.
Helped by the autumn half-term break, sales of children’s titles soared 20% week-on-week. David Walliams’ Gangsta Granny (HarperCollins) was the bestselling children’s title of the week, scoring sales of 11,248 copies—up 3,908 on his previous weekly sales personal best of 7,340 set by Billionaire Boy last year.
However, the non-fiction market remains weak in comparison to last year, with sales through the top 5,000 down 20% year-on-year. Just five hardback non-fiction books sold more than 10,000 copies last week, down from 12 in the same week last year.
Lee Evans retains his crown as the author of the bestselling celebrity memoir in the UK, but his The Life of Lee (Michael Joseph) was the only celebrity memoir to sell more than 10,000 copies. Nine, led by Keith Richards’ Life (Weidenfeld) with a sale of 28,200 copies, achieved the feat in the comparative week last year.
Even Jamie Oliver’s new TV series, which began on Channel Four last week, did little to invigorate a weak non-fiction market. Sales of his Jamie’s Great Britain (Michael Joseph) were up just 2% week-on-week, to 10,740 copies sold—well below the 78,606 figure scored by his 30-minute Meals in the same week last year.
In total, £32.5m was spent on printed books at UK booksellers last week, up 2.9% week-on-week but down 9.5% (£3.4m) on the same week last year

Opening Week Sales for STEVE JOBS

PublishersLunch

Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs sold more than 382,000 print copies in its first week on sale in the US, with an additional 37,244 copies sold in the UK, according to Bookscan numbers obtained by the Bookseller. The numbers make STEVE JOBS the 18th bestselling book of the year after just six days on sale, based solely on the outlets Bookscan reports from. It is not known yet how many digital copies Simon & Schuster has sold so far.

"Our Friends in Seattle" and Other Euphemisms from Books in Browsers 2011

Publishing Perspectives Change agents on the West coast meet book publishers from New York at the Books in Browsers conference. The result: a lot of quotable moments. The second-annual event hosted by the Internet Archive and O'Reilly Media and featuring a roster of blue sky thinkers, practitioners and visionaries — was surprisingly conciliatory. Happy even. What gives? Isn't publishing in crisis? 
READ MORE >>

DISCUSSION:
Is Following a Conference Via Twitter Worth It?
Conference attendees post real-time updates on Twitter all day long so you can follow along from home. You can, but should you?

NZ International Arts Festival , Wellington - Writers and Readers Week - 9-14 March -

 Among the notable guests are feminist and academic Germaine Greer; Australian scientist and environmentalist Tim Flannery; three-times Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Thomas Friedman; British biographer Selina Hastings(left); Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbø(right) and Man Booker Prize-winning novelist Alan Hollinghurst.

The full Writers and Readers Week programme will be announced on 26 January, 2012.

Planet Word

 Planet Word uncovers everything you didn’t know you needed to know about how language evolves: from feral children to deaf Tourette’s, fairy-tale princesses and wicked stepmothers to secrets codes, invented languages, backslang — even a language that was eaten! And of course the Del Boys of London with all their ‘sugar and honey’ and ‘porky pies’ make themselves known.

From the dusty scrolls of the past to the unknown digital future, will we no longer have need for a written language and instead communicate in pictures and symbols? With (heart) the first graphic to enter the OED, are we already well on our way?

In a round-the-world trip of a lifetime, discover all this and more across our gloriously, endlessly intriguing multi-lingual Planet Word.

John-Paul Davidson is a director, producer and writer for television and film.  He has produced/directed some of our most loved travel shows including Stephen Fry In America, Palin’s New Europe, Himalaya with Michael Palin and Sahara with Michael Palin. He lives in London with his wife and four children.

Stephen Fry is an award-winning comedian, actor, presenter and director. He rose to fame alongside Hugh Laurie in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster, and was unforgettable as General Melchett in Blackadder. He currently hosts the popular quiz show QI. His recent memoir, The Fry Chronicles, was a bestseller.

October 2011 | RRP $50.00 | Michael Joseph

MERCHANTS OF CULTURE - The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century

In this book, the first major study of trade publishing in the UK and the US for more than 30 years, the author looks at the current challenges facing the industry. He gives a detailed account of how the world of trade publishing works, dissecting the roles of publishers, agents and booksellers.
The outcome of almost five years of research the book will be required reading for those interested in books and their future.
Merchants of Culture-The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century
John B. Thompson
Polity Press

Polity Press
65 Bridge Street
Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

This is not the end of the book

The perfect gift for book lovers: a beautifully designed hardcover in which two of the world's great men (Jean-Claude Carriere and Umberto Eco) have a delightfully rambling conversation about the future of the book in the digital era, and decide it is here to stay.

Harvill Secker - NZ $39.99

Dogs Make Us Human: A Global Family Album - Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Art Wolfe

Do we actually fall in love with dogs? The photographs within Dogs Make Us Human suggest that we certainly do. And it is no less clear that dogs fall in love with us.

Famed wildlife photographer Art Wolfe began photographing people and their dogs in 1984 when he visited Tibet for the first time. At the time, Lhasa was still very much a Buddhist and Tibetan city and, unlike today, it was still very remote. Wolfe remembers being struck by how different everything looked in the town, even the dogs. So he started taking photos, beginning with roundish little kids with roundish little dogs.

Over the years, as Wolfe travelled the world photographing wildlife and observing the vast diversity of human cultures, he could not help but notice that the bond between humans and dogs was universal. From hunting dogs in the forests of Venezuela to dogs accompanying Saharan herdsmen, they became a part of his observation of the world and the way he documents cultures, wild areas, and wild animals.

Selecting a hundred of his favourite photographs of dogs from around the world, Wolfe has teamed up with New York Times bestselling author, New Zealand-based Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson to create this extraordinary tribute to canine and human friendship. Divided into sections Love, Play, and Work (among others) Dogs Make Us Human offers deep insight into this most important, most delightful, and most mysterious symbiotic relationship.

Bloomsbury - $49.99

International success for local children's author

When Aucklander Brett Avison sat down to write a story for his great-nephew Bryn about diggers, dinosaurs and his own dog, Oscar, he had no idea if it would work. He was delighted when international publisher Five Mile Press offered him a two book-deal, and published A Bigger Digger in Australia and New Zealand, in May this year. When the book sold out its first print run within a week, and appeared on the New Zealand international children's best sellers list, competing with the likes of publishing phenomenons such as Cassandra Clare and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, he was astounded.

            'I never imagined it would take off the way it has,' he said, as the book went on to receive a warm response from some of the country's leading children's book reviewers, including Kate de Goldi and Tessa Duder, who both praised its clever use of rhyme, and wonderful illustrations. John Macintyre praised A Bigger Digger in his National Radio review, telling listeners he considered it a classic in the making, and advising parents it was coming to a bedroom near them soon.

            The most heart-warming response though has been from children, who have fallen in love with Oscar the dog and his young master, Bryn – with the pair even turning up as costumed characters when a local school held a 'come as your favourite book' fancy dress day.

            This success has been followed by the release of Avison's second book, Stuck in the Muck, also illustrated by Australian Craig Smith, not to be confused with the Kiwi author of the same name, just in time for Christmas.

            There has since been more good news with both books being published together in the United Kingdom in September. Together the books establish the basis for an ongoing series, and the delightfully simple yet absorbing second story of a boy, his dog and a cavalcade of machinery called in to help when Milky the cow gets stuck in the muck, will delight Oscar and Bryn's growing band of little fans.

Stuck in the Muck

Five Mile Press - $24.99

Steve Jobs

This is a very large hardback book running to 630 pages which I am going to dip into over the next few weeks reading a chapter at a time rather than attempting to read it in one go. It is certainly attracting huge media attention worldwide. Here is publisher Little Brown's excellent press release that came with the book and which I reproduce here for your interest.I think it is a fine example of a well-crafted press release. See what you think.

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson is published by Little, Brown worldwide on Tuesday, October 25, NZ$59.99 RRP

From Walter Isaacson, the bestselling author of biographies of such geniuses as Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, comes his landmark biography of Apple’s Steve Jobs. In Steve Jobs, Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs’ professional and personal life.

Drawn from more than forty exclusive interviews that Isaacson conducted with Jobs over the course of two years—as well as with family members, colleagues, rivals, friends, and adversaries—Steve Jobs is the definitive portrait of our era’s most creative and innovative business leader. Isaacson’s book spans Jobs’ entire life, the private and the public, covering exclusive details on his childhood, early influences of Buddhism, tales from inside his design studio, vision at Pixar, and innovative spirit at Apple.

Born in 1955 and a product of the late ‘60s San Francisco Bay-area, where flower power and computer processing intersected, young Jobs embraced a variety of experiences and contradictions:  LSD, veganism, and meditation along with fascination for electronics and technology.  He co-founded Apple as a 21-year-old in his parents’ garage, brought it to huge success, was ousted in 1985, and eventually returned in 1997. The one constant throughout his life was the drive to explore the intersection of art and technology.  His artistic genius, volatile temperament and passionate vision led to the creation of revolutionary products that have changed the world. He played by his own set of rules in all facets of life.

Isaacson writes, “This book is about the roller coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. You might even add a seventh: retail stores, which Jobs did not quite revolutionise, but he did reimagine. Plus, he opened the way for a new market for digital content based on apps rather than just websites”.

This book tells the greatest business story of our time. When Jobs took over Apple for the second time in 1997, the company was seven weeks from bankruptcy, and he made it the most valuable company on earth. He not only produced transforming products but also “a lasting company, endowed with his DNA and filled with creative designers and daredevil engineers who could carry forward his vision”.

The genesis of this book, Isaacson has noted, came seven years ago: “In the early summer of 2004, I got a phone call from him. He had been scattershot friendly to me over the years, with occasional bursts of intensity, especially when he was launching a new product that he wanted on the cover of Time or  

featured on CNN, places where I’d worked.… It turned out that he wanted me to write a biography of him. I had recently published one on Benjamin Franklin and was writing one about Albert Einstein, and my initial reaction was to wonder, half-jokingly, whether he saw himself as the natural successor in that sequence. Because I assumed that he was still in the middle of an oscillating career that had many more ups and downs left, I demurred. Not now, I said. Maybe in a decade or two, when you retire.”

“But I later realised that he had called me just before he was going to be operated on for cancer for the first time. As I watched him battle that disease, with an awesome intensity combined with an astonishing emotional romanticism, I came to find him deeply compelling, and I realised how deeply his personality was ingrained in the products he created. His passions, perfectionism, demons, desires, artistry, devilry, and obsession for control were integrally connected to his approach to business, so I decided to try to write his tale as a case study of creativity” (Time magazine).

Isaacson adds, “As it turned out, Jobs was right. He is a fitting successor to Franklin and Einstein. Each of them had an intuitive genius, a creative imagination, an ability to think differently, and the type of magical mind that it takes to be an innovator. They weren’t merely smart, they were imaginative and creative. That’s what it will take to succeed in the 21^st century.”

Although Jobs co-operated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written. He put nothing off-limits and encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. Isaacson captures his passions, perfectionism, demons, desires, artistry, devilry, and obsession to tell the most compelling story of the greatest business executive of our time.

Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Einstein: His Life and Universe, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and Kissinger: A Biography and the co-author of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and daughter.

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson- Little, Brown -  $59.99 RRP

www.stevejobsthebiography.com

DOUBLE ENTRY How the merchants of Venice shaped the modern world – and how their invention could make or break the planet

How did a system that was devised in 1494 Venice by a monk now offer perhaps the best chance of solving the current biodiversity crisis the world is facing?

Double Entry is the result of Jane Gleeson-White finding herself in the unusual position of pursuing an internship at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice and an economics degree with accounting, where she discovered the two were most unexpectedly and inextricably linked.

The wealth of the Renaissance that made possible its great art was underpinned by a new form of bookkeeping now known as double entry, which was codified and published in 1494 in Venice by Luca Pacioli, a monk, mathematician and magician who also taught the art of linear perspective to Leonardo da Vinci.

Fast forward to 2011 and double entry bookkeeping underpins the entire global corporate world. And not only the corporate world, as through the Great Depression and Second World War the United States and British governments used it to provide a map of their national wealth.

Now known as GDP accounting, this system was adopted by the rest of the world in the 1950s and 1960s and these figures determine how we value the wealth of our nations. GDP figures have become so powerful and so sacrosanct that the ritual around their announcement in Washington rivals the election of a new pope in Rome.

The archaic anomalies they give rise to – such as their decree that a tree has no value until it is cut down; that environmental goods are free – led Guardian journalist Jonathan Watts to write in October 2010:

‘So it has come to this. The global biodiversity crisis is so severe that brilliant scientists, political leaders, eco-warriors, and religious gurus can no longer save us from ourselves. The military are powerless. But there may be one last hope for life on earth: accountants.’

The rise and metamorphosis of double-entry bookkeeping is one of history’s best-kept secrets and most important untold tales. Double Entry tells it for the first time.

Jane Gleeson-White - Allen & Unwin - $36.99

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jane Gleeson-White has worked as an editor, writer and reviewer in Sydney and London since completing her degrees in economics and accounting, and English and Australian literature, at the University of Sydney in 1987. She also worked as a student at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, where she studied Byzantine, early Renaissance and modern art. Her first book, Classics, was published in 2005, and her second book, Australian Classics, in 2007. She is currently the fiction editor of Overland literary journal and a PhD student at the University of New South Wales. She blogs about books at http://bookishgirl.com.au. She has also edited many Australian books.

Worm - The Story of the First Digital World War - Mark Bowden

A gripping account of the ongoing and largely unreported digital war taking place literally beneath our fingertips, from the bestselling author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo.
Worm: The Story of the First Digital World War is about the next frontier in terrorism; a dramatic cybercrime story that explores the Conficker computer worm, a potentially devastating computer virus that has baffled experts and infected as many as twelve million computers to date.
When the Conficker worm was unleashed on the world in November 2008, cyber security experts didn’t know what to make of it. The worm, exploiting the security flaws in Microsoft Windows, grew at an astonishingly rapid rate, infecting millions of computer around the world within weeks.
Once the worm infiltrated one system it was able to link that system with others to form a single network under illicit outside control, capable of overpowering any of the vital computer networks that today control banking, telephone service, energy flow, air traffic, health-care information – even the Internet itself.
Was it a platform for criminal profit, or a weapon? Security experts weren’t sure what its purpose was, or even where it came from.
Travelling from the Ukraine to the United States (and all parts in between) Mark Bowden, one of the world’s bestselling authors of narrative non-fiction, has created a captivating tale of a group of hackers, researchers, millionaire Internet entrepreneurs and computer security experts who united to defend the Internet from the worm.
It is a fascinating look at the battle between those determined to exploit the Internet and those determined to protect it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Bowden is the author of seven books, including Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo. He was a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and now writes for Vanity Fair, The Atlantic and other magazines.
Atlantic Books - Non-Fiction - NZRRP:  $39.99

worlds.funniest.emails.con

 

  E-mails. We get a stack of them every day. Many unwanted. Some are exceptional. This book is  a collection of the cleverest, funniest e-mail jokes out there.

The perfect stocking filler, worlds.funniest.emails.con includes the best in a wide range of topical jokes and funny e-mails “in the best possible taste” from around the world including current and popular topics!

Topics are as follows:

·       Animal politics, political animals and other terrorists

·       Best comebacks and things to cheer you up

·       Big battle of the sexes

·       Blondes...and bastards (sorry, I meant lawyers)

·       Bloody Aussies

·       Complaints department, legal lunacy, military madness

·       Conundrums, wise words and foot-in-mouth disease

·       Darn kids

·       Getting technical

·       Medical misadventures

·       Money matters, work, taxes and tight arses

·       Phraseology

·       Senior citizens

·       Spiritual experiences

·       Sporting highs

·       The Emerald Oisle, great Scots, Chinese crackers...
Hodder Moa-RRP $24.99

An invitation from Rona Gallery

Turkish Publisher Ragip Zarakolu Arrested

By Maryann Yin on Galley Cat,  November 1, 2011 3:07 PM

Belge Publishing House director Ragip Zarakolu was arrested on October 28th. Zarakolu, a member of the Turkish PEN Center, has been targeted by the Turkish government for his refusal to yield to their censorship laws.
His legal battles began when he launched the publishing house in 1977 with his wife, Ayse Nur. They published books by political prisoners and nonfiction titles about the Armenian genocide. Larry Siems, director of the Freedom to Write program at the PEN American Center, declared the organization’s mounting concern over “a disturbing acceleration of violations of the rights of Turkish and Kurdish activists, writers, and scholars.”
Here’s more from the release: “Turkish authorities have arrested up to 1,000 scholars, writers, publishers, and rights advocates during a two-year crackdown targeting activists who focus on Kurdish issues. This list of those arrested Friday also includes Büşra Ersanlı, a constitutional law expert and a member of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). Zarakolu’s son, Deniz Zarakolu, who is an editor at Belge Publishing House and a Ph.D. student at Bilgi University, was arrested on October 4. It is unclear whether charges have been filed against any of those arrested in Friday’s roundup.”

A Latitude of Libraries

What do New Zealand novelist Lloyd Jones (left), Vancouver's Canucks hockey team and public libraries have in common? 

I dunno but they're all in the latest post at A Latitude of Libraries.

Check it out now.

Andy McNab - celebrating reading success

Bestselling novelist and former SAS operative Andy NcNab thrilled workers at McVitie's Manchester yesterday (31 October 2011) when he visited them to sign copies of his new book Dead Centre, and celebrate their Learn 4 U Centre's success in winning the prize draw for workplaces participating in the Six Book Challenge.
Launched in 2008 by independent charity The Reading Agency, the annual Six Book Challenge encourages less confident readers to develop a new reading habit and improve their skills at the same time. Participants are invited to pick six reads of their choice and complete a reading diary in order to receive incentives along the way and a certificate.
Six Book Challenge activity at McVitie's Manchester was linked to the biscuit factory's successful Learning At Work Day (19 May 2011) thanks to partnership working by management, trade union USDAW's workplace unionlearn representatives and a special relationship with Stockport Council's library service. 50 McVitie's Manchester employees took part in the Challenge this year; the third year McVitie's have run it.
Andy McNab did a question and answer session and signed copies of his new book Dead Centre, which then went on sale in the factory's Learn 4 U Centre. Following his visit, Andy said: "Reading and literacy changed my life. So it is wonderful to see partnerships such as the one at McVitie's working so successfully to promote and encourage reading through programmes like the Six Book Challenge."

"It's been a coup to have both a real life hero and successful author visit the Learn 4 U centre at McVitie's. The event with Andy McNab resulted in a real buzz within the factory," said Jonathan Waterhouse, USDAW learning rep coordinator at McVitie's Manchester. "The Six Book Challenge is another great example of how USDAW unionlearn representatives at McVitie's have engaged with our union members, allowing us to reinvigorate or start a reading culture with the support of both The Reading Agency and Stockport Libraries. It was also great to have Paddy Lillis, deputy general secretary of USDAW, in attendance to see what's been achieved."
"The Six Book Challenge has gone from strength to strength here at McVitie's Manchester and it's great to see so many employees not only enjoying this challenge but generally expanding their learning through the support of the Learn 4 U Centre and everyone here who is committed to making this a success," said Helen Day, factory general manager at McVitie's Manchester.

'Andy McNab' is the pseudonym of a former Special Air Service (SAS) operative and soldier. He first came to public prominence with Bravo Two Zero, his account of the failed SAS patrol for which he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1991, to add to medals he had won previously in action, becoming the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993.
He has written two other autobiographies and several fiction books including Quick Reads. Dead Centre is his latest thriller in the bestselling Nick Stone series.

Grandparents Day

One charity has decided that there is a space for another special day to go hand in hand with Mother’s and Father’s Day.

The literacy charity, Duffy Books in Homes, decided to make a point of rewarding grandparents who have gone the extra mile.  They may have helped with coaching a sports team, doing maintenance around the school or even simply spending extra time helping their grandchildren with their reading.

Schools in the Duffy programme then choose one lucky grandparent to win the Caught Being a Good Grandparent Award.  Schools choose their lucky grandparent in many different ways.  Children might write stories or poems about them or if the choice is too hard then there might be a lucky draw.  They are then recognised at a special assembly during the week of 7 November.

This year’s award is New Zealand from Above by David Wall and Philip Temple, published by New Holland Publishers.  The book celebrates a land of outstanding beauty in a selection of more than 140 breathtaking aerial images, representing more than a decade’s work and hundreds of hours’ flying time.  The book is accompanied by a special certificate.

Duffy Books in Homes General Manager, Linda Vagana, says “With grandparents taking such an active role in supporting families we think it’s important that they are recognised, just like mums and dads.”

Since the official launch in 1995 with 80 schools, 16,000 students and 14 sponsors, the Duffy Books in Homes programme has grown to encompass 541 schools, around 100,000 students and more than 200 sponsors in 2011.  More than seven million books have been distributed to children in low-decile schools since its inception and the programme now distributes more than 600,000 books annually.

Nielsen BookScan Analyses the Booker Bump

By Jason Boog on Galley Cat, November 1, 2011 

Nielsen BookScan sales data tracking team has released a report studying the effects of the Booker bump in the UK. Novelist Julian Barnes saw a 473 percent increase in sales the week after he won the prize for The Sense of an Ending–jumping from 2,535 copies to 14,534 copies.

Oddly enough, sales for the entire Booker longlist saw sales rose week after the announcement, proving that winning isn’t everything. Follow this link to read free samples of all the books on the longlist.
Here’s more from the release: “Looking at the sales of the entire longlist the impact following the announcement of the shortlist in week 36 is clear – combined sales of all titles jumped from 9,285 the week preceding the announcement to 21,499 the following week, an increase of 132%. The announcement of the winner has a similarly positive effect on sales. Sales of all longlist titles grew from 17,829 the week before the award announcement to 35,781 the following week, representing an increase of 101%.”

Leading crime authors compete for Dundee morgue prize

Ten leading crime writers are competing for the honour of having a new morgue at Dundee University named after them. BBC News

Crime fiction fans can vote for their favourite author online - with each vote contributing £1 to the appeal.
Dundee University has committed £1m to the project, but another £1m needs to be raised.
The new morgue will adopt a "revolutionary" way of embalming - called the Thiel method - which keeps bodies flexible for longer.
This gives medics and researchers a more realistic way of testing techniques and practising procedures, as well as developing new equipment and approaches.
Authors taking part in the "Million for a Morgue" campaign are: Tess Gerritsen, Kathy Reichs(right), Lee Child (left), Harlan Coben, Mark Billingham, Jeffrey Deaver, Jeff Lindsay, Stuart MacBride, Peter James and Val McDermid.
The author with the most public votes will have the morbid honour of a morgue being built with their name.

Red House Children's Book Award 2012 Shortlist 

Established names and stars of tomorrow are shortlisted for the Red House Children's Book Award 2012 – chosen and voted for entirely by children.Some of the biggest names in children's fiction are joined by exciting new authors and illustrators on the shortlist for this year's Red House Children's Book Award, the only national award for children's books that is voted for entirely by children themselves. What could be a better indicator of the books that will tempt children away from computer games and DVDs than a list drawn up by young people across the country, which pits literary heavyweights like Morris Gleitzman and Patrick Ness against outstanding debut authors such as Annabel Pitcher?
Who will win? It's up to children everywhere to decide. Voting is now open and the Red House Children's Book Award would like to encourage every child in Britain to check out the shortlisted titles and vote for their favourite!

Children nationwide are now invited to vote for their favourite of the ten shortlisted books. The category winners and the author of the best children's book published in the 2011 nomination period will be announced at a glittering awards ceremony which takes place in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre in London on Saturday 18th February 2012.
A dedicated website www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk showcases all the shortlisted titles and featured authors. Any child can vote here for their favourite book until 20th January 2012.

The full shortlist for the Red House Children's Book Award 2012 is as follows:
Books for Younger Children
Rollo and Ruff and the Little Fluffy Bird by Mick Inkpen, published by Hodder
Don't Worry Douglas! by David Melling, published by Hodder
Peely Wally by Kali Stileman, published by Red Fox
Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice by Chris Wormell, published by Jonathan Cape

Books for Younger Readers
One Dog and His Boy by Eva Ibbotson, published by Marion Lloyd Books
Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis, published by Oxford University Press
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon, published by Scholastic

Books for Older Readers
Grace by Morris Gleitzman, published by Puffin
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, published by Walker
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher, published by Orion

Major Book Publisher Files Mass-BitTorrent Lawsuit

John Wiley and Sons, one of the world’s largest book publishers, have sued 27 BitTorrent users at a federal court in New York. The publisher claims that the defendants have shared copies of its “For Dummies” books without permission, and demands compensation. After several movie studios started filing lawsuits against BitTorrent users last year, Wiley is the first book publisher to take this kind of action.

Since early 2010 more than 200,000 people have been sued in the U.S. for sharing copyrighted works via BitTorrent. Thus far these lawsuits have been the exclusive territory of independent and adult film studios, but today they are joined by one of the world’s largest book publishers.
John Wiley and Sons have sued 27 Does at a federal court in New York for downloading and sharing copies of its “For Dummies” books using BitTorrent. The complaint (pdf), obtained by TorrentFreak, shows that all defendants allegedly shared the books on October 18 and 19 of this year.
Wiley argues that through the massive piracy that occurs on BitTorrent, their company is suffering severe losses that might cost several authors their jobs.
Full story