A Bookless Library Opens in San Antonio

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff isn’t the man you’d imagine as the visionary for the nation’s first all-digital public library.

The former San Antonio mayor doesn’t own an e-reader (“I refuse to read the e-book!” he says) and for years has collected first editions of modern novels (in print, mind you). Back in the 1990s, Wolff helped spearhead San Antonio’s 240,000 square-foot, six-story, $50 million central public library, a building the city is now struggling to figure out what to do with. Today, Wolff says he would’ve avoided building such a large facility.

http://nation.time.com/2013/09/13/a-bookless-library-opens-in-san-antonio/

Fifty Shades of Grey now officially rubbish

Fifty Shades of Grey. Just when we thought no more bad stuff could come out of this book: first the monstrous book sales, then the media frenzy, then the film announcement followed by all the tiny updates about who would direct and star in the film (readers, I covered this too), then the recent news that hotels up and down the country were lumbered with discarded copies of the books.

After all that, it is now charity shops, those high street paragons of virtue and volunteerism, who must bear the brunt of the Fifty Shades legacy.

http://www.mhpbooks.com/fifty-shades-of-grey-now-officially-rubbish/

The Kindle has turned me off paper books

It was the second lead story on The News at Ten. JK Rowling, it seems, had just been unmasked as the author of a pseudonymous thriller, The Cuckoo's Calling, under the name Robert Galbraith. By the time the newsreader was on item three, I was on page three. Kindles are perfect for speedy delivery: 30 seconds between desire and fulfilment.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/02/kindle-paper-books-bookseller-e-reader 

British Library's wi-fi service blocks 'violent' Hamlet

A man using the British Library's wi-fi network was denied access to an online version of Shakespeare's Hamlet because the text contained "violent content".

Author Mark Forsyth was writing his book in the library, and needed to check a line from the famous play.

The British Library said the fault was caused by a newly installed wi-fi service from a third-party provider.

One security expert said the incident highlighted the "dysfunction" of internet filters.

Mr Forsyth revealed on his blog that the filter had logged his attempt to access the page.

A spokesperson for the British Library said Hamlet had since been made accessible.

"The upgraded service has a web filter to ensure that inappropriate content cannot be viewed on-site," he added.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23680689 

Writing - for health and happiness?

Decades of research have shown that writing down your emotions has concrete health benefits - even helping wounds heal. But as more and more people publish their intimate feelings online, could they be doing themselves more harm than good?

High-profile coverage of cyberbullying might make sharing your deepest emotions online sound like a bad idea, but when it comes to the risks and benefits of writing online, advice is mixed.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, suggests questions about social media are included in visits to the doctor, a move prompted by worries about cyberbullying, internet addiction and sleep deprivation.

On the other hand, blogging about health problems has been shown to improve feelings of social support, especially when that support is lacking from family and friends.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23637013 

The Case for Preserving the Pleasure of Deep Reading

When a minaret dating from the twelfth century was toppled in the fighting between rebels and government forces in Aleppo, Syria, earlier this spring, we recognized that more than a building had been lost. The destruction of irreplaceable artifacts—like the massive Buddha statues dynamited in the Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan in 2001 and the ancient texts burned and looted in Iraq in 2003—leaves us less equipped to understand ourselves and where we came from, less able to enlarge ourselves with the awe and pleasure that these creations once evoked.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/06/the-case-for-preserving-the-pleasure-of-deep-reading/ 

Der größte Buchverlag der Welt entsteht

Bertelsmann und Pearson haben die Gründung des weltgrößten Buchverlags perfekt gemacht. Nachdem die Kartellbehörden den Weg für das neue Unternehmen Penguin Random House frei gemacht hatten, unterzeichneten die Medienunternehmen am Montag die abschließenden Verträge. Gemeinsam wollen Bertelsmann und Pearson künftig in schnellwachsende Märkte wie China, Indien oder Brasilien und in neue Geschäfte investieren.

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/random-house-und-penguin-der-groesste-buchverlag-der-welt-entsteht-12266737.html