No More Bookstores, No More Books, No More Librarian's Dirty Looks? (Trees And Things)

3fingerspointback: Re: Plastic Has Its Music Exchange

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 03:29:06 EST

We've discussed traditonal methods of CAPTCHA before, the consensus was that it was too offputting to potential new users to implement, and didn't take into account people with bad eyesight. One work item is to implement a type of CAPTCHA for signup

dgraham: Re: Plastic Has Its Music Exchange

Fri, 8 Jun 2007 09:03:58 EST

Could CAPTCHA be employed to help prevent spam-bots?

workerant: Re: From The Front Lines

Tue, 5 Jun 2007 16:43:29 EST

No kidding - I lived in Tucson from 1989-1995 and did a lot of business at Bookman's. There's a similar bookstore in my nearest city that is also thriving.

My mother-in-law left two Nora Roberts novels at my house

thefadd: Re: Plastic Has Its Music Exchange

Fri, 1 Jun 2007 14:00:22 EST

A technical fix was made to head off the spam bots and early returns on the advertisement campaign weren't promising but some adjustments were made and I think returns are still coming in on both points.

pO157: Re: Plastic Has Its Music Exchange

Fri, 1 Jun 2007 12:28:15 EST

A capital idea!

BTW, has there been any movement on eliminating the Spam Bot scourge, or increasing advertisement through alternative sources? I haven't seen a Board of Directors diary entry in a while, so I am not sure what is happening on that front.

ms sue: Re: Plastic Has Its Music Exchange

Thu, 31 May 2007 22:29:41 EST

I mean, I for one, have all sorts of awful old books that I'd feel bad burning but would feel perfectly peachy sending off to someone else.

Nah, just go ahead and burn them. After the first few, the rest will go like a dream.

thefadd: Plastic Has Its Music Exchange

Thu, 31 May 2007 20:23:55 EST

...and failed at its "book club" attempt and I know a CD is a lot quicker to listen to than a whole novel is to read but a book exchange might be kinda neat. I mean, I for one, have all sorts of awful old books that I'd feel bad burning but would feel perf

uncarved block: Tip Of The Iceberg

Thu, 31 May 2007 19:23:35 EST

Did you go to just that one link, or check out the whole thing? That was just the paranormal subsection-- Ellora's Cave caters to many other . . markets as well, besides being THE company of choice for

keta: Do a little more googling

Thu, 31 May 2007 17:37:44 EST

Extremely funny, insanely well-researched, completely politically incorrect stories about Victorian-era British (and some American) military adventures as told by the memoirist, a self-confessed poltroon who'd rather just roger any and all women he c

thefadd: Re: Zardoz

Thu, 31 May 2007 17:17:20 EST

The Flashman series of books is written by George Macdonald Fraser, and details the life of fictional Victorian soldier, Sir Harry Flashman.

I honestly can't think of anything more

keta: Re: Zardoz

Thu, 31 May 2007 16:23:54 EST

All of them, to my mind.

"Literature" seems to be something different from "fiction with interesting plots and characters" which most readers prefer.

Literature is simply MORE THAN "fiction with interesting plots and characters." I

Thalia: Re: Zardoz

Thu, 31 May 2007 15:25:38 EST

But how many of these authors would be considered "literature" for the originally linked story? Roth maybe, although I consider most of his work to be uninteresting, but certainly not Fraser or Smith. "Literature" seems to be something differen

keta: Re: Zardoz

Thu, 31 May 2007 12:45:53 EST

Those that do read know that there was a time in the past when people were embarassed about lacking culture.

"Culture", at least here in North America, is now defined by whether or not you can name the current young drug-addicted alcoholic minimu

keta: Re: Zardoz

Thu, 31 May 2007 12:37:56 EST

Name one modern well-known, industry-respected author whose writing isn't insufferably overbearing or who doesn't fall into the Crichton/Rice/King crap camp.

Peter Carey
Cormac McCarthy
Zadie Smith
Martin Amis
Philip Roth
Alic

WMK: Re: Don't Know If This Counts

Thu, 31 May 2007 09:15:37 EST

OMG!

Its like a publishing company devoted to satisfying the romance/porno lit needs of female star trek nerds....how big a market would anyone expect that to be?

Steve Urkel: Re: Don't Know If This Counts

Thu, 31 May 2007 01:09:52 EST

Wow. Thanks for reminding us some readers would be better off if they were watching TV instead.

uncarved block: Don't Know If This Counts

Wed, 30 May 2007 22:48:53 EST

But I think it's already being done on a sizable scale. Somehow I suspect that if those documentaries showed that UFOs carried those guys instead of "little gray men",

port1080: Re: I've Got Some Bad News

Wed, 30 May 2007 20:23:16 EST

The Harlequin romance is alive and well

That's a shame...the used bookstore I went to growing up (great place, but closed years ago) would give you a discount credit for any books you brought in - except for Harlequins. The owner had so many

zyxwvutsr: Re: No More Bookstores, No More Books, No More Lib

Wed, 30 May 2007 20:11:09 EST

Maybe they were printed on coal.

zyxwvutsr: Re: Zardoz

Wed, 30 May 2007 20:06:20 EST

Richard Russo.

thefadd: Re: Zardoz

Wed, 30 May 2007 20:02:25 EST

Name one modern well-known, industry-respected author whose writing isn't insufferably overbearing or who doesn't fall into the Crichton/Rice/King crap camp.

thefadd: Re: Zardoz

Wed, 30 May 2007 20:00:04 EST

It would have been clever of you to say, "Considering the subjectivity of this subject, yours is an outrageously incorrect statement."

Steve Urkel: Re: From The Cheap Seats

Wed, 30 May 2007 19:34:14 EST

"books about the paranormal and UFOs, sex tips"

I'm writing a book of tips for having sex with occupants of UFO's.

uncarved block: Thanks

Wed, 30 May 2007 18:32:08 EST

I didn't spend enough time poking around the Prospero's site before, and couldn't get a good sense of the volume. Without a long upcoming comment weighing on my mind, I went back through and found out the size (45K volumes) and scope. On a gue

rombuu: Re: So Here's Some Questions

Wed, 30 May 2007 15:02:19 EST

I'm not sure if I met the owners or not... it's been a while since I was in there and didn't see anyone with a sash that said "owner" on it or anything. Really they do have a good location for their business, its next to KU Med center, so you have co

uncarved block: From The Front Lines

Wed, 30 May 2007 14:52:15 EST

As mentioned before, I work at a used book store myself (check out the Tucson East link for pix), so I've seen one model that works up close and personal. This doesn't mean it's the only way to run a book

gerrymander: Re: Burning books?

Wed, 30 May 2007 14:12:19 EST

Yeah, submerging the books would have been more thematically consistent.

Admit The Woods: Re: Zardoz

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:31:57 EST

Agreed. There are as many if not more great literary works being written today as at any other time in history. That they're not being read in the kind of numbers they used to be is more debatable, but quality-wise (given the subjectivity you rightl

uncarved block: I've Got Some Bad News

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:23:01 EST

The Harlequin romance is alive and well, at least in my little corner of the world. In fact, the company has branched out into S-F (the Luna imprints), and this after moving into "chick lit

uncarved block: So Here's Some Questions

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:14:33 EST

Have you met the owner? Or at least gotten the vibe he wants for the store? Poking around the website, there certainly seems to have been attitude aplenty before this event ever crossed his mind. I suspect that a lot of potential customers hav

3fingerspointback: Burning books?

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:03:49 EST

Isn't that kind of backwards for a place named "Prospero Bookstore"?

gerrymander: Re: No More Bookstores, No More Books, No More Lib

Wed, 30 May 2007 12:35:59 EST

Maybe they're just really big books, like anthologies from James Clavell or Robert Jordan.

pO157: Re: Zardoz

Wed, 30 May 2007 10:29:45 EST

The obvious answer is that, for a great many people, reading books is not a rewarding and enjoyable activity.

I am not sure the problem is that there is an increase in the number of people who do not read or if the problem is s

zyxwvutsr: Re: No More Bookstores, No More Books, No More Lib

Wed, 30 May 2007 10:11:10 EST

I am always looking for books.. I probably go though 50 to 75 a year

You must have either a remarkably small or remarkably well insulated house to be able to heat it burning only a few dozen books a year.

zyxwvutsr: Re: Zardoz

Wed, 30 May 2007 10:08:57 EST

I don't know why there aren't more people able to convey with honest enthusiasm that reading books is a rewarding and enjoyable activity

The obvious answer is that, for a great many people, reading books is not a rewar

WMK: Re: Zardoz

Wed, 30 May 2007 10:01:13 EST

TRUE - some people are insufferably awful snobs who leap at any chance to reinforce the default assumption about ivory tower elitists (they SUCK and their opinions are irrelevant). They are the anti-intellectuals best friends when it comes to promoti

rombuu: Re: No More Bookstores, No More Books, No More Lib

Wed, 30 May 2007 10:00:18 EST

It was great publicity. Hell.. this guy's place is a couple of miles from where I work. It's a decent used bookstore, but nothing I'd go out of my way to visit or anything...and I am always looking for books.. I probably go though 50 to 75 a ye

ms sue: Re: Zardoz

Wed, 30 May 2007 09:24:36 EST

But literature today is also simply awful.

Even considering the subjectivity of this subject, yours is an outrageously incorrect statement.

port1080: Some kinds of books...

Tue, 29 May 2007 23:07:45 EST

aren't much better than watching TV, or whatever. Take the venerable Harlequin Romance books. These things are churned out by poorly paid hack authors, cheaply printed, and sold for $5 a pop or more at your local grocery store. Do they have literary mer

thefadd: Re: Zardoz

Tue, 29 May 2007 22:24:40 EST

But literature today is also simply awful. As the audience has slipped away, the ivory tower elites have clutched more and more tightly to their elitist outlooks. People who read books are unbearably snooty about it.

Steve Urkel: Zardoz

Tue, 29 May 2007 22:10:38 EST

Starting in the caveman days, only a few were literate, and books were hard to come by. This went on for years, maybe longer. Then the printing press was developed. The availbility of printed material and literacy increased. Time elapsed. And then other en