The link below is to an article concerning a memoir by Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It is available for free via Facebook. To get it you need to like KFC on Facebook and authorize the app. With that being the case, you could argue it isn’t quite free.
For more visit:
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/kfc-to-republish-colonel-sanders-memoir-on-facebook_b52390
The link below is to another example of book art. In this example the artist has sculpted the face of Mark Zuckerberg into a stack of books. As to whether the sculpture is worth as much as a stack of Facebook shares, I couldn’t say.
For more visit:
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/hong-yi-red-facebook#
I have been reading ‘Print is Dead – Books in our Digital Age,’ by Jeff Gomez and have now reached ‘Writers in a Digital Future.’ Here Gomez explores the possibilities for authors, possibilities that weren’t available in the past. Some attempts at interactive narrative have appeared prior to the digital world, but the opportunities for experimentation are now seemingly endless. As I have mentioned before, the possibilities now exist for the inclusion of various media, such as pictures, music, video, etc. Hyperlinks to other features can now be included in ebooks, allowing in-depth studies of characters for novel writers/readers, treatments of historical events at length and so on. There is just so much room for experimentation in the digital world for authors of all genres, even in ways perhaps not yet imagined.
There is however more opportunity for the digital author, for he/she is now able to interact with the reader via means other than the actual ebook being read. The opportunity exists for collaborative websites, forum and chat room interaction, live video interviews and so many other avenues to interact with fans and readers of his/her material. Of course social networks like Facebook and MySpace provide the means for setting up fan pages and the like also.
So the digital world offers many opportunites and the possibilities for a brave new world of literature are there waiting to be seized. Sooner, rather than later, the digital future will arrive in a big way and authors/publishers need to be ready to meet the online demand that will surely come.
See also:
http://www.dontcallhome.com/books.html (Website of Jeff Gomez)
Podcast (Excerpts from the Book)
Google Books
Amazon
I have started a book reading club/group in association with the Blog here – ‘At the BookShelf.’ The reading club/group will feature some of the books I post about here and will give opportunity for members to obviously discuss the books being read. This is something I’m quite excited about and look forward to seeing grow. I hope you will get involved with the club/group.
The reading club/group will also be networked with my websites, including the http://particularbaptist.com site, providing a social network feature that has been missing at the site for some time. In doing so, I will also try to network the website, the Blog and the Facebook page into the particularbaptist.com community that is slowly being built. Please get involved – over time as the network grows, the interaction increases and the fellowship expands, I’m sure it will be a blessing to us all.
The book reading club/group is simply called At the BookShelf (the same as the Blog).
Visit at:
http://www.bookclubit.com/bookclub.php?id=404
‘The World’s Funniest Proverbs,’ by James Alexander is 154 pages long (my copy). It brings together some of the funniest sayings in the world – well they are generally clever and slightly amusing if nothing else. The book provides some light relief from reading those somewhat more heavy and taxing works that some of us tend to read. There are only about 5 or 6 proverbs/sayings per page, so the book doesn’t take long to flick through and/or read.
Why read it? Well, it provides some amusement and perhaps helps to take the mind of more serious matters for a short time if nothing else. There is always a wealth of information and content here for clever and witty status updates on Facebook and/or Twitter too.
I haven’t spent a great deal of time reading it – but I have flicked through it when time permitted and when I just needed something a little lighter for a while. It’s good for that.
Available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Funniest-Proverbs-James-Alexander/dp/1906051070
There is a copy here:
http://ebook-freelibrary.blogspot.com/2009/12/worlds-funniest-proverbs-by-james.html
I am about to start using a new web application called BookYap. Put simply, BookYap is an application that recommends books based on criteria you enter. There are over 650 000 books in its database, so chances are it will find a book for you.
You can search for a book by using keywords or the filters it has available (based on personality types). By becoming a registered user, the application learns more and more about you and your reading habits, improving the recommendations it makes for you.
Books appear with thumbnails of their covers and book ratings. A brief description appears by hovering over the thumbnail. You are able to interact with the application and associated community by sharing books you have read and your reviews of them. There is connectivity with both Facebook and Twitter also.
You are also able to add books to a reading wishlist if you like. Books can be purchased from Amazon when you choose a book to read.
Visit BookYap at:
http://bookyap.com/
The first book I will be reviewing for Thomas Nelson is called ‘The Noticer,’ by New York Times bestselling author Andy Andrews. It is actually an ebook that I have.
The hardcopy book is available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0785229213/thomasnelsoni-20
There is an online web site associated with the book called ‘The Noticer Project’ at:
http://www.thenoticerproject.com/
I haven’t started to read the book yet, but will be doing so today. Certainly the web site looks interesting. The site encourages visitors to think of 1 to 5 people who have played an important role in their lives. You then post a message sharing your thoughts about these people on the site and an email is also sent to those people. The message is meant to be an inspiration and encouragement to others who visit the site.
A quote from the site will perhaps help:
"The Noticer Project is a worldwide movement to "notice" the five most influential people in your life! Noticing those five people can be as private (just a letter or email) or as public (posting to your Facebook page or joining The Noticer Project Facebook group) as you choose, but the movement is meant to encourage us to step outside our busy schedules and avoid waiting until a wedding, graduation or even a funeral to take notice of the special, influential people in our lives. By noticing those who have made a difference for you, you not only acknowledge their contribution, but you may gain a new perspective on your own journey. If you are noticed, you are encouraged to continue the movement by ‘noticing’ five people in your life!"
There is also a Facebook Group that can be joined and ‘The Noticer’ can be followed on Twitter.
The web site has a number of suggestions as to how you can ‘notice’ that important person in your life, be it from writing a private letter, making a donation to a charity in the name of that person, etc.
The site encourages you to notice a person before a birthday or funeral.
Overall, I quite like the concept of noticing others. It certainly has you thinking in a more ‘other-centred’ manner and encourages you to not be so ‘self-centred.’ I wouldn’t try and blend what is a secular concept into a Christian one, but the project does warrant comparisons with many Christian virtues.
Visit the web site by clicking on the banner below:
At the BookShelf 