Posts Tagged ‘books’

School Book Bans Are Rising

September 28, 2022

School Book Bans Are Rising

“From July 2021 to June 2022, PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans lists 2,532 instances of individual books being banned, affecting 1,648 unique book titles.

The 1,648 titles are by 1,261 different authors, 290 illustrators, and 18 translators, impacting the literary, scholarly, and creative work of 1,553 people altogether.”

— “Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools,” Jonathan Friedman and Nadine Farid Johnson, PEN America

“While book bans have long been a part of America’s education fabric, the Pen report suggests they are now driven less by the complaints of individual parents and more by organized, ideological groups and overt pressure from politicians.

About 40% of the book bans in the past year have been connected to political pressure or legislation designed to restrict and reshape teaching, the report estimates.”

— “‘Rapid acceleration’ in US school book censorship leads to 2,500 bans in a year.” Oliver Milman, The Guardian

More:

“Who’s Behind the Escalating Push to Ban Books? A New Report Has Answers,” Eesha Pendharkar, Education Week

“Over 1,600 Books Were Banned During the Past School Year,” Ella Feldman, Smithsonian Magazine

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Photo: Fairy Godmother-Childrens Books & Toys, 319 7th Street SE, Washington DC. Get a copy here. Credit; Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

 

The Covers

January 18, 2019

“Covers,” by Henning M. Lederer. More here and here.

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Ivanka Adds Book-Like Object to Product Line

May 9, 2017

Ivanka Adds Book-Like Object to Product Line

Ivanka Trump isn’t just the Official White House Lifestyle Guru, she’s a favorite POTUS daughter, multimillionaire wife, nanny-hiring mother, former model, and retail brand! On May 2nd, Ivanka Inc. released a compilation of mis-applied quotations and alleged career advice for women called Women Who Work. This handsome volume would look absolutely fabulous on a Trump Home by Dorya Cocktail Table.

By a strange coincidence, “Women Who Work” is the marketing slogan for Ivanka Trump clothing, jewelry, and accessories. And talk about your coincidences, around the time of the book release Ms. Trump took a high-profile jaunt to Europe, was profiled in the New York Times, chatted in the West Wing with “CBS This Morning,” and appeared with SBA chief Linda McMahon at the U.S. Institute of Peace. It’s not a government-enabled book tour, though. Of course not.

Another coincidence: The State Department tweeted a photo promoting Women Who Work.

But what do the critics say about Women Who Work?

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Books

May 29, 2016

The Joy of Books,” animated by Sean Ohlenkamp. After-hours at Type Books in Toronto.

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Banned Books Week 2015

September 30, 2015

Banned Books Week 2015

Banned Books Week 2015 Celebrating the Freedom to Read: Sept. 27- Oct. 3, 2015

The freedom to read what we will is firmly rooted in the First Amendment, yet many who rant about upholding the Constitution would restrict our access to written art, enlightenment, and information. Celebrate liberty and literacy —read a banned book today.

Banned Books Day Events listed by state here.

More:

“This Is Why You Should Celebrate Banned Books Week,” Maddie Crum, Huffington Post

Banned Books That Shaped America

“Ban This Book,” Grant Snider, Incidental Comics

“6 Historical High Points For Book Banning,” Claire Fallon,Huffington Post

Related:

“America’s Very Own Book Burnings,” Libby Coleman, Ozy

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Image (“Freedom to eRead, after Roger Roth”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht,NotionsCapital.com

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The Future of Reading

August 27, 2015

The Future of Reading

“Ever since the first hand-held e-readers were introduced in the 1990s, the digital-reading revolution has turned the publishing world upside down. But contrary to early predictions, it’s not the e-reader that will be driving future book sales, but the phone.”

— — “The Rise of Phone Reading,” Jennifer Maloney, Wall Street Journal

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Image (“Young Beauty With iPhone, after Kikugawa Eizan”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Comet Lander: It’s Alive!

June 15, 2015

Comet Lander: It's Alive!

The Philae device the European Space Agency landed on a comet has emerged from 7 months of hibernation and phoned home, sending a radio signal from Comet 67P. The ESA Rosetta Orbiter landed Philae after a 10 year space voyage, but the washing-machine-sized device bounced into a shadowed part of the comet’s surface and couldn’t recharge its solar cells until now.

More:

“European space probe, thought lost, awakes in comet’s shadows,” Thomas Atkins, Reuters

“ESA’s Philae comet lander wakes up after seven months of hibernation,” Sebastian Anthony, Ars Technica UK

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Fast Food

October 9, 2014

Fast Food

“It’s no coincidence that fast-casual restaurants are on the rise; we don’t even have time to eat anymore.

Nor, it seems, does anyone have time to cook. The publishing world has created a whole genre of cookbooks designed to help the harried put food on the table during a workday that seems to end only when head hits pillow.

Now one of the most influential and prolific voices in food has joined a crowded field of meals-in-minutes celebrities: New York Times columnist and author Mark Bittman has just released How to Cook Everything Fast: A Better Way to Cook Great Food  (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $35), the fifth in his series of dense, recipe-rich tomes that place an emphasis on food preparation, not food-porn photos. ‘Fast’ spans more than 1,050 pages, most packed with recipes (approximately 2,000 of them, including variations), techniques and tips for working smarter in the kitchen.”

— “Mark Bittman’s ‘How to Cook Everything Fast,’ reviewed,” Tim Carman, Washington Post

Related:

“The Truth About Home Cooking,” Mark Bittman, TIME

Mark Bittman will talk about his new book with Joe Yonan on Saturday, October 11th at 7 PM at GWU’s Marvin Center (tickets here). He’ll also be at the Dupont Circle Freshfarm Market Sunday morning at 10 AM.

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Banned Books Week 2014

September 23, 2014

Banned Books Week 2014

Q: What do the books The Adventures of Captain Underpants andThe Kite Runner have in common?

A: Both books have been banned. Frequently.

It’s Banned Books Week (September 21−27, 2014). The freedom to read what we will is firmly rooted in the First Amendment, yet many who rant about upholding the Constitution would restrict our access to written art, enlightenment, and information. Celebrate liberty and literacy —read a banned book today.

Banned Books Day Events listed by state here.

More:

Banned Books That Shaped America

“Ban This Book,” Grant Snider, Incidental Comics

“Too Graphic? 2014 Banned Books Week Celebrates Challenged Comics,” Lynn Neary, NPR

“6 Historical High Points For Book Banning,” Claire Fallon, Huffington Post

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Image (“Freedom to eRead, after Roger Roth”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht,NotionsCapital.com

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Saint Ronald

August 13, 2014

Saint Ronald

Rick Perlstein wrote a book about Barry Goldwater in 2001; William Buckley praised it. George Will praised Perlstein’s 2008 best-seller Nixonland. Today’s conservatives are not fond of Perlstein’s new publication, The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan.  They’re attacking it, and its author.

“What changed?” asks David Weigel. “This time Perlstein is writing about Ronald Reagan. Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan—Perlstein has moved from covering a minor saint, to a martyr, to God.”

Besides this charge of blasphemy,  conservatives chastise Pearlstein for paying attention to the facts and not making up his own, like they do. How unoriginal. He must be a plagiarist.

More:

“It’s Not Rick Perlstein’s Scholarship that Seems to Be in Question. It’s His Politics,” Peter Charles Hoffer, History News Network

“A Question of Character: Craig Shirley’s Scurrilous Attack on Liberal Historian Rick Perlstein,” Adele M. Stan, The American Prospect

“Rick Perlstein: ‘Ronald Reagan absolved America almost in a priestly role not to have to contend with sin. The consequences are all around us today,’” David Dayen, Salon

 

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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