"Violence against books is understood by all parties involved as being comparable to violence against people and/or ideas and that violence against a book can quickly lead to other forms of conflict." Cordell Waldron, Iconic Books blog.But what if the violence is not motivated by politics or religion but by commerce?Earlier this month word got out that a U.S. soldier used a Quran for target practice.Here's the video of the AP story and the apology by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad. To think that this was an isolated incident would be a bit of a...
Library a-Go-Go Gets Going
The first public library book dispensing machine in the United States has arrived. Beginning today commuters with a Contra Costa County library card will be able to check out items from a book lending machine at the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Pittsburg/Bay Point station. The machines are built by the Swedish company Distec and cost about $100,000 each. How it works:"A touch screen, similar to an ATM screen, is used to select from up to approximately 500 items that are delivered through an opening in the front of the unit. Materials are returned in a similar way. A robotic...
The Artist’s Library
Joseph Kosuth. On the Phenomenon of the Library, 2006The Artist's Library, currently on view at the Centre international d'art et du paysage de l'ile de Vassiviere, features work by 9 contemporary artists whose work centers around the book."The Artist’s Library represents a ‘Library of Babel’ like that born in the visionary mind of the great Argentinean writer J. L. Borges. Artists and spectators become its librarians"This seminal exhibition is curated by Carrie Pilto and consumes all of the Aldo Rossi designed building. The bookshop, the theater, the reading room, the cafe have all become part of the "library."The artists featured...
The First Library on Mars
The Phoenix has landed on Mars! That DVD you see attached to the Phoenix lander was created by the Planetary Society and is titled "Visions of Mars." It contains "works by The Planetary Society's co-founder Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Kim Stanley Robinson, Arthur C. Clarke, Percival Lowell, and many more." The disc includes classic science fiction texts, artwork, radio broadcasts and the names of 250,000 earthlings."Mars has long fired the imaginations of people around the world, and that fascination has been captured in countless stories and artistic visions of the Red Planet. The Planetary Society brought together the...
Books Hit the Campaign Trail
Looks like the photo of Barak Obama holding his copy of The Post American World during a stop in Bozeman, MT might just be the beginning of a biblio-campaign.The book quickly jumped 3 spots on the Amazon's Top 100 moving from #7 to #4. The following day campaigning in Florida Obama responded to a question about possible running mates with this biblio-reference:I can tell you this. My goal is to have the best possible government. And that means me winning. So, I'm very practical in my thinking. I'm a practical guy. One of my heroes is Abraham Lincoln. Awhile back,...