As those of you who check in with us regularly know, one of our guiding lights is our regular visits to the past. Whether it's an archive for In The Stacks, collectible books for a homage to an author or book, or referencing some past event to help us make us sense of the present we are always deeply indebted to what has come before. We are delighted to have Richard Kreitner contribute this piece to Book Patrol. In celebration of the current Fall Books issue of The Nation, Kreitner, Special Assistant at The Nation and editor of its Back Issues blog, shares some book juice from the October 8, 1924...
Sherlock Holmes for the masses
It was this time of year in 1887 when we got our first taste. A Study of Scarlet, originally titled A Tangled Skein, was published by Ward Lock & Co. in Beeton's Christmas Annual 1887. A. Conan Doyle got £25 for the story and the world was introduced to Sherlock Holmes. He has since gone on to become the most famous literary character on the planet. And last month when the U.S. Supreme court refused to hear an appeal by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle over licensing fees Sherlock Holmes has finally come to rest in the...
Let’s put a bookstore in every mall
To magnify the ridiculousness of what has become Black Friday, The Stranger, one of Seattle's few remaining papers that publishes with any integrity, produced a whole issue that originated in a mall. Setting up shop 17 miles outside of Seattle at the Alderwood Mall they went to work. It started this way: It's easy to feel superior in a shopping mall, as anyone who lives in a city should know by now. But easy ironies no longer offer cheap thrills, and capitalism is in exactly no danger of being replaced or overthrown. Shopping malls have been a major cultural reality for...
James Patterson is pissed: Calls out Obama for book support
[youtube]http://youtu.be/JkkVPJBkvqA[/youtube] “There’s a book burning going on in America, You’re invited. Especially the kids. You see they’re shutting down your local bookstores. Shutting down libraries. Publishers are dying. American literature will be next on the flames.” James Patterson is on the loose. After throwing money at it (pledging over $1.5 million to bookshops in America and the UK) Patterson is now throwing books on the fire to wake up the the government and promote his #SaveOurBooks campaign. Patterson has started a White House petition where he is asking the president to pledge that once a month, he will go into a library, bookstore, or appear...
Houston: We Have a 3D Printer
On November 24th at 9:28pm GMT, the first 3D printer built to operate in space successfully manufactured its first part on the International Space Station (ISS). It is the first time that hardware has been additively manufactured in space, as opposed to launching it from Earth. Mission patch and the First Zero-G 3D Printer That's right, it was made in space! And of course, it was developed by Made In Space, a company whose aim is in "constructing hardware that can build what is needed in space, as opposed to launching it from Earth." Clearly way over my head technically but perhaps the First...