Past and Present Reads as Book Reviews With Some Cinema by Frank Funicello

READS. And take me to the movies....

Did someone say "cinema", "baseball", "Kevin Costner", and "books"?

Frank Funicello is a relative of Annette Funicello, the star of the Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers in the 1950's. Frank has started READS, a book review blog (with occasional cinema reviews) at Past and Present Reads. Frank really knows his books and movies.

Thus far he has short takes on cinema, baseball, a murder trial, and more:

• for Baseball fans and Kevin Costner fans, see Frank's Say it ain't so, where he writes:
  "Yesterday, the Canadian writer W.P. Kinsella passed into his own field of dreams.  A lot of people may have never heard of him but his novel Shoeless Joe went on to become the film Field of Dreams, with which many are familiar.  As often is the case, the book was better than the film, although the film wasn't awful, just a touch on the "schmaltzy" side and personally I think it was Kevin Costner's best movie next to his Bull Durham."
• When in Rome (or Pompeii)..... Books and Film
• Re: Re-Reading "tasty" or "digestible" books
• Murder, She Wrote (about)....  a murder trial out of Australia 
• Man, that Booker on the Man Booker Prize
• Danish, anyone? on The Danish Girl cinema film

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Global Innovation to Transgress Cultural Boundaries

A new book by Springer publishers in the category of
"Professional Learning and Development in Schools and Higher Education"
is Global Innovation of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
subtitled as Transgressing Boundaries, Eds: Prudence C. Layne & Peter Lake.

The book is described at that page as "Bridges approaches to teaching and learning across the boundaries of different cultures, disciplines and institutions." Obviously this is a topic of actual, current interest.

CreateSpace Book to eBook Kindle Conversion of Books With Images via K2pdfopt and Calibre

CreateSpace Book to eBook Kindle Conversion of Books With Images

We make no warranty that this will work for you. Perhaps another, simpler method is available. When we first did this, none was. The procedure described below is complicated, but doable and it works for us. Here is what we do.

The objective: Creating a MOBI file usable in a Kindle publication when the book to be converted to Kindle format includes images. Normally, this can be difficult or impossible to do, since Kindle is set up mainly for text-based books. When we used the automatic CreateSpace link to convert our print book to Kindle, all we got back was impossible garble. We needed a different solution.

The method: Converting native (i.e. normal) pdf files of text and images to a pdf file consisting of each page as a singular graphic image page, i.e. including text and graphics as one image, which is then shown in that format on Kindle.

First: Create a normal "native" pdf file of your book from e.g. a .docx file which can be done in Microsoft Word (latest version) via the "Export" function under the menu item "File". This works for us in the subsequently described conversion procedure. We can not speak for pdf files created by other programs.

Second: Download and use K2pdfopt. Load that native pdf file into the file list of the program K2PDFOPT (download the version suitable for your system). K2pdfopt has dozens of commands for tweaking pdf files.

Our objective is to obtain each page of our book as a separate image for our pdf file and then automatically obtain a new pdf file of the whole book formatted in that manner.

Here is how you do it with k2pdfopt.exe.

The Command settings in k2pdfopt for conversion of pages as graphic images:

Load your normal "native" pdf file into the file list (do not click "native" ! in the lower commands or you just get a "normal" pdf file again).

Add these options from the options below that list:

Additional options:

• enter exactly the following text with hyphens and space
  -bp -mc

Command-line version options

• enter exactly the following text with hyphens and spaces
  -mode copy -de 1.5 -odpi 167 -h 1180 -w 800 -ws 0.2

Settings

• Max columns: 1
• Document Resolution Factor 1.0
• Crop Margins (in): Left 0.00 Top 0.00 Right 0.00 Bottom 0.00
• Pages to convert: (all)

Check (select) with the checkmark the following options:

• Color output if your pdf has pages in color
• Ignore small defects
• Forget the rest unless you have special option requirements

At the right top of that same command page at k2pdfopt,
enter the following settings:

• Device: Kindle 1-5
• Width 800 px
• Height 1180 px
• DPI 167 (not sure if this is standard or determined by the pdf)
• Conversion Mode: copy

Make sure the conversion mode is "copy". Then click "Convert All Files" and each page of your pdf will be converted to a graphic image, one by one as you can see on the screen. If not, you may have to reformat your Word file and make sure you have "page breaks" after each page or your result can lead to different pages on the screen than what you had in the original.

The resulting pdf is a pdf composed of each page of the original source converted to one graphic image (both text and graphic image parts). This, however, reduces what the reader can do with the text in Kindle but is better than any other alternative known to us. The reader can zoom any page like a graphic image for easier reading, which is not only useful for texts, but also great for graphic images. Negative is that the font and text sizes can not be changed as such per se but can only be "zoomed". But it works.

Download Calibre. That k2pdfopt pdf "image" file of a book can then be converted to the necessary Kindle "MOBI" format using the program Calibre which can be downloaded online at http://calibre-ebook.com/.

Load the resulting k2pdfopt pdf file into Calibre and select the "Convert books" option and then pick MOBI from the list of options. Calibre converts the pdf file to MOBI -- if memory serves correctly, placing it into an automatically created CalibreBooks directory in a file named after the book author. At least, that is what we use.

Download KindlePreviewer. Check now to see how the book looks with the KindlePreviewer, which allows you to see the book in all Kindle versions, also iOS. You can now upload your book to Kindle.

Caveat Emptor: Please note that we do not do any personal consultations on this matter. We are simply reporting our experience, and if it is useful to you, fine. If not, you may have to tweak your own solution. We have at least shown then how it "could" be done. Surely improvements are possible.

Free Scrivener Templates for Books at GalleyCat

See some free Scrivener templates for books via this link at GalleyCat.

Fewer Deals at Amazon Online as Competition Wanes: See Books Feature at The New York Times

Click this link for the Books feature at the The New York Times.

Interesting reading there currently is an article by David Streitfeld, As Competition Wanes, Amazon Cuts Back Discounts, July 4, 2013.

The Real World of Monet : The New Yorker

The Real World of Monet : The New Yorker: - Sent using Google Toolbar

Books and Printing

Nice references about books and printing at About GrubStreetPrinting.com.

Nele Neuhaus Goes From Books-on-Demand to Bestselling Crime Novel Author

Category: Crime Novels, Book Publishing and Books on Demand Success Story

The article that is linked below is in German, but you can easily run it through Google Translate and/or the Bing Microsoft Translator and get the main points.

See Mit wenig Geld zum eigenen Buch.

Sabrina Kessler at the German magazine Wirtschafts-Woche (WiWo, Economic Weekly) tells the tale of Nele Neuhaus, best-selling German crime novelist whose book sales have now reached beyond the two million mark.

Her books are thus far available in 20 countries, though I have yet to find English translations, which one would assume would soon be forthcoming.

The first film based on one of her books is also in the making.

Neuhaus started with book-on-demand publisher Monsenstein und Vannerdat and is now under contract at Ullstein Verlag (Neuhaus, here and here).

We have read three of her books thus far and can say that she is a very talented writer whose success will be matched by very few authors.

Nevertheless, it is a great books-on-demand success story.

Joy's Book Blog Reviews The Fire Island Cookbook by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen

Book Review: The Fire Island Cookbook by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen | Joy's Book Blog

Holiday Cookouts and Gatherings Taken to the Next Level: The Fire Island Cookbook by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen, Foreward by Al Roker, a Book Review by the Recipe Syndicate

Read the book review
The Fire Island Cookbook
where the Recipe Syndicate writes inter alia:

"One [new] cookbook ... could help you take your cookouts and holiday gatherings to the next level.  The Fire Island Cookbook ... includes a complete menu ... for each weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day.  The book includes 14 menus that were influenced by the "World Wine Guys'" ...  contributing editors for Wine Enthusiast Magazine [with] articles and photos that have appeared in Saveur, Wine Enthusiast, and Wine Spectator."

A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith by Darrel E. Berg, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan

I am currently reading the Reverend Darrel E. Berg, A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1965.

In the chapter "Not for Sale", Darrel E. Berg refers to Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer as a role model for his ministry as man morally "not for sale", who turned his back on riches to be a medical missionary in Africa:
"A man who 'has it made' ministers to those who have no claim on him."
-- Darrel E. Berg, A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith

What does it mean to be "not for sale" morally? Darrel addresses not only his own congregation, but the congregations of all churches:

"[W]e need to remember that the greatest testing may come to us after we have gotten what we wanted....Then it is that the King of Sodom comes making his approach, appealing to our selfishness, "Keep the spoil for yourself, keep your money for yourself, keep your prestige for yourself; don't risk it for those who don't deserve it. Keep your schools to yourselves, and your churches, your clubs and your neighborhoods." That is the way the King of Sodom talks, and if we listen to him we sometimes sell all that we are to him.

The great battles are not the military, political or business battles, but the moral battles. Abraham won a surprising victory over the forces of the ancient King Chedorloamer, but it was not more important than his victory over the King of Sodom on the way home. In the conquest, he showed that all that he stood for was unique and sacred and not for sale.

It was important for us to win over the Nazi, but it would be a shame for us to have won that struggle and then fail to win the moral struggle with racial injustice, crime and corruption in which we are now involved. It is important for us to win the battle to make a living, but it is even more important for us to win the battle to be what we are called to be. It was important for Samson to defeat the Philistines, but it was a shame that on the way home he had to fall prey to Delilah. It is important for us to win the argument with the Communists, but it would be sad if we lost our souls to Sodom before we could carry home the trophy."

Indeed, the Nazis and the Communists have by and large been defeated, but are "we in America" losing the trophy on our way home? by filling our coffers more and more at the expense of our neighbors? by opposing health care for all? by keeping our spoils of the battle to make a living only for ourselves?

Crossposted from LawPundit.

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Not Awarded? So We Award the BookPundit Fiction Prize for 2012 to Nele Neuhaus

No Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2012?
No problem.

How about an alternative reward for Nele Neuhaus, Germany's best-selling crime novelist?

As written at Agence Hoffman:

"Nele Neuhaus is the most successful German crime writer. She took the bestseller lists by storm with SCHNEEWITTCHEN MUSS STERBEN/Snow White must die and WER WIND SÄT.*

Nele Neuhaus' gripping novels are set in the Taunus mountains, where the author lives. www.neleneuhaus.de"

* We add here our footnote translation of "Wer Wind Sät" as "If You Sow Wind", based on the German phrase that whoever sows wind, will reap a whirlwind.

So we herewith award The BookPundit Fiction Prize for 2012 to Nele Neuahus, who writes "Taunus, Germany-based" complex crime novels in German dealing with modern topics such as wind energy and environmental politics, for example, which she then weaves into the magically interlaced substance of her marvelous criminal mystery novels. The results are outstanding.

This award, by the way, is not connected with any other benefit other than this simple recognition of her excellent book writing.

We initially became aware of the works of Nele Neuhaus after asking at the local library what novels were currently being borrowed the most and was told "the crime series of books of Nele Neuhaus". Well, so we loaned out a book.

Her books are a series of crime squad investigations led by Inspector Oliver von Bodenstein and his colleague Pia Kirchhoff. The books are well researched and the author works together with real crime investigation professionals to get the crime details right. A truly great, almost natural gift for writing adds the rest.

Our own bookseller regards Tiefe Wunde ("Deep Wounds") as the best book by Nele Neuhaus thus far and it is the third book in the series. Google Translator translates the short description of Tiefe Wunde at Amazon.de as follows:

"The 92-year-old Holocaust survivor David Joshua Goldberg is killed at his home in the Taunus with a neck shot. At autopsy, the doctor makes a strange discovery: Goldberg's arm bears the remains of a blood group tattoo, as it was customary for members of the SS. Then ... two more murders [occur], executions. What mystery linked the victims to each other? The investigations lead ... Chief Inspector Oliver Bodenstein and his colleague Pia Kirchhoff far into the past ...[to] East Prussia in January 1945 ... 

Nearly 200 enthusiastic readers ... on 22 August 2009, [experienced] the book launch of 'Deep Wounds' at the Kempinski Hotel in Königstein [in the Taunus]."

Well, if you read German, you are lucky, because you can enjoy the Neuhaus crime novels. We assume the publisher will bring English-language versions soon, but we can not guarantee it.

Maybe the best thing they could do this year was not to award the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. They would have missed Neuhaus anyway.

No Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Shows the State of America: Conflict Rather than Cooperation and Compromise

Maureen Corrigan has her version of the story at The Washington Post in Pulitzer’s no decision on fiction prize exposes flaw in process - The Washington Post.

There are many good books and authors out there.

The flaw in the process is internal politics, an ailment that pervades America at the moment, giving conflict priority and neglecting cooperation and compromise.

Apps as the Future of Book Publishing ?

Alex Knapp of Forbes asks

Are Apps The Future of Book Publishing?

E-Book Market in Germany Hobbled by Cultural Resistance

Aaron Wiener has the story at Spiegel Online News International in

'We Read Best on Paper':
Cultural Resistance Hobbles German E-Book Market

Crossposted from LawPundit.

Ancient Signs The Alphabet & the Origins of Writing

Ancient Signs: The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing
by Andis Kaulins is now available in 4 versions
(b/w, color, and both of those also as ebooks)
at
http://www.epubli.com/shop/autor/Andis-Kaulins/3682.

In Ancient Signs, the author traces the origins of writing and the alphabet to syllabic writing systems in ancient cultures and shows that these have one common origin.

print b/w version black and white inside

B/W inside
200 pages, 90 gram paper
Price: €35.99 (about US $47 on day of posting)
for the B/W print version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet
to syllabic writing.
Softcover - print b/w, cover in color

eBook b/w version black and white version
B/W inside
200 pages
Price: €27.99 (about US $37 on day of posting)
for the B/W eBook version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet
to syllabic writing.
  

color print version color inside
COLOR inside
200 pages, 150 gram glossy paper
Price: €149.00 (about US $196 on day of posting)
for the color print version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet
to syllabic writing.
Hardcover - print and cover in color
 

color eBook version color inside
COLOR inside
200 pages
Price: €39.99 (about US $52 on day of posting)
for the color inside eBook version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet
to syllabic writing.

Enjoy Reading.

The Hare With Amber Eyes: Edmund de Waal, Netsuke Miniature Japanese Sculptures, the War and the Fate of the Bankers Ephrussi and Rothschild

Elaine Margolin
has the review
at Forward.com
at The Arty Semite
in Of a Jewish Banking Dynasty, Only the Sculptures Survived.

Hat tip to CaryGEE.

Constitutional Law, Contracts, Torts and Property: Forthcoming: Intellectual Property and Income Tax Law: The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law

The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law is a series of books on specific fields of law. They are currently available in paperback in four subject areas: Constitutional Law, Contracts, Torts and Property. Our review of this series is based on the information value of these volumes and let us say this -- this is a lot of knowledge at a bargain price.






Each volume is written by one or more legal experts in the respective legal field: Constitutional Law by Michael C. Dorf with Trevor W. Morrison, Contracts by Randy E. Barnett, Torts by John C.P. Goldberg and Benjamin C. Zipursky and Property by Thomas W. Merrill and Henry E. Smith.

Scheduled for publication in December 2011 are two additional volumes under editor Dennis Patterson: Intellectual Property by Daniel Hunter and Income Tax Law by Edward McCaffery.

For those interested, Oxford Law at Oxford University Press also maintains a Law Librarian Newsletter and E-Alerts on these and selected other areas of legal interest which can be subscribed to here. Currently available E-Alerts are: 1) Arbitration & Litigation, 2) Banking, Insurance, and Securities, 3) Commercial, 4) Communications & Internet, 5) Competition, 6) Constitution Law, 7) Corporate Finance, 8) Customs, 9) Environmental, 10) Ethics, 11) European Union, 12) Human Rights, 13) Intellectual Property, 14) International Criminal Law, 15) International Trade, 16) Legal Reference, 17) Maritime/Shipping, and 18) Public International Law.

We have obtained complimentary review copies of the four available books in the series, each of which can be viewed as a primer in the respective legal field and each of which is thus intended for students, but is in fact also suitable for reading by just about anyone who wants to get a good grasp of the legal fundamentals in a chosen area of American law.

1. The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Constitutional Law, by Michael C. Dorf and Trevor W. Morrison in paperback covers 268 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches (close to DIN A5 in size), Index, ISBN13: 9780195370034, ISBN10: 0195370031, and is priced very affordably at $19.95 a copy.
   The Authors in this case (in the editorial version by the publisher of the Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law) are:
   

   "Michael C. Dorf is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell University Law School....
   Trevor W. Morrison is Professor of Law at Columbia Law School....

   Dorf is more the Constitutional Law theoretician and Morrison more the legal pragmatist, and that is how they have have divided up the chapters. Although the two authors use what is described as "the plural authorial voice", i.e. "we", Dorf is considered the principal author, having penned chapters 1-4 (Who Decides?, Judicial Review, Constitutional Interpretation, Federalism) and 6-8 (Equal Protection, Enumerated Rights: The First Amendment, Unenumerated Rights), while Morrison penned chapter 5 (Separation of Powers) and chapters 9-10 (Congressional Enforcement of Constitutional Rights, Beyond the Courts).
   
   The editorial abstract to this volume reads:
   

   "The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Constitutional Law  presents an accessible introduction to the enduring topics of American constitutional law, including judicial review, methods of interpretation, federalism, separation of powers, equal protection, and individual liberties....
   
   This introduction to American constitutional law critically examines the work of the Supreme Court of the United States, which has resolved thousands of constitutional controversies based on the shortest national constitution on the planet. The authors also look beyond the Supreme Court, exploring the arguments for and against judicial review and various versions of popular constitutionalism."

2. The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Contracts, by Randy E. Barnett in paperback covers 284 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches (close to DIN A5 in size), Index, ISBN13: 9780199740185, ISBN10: 0199740186, and is priced very affordably at $19.95 a copy:
   

   "Randy E. Barnett is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at Georgetown University Law Center."

   Randy Barnett presents us with the "big picture" of contracts, synthesizing key doctrines and cases and presenting a clear and concise view of the evolution and rationale of contacts law.
   
   Individual consent is at the basis of civilization and democracy in our modern world and in the book "consent" is the basic philosophical rationale that serves as the governing principle for modern contract law.
   
   Barnett has an author's posting on this book at The Volokh Conspiracy.
   
   The editorial abstract to this volume reads:
   

   "The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Contracts provides students with ready access to the basic doctrines of contract law, the story behind their evolution, and the rationales for their continued existence. An engaging book that allows students to grasp the “big picture” of contract law, it is organized around the principle that lies at the heart of contracts: consent. Beginning with the premise of “consent,” the book provides a cohesive framework in which to understand the various aspects of contract law."

3. The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Torts, by John C.P. Goldberg and Benjamin C. Zipursky in paperback covers 436 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches (close to DIN A5 in size), Index, ISBN13: 9780195373974, ISBN10: 0195373979, and is priced very affordably at $19.95 a copy.
   
   Torts is a word taking its origin from a meaning of "injury" and applies to a "wrong" inflicted on a person by another via breach of a civil -- rather than a contractual -- duty. For example, if someone is injured in an auto accident due to negligence, that is a tort. Libel and defamation are torts. Copyright infringement is a tort. It is different than a criminal violation against the State, which is a breach of a specific duty to society in general.
   
   The editorial abstract to this volume reads:
   

    "The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Torts provides a clear and comprehensive account of what tort law is, how it works, what it stands to accomplish, and why it is now much-disputed. Goldberg and Zipursky--two of the world's most prominent tort scholars--carefully analyze leading judicial decisions and prominent tort-related legislation, and place each event into its proper context. Topics covered include products liability, negligence, medical malpractice, intentional torts, defamation and privacy torts, punitive damages, and tort reform."

   Torts and tort reform are a controversial field in modern law. In their handling of "Damages and Apportionment", for example, Goldberg and Zipursky devote quite a number of pages to a discussion of punitive damages in torts, writing at the outset that:
   

   "Punitive damages -- also known as "exemplary" or "vindictive" damages -- are at the center of contemporary battles over tort law and tort reform."

   Goldberg and Zipursky give a fair and balanced presentation of this controversial topic about which the LawPundit has blogged extensively. See Punitive Damages: A Completey Failed Tort Doctrine Without Sensible Foundation in Legal Theory or Deterrent Fact.
   
   Just as an aside, it is interesting that law books can now also be touted via Twitter and this is one example -- see @law_book.
   
4. The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Property, by Thomas W. Merrill and Henry E. Smith in paperback covers 284 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches (close to DIN A5 in size), Index, ISBN13: 9780195314762, ISBN10: 019531476X, and is priced very affordably at $19.95 a copy.
   
   The editorial abstract to this volume reads:
   

   "The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Property provides both a bird's eye overview of property law and an introduction to how property law affects larger concerns with individual autonomy, personhood, and economic organization. Written by two authorities on property law, this book gives students of property a coherent account of how property law works, with an emphasis on describing the central issues and policy debates. It is designed for law students who want a short and theoretically integrated treatment of the subject, as well as for lawyers who are interested in the conceptual foundations of the law of property."

   Merrill and Smith discuss for example the question of what "property" actually means in the real world, viewing "Owners as Gatekeepers":
   

   "Once an owner has acquired property, either by original acquisition or by transfer from a previous owners, the question becomes what exactly does such an owner have? ... The owner, as gatekeeper, has broad discretion to decide who has access to the property and and what terms...."

It is much like owning one or more volumes of this series of books on U.S. law.  Once you have them, YOU decide what to do with them and their value rests on your decisions. A law student, for example, who has these books at his or her disposal, and reads them, should better understand the legal issues under discussion. My view as a student always was, to better understand what the professors are speaking, read what they are writing.

We can, in any case, heartily recommend these books as useful tools and as great deals offering a lot of knowledge at a bargain price.
__________

crossposted from LawPundit

The Great Global Treasure Hunt on Google Earth™

The Great Global Treasure Hunt on Google Earth™: - Sent using Google Toolbar

Books for Lawyers: Thirty Must Reads Recommended at the ABA Journal

Stephanie Francis Ward at the ABA Journal headlines that 30 Lawyers Pick 30 Books Every Lawyer Should Read.

We certainly agree with some, but not all of the selections. Surely any of the books listed have potential value to particular readers, although book selection is largely a matter of personal taste. Each of us would clearly come up with a different list of 30 books.

I definitely do miss from the ABA Journal list:

Herbert Packer, The Limits of the Criminal Sanction

Packer's brilliant discussion of the underlying values that guide models of criminal process could in principle be applied equally to law and politics in general, where there is a constant battle between (simplistic) legal and political fundamentalism and (the more complex) reality, something we currently see similarly in the alleged "fundamentalist" national budget crisis, which, according to the blog of Robert Reich at the Christian Science Monitor, is "in reality" a jobs and growth crisis.