Category: Commentaries

What do Americans read the most?

Image: NBC News Estimated reading time: 4 minutes When you read books, what floats your boat? If you’re among the 54 percent of Americans who have read one or more books in the past year, chances are you read mysteries and crime stories. Or so we learn from a recent post on YouGov (December...

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What history teaches us about climate change

Thoughts while reading Why the West Rules – for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future, by Ian Morris. Ian Morris’ extraordinary book has led me to a surprising conclusion: that climate change has been one of the most profound determinants of the course of human history.

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Which authors make the most money?

We all know some writers make it, and some don’t. In fact, most people who are gripped with the obsession to write a book never make a dime from it, if they can even get it into print. (Even self-publishing isn’t all that easy for the technologically challenged, as it turns out.) But...

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Which authors have written the most books?

Classic authors, most of them bestsellers in their time. You’re gonna love this. Once upon a time, back in the distant reaches of the twentieth century—well, actually it was 1984—one of my clients assigned me to ghostwrite a fundraising letter that Isaac Asimov had agreed to sign. I approached the...

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Just how many books are there, really?

In a guest post here on October 4, 2016 (“10 awful truths about book publishing”), publisher Steven Piersanti remarked on the huge numbers of books being published today. Here’s what he wrote: According to the latest Bowker Report (September 7, 2016), more than 700,000 books were self-published in...

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10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing

Some years ago my friend and publisher Steven Piersanti, founder and senior editor of San Francisco’s Berrett-Koehler Publishers, wrote an article entitled “10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing.” He has updated the piece from time to time with the latest data. Here’s the most recent version,...

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Which countries read the most?

I stumbled online across a fascinating—and surprising—article, “The countries that read the most books, mapped,” which appears on the website Indy100 from the UK newspaper, Independent. Published August 30, 2020, and with data from 2016, the newspaper ranked and mapped selected...

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Who has written the most books?

You’re gonna love this. Once upon a time, back in the distant reaches of the twentieth century—well, actually it was 1984—one of my clients assigned me to ghostwrite a fundraising letter that Isaac Asimov had agreed to sign. I approached the task with some trepidation, both because I knew...

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Innovation: Look beyond Silicon Valley

Today the popular website Virgin Disruptors, one of Richard Branson’s innumerable activities, posted the following article of mine under the title “Innovation — Look beyond Silicon Valley.” I had answered the challenging question, “Have entrepreneurs lost the will to...

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Monday's Newsletter

Science Fiction Monday includes my latest SF book review, with links to other science fiction content.

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Tuesday's Newsletter

Tuesday's Newsletter

Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.

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Wednesday's Newsletter

Wednesday's Newsletter

Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.

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Thursday's Newsletter

The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

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