Books on the Move

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

This timelapse video shows how British bookseller Foyles moved its flagship store inventory to the shop’s new location at the former St Martins School of Art in London. The wonderful old 1930s store will be sorely missed, but at least they didn’t shut down.

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All Miles Are Not Created Equal

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

Last week the mileage rewards and points experts at MileCard released a report ranking major airlines loyalty rewards programs. The study provides some real world perspective on the baffling rewards programs. You can see the entire report here. There are lots of helpful bits of information in the study, but one of the most useful is that “cheapest” point days are mid-week, while the most “expensive” are on the weekend.

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Times New Roman

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

If you have little interest in typography, then you can safely skip this engaging film about the world’s most popular typeface. But if you pay attention to what you see on the printed page (or on your screens) then this segment for a film series called “Unquiet Minds” by Betsy Work, Grey London and Phil Lind will be well worth 3+ minutes of your time.

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Love Your Local Indies

Posted on June 7, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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The New Yorker magazine’s “Page Turner” blog recently asked cartoonist Bob Eckstein to travel around New York City and draw his favorite bookstores. Here’s a sample of his first installment from the series of annotated cartoons. It’s bittersweet to see the now defunct Rizzoli shop, which has gone the way of so many great NYC bookstores.

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Books Are Awesome

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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Polish artist and muralist Natalia Rek recently completed this awesome bit of street art for ArtScape Festival in Malmö, Sweden. It’s very aptly titled “Magic Book”.

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That Old Book Aroma

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

As a bookseller and book collector, I’m surrounded by books every day. The distinctive scent of old books is a constant intoxicating companion. This fascinating infographic explains just what causes the aroma from antiquarian volumes, as well as new books.

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Don’t Quote Me

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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Tunnel Vision

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

 

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All well designed public transit maps are easy to interpret and provide accessible travel information for local residents and travelers alike, but wouldn’t it be great if they also offered real-time transit information too. The new app called Tunnel Vision , created by Bill Lindmeier, is a nifty tool that adds access to data on NYC’s subway system just by pointing a smart device at a MTA map.

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Tunnel Vision provides real-time information on exactly where trains are at, how busy individual stations are and U.S. Census data on neighborhoods around subway stations.

The app is available here for iOS devices.

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London Looped

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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The London Outer Orbital Path—or London Loop—is a 150 mile (245km) signed walking path around the outer edges of London, England. The Loop , which opened in 1996, consists of 24 well-marked stages that can be completed in easily digestible bits.

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Romanian photographer Tudor Prisacariu walked the entire route and documented the journey on his website. Take a look here.

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It’s A Crime

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

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Each June, International Crime Month is a celebration of international crime fiction. Four of America’s most prominent independent publishers—Grove Atlantic, Akashic Books, Melville House, and Europa Editions—have joined forces this time to bring this compelling genre to a wider North American audience. International Crime Month, June 2014, highlights new titles from Akashic’s city-based “Noir” series, Europa’s World Noir imprint, Grove Atlantic’s Mysterious Press and Atlantic Monthly Press imprints, and Melville House’s International Crime series.

Eighty independent bookstores in the U.S. have signed on to the initiative and will be distributing our International Crime Month magazine and stocking the titles detailed within its pages. Click here to read the magazine online and learn more about the indie bookstores.

The magazine is packed with original short fiction, interviews, conversations and profiles from/with/about featured authors. I’m dead chuffed to see Christopher Brookmyre and Mark Billingham getting some ink on this side of the Atlantic.

 

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