Category: Books

Feb
02
2018
February 2nd, 2018 by Michael Sauers

From Amazon.com:

“My life, as you will read, has taken me from one cult to another. BRAVE is the story of how I fought my way out of these cults and reclaimed my life. I want to help you do the same.” -Rose McGowan

A revealing memoir and empowering manifesto – A voice for generations

Rose McGowan was born in one cult and came of age in another, more visible cult: Hollywood.

In a strange world where she was continually on display, stardom soon became a personal nightmare of constant exposure and sexualization. Rose escaped into the world of her mind, something she had done as a child, and into high-profile relationships. Every detail of her personal life became public, and the realities of an inherently sexist industry emerged with every script, role, public appearance, and magazine cover. The Hollywood machine packaged her as a sexualized bombshell, hijacking her image and identity and marketing them for profit.

Hollywood expected Rose to be silent and cooperative and to stay the path. Instead, she rebelled and asserted her true identity and voice. She reemerged unscripted, courageous, victorious, angry, smart, fierce, unapologetic, controversial, and real as f*ck.

BRAVE is her raw, honest, and poignant memoir/manifesto—a no-holds-barred, pull-no-punches account of the rise of a millennial icon, fearless activist, and unstoppable force for change who is determined to expose the truth about the entertainment industry, dismantle the concept of fame, shine a light on a multibillion-dollar business built on systemic misogyny, and empower people everywhere to wake up and be BRAVE.

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Feb
01
2018
February 1st, 2018 by Michael Sauers

When Cory Doctorow sends you a package. It’s worth recording for posterity.

Originally recorded on December 27, 2010. (Photos)

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Jan
26
2018
January 26th, 2018 by Michael Sauers

Image: The Reading Lists

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Jan
26
2018
January 26th, 2018 by Michael Sauers

From Amazon.com:

The how-to guide for exceptional management from the bottom upThe Effective Manager is a hands-on practical guide to great management at every level. Written by the man behind Manager Tools, the world’s number-one business podcast, this book distills the author’s 25 years of management training expertise into clear, actionable steps to start taking today. First, you’ll identify what “effective management” actually looks like: can you get the job done at a high level? Do you attract and retain top talent without burning them out? Then you’ll dig into the four critical behaviors that make a manager great, and learn how to adjust your own behavior to be the leader your team needs. You’ll learn the four major tools that should be a part of every manager’s repertoire, how to use them, and even how to introduce them to the team in a productive, non-disruptive way.

Most management books are written for CEOs and geared toward improving corporate management, but this book is expressly aimed at managers of any level—with a behavioral framework designed to be tailored to your team’s specific needs.

  • Understand your team’s strengths, weaknesses, and goals in a meaningful way
  • Stop limiting feedback to when something goes wrong
  • Motivate your people to continuous improvement
  • Spread the work around and let people stretch their skills

Effective managers are good at the job and “good at people.” The key is combining those skills to foster your team’s development, get better and better results, and maintain a culture of positive productivity. The Effective Manager shows you how to turn good into great with clear, actionable, expert guidance.

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Jan
19
2018
January 19th, 2018 by Michael Sauers

From Centipede Press:

The Weird Fiction Review is an annual periodical devoted to the study of weird and supernatural fiction. It is edited by S.T. Joshi. This eighth issue contains fiction, poetry, and reviews from leading writers and promising newcomers. This issue features fiction by John Shirley, Flannery O’Connor, Lynne Jamneck, Michael Washburn, and others, and articles by Stefan Dziemianowicz (an illustrated history of Shasta Publishing), Michael Shuman (on horror films and garage and surf music), Adam Groves (on the golden age of speculative erotic fiction), John C. Tibbetts (on John M. Barrie), Forrest J Ackerman (on Robert Bloch), as well as verse and other essays and fiction. The feature of the issue is Chad Hensley’s terrific interview with Erol Otus, the iconic artist that did so much of the Dungeons & Dragons artwork of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The front and back cover, and inside covers, are by artist Grant Griffin.

  • Artwork gallery by Erol Otus.
  • Lengthy interview with Patrick McGrath.
  • History of the small press: Shasta Press by Stefan Dziemianowicz.
  • Several new essays and stories.
  • Sewn paperback.
  • Nearly 400 pages.

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Jan
12
2018
January 12th, 2018 by Michael Sauers

From Amazon.com:

A Lit Fuse is an unguarded, uncensored, unquiet tour of the life of Harlan Ellison.

In late 2011 Harlan Ellison the multi-award-winning writer of speculative fiction and famously litigious personality did two uncharacteristic things. First, he asked biographer Nat Segaloff if he d be interested in writing his life story. Second, he gave Segaloff full control. The result is the long-anticipated A Lit Fuse: The Provocative Life of Harlan Ellison. The expansive biography, which is the first such project in which Ellison has permitted large portions of his varied works to appear, is published by NESFA Press.

Segaloff conducted exhaustive interviews with Ellison over the course of five years and also spoke with many of his friends and enemies in an effort to get inside the man and pin down the best-known Harlan stories. Their wide-ranging discussions cover his bullied boyhood, his storied marriages, his fabled lawsuits, and his compulsive writing process with more depth and detail than has ever before appeared in print. But it also delves deeply into the man s deeply held principles, his fears, and the demons that have driven him all of his 83 (so far) years. Friends, colleagues, and admirers such as Neil Gaiman, Patton Oswalt, Peter David, Robert Sawyer, Michael Scott, Edward Asner, Leonard Nimoy, Ed Bryant, Alan Brennert, Robert Silverberg, and many other notables add their voices.

Along the way the reader is treated to an analysis of the Connie Willis controversy, the infamous dead gopher story, allegedly pushing a fan down an elevator shaft, and the final word on The Last Dangerous Visions. What emerges is a rich portrait of a man who has spent his life doing battle with his times and himself, always challenging his readers to reach for a higher plane and goading himself to get them there. It s funny, wise, shocking, and well, it’s Harlan.

A Lit Fuse contains a 32-page color photo section.

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Jan
05
2018
January 5th, 2018 by Michael Sauers

From Amazon.com:

The New York Times bestselling author of Better and Complications reveals the surprising power of the ordinary checklist

We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies―neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mind-boggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety-second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third.

In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds.

An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right.

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Jan
01
2018
January 1st, 2018 by Michael Sauers
Total Compated to 2016
Books read 125 117%
Print pages read 17126 59.00%
Fiction titles 103.9 109.08%
Non-fiction titles 22.1 205.58%
Print books 53 73.61%
Graphic Novels 7 58.33%
eBooks 4 80.00%
Audiobooks & Audio Dramas 66 220.00%
Male authors 166 100.00%
Female authors 43 143.33%

Notes:
I past years I’ve included the “page count” for audiobooks. I did not this year hence the significant reduction in that category.

Starting in 2018 I’ll be logging the length of audiobooks and audio dramas.

Image: Ann Larie Valentine

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Dec
29
2017
December 29th, 2017 by Michael Sauers

From Amazon.com:

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Wein (Code Name Verity, Rose Under Fire) journeys to a galaxy far, far away to bring readers the harrowing story of the courageous bomber pilots and technicians of Cobalt Squadron!

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Dec
22
2017
December 22nd, 2017 by Michael Sauers

From Centipede Press:

A new novel by Peter Straub always merits a phone call to your bookseller to leave a reminder that you want a copy. This is necessary as, while Mr. Straub has had a long and productive career, a new novel is something that occurs only once every two and half years on the average. But a new edition of a Peter Straub classic is an event!

We are pleased to present Peter Straub’s Julia in a new, deluxe, slipcased, illustrated edition. Julia, from a historical standpoint, may be one of Straub’s most important novels, as it marked the turning point in his career from writing mainstream novels with Gothic overtones to writing Gothic novels that could be marketed as mainstream novels.

This new edition of Julia features several full-page, full-color illustrations by Rodger Gerberding, a stunning front cover by Colombian artist Marcela Bolívar, a new introduction by T.M. Wright, and an interview with Peter Straub. The book is elegantly typeset in Requiem and is bound in distinctive European cloth, has a rounded back, top-edge stain, ribbon marker, and gorgeous marbled endsheets imported from France.

Over 7 × 10 inches in size, front and rear cover image pastedown, two-color stamping on spine, and a stunning design. Each book is signed by Peter Straub, T.M. Wright, Rodger Gerberding, and Marcela Bolívar.

  • Limited to 200 copies, each signed by Peter Straub, T.M. Wright, Rodger Gerberding, and Marcela Bolívar.
  • Introduction by T.M. Wright.
  • Interview with Peter Straub by Darrell Schweitzer.
  • Luxurious, 7 × 10 inch format.
  • Marbled endsheets imported from France.
  • Ribbon marker, head and tail bands, three-piece cloth construction.
  • Cloth in slipcase: $275 (on sale from $295).

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