Book News, In Brief

My oh my, how times have changed. This first link will lead you to The NYTimes' review of The Uncrowned King, "a biography of the young William Randolph Hearst (and a) story about the rising power of the press in the late 19th century." This second link'll lead you to an article about the current Hearst Corp. and their 'You wanna buy a newspaper?' woes.

Senseless tragedies like the one pictured here can be avoided...but not if we can help it! Via Publisher's Weekly: A new government regulation that requires testing of all products aimed at children 12 and under is causing headaches for publishers, booksellers and manufacturers. Books, audiobooks and sidelines fall under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which is set to go into effect Feb. 10; industry organizations are attempting to get books excluded from the Act.

The Australian's Roy Williams has penned a lengthy screed regarding the popularity of How-To books. Oddly, the best part of his thesis isn't his diagnosis as to why they're popular ("the hectic pace of day-to-day urban living, and the drive for efficiency and profitability in all spheres."), but his brief review of Mark Crick's Sartre's Sink at the very end. Who knew there was a How-To book out there featuring chapters like 'Painting a Paneled Door with Anais Nin' ("She felt every stroke of the brush as though its pure bristle were moving on the surface of her skin") and 'Putting Up a Garden Fence with Hunter S. Thompson'?