Author Archives: joe

December 14, 2012

Picturing Illinois in U of I holiday gift guide

Posted by joe
in Christmas, Illinois / regional, local authors, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Our books make great holiday gifts, and Dusty Rhodes at the University of Illinois News Bureau agrees. She’s included John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle’s Picturing Illinois: Twentieth-Century Postcard Art from Chicago to Cairo in the annual campus holiday gift … Continue reading →

December 13, 2012

Beethoven’s Creativity

Posted by joe
in author commentary, music, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Was Beethoven the creator of masterpieces defined by a strict text or musical blueprint? New research into his creativity shows that Beethoven explored a range of artistic options, and as a tireless improviser he was hardly ever completely satisfied by … Continue reading →

November 30, 2012

Abraham Lincoln, Oscar-Hunter?

Posted by joe
in american history, Lincoln | Comments Off

The much-anticipated film Lincoln, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, recently opened in theaters nationwide.  Here in the Land of Lincoln, we’ve always had a strong history of publishing works on our 16th president, and here a few … Continue reading →

July 17, 2009

Kindle Swindle?

Posted by joe
in all things digital, publishing | Comments Off

New York Times tech guru David Pogue reports on the case of the disappearing Kindle ebooks.  This morning, Amazon.com stealthily crept into Kindle owners’ digital libraries and absconded with their ebook versions of George Orwell’s classic novels 1984 and Animal … Continue reading →

March 26, 2009

Pirates!

Posted by joe
in all things digital, publishing | Comments Off

E-book pirates, that is.  NPR’s All Things Considered reports on e-book piracy and publishers’ efforts to use digital rights management (or “DRM” if you’re hip) to protect their titles against digital piracy.  Usually this means restricting use of the e-book … Continue reading →

March 10, 2009

Book 1.0 Release Notes

Posted by joe
in all things digital, publishing | Comments Off

Video game webcomic Penny Arcade announces a new book format: they call it “Book”, and it features “an intuitive, touch-based interface.” “Book” also performs extremely well in drop tests and simulated coffee spills.