#16 Wikis - Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Wiki: A Community for Book Lovers

The New York Times is right on the money to call Nancy Pearl "the talk of librarian circles." She may not be a rock star (I leave that honor to the Eric Claptons and U2s of the world), but she taught us librarians the value of readers advisory and offered ideas on how to market our knowledge of and passion for the book in the Wired Age. Thanks to her series of best-selling books and syndicated book reviews on NPR, Pearl has developed quite a cult following for people unsure of what to read next.

Pearl's Book Lust Wiki: A Community for Book Lovers is based on on her best-selling books Book Lust (2003) and More Book Lust (2005), 011.73 P. (http://booklust.wetpaint.com/). Sasquatch Books published her latest book Book Crush: For Kids and Teens in April (028.55 P).

Since her retirement from the Seattle Public Library, Pearl writes books, speaks at bookstores and libraries, edits her Book Lust Wiki, and contributes two weekly "Book Beat" book reviews each week for NPR station KUOW in Seattle. Quite a work load!

In creating Washington County Free Library's BookShare program, I took inspiration from Pearl's belief that we should enlighten our library's readership about books - both fiction and nonfiction - that never make the bestseller lists. This is about 95% of books published and sitting on our shelves unread, so we have our work cut out for us.

Book Lust Wiki has several interesting features. Pearl invites readers to share their ideas of what will be the new literary classics for adults and children. She's also starting a list of the most popular authors "too good to miss" and encourages readers to add their favorite. I wonder what Pearl thinks about Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo who completes one book every six or seven years. His Empire Falls (2001) is a masterpiece and equals to his earlier work about life in small town America: Straight Man, Nobody's Fool, and Mohawk. Russo's latest book is Bridge of Sighs, to be published by Knopf in September.

You can post a notice in the Out of Print Books section which connects you to members of the community who may have a copy of the book you're interested in buying.

You can link your book discussion blog to Book Lust Wiki. Most helpfully, Pearl has categorized the blogs contributed so far into recognizable genres:

Chick Lit
Contemporary Romance
Fantasy
Historical Romance
Horror
Inspirational Romance
Mystery
Non-Fiction
Paranormal Romance
Science Fiction
Suspense/Thriller
Women's Fiction
General Book-Related Blogs
Children's Literature Blogs
Bookseller Blogs

When you join Book Lust Wiki, you can submit comments, edit pages, add a page, and keep tabs on a favorite page.

Her list of books guaranteed to "ignite" discussions are taken from her 2005 book More Book Lust. However, the world of books never stands still, so it would be interesting to see what newer titles in paperback Pearl recommends. The list includes Deborah Schupack’s The Boy on the Bus, Ann Packer’s The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, and two novels by Anne Ursu: Spilling Clarence and The Disapparation of James.

Book Lust Wiki accepts Google-generated ads and acts as a marketing campaign to sell Pearl's books. I have no problem with Pearl running a commercial website since marketing is what sells and/or circulates books.

I suggest that we invite Nancy Pearl to speak at a future Staff Day.

#14 Technorati

The heart of Technorati is blogs, or what the company calls "citizen media." It currently tracks 94 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.


After doing a keyword search for “Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory, it produced 3,614 results. Each blogger offers a different perspective of "Learning 2.0"

A blogger from Athens, Greece (http://e-learningpractice.blogspot.com/2007/07/e-learning-20.html) writes that Learning 2.0 reflects changes in how we use the web to communicate:

E-learning has seen a radical change recently. This change is due to the transformation of the Web itself. There have been efforts to transform platform based applications to web-based applications. The dominant way of technology enhanced learning is through learning management systems, which are also called Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), for storing and exchanging digital and multimedia content. However, due to the nature of the Internet and the way people are using it, e-learning is starting to be approached by teachers and students working collaboratively online.

Tony Karrer, CEO of TechEmpower, a software company that specializes in innovative uses of technology that aid human performance, views Learning 2.0 as a tool to conduct business in a global economy as outlined in his article, "Understanding E-Learning 2.0" (http://www.learningcircuits.org/2007/0707karrer.html):

The changes in e-learning are being driven by two primary forces. The first force is a steady increase in the pace of business and information creation, which has led to a shift in work, especially knowledge work, and an evolution in information needs. In turn, this has led to the following expectations for corporate learning:

Fast transfer of knowledge is a must.
Learning should transpire in short burst within the context of the actual workflow.
Learning professionals need to develop learning experiences quickly—and at a lower cost to the organization.

If you enjoy reading blogs that discuss digital gadgetry, a Technorati search is worthwhile.

1. Engadget http://www.technorati.com/blogs/www.engadget.com

Top tags:
apple cellphones desktops features gaming hdtv handhelds laptops microsoft peripherals
robots sony storage wireless breakingnews digitalcameras displays homeentertainment
portableaudio portablevideo

3. Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide
http://gizmodo.com

Top tags: apple cellphones digital cameras home entertainment laptops microsoft pcs
peripherals portable media robots samsung smartphones sony wireless iphone ipod
roundups software

5. Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
By Arianna Huffington · 5 days ago
http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Top tags: ann coulter corporation for public broadcasting dick cheney eat the press editor's pick
fox news george w. bush global warming google iraq israel jack abramoff nbc new york times
politics supreme court wal-mart washington post 11 2006

#13 Tagging & Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded by in 2003, and is now part of Yahoo!.

The most popular bookmarked site is "10 Tips for Razor Sharp Concentration"

(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-tips-for-razor-sharp-concentration.html)

I and 211 other people bookmarked this site, although only a few bothered to comment about.

I believe that organization is important, but what you really need is focus. Being able to sit down and concentrate intensely on your work for a few hours. Even a half hour of focused effort can get more done than an entire day of distraction and multitasking...
rinux

10 Tips for Razor Sharp Concentration Razor Writing to-do lists and keeping a schedule may keep you organized, but does it really help you get more done? I believe that organization is important, but what you really need is focus. Being able to sit down...
lei.zhang

* * *

Since I spend a great deal of time reading and reviewing books, I already have a preconceived idea in my mind what I'm going to put down on paper. This approach lessens the chance of developing "writer's block." Very rarely does the blank sheet of paper remain blank for long - unless I'm procrastinating putting the words to paper. Unlike alot of people who can't write without background noise, I need it from time to time. Background noise is not just listening to music or the radio, but surfing the web, reading e-mail, and watching movies.

At this point, I'm not completely convinced about the value of del.icio.us other than the ability to share bookmarks with others, but you can do that as a moderator of a blog or as a member of a news group, MySpace, or Facebook. IMHO, none of the content being shared on del.icio.us was particularly interesting or useful.

#12 Rollyo

Rollyo Beta is advertisted as a "personal search engine" of most frequently searched sources. You are limited to 25 websites. You can either make your search engine public or keep it private. There's even a RollBar similar to the Google Search toolboor you can add to your browser.

I created a search engine called "News Desk" to search my most frequently used media websites. Search results were not as current or relevant as using Google News, which is still the best news search engine around. If you depended on Rollyo alone, you'll end up either going back to Google or using the search engines on your favorite web pages. NY Times, WashPost and the Baltimore Sun, for example, have excellent search engines since they are Google-powered. Rollyo's pages are loaded with advertising and junk URLs but they be cleaned up with ad blocker software. I was amazed that Rollyo is powered by Yahoo! but I guess Yahoo! is failing even with new Web partners to build an audience to its site and compete with Google. To its credit, Yahoo! has the best Web e-mail program. Otherwise, I rarely visit Yahoo!

#11 Library Thing

Library Thing Beta enables you add books to the database and share your comments with other users. Here is my list:

Alexander Hamilton America's Forgotten Founder by Joseph, A. Murray
1 other members. Tags: None (edit)

Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
2 other members. Tags: None (edit)

The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate by Michael Wallis
1 other members. Tags: None (edit)

The Unaffordable Nation: Searching for a Decent Life in America by Jeffrey Jones
No other members. Tags: None (edit)

Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered War, Peace, and Everything E ... by Reporters of the Associated Press
4 other members. Tags: None (edit)

The Martin Book: A Complete History of Martin Guitars by Walter Carter
2 other members. Tags: None (edit)

Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey--The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the W ... by Holley Bishop
66 other members. Tags: None (edit)

Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War by Joe Bageant
17 other members. Tags: None (edit)

Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton
3 other members. Tags: None (edit)

Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musician by John Worthen
1 other members. Tags: None (edit)

So far, I am only one of two members on Library Thing that have started to read the new biography of Robert Schumann by John Worthen (Yale University Press, 8/07, B S3927W), Worthen is not a musicologist but a professor of English literature who has written about the Lake poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. Worthen captures the essence of Schumann's genius: his gift at improvisation and rhapsodic fleets of fancy. My favorite Schumann composition is the Piano Concerto in A minor Op 54, and the best version is performed by Murray Perahia and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis (CBS Masterworks, 1988).

Book Description:

This candid, intimate, and compellingly written new biography offers a fresh account of Robert Schumann’s life. It confronts the traditional perception of the doom-laden Romantic, forced by depression into a life of helpless, poignant sadness. John Worthen’s scrupulous attention to the original sources reveals Schumann to have been an astute, witty, articulate, and immensely determined individual, who—with little support from his family and friends in provincial Saxony—painstakingly taught himself his craft as a musician, overcame problem after problem in his professional life, and married the woman he loved after a tremendous battle with her father. Schumann was neither manic depressive nor schizophrenic, although he struggled with mental illness. He worked prodigiously hard to develop his range of musical styles and to earn his living, only to be struck down, at the age of forty-four, by a vile and incurable disease.

Worthen’s biography effectively de-mystifies a figure frequently regarded as a Romantic enigma. It frees Schumann from 150 years of mythmaking and unjustified psychological speculation. It reveals him, for the first time, as a brilliant, passionate, resolute musician and a thoroughly creative human being, the composer of arguably the best music of his generation.

* * *

For a musicologist's perspective of Schumann's life and work, turn to John Daverio's Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age" (Oxford University Press, 2/97). Daverio is Associate Professor and Chairman of the Musicology Department at the Boston University School for the Arts.

Book Description:

Forced by a hand injury to abandon a career as a pianist, Robert Schumann went on to become one of the world's great composers. Among many works, his Spring Symphony (1841), Piano Concerto in A Minor (1841/1845), and the Third, or Rhenish, Symphony (1850) exemplify his infusion of classical forms with intense, personal emotion. His musical influence continues today and has inspired many other famous composers in the century since his death. Indeed Brahms, in a letter of January 1873, wrote: "The remembrance of Schumann is sacred to me. I will always take this noble pure artist as my model." Now, in Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age," John Daverio presents the first comprehensive study of the composer's life and works to appear in nearly a century. Long regarded as a quintessentially romantic figure, Schumann also has been portrayed as a profoundly tragic one: a composer who began his career as a genius and ended it as a mere talent. Daverio takes issue with this Schumann myth, arguing instead that the composer's entire creative life was guided by the desire to imbue music with the intellectual substance of literature. A close analysis of the interdependence among Schumann's activities as reader, diarist, critic, and musician reveals the depth of his literary sensibility. Drawing on documents only recently brought to light, the author also provides a fresh outlook on the relationship between Schumann's mental illness--which brought on an extended sanitarium stay and eventual death in 1856--and his musical creativity. Schumann's character as man and artist thus emerges in all its complexity. The book concludes with an analysis of the late works and a postlude on Schumann's influence on successors from Brahms to Berg. This well-researched study of Schumann interprets the composer's creative legacy in the context of his life and times, combining nineteenth-century cultural and intellectual history with a fascinating analysis of the works themselves.

Eric Clapton Broken Hearted (Acoustic Version)

On the evening of September 15, 1997, British music producer George Martin organized a benefit concert at London's Royal Albert Hall for the small Caribbean island of Montserrat, which had recently been devastated by a volcanic eruption. One of the highlights is Eric Clapton playing an acoustic version of a song that appeared on his forthcoming album, Pilgrim (1998). The guitar is a vintage 1950s Martin D-28.

Eric Clapton Unplugged Lonely Stranger

Eric Clapton played a 1977 Juan Alvarez classical guitar on several songs during his legendary MTV Unplugged performance on January 16, 1992: Signe, Tears in Heaven, and Lonely Stranger. The cover of Clapton's Grammy award-winning Unplugged album shows him playing a 1939 Martin 000-42 which was a gift from Steven Stills, who owns a substantial number of coveted pre-war Martins. Clapton's best performance overall was his acoustic version of "Layla" which shocked the music world. It's no surprise to avid listeners of his music that Clapton is one of the best reinterpreters in popular music. The MTV Unplugged concert proved once and for all that his guitar playing is peerless, acoustic or electric.