We Have a Winner

"PROMOTE LITERACY. BUY A BOX OF FORTUNE COOKIES TODAY"

SAIGON EXPRESS - AUSTIN, TEXAS

While attending the monthly coalition meeting of the limited government activist community in Austin, Texas this week I was lucky enough to win their end of meeting drawing (everyone drops a business card in a fish bowl) for a free book donated by the chairman of the meeting.

The book -- "The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister" by John O'Sullivan -- was on my "buy list" so not only do I save money I am going to enhance my understanding of how these three world leaders interacted to rid the world of the cancer known as the Soviet Union.

My thanks to my Texas hosts for the book and Regnery Publishing, www.regnery.com, for creating this resource.

Looking forward to it,

Todd

Look Mommy - there is going to be a fire

Earlier this month a local school district (Lakeville, Minnesota) debated whether or not to remove Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from a classroom's reading list due to a complaint filed by a parent (I wonder if he has ever read the book). I blogged on this controversy at the time but was reminded of it this week via an article on the national "Big Read" project.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a list of events this week focused on Ray Bradbury's classic book that highlights the dangers of book burning/banning -- "Fahrenheit 451" -- which of course is the temperature at which paper burns in case you need to know for a Trivial Pursuit match :-) The planned events include:

• A group of 12 "poets and artisans" will present a recitation of the book at a local cafe
• A Washington University instructor will lead a discussion of the book and censorship issues
• A "poetry slam" focused on the book's themes will be conducted (www.poetryslam.com)
• The St. Louis Shakespeare Company will present a staged reading of the book

If anyone wants to get ideas for your own activities you can reach the St. Louis, Missouri organizers at: 314.935.4407

Read don't burn,

Todd

Niche Markets

Earlier this week I read an article by Allie Shah in the Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) newspaper here in Minnesota which profiled bookstore owner - Don Blyly - in Minneapolis. Mr. Blyly is the owner/founder of two independent bookstores:

http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/

1.) Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore
2.) Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore

Mr. Blyly comes off in this article as an interesting character having got bored with studying law opting instead to open Uncle Hugo's in 1974 followed by the opening of Uncle Edgar's in 1980. As readers might guess Mr. Blyly's profile included a section focused on the competition that independent bookstore owners like Mr. Blyly face against the major book sellers including -- Barnes & Noble, WalMart, Target, and others.

However, one theme I saw missing from the article was the fact that Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's exist due to basic business principles -- instead of trying to compete on a volume/full range of titles basis with a company like Barnes & Noble Mr. Blyly operates two niche stores which specialize (the key word here) in their respective subject matters (science fiction and mystery) thus improving his chances of survival by having a unique product offering for readers.

Urban sprawl and big box retailers don't own all markets when entrepreneurs create their own markets.

Support the Mr. Blyly in your neighborhood,

Todd

Quotable and Notable

A few quotes I noticed in The Week magazine (U.K.) and the Star Tribune newspaper in the last week regarding the tools necessary for spreading knowledge:

Book Banning:

http://www.startribune.com/mindworks
Eric Boeshart, age 11
Falcon Ridge Elementary School, Apple Valley Minnesota
"All the books in the library should be read. Reading lets kids our age let our imaginations free. We can fly with Harry Potter. Or we can ride through Alaska in "The Call of the Wild." Parents should not be able to take away that freedom."


Libraries:

"No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library."

Dr. Johnson, quoted in The Independent (via The Week magazine)


Press:

"To enjoy the inestimable blessings of a free press it is necessary to tolerate the ills that it endangers."

Alexis de Tocqueville, quoted in the Daily Telegraph (via The Week magazine)


Stay free,

Todd

Nixon and Mao

Margaret MacMillan has a new book out entitled, "Nixon and Mao", focused on the historic trip by US President Richard Nixon to the People's Republic of China ("Red China" for my cold war warrior friends) to meet with Chairman Mao. I learned of this book via today's Wall Street Journal by George Melloan who overall gives this book a favorable review especially for making an intensely reported on event interesting again.

Mr. Melloan notes that he has "one little problem" with Ms. MacMillan's assertion that "Nixon was the 'best-prepared' president on foreign policy until Bill Clinton," noting that she completely overlooked President Ronald Reagan who (quoting Melloan here), "actually did change the world by leading the Western democracies to a clear victory in the Cold War, Ronald Reagan." I completely agree with you Mr. Melloan. President Reagan, along with Prime Minister Thatcher and Pope John Paul II, defeated what was truly an Evil Empire known as the Soviet Union.

It is not a large logical leap to state that the collapse of the Soviet Union inspired the economic changes (free market reforms to be exact) that have caused the economic boom in China today. Instead of starving and killing 40 million people (which Ms. MacMillan notes) like Chairman Mao did, the Reagan legacy lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty via economic reform -- an historical fact that Ms. MacMillan should not have overlooked.

Since Ms. MacMillan is the author of one of my favorite books, "Paris 1919", I share Mr. Melloan's disappointment regarding Ms. MacMillan's oversight of President Reagan's foreign policy victories. I have to wonder if her Canadian heritage leaves her with a biased view of President Reagan.

Better dead than red,

Todd

Librarian of Congress

Years ago I was a member of the Rotary Club of Washington DC but I clearly remember the day our guest speaker was, James Billington, the librarian for the Library of Congress in the USA. I was reminded of his speech this week when I read the "A Life in Books" section in the February 5th edition of Newsweek magazine which featured Mr. Billington's choice of books.

Mr. Billington's number one book to read is -- the Bible -- but beyond "the book" his Five Most Important Books include:

• "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy
• "The Possessed" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville
• "The Nature and Destiny of Man" by Reinhold Niebuhr
• "Keats's Poems" by John Keats

Personally I found Moby Dick as too slow to develop. A much better treatment of man's struggle with nature and with himself, which Melville is focused on, is "The Sea Wolf" by Jack London. I trust Mr. Billington's knowledge of course so the Niebuhr book goes on my future reading list.

Whisper,

Todd

Mark Twain

The school district of Lakeville, Minnesota ( http://www.isd194.k12.mn.us/) is currently "re-evaluating" the use of Mark Twain's famous book which is required reading for their students, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", due to complaints from parents in the district who are concerned with racism and the use of the "N-word" which appears 200 times in the book.

Has anyone ever seen a Richard Pryor comedy routine? I have to guess he used the "N-word" at LEAST 200 times in one of his acts so it makes me wonder if any of these concerned parents have watched Mr. Pryor's act. Either way this potential book banning in Lakeville was discussed in my local newspaper today -- very timely since it is Black History Month in the USA.

As readers of my flagship blog (http://spacebeaglenotes.blogspot.com) know I combat racism when I can so everyone should know I would never defend the racist themes in Huck Finn but as an aspiring historian let me state the obvious for the concerned parents in Lakeville -- "Huck Finn" is historical fiction, it used the language of the time it was written in so banning this book from students' eyes is a dis-service akin to Joseph Stalin's editing of photographs in the Soviet Union that eliminated people he had ordered killed thereby altering history. Students should read this book with some historical context and an understanding of the civil rights movement in the USA not as some guidebook for "keeping the black man down.................." Such a book could be used as an instructional tool - or at least as entertaining literature -- not as a trophy for the book burning community.

Think globally, read locally,

Todd