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Book: Meet your Type

In Books on Aug-19-2010 with
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You should really get a copy of what appears to be a stunning book on Typography by Fontshop. I mean it is free to download (direct link to a PDF).

Steig Larsson is the first author to sell a million copies of his books on the Kindle.

All three books in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy—”The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”—are now in the top 10 bestselling Kindle books of all time.

I am not a Kindle owner so I don’t follow news related to it very closely. I would have thought another author would have already hit the million sales mark for their “entire body of work,” but I guess I would have been wrong.

Apartment Therapy’s Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces

In Books, Design on May-22-2010 with
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One of my favorite little nooks and crannies online is Apartment Therapy. Well they have a book out called Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. I am sure it will be an “eye candy” overload.

Video: Newspaper Blackout

In Books, Video on Apr-11-2010 with
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Austin Kleon’s new book is out. I’ve always really loved the concept, simple yet elegant.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

In Books, Business on Apr-7-2010 with
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I’m only about 75 pages into The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, but it is every bit as good as Moneyball, Liar’s Poker, and almost as good as the The New New Thing. I just really like the way he tells a story.

Karl Rove New Book vs. REWORK

In Advertising, Books on Mar-21-2010 with
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37signals new book REWORK was released a little more than a week ago. It is currently #3 on Amazon. In the top spot is Karl Rove’s new book Courage and Consequence, which he has been on TV for what seems like twenty hours a day promoting. In a wonderful display of humor the folks at 37signals and Coudal Partners wondered how they could complete with Rove and all his powerful friends booking him on every media outlet. Well of course they created an attack ad.

Excerpt From Michael Lewis’ New Book

In Books on Mar-18-2010 with
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Vanity Fair has a lengthy excerpt from Michael Lewis’ new book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine:

As often as not, he turned up what he called “ick” investments. In October 2001 he explained the concept in his letter to investors: “Ick investing means taking a special analytical interest in stocks that inspire a first reaction of ‘ick.’” A court had accepted a plea from a software company called the Avanti Corporation. Avanti had been accused of stealing from a competitor the software code that was the whole foundation of Avanti’s business. The company had $100 million in cash in the bank, was still generating $100 million a year in free cash flow-and had a market value of only $250 million! Michael Burry started digging; by the time he was done, he knew more about the Avanti Corporation than any man on earth. He was able to see that even if the executives went to jail (as five of them did) and the fines were paid (as they were), Avanti would be worth a lot more than the market then assumed. To make money on Avanti’s stock, however, he’d probably have to stomach short-term losses, as investors puked up shares in horrified response to negative publicity.

“That was a classic Mike Burry trade,” says one of his investors. “It goes up by 10 times, but first it goes down by half.” This isn’t the sort of ride most investors enjoy, but it was, Burry thought, the essence of value investing. His job was to disagree loudly with popular sentiment. He couldn’t do this if he was at the mercy of very short-term market moves, and so he didn’t give his investors the ability to remove their money on short notice, as most hedge funds did. If you gave Scion your money to invest, you were stuck for at least a year.

There is a 60 Minutes interview with Michael Lewis here that is well worth your time. He was also on the Daily Show the other day.

I Lego N.Y. Book Release Video

In Books, Video on Feb-18-2010 with
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