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Saturday, January 11, 2020

The rise and rise of the books you do not read

Élan, Mel, Ilay ... Wellington Sweets on Sunday ...

When facing a decision that stands a 50/50 chance of being correct, the choice made will be wrong 80% of the time. Jozef Imrich


“Streets of Gold” map wins two British Cartographic Society Awards Europa. “Streets of Gold is a 1.13m square map of greater London created on a base of 24 carat gold leaf



Rupert Murdoch celebrates his 89th birthday in two months' time, and while he may be a little wobbly on his feet, age is no barrier, especially with his spritely fourth wife, "spring chicken" Jerry Hall, 63, by his side.

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At the Golden Globes this week, actor Brian Cox, who plays the all-powerful family patriarch Logan Roy, claimed Murdoch had "f--k all" to do with his character, but he revealed the Murdochs did not quite see it that way.
Backstage at the Globes, Cox revealed details of an encounter he had at a cafe near his apartment in the Primrose Hill neighbourhood of London.

A man approached him to tell him how much he and his wife were enjoying the second season of the show, although he noted that his wife “finds it a little difficult at times”.
Elizabeth Murdoch on Second Season of Succession - Logan Roy



'A bee without his hive': Living in the teeth of the alpine fires


Australia's iconic high country is ablaze. This summer, neither the beach nor the mountains is safe.



The End Of Public Opinion?


If disinformation in 2016 was characterized byMacedonian spammers pushing pro-Trump fake news andRussian trolls running rampant on platforms, 2020 is shaping up to be the year communications pros for hire provide sophisticated online propaganda operations to anyone willing to pay. Around the globe, politicians, parties, governments, and other clients hire what is known in the industry as “black PR” firms to spread lies and manipulate online discourse. –BuzzFeedNews
A History of Buying Books Onto the Bestseller List- BookRiot: “…For those unaware of how bestseller lists work, here’s a primer. They each use different metrics and data sources, but theNYT is considered to be the most “curated,” with a secretive process. It is known that they poll a large selection of independent booksellers and major retailers. These are often called “reporting” bookstores. Those looking to game the system with bulk sales will only order from sources known or highly suspected to be reporting. The general wisdom is that you need to sell somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 copies a week to make most of their lists. The NYT list is usually seen as the most prestigious, with the Wall Street Journal’s list being highly respected in business circles. The USA Today list is broader, with no category breakdowns—just a simple list of the top 150 books that week in print and electronic formats. These are considered “easier” to hit than the NYTlist. You’ll most often seen folks touting an “Amazon bestseller” label, or sometimes they’ll simply say “bestseller.” Marketer Brent Underwood blew the lid off these claims with a charming experiment and article in 2016. I myself am a #1 Amazon bestseller in “Teen & Young Adult LGBT Fiction,” but I don’t advertise that…”

The rise and rise of the books you do not read - BBC Culture: “Audiobooks are in the midst of a boom, with Deloitte predicting that the global market will grow by 25 per cent in 2020 to US$3.5 billion (£2.6 billion). Compared with physical book sales, audio is the baby of the publishing world, but it is growing up fast. Gone are the days of dusty cassette box-sets and stuffily-read versions of the classics. Now audiobooks draw A-list talent – think Elisabeth Moss reading The Handmaid’s Tale, Meryl Streep narrating Charlotte’s Web or Michelle Obama reading all 19 hours of her own memoir, Becoming. There are hugely ambitious productions using ensemble casts (the audio of George Saunders’ Booker Prize-winning Lincoln in the Bardo features 166 different narrators), specially created soundscapes and technological advances such as surround-sound 3D audio. Some authors are even skipping print and writing exclusive audio content…Research by Nielsen Book found downloads of audiobooks in the UK were particularly high among urban-dwelling males aged 25 to 44. Laurence Howell, content director at Audible – the Amazon-owned audiobook platform – says they’ve also seen big growth in the 18-to-24 age group. “This is not an age group that is traditionally a strong book-buying group.” A study by The Publisher’s Association found 54 per cent of UK audiobook buyers listen to them for their convenience, while 41 per cent choose the format because it allows them to consume books when reading print isn’t possible…”