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Look out library, thanks to the work I’ve been involved with in realigning instructional guides for The Collaborative for Educational Services and the Department of Youth Services…I’ve got a new reading list.  Some of these titles will be re-visits and other are pages I want to start turning. In no particular order, here’s my new reading list…

Classic Literature

  • Shakespeare

  • Raisin in the Sun

Literary Nonfiction

  • Night

  • Richard Wright’s Black Boy- pick a chapter

  • Coming of Age in Mississippi-

  • When I was Puerto Rican

Global Literature

  • Chronicle of a Death Foretold

  • Things fall apart

  • Chinese Cinderella

  • Master Harold and the Boys-Athol Fugard

  • The Namesake

Informational Text

  • Stiff & Guip by Mary Roach

  • Nickel & Dimed- Barbara Ehrenreich

  • Into the wild

  • Into thin air

  • Perfect storm

  • Fast food nation

  • Salt by Mark Kurlansky

  • Guns, Germs and Steel- Jared Diamond

  • The Botany of Desire- Michael Pollan

  • Outliners and Blink – Malcom Gladwell

  • The Jim Crow

Contemporary Literature

  • Their eyes were watching God

  • The curious incident of a dog in night time

  • Me talk pretty one day

  • The absolutely true diary of a part time indian

  • The lone ranger and tonto fistfight in heaven

  • How the Garcia girls lost their accent

  • Pygmalion

  • Richard Blanco- One Today Inaugural Poem

  • Leslie Newman October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard

 

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In 2010 Danielle LaPorte created the original FireStarter Sessions as a downloadable eBook chocker-block-full of fabulously excellent content and yummy videos which have inspired entrepreneurs to ‘spark your genus, ignite your business, make it matter.’  Well, Danielle now has her book out in print.

Here is Danielle’s current video….which I want to have to watch [again and again] and to share:

Based upon Danielle’s first eBook version of this now-hard-cover rendition. I HIGHLY recommend. I can’t wait to get my own copy.  My big question is should I get the hard copy or a digital copy?

IF you still need convincing check out this first chapter for free.

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I have been following PressBooks for a while now and this is a beautiful option for publishing eBooks.  They just published a manifesto on the future of publishing. Essays from the bleeding edge of publishing.

About this book:

The ground beneath the book publishing industry dramatically shifted in 2007, the year the Kindle and the iPhone debuted. Widespread consumer demand for these and other devices has brought the pace of digital change in book publishing from “it might happen sometime” to “it’s happening right now”—and it is happening faster than anyone predicted. Yet this is only a transitional phase. “Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto” is your guide to what comes next, when all books are truly digital, connected and ubiquitous.

Through this collection of essays from thought leaders and practitioners, you’ll become familiar with a wide range of developments occurring in the wake of this digital book shakeup:

* Reexamine your assumptions about the role of a book publisher, as we move from container to context

* Understand the kinds of things we can start doing with digital books

* Look inside some of the publishing projects that are at the bleeding edge of this digital revolution

* Learn how some digital books can evolve moment to moment, based on reader feedback.

With “Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto,” we at O’Reilly Media are actively practicing what we preach. Written and edited on PressBooks.com, a new web-based book-production system, this book also invites reader feedback throughout its development.

Read the chapters from Parts 1 (The Setup) and 2 (The Outlook), and tell us what you think. Part 3 (due out in Spring of 2012) will focus on living examples of publishing projects that are pushing embracing the new possibilities of digital.

This second release of this ebook — containing Parts 1 and 2 — is priced at $9.99; the final version of the book, including all three parts, will be priced higher. Buy this release now and you’ll receive all updates at no additional cost. Naturally, it will be available in multiple formats, including a print edition when the book is complete.

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There are times in an instructional designer’s life when the game changes and Apple has just changed the game-again. This time it is with their iBook Author.  Those who are considering an elearning situation, should consider using this new tool. The ability to interact with the content built in iBooks is amazing for all types of learners. Integrating audio and video right into the iBook allows the learners to integrate with the content.

Anyone who needs a workbook, textbook, manual. job aid, even a magazine, or newsletter should consider this type of learning aid. I will be getting mine soon.

This amazing new [FREE] app iBook Author allows anyone to create beautiful Multi-Touch textbooks — and just about any other kind of book — for iPad. With galleries, video, interactive diagrams, 3D objects, and more, these books bring content to life in ways the printed page never could.

This application has the ability to drag and drop text, images, graphics, video, movies and more into the template.  Apple’s Widgets add Multi-Touch magic to books with interactive photo galleries that bring images to life, engrossing 3D objects you can’t help interacting with, animations that burst off the page, and more.

Another beautiful thing about iBooks Author, it lets you create books that people with disabilities can read and experience. The table of contents, glossary, widgets, main text, and more are built to automatically take advantage of VoiceOver technology. Add accessibility descriptions to any widget or media — including movies and quizzes — so even those with vision impairments can use them.

And you can publish it to the iBookstore or iTunes U or share it with anyone with an iPad.

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Now here’s another twist on the textbook Inkling. It appears they are incorporating the Adobe Digital Publishing functionality with a few of their own details.

One thing I really like is the Social Learning feature which allows users to interact with classmates.  So, you could ask each other questions and discuss ideas and questions.

You can download the Inkling app, for your iPad, then buy chapters or full books.  There are a few chapters, that are free, so I suggest you give them a try. Happy reading and learning.

 

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I just finished reading this wonderful story, by Colin Meloy, called Wildwood.  Where to even begin to describe the writing within these 500 plus pages…mesmerizing, might due. I proclaim this story will become a major motion picture within the next few years.  Whether it be live action or animation, I’m not quite certain.  Perhaps Book 2 will be out prior to the movie….time will tell.  In the meanwhile, keep tabs on A Dull and Witless Boy and while you’re waiting, get your hands on a copy of WildWood.  You won’t be disappointed.

Listen to how the story begins: Prue McKeel’s life is ordinary. At least until her brother is abducted by a murder of crows and taken to the Impassable Wilderness, a dense, tangled forest on the edge of Portland. No one’s ever gone in – or at least returned to tell of it. Oh, and in addition to the story, Carson Ellis has created the illustrations.  Just try to choose which one you like the best. For me, it’s a tough decision amongst; the cover, the image on Page 231 where Curtis [and others] are held prisoners, and the the color illustration of Prue flying with the eagle.

Watch the trailer. [scroll down]

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Back in grad school, in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, I worked on the concept of a business that would take-in files [pdfs] and then print them and ship the final book off to you.  I called it: Imprint.  The web design is in some dusty storage box on a floppy disk [remember those?]. ubyu has brought my idea alive and they look like they make a beautiful product.

ubyu intro from ubyu on Vimeo.

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Now here’s a real twist and spin to a Book of the Month Club. Victoria van derLaan is looking for money to fund her start-up project via KickStarter. She creates a book of the month project and folks will be able to purchase books individually or subscribe for 3, 6, 9, or 12 months. Brilliant!

Victoria creates an original book in each of 6 designs, scans each page to create a digital file to be printed by Spoonflower on 100% organic cotton sateen fabric and creates cloth books from this fabric. What a wonderful gift this would be…

Have a peek at the video.