U.S. Libraries to Lend eBooks

Libraries have always embraced technology, from the Dewey Decimal System, computerised cataloging and solid public internet access, libraries are a hive of techo-activity. The row upon row of racked books have left libraries with an image of stuffiness, hiding the technological machinations behind their operation. The ability to search a catalog online means readers no longer have to trip down to the local library to see if the book we’re after is available or not. Just to prove they are in the swing, libraries across the U.S. are now allowing  bookworms to borrow a book from the comfort of their favorite armchair. More than 10,000 local libraries in the U.S. are set to lend eBooks that can be viewed on Kindle eReaders as well as devices running the Kindle App. Read the full article »»»»

READ A BOOK! Mark Mazower

I would normally churn through a book in a day, not skimming but reading. Mazower’s Dark Continent took 3 days and I’m now on my 3rd round, simply, I LOVE THIS BOOK. The premise is one that I’ve always found arduous to put into words: Our now perspective of history has little to do with the events that took place, the events that created what we now call history .

“Mark Mazower’s Dark Continent:  Europe’s Twentieth Century. Be warned, this book has the ability to become an obsession”

Mazower describes his book as: Dark Continent provides an alternative history of the twentieth century, one in which the triumph of democracy was anything but a forgone conclusion and fascism and communism provided rival political solutions that battled and sometimes triumphed in an effort to determine the course the continent would take. Mark Mazower strips away myths that have comforted us since World War II, revealing Europe as an entity constantly engaged in a bloody project of self-invention.  Here is a history not of inevitable victories and forward marches, but of narrow squeaks and unexpected twists, where townships boast a bronze of Mussolini on horseback one moment, only to melt it down and recast it as a pair of noble partisans the next.  Unflinching, intelligent, Dark Continent provides a provocative vision of Europe’s past, present, and future.

CONTINUED: Read the full article »»»»