Today’s links of interest:
- MSNBC wants to know: Do You Read Romance Novels
In an attempt to be funny and lighthearted, MSNBC insults a lot of readers. Please, please, please, members of the press. The term "bodice ripper" isn’t cute, it isn’t funny, and it’s certainly isn’t accurate. - The Status Galley: How to Pick Up Girls With the New Roth
Alternate approach: man alone at bar with crutches. Works every time. - Text Message from Los Angeles
Paul Constant from Seattle offers a wrap-up of BEA that’s part stranger from the unknown and a lot finger-pointing at book snobbery and how to reach readers. - Andrew Neil in £4m bid to save PFD, talent agency decimated by walkout – Media, News – The Independent
Says, "If you were an asset-stripper you would be prepared to pay this price to close the company down and live off its back book, though that is absolutely not what we want to do." We say, well, honesty is a great virtue. - Amazon Shows Its Clout
A lot of lovin’ from Amazon.com propels "The Story of Edward Sawtelle", the debut novel by David Wroblewski into a seventh printing. Pretty cool and pretty telling. - Lite Beer and Donuts, or, Does Spelling Reform Have a Chance? : OUPblog
We quote: "The cost of teaching English spelling is enormous. The money spent on drilling the most nonsensical rules in any modern European language and on remedial courses could have fed and educated a continent." - Lisa Holton Announces New Venture, Teams with HarperCollins
Hey this is a cool idea — marrying the print book with the Internet. Oh, the places they will go!
1 response so far ↓
Steve // Jun 23, 2008 at 4:40 pm
“The cost of teaching English spelling is enormous” compared to the cost of teaching any other alphabetic written langauge. Dr. Frank Laubach said his teachers could teach an illiterates in 300 languages to read a newspaper written in the language they speak in 3 months. This was possible because 95% of the written languages in the world are spelled the way they are spoken.
In one study, 50% of graduating high school seniors could not read a newspaper article with understanding. While a dictionary key can be taught in 3 months, the unruly traditional writing system which dates from around 1755 takes three years to get half of the students to a 3rd grade reading level. Eventually 60% of the population learns to read and write English as a system of word-signs as if it were a logography. If you goal is accelerate literacy at a reasonable cost, you have to consider upgrading the writing system by removing some of the ambiguities and irregularities.