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Kindle that reading glow
E-books made their debut about a decade ago, with confident predictions that paper pages would soon be considered quaint. Imagine a device called a "reader," about the size of a Danielle Steele novel, which could hold up to 20 volumes. The text was downloaded from the publisher to a personal computer, and then to the reading device, where one could adjust the font size and glare to one's individual need or taste. The industry was abuzz: No less a luminary than Stephen King published an e-novel, to great fanfare. "In 10 years," I heard one e-publisher say, while hoisting a traditional volume, "what need will anyone have for this?" Hubris has its cost, and e-publishing lost that round. And the next, and the next, as the future never did seem to arrive. Last year's Sony Reader debuted in time for Christmas (how many debuts did that make?) and failed to revolutionize the reading habits of America. More>>
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Courting the Younger Business School Student
You'd be hard pressed to find it written in most business school literature, but common wisdom says the successful M.B.A. student has five years of post-college work experience. While 26 or 27 remains the average age of entering students at many top programs, business school officials are looking to shatter the myth that there's an age associated with the model applicant. . More>>
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An extended meditation: Thomas Wharton reflects on the process of ...
Having Icefields chosen for Canada Reads is a bit like having a new book come out without having to do all the work of writing one. It's every writer's dream. But it's also given me the opportunity to look back at the novel and where it came from: to realize how the writing of it shaped me while I thought I was shaping it. Hard to believe it's been 12 years since the book was first published. That was in the last century, for heaven's sake! During the writing of Icefields my wife Sharon and I moved to Peace River, Alberta, six hours north of Edmonton. I was an unemployed at-home father in an isolated northern town, working on a first novel (which really means learning how to write one). So in one way I had lots of time for writing, but I was also looking after a child all day. More>>