Just in time for the end of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: Secret Asian Man by Tak Toyoshima is a nationally syndicated comic strip (one of the few, if not only, by an Asian-American), that often deals with racial issues in the U.S. I first saw it in the Mercury News. One book on my …
Category Archives: Books
Cupertino gets a new bookstore… Crown Books?
Remember this slogan? “If you paid full price, you didn’t buy it at Crown Books.” Another company bought the naming rights to Crown after it went bankrupt in 2001, and the chain has opened a store in Cupertino. This incarnation of Crown Books buys remainders and overstock at big discounts and passes the savings onto …
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Cheap books
Recently I scored great deals on a few books. At Moe’s Books in Berkeley I bought: Symbols by Sandra Forty. $9.98 $6.00 Good Luck Life: The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture by Rosemary Gong. $14.95 $4.00 The Chinese in America: A Narrative History by Iris Chang. $29.95 $6.00 And then at Compass Books (owned by …
Cody’s Books’ Telegraph store to close
Kepler's Books in Menlo Park may have barely survived, but other venerable indies are hurting. The main Cody's Books store on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley is closing. I have fond memories browsing through (and even buying!) books there. Although its two smaller stores will remain open, this hurts.
Small in size, big on nostalgia
The San Francisco Chronicle has a profile on Arcadia Publishing, which puts out those slim 128-page Images of America books, full of historical photos, that you may have seen in the “Local Interest” section of your bookstore.
Kepler’s Books reopens
A miracle happens: Kepler's Books is saved! And in a timely article, the San Jose Mercury News describes how several independent bookstores have adapted to survive the chain bookstore and Internet era, including the Berkeley institution Cody's taking the gutsy move of opening a branch in Union Square.
There’s hope for Kepler’s yet
Kepler’s Books might not be doomed after all. A group of investors is trying to help Clark Kepler save the bookstore his father founded 50 years ago.
Kepler’s Books suddenly closes
After celebrating its 50th anniversary just a few months ago, Kepler’s Books suddenly closed its doors yesterday. What a shock, and what a shame — it was one of the most prominent independent bookstores in the U.S., akin to City Lights in San Francisco, Vroman’s in Pasadena, or Powell’s in Portland. Situated in Menlo Park …
A few books I’ve been reading
Nothing deep here, just some stuff that interests me: The Golden Ratio: The Story of Φ, the World’s Most Astonishing Number by Mario Livio. An entertaining account of the golden ratio, the author spends some time deflating the myths surrounding it, and then talks about its true significance and beauty. Language Visible (hardcover), aka Letter …
Books on Daylight Saving Time
Two books on the history of Daylight Saving (not Savings) Time were released earlier this month, within two days of each other. What are the chances of that? Spring Forward by Michael Downing Seize the Daylight by David Prerau