Jeff Jarvis tops today’s Buffet with one of the rare nonfiction books to make it to the top of the list — Gutenberg the Geek, a fascinating look at the German innovator who introduced the printing press in 1448.
Jeff portrays the famed inventor as creator of more than just the printing press and the market for Bibles. “Gutenberg,” he argues, “should… be seen as the patron saint of Silicon Valley, for he used technology to create an industry.” Setting Gutenberg’s successes against the real pitfalls he endured, notably his early struggle to amass sufficient capital, Jarvis portrays a bad-boy innovator with a deft, if sometimes heavy hand. He bravely wears his assumptions– for example, the neutrality of technology– on his sleeve, and his lesson for techno-dreamers is straightforward. Read your history, Jarvis insists. “Your goal, geeks, is to be more like Gutenberg.” (Synopsis written by Jason Kirk.)
Jeff is the proprietor of one of the Web’s most popular and respected blogs about the internet and media, Buzzmachine.com. He also writes the new media column for the Guardian in London. He was the creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly, and he’s on the faculty of the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.
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Gutenberg the Geek (Kindle Single)
Essays & Ideas > Patents & Inventions > Entrepreneurship
Author: Jeff Jarvis
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Who was the original world-changing techno-entrepreneurial innovator? Not Google’s Larry and Sergey. Not Steve Jobs. No, to find the man who made the mold, you’ve got to go back to fifteenth-century Germany to find Johannes Gutenberg.
Gutenberg was our first geek, the original technology entrepreneur, who had to grapple with all the challenges a Silicon Valley startup faces today. Jeff Jarvis tells Gutenberg’s story from an entrepreneurial perspective, examining how he overcame technology hurdles, how he operated with the secrecy of a Steve Jobs but then shifted to openness, how he raised capital and mitigated risk, and how, in the end, his cash flow and equity structure did him in. This is also the inspiring story of a great disruptor. That is what makes Gutenberg the patron saint of entrepreneurs.
Saving Sailor
Christian Fiction
Author: Renee Riva
The year is 1968. After spending the first half of summer vacation driving her Italian family crazy with her fake southern accent, 10-year old A.J. finds a soul mate on the other side of the island to divert her attention. She is intrigued to learn that Danny shares her same burning desire to know God and realizes that few people her age think as deeply as the two of them do. However, the depth of their newfound faith and friendship is soon tested when Danny’s father betrays his wife.
Set in a simpler time, Saving Sailor is a heartwarming tale of how hearts can change and relationships can be restored with God’s help.
An Innocent Client
Thrillers > Legal
Author: Scott Pratt
A preacher is found brutally murdered in a Tennessee motel room. A beautiful, mysterious young girl is accused.
Criminal defense lawyer Joe Dillard has become jaded over the years as he’s tried to balance his career against his conscience. Savvy but cynical, Dillard wants to quit doing criminal defense, but he can’t resist the chance to represent someone who might actually be innocent. His drug-addicted sister has just been released from prison and his mother is succumbing to Alzheimer’s, but Dillard’s commitment to the case never wavers despite the personal troubles and professional demands that threaten to destroy him.
A Promise of Thunder
Historical Romance > Westerns
Author: Connie Mason
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Storm Kennedy can’t believe her bad luck! With six million fertile acres open to settlers in the Oklahoma Territory, she loses her claim to the Sioux she holds responsible for her young husband’s death. And the only way Storm can ever win it back is by marrying virile Grady Stryker and raising his motherless son.
No spineless Sooner, Storm agrees to Stryker’s terms, then denies him access to her last asset–the lush body Grady thought was his for the taking. But the more Storm fights him, the harder Grady works to sow the seeds of a desire that promises a bountiful love
A Date with Fate
Romance > Contemporary
Author: Tracy Ellen
Anabel is pushing thirty and owns a bookstore in a town she’s lived in all her life. She is all girly-girl, a control freak, and one determined woman. Determined to stay single.
Luke is new in town. He is all man, has yet to meet the woman he can’t control, and coolly determined. Determined to lure Anabel.
Eyes clash, sparks fly, and worlds collide when these two meet. But many strange things are happening in the town of Northfield, Minnesota and Anabel’s a magnet for trouble. Her perfectly uncomplicated life is suddenly turned chaotically upside down and beset with problems.
Abound in Love
Christian Fiction > Romance
Author: Rosemarie Naramore
When Laura Lander’s family invites her to return to her hometown to join them for the Thanksgiving holiday, she’s uncertain. She and her sister haven’t gotten along since they were children, and Laura’s heart still aches from the old hurts.
To complicate matters, she’d left her heart behind years before, and she’s not sure her feelings for family friend, Dalton Jance, are dormant.
Laura accepts the holiday invitation, and finds that her family is falling apart. Her sister’s marriage is seemingly over, her nephew and niece are suffering for it, and her brother is exhausted from trying to run interference.
With God’s help—and a little help from Dalton—can Laura bring her family together again? And will she find her own ‘happily ever after’ with the man who has occupied her dreams for years?
God Knows My Name: Never Forgotten, Forever Loved
Christian Living > Women’s Issues
Author: Beth Redman
In this powerful and deeply vulnerable book, Beth Redman writes to pass along a message that changed her life—that the God who made us also understands us intimately. He hears our cries and reaches out in love to help us and fight for us. He’s always at work shaping our character. And no matter what others do, He will never, ever leave or forget us. Drawing on Scripture and her own experience, Redman invites us to explore the revolutionary implications of being loved by a God who knows our name. And she invites us to call on His name as well—to respond to His heart and love Him as He has loved us from the beginning.
Darkness Falls
Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
Author: Jessica Sorensen
When the disease spread through the world, people had no choice but to go into hiding. The Colony is hidden deep underground, far away from the vampires—humans that were transformed by the disease. The vampires are hideous, starving, and they will kill any human they come across.
The Highers run The Colony and accept nothing less than perfection. One slip up can mean death. Kayla has always worked hard to follow the rules and strive for perfection. But during a moment of weakness, she lets her imperfections show. Her punishment is worse than death. She is chosen for The Gathering and is thrown out into a world full of starving vampires.
No one has ever survived The Gathering, at least that’s what Kayla’s been told. But when she runs into a group who insist they were once part of The Gathering, Kayla discovers the Highers have been keeping secrets. Secrets that could lead to a cure.
Promise Cove
Romance > Paranormal > Ghosts
Author: Vickie McKeehan, David C. Cassidy
Reeling from the violent death of her husband in war-torn Iraq, Jordan Phillips is at her wit’s end, left to fend for herself and her baby. Alone and desperate in backwater Pelican Pointe, she faces an uphill battle against a judgmental and hostile town as she tries to rebuild her life. But when a mysterious and handsome stranger with a tragic secret appears, her fragile new world threatens to come crashing down around her.
Easy Bake Coven
Romance > Paranormal > Witches & Wizards
Author: Liz Schulte
For Selene Warren being a witch is no big deal. She dabbles in harmless magic with her friends and never thinks much about it. However, when a stranger who seems to know her shows up at her studio and her grandmother is brutally attacked, her simple life becomes complicated. A world of elves, half-elves, fae—and one peculiar Sekhmet named Femi open up to her. She will discover that fairy tales are real, politics are ugly in any world, and there is a lot more to her life than she ever dreamed possible.
This new reality threatens swallow Selene whole, but with a forgotten past beating down her door, she will have to dive in to save her future.
Love at First Date
Romance > Contemporary
Author: Susan Hatler
Ellen may not believe in storybook love, but it’s about to rewrite her life . . .
Ellen’s figured out that finding the right guy is all about compatibility. That’s why she signs up for Detailed Dating—the local online dating scene in Sacramento. They ask men the hard questions, compare their answers with hers, then she filters through the profiles of each provided “match.” After numerous email exchanges, she narrows it down to two promising candidates she’s excited to meet in person.
When Ellen’s best friend asks her for a favor, dog-sitting leads to disaster and Ellen ends up at the local vet where she meets a man she can’t get out of her mind. Henry isn’t a logical choice, but she finds herself paying for dog obedience class to spend more time with him.
Ellen knows that in order to have a lasting relationship, she should take the safe route and go for one of the pre-screened guys. But, how can she think with her head when her heart keeps begging her to give Henry a chance?
Newborn Photography Made Easy
Photography > Portraits
Author: Scott Voelker, Lisa Voelker
Do you want to learn how to become a professional newborn photographer? Lisa Voelker, who has been photographing Newborns for over 12 years now, has written a book to explain everything you’ll need to know to get started. This is her personal handbook which includes everything she has learned from photographing newborns over the years.
As you may know…Newborn photography can be very challenging at times. Some people give up before they even get started. But…it can also be extremely rewarding capturing these little miracles for the very first time.
This book is aimed at the beginner who wants to get started photographing newborns. Although, it can also be very helpful to novice photographers who want to add some new tricks and techniques to their Newborn sessions.
Khe
Science Fiction > Dystopian
Author: Alexes Razevich
Khe loves her simple life on a farming commune, until she discovers that her gift for pushing the crops is a death sentence. Fleeing across the treacherous wilderness, she makes her way to the city ofChimbalay, searching for the orindles who might save her. But Chimbalay has its own dangers. The Powers are there–the secret rulers who have chosen Khe to be the mother of a monstrous new race.
Dead Stop
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Author: D. Nathan Hilliard
Welcome to the Textro Truck Stop…where they have hot food, hot coffee, and even hotter waitresses. It’s a slow Friday night at the Textro, and business isn’t expected to pick up until the football game lets out in nearby Masonfield. Deke, backed up by his friend Harley, is here on a mission of romance. Rachel Sutherland has come to unwind from a bad day at the clinic. Thomas “Grandpa Tom” Burns and “Leaping” Larry Brown are just dropping in for some diesel and coffee while, across the diner, Holly just wants to get her socially disastrous boyfriend, Gerald, home.
Waitresses Stacey and Marisa are taking it easy, serving the few patrons while waiting for the game crowd to arrive. But things are about to get busy in an unexpected and very deadly way.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2
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