An eSolution for Book Sellers

I recently attended a writer’s summit where several authors predicted that physical bookstores would soon face extinction. Some also predicted that eBooks would soon replace printed books. I am more doubtful about the second prediction than I am about the first, however eBooks are gaining momentum, and unless brick and mortar book stores have an easy way to sell them, their business will surely suffer.

Why should it matter? If eBooks are quickly and cheaply obtainable online, then who cares if book stores go the way of the dinosaurs? Well, some people do care. People are already complaining about having to read some of their books on a Kindle and others on a Nook. Additionally, if several large vendors dominate the market, consumers will have less influence on prices, and possibly fewer choices of reading matter.

Book stores serve social purposes. They provide places for authors to meet their readers and autograph their books (eAutographs?). They also provide meeting places for book clubs, and their well-read personnel help readers make informed purchasing decisions.

But there is a simple solution. If eBook publishers agreed to adopt a standard file format, and if an eBook licensing clearinghouse were created, then readers would be able to buy eBooks published by Amazon for their Nooks. Independent book sellers would be able to provide eBooks for every variety of eReader. Libraries and individuals could easily lend their books, and free markets would thrive.

The alternative future, in which a few large corporations control access to books, is not an option. Taken to extremes, a literary dark age would result. An impartial clearinghouse would assure that information remain broadly accessible, and a standard eBook format, like feet and meters, miles and kilometers, would assure a level playing field.

The Drunk Diet - Change your life without losing your style

The Drunk Diet
Lüc Carl
Nonfiction/Memoir 272 pages
St. Martin's Press, 2012

Lüc Carl wanted to lose his spare tire without compromising on his lifestyle. And so The Drunk Diet was born. Since other diets advised cutting out booze Carl developed a plan of his own – he began exercising and eating healthier foods while continuing to drink.

If the premise seems too good to be true, take heed of the disclaimer in the front of the book. Carl says that his title is intentionally flippant and that he does not advise ignoring physician’s advice, exercising while drunk, or being alcoholic. About half-way through the book, the reader learns that Carl cut way back on his beer consumption. Toward the end it’s revealed that Carl is drinking a lot less now and sometimes abstains entirely. He also reveals that of his original group of friends, only he learned to control his drinking. The others either sobered up or sank down into addiction.

If Carl’s memoir sets an example to follow, its example is an unusual one. Many people lose the ability to drink responsibly after a long stretch of time spent drinking heavily. So if you’re a borderline alcoholic, Carl’s diet may help you lose weight, but leave you with other problems.

That said, losing weight, quitting smoking, and learning to exercise vigorously all require discipline to achieve. Carl describes how he went from contemplating weight loss to making an active, and creative, effort to achieve his goal. Along the way his attitudes and behavior changed as he neared his goal. And discipline isn’t something that can be applied for a while and then forgotten. Carl continues to use self-discipline to maintain his achievements.

The book is easy to read and some will find it inspirational, however it glorifies the inglorious. The flaw in Carl’s approach is that it fails to critically examine Carl’s former lifestyle. Although Carl drinks less now, his initial goal was to lose the extra weight caused by drinking too much and eating badly. He attacks the lifestyle’s results, but not the lifestyle itself. He comes down on the Man for pushing drugs and states that “doctors are street-level dealers,” while sparing fellow bartenders, omitting the fact that if the Man pushes pharmaceuticals, He also pushes liquor.

Bhishma's Vow

Bhishma was the eighth son born of the goddess Ganga. After his birth the goddess prepared to drown him, as she had his seven brothers. King Santanu saw this and pleaded that she stop. It was then she revealed her godhood to Santanu.

The eight, she explained, were immortals condemned to be born in the world of men.  She drowned the first seven sons in the river which bears her name. They had begged her for brief lives. But the eighth son was fated to endure a long life among mortals.

Holding her son in her arms, Ganga left Santanu. He’d been happy as Ganga’s husband, but now Santana renounced all sensual pleasures. One day he walked along the bank of the Ganges and saw a child firing arrows across its waters. Ganga appeared to him in human guise and told him that this was his son. Santanu joyfully pronounced him his heir.

As Santanu was walking along the banks of the Yamuna four years later, he inhaled a divine perfume. Following the breeze, he came to the source of the heavenly scent. There he stood before a woman of unsurpassed beauty. For many years, he’d suppressed his senses, but now he could do so no longer. Before he took his next breath, he asked her to be his wife. “Please ask my father, chief of fishermen, for his consent,” she replied. The chief set forth but one condition. The son of Devarata, his daughter, must become the next king. But Santanu could not agree because he’d already appointed his son to be his heir. He returned to his palace a troubled man, yet he told no one of his sorrow.

Bhishma was not the name originally bestowed upon the son of Ganga and Santanu. The title means one who undertakes and fulfills a difficult vow. As Bhishma took his vow, the gods cried out “Bhishma.”

Santanu spent his days in sorrow. And one day his son asked him its cause. He told his son that he worried lest his son fall in war and the family be no more. But Bhishma thought that there was more to his father’s sorrow. When Bhishma questioned the royal charioteer he learned of Devarata and her father. He approached the fisherman chief and offered to renounce the thrown. But the chief wasn’t satisfied. He then promised to never marry and to live a chaste life. The gods looked on and cried, “Bhishma.”

In later years, Bhishma defeated contending princes in order to win brides for his brother.  The princess, Amba, however, revealed that she had married Salva in her thoughts. Since she had already given away her heart, she was sent back to Salva. Salva, however refused to marry her since he was ashamed to marry one belonging to a man who had defeated him. He told her to marry Bhishma, but Bhishma refused in order to keep his vow of chastity. Amba vowed revenge against Bhishma and jumped into a burning pyre in order to be reborn a warrior. When Bhishma was slain on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, it may have been by the arrow of the reborn Amba. Before he died, Bhishma claimed that it was Arjuna’s arrow which slew him.