Thursday, January 31, 2013

Last day to help a bookstore - please check Lorem Ipsum fundraising campaign on Indiegogo

Few days ago I received an email presenting a crowdfunding campaign of Lorem Ipsum Books, an indie bookstore from Cambridge, MA. I've never visited the store but from what I've read and seen online it seems like a great bookstore that is trying to embrace technology as a way to succeed in business, which I believe to be key to the survival of any bookstore. 

So we'd like to share with you the email we received and ask you to check the campaign on Indiegogo, where the bookstore tries to raise $29,000. Please try to do it fast though - the campaign ends today (Jan. 31) at 11:59pm EST. And here's the email about the campaign:

Lorem Ipsum Books is a gem of a bookstore, tucked away in Inman Square in Cambridge, MA. With its quirky selection of used books, and its role as a gathering place for book lovers, music-makers and cultural enthusiasts, it's been a wonderful addition to the community.

Well, this is really difficult for me to say… but yesterday we had to face the sad possibility of having to close the bookstore forever. That's why I'm reaching out to you, my friends and fellow book lovers, to see if you will help us keep the bookstore from dying.

And here's why you should REALLY care about this one: Lorem Ipsum has also been working to find ways to make bookstores EVERYWHERE survive through recent tech advancements. We firmly believe that although Kindles have a place in our lives, so do books and bookstores. We want to keep all bookstores open by embracing technology, not running away from it. See our video to see what we've been doing to help bookstores lately: http://www.indiegogo.com/lorem-ipsum-books

You can click below to watch the video we made to show you how much Lorem Ipsum means to us, what it's all about, and why you should help keep this bookstore open for the next 10 years. If you can't give, please share our message.

I bet you know LOTS of people who love bookstores, please help spread the word before it's too late. If you care but can't contribute, please share our story on Facebook and your other social networks. It doesn't take much effort, but it can mean a lot.

It's literally now or never with this bookstore!!! Thank you, thank you book lovers!

Mandalee
Wife of Matt, Owner of Lorem Ipsum Books

Here's the video Mandalee mentioned in her email:



If you want to help Lorem Ipsum Books please go by clicking on the link below:



Yours,

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Do you love reading? Love trees? Try our monthly subscription option!


We would like to remind you the option of 
monthly subscription for Eco-Libris.

If you have a big library at home and you want to green it up one bookshelf at a time, balancing out 5 or 10 books every month on a regular basis, our subscription option can be a good fit for you.

The process is very easy and similar to one-time purchase: On
the subscription page you choose how many books you want to balance out each month. Then just click on the 'Buy' bottom and complete the payment process on the PayPal page. That's it.

Then, every month we'll work with our planting partners to plant trees in developing countries on your behalf the number of books you chose (10 trees for 10 books each month for example). You will receive a confirmation email from PayPal following each monthly payment, and of course we'll send you our "One tree planted for this book" stickers on monthly basis.

And that's not all - If you're also a member at bookmoocher, you will receive 1 bookmooch point for every 10 books you balance out!

If and when you'll decide you want to suspend your subscription, you will be able to do it easily and quickly on PayPal website.
If you have any questions about the subscription option, please feel free to email us at info [at] ecolibris [dot] net.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Green book review: Killer Fish by Brian Clement

We're back to our weekend green book reviews and our first book for 2013 with a thought provoking book on a very interesting topic from a great publisher - Book Publishing Co. 

Our book for today is Killer Fish: How Eating Aquatic Life Endanger Your Health by Brian Clement, PhD, NMD, LN.

What this book is about?

People the world over are eating more fish than ever before and assuming fish to be a healthful alternative to meat as well as an excellent source for omega-3 fatty acids. Killer Fish alerts consumers to how eating aquatic life endangers their health.

An acclaimed expert in the fields of preventive medicine and natural health, Brian Clement separates myth from fact as he presents powerful evidence of deadly toxins—particularly mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and pharmaceuticals—that travel up the food chain and concentrate in the tissues of both farmed and wild fish and then into the humans who eat them.

Readers are provided with an overview on how aquatic life became contaminated, how fish consumption affects human health, whether farmed fish are safer to eat than wild, the problem of overfishing and the decimation of fish species as well as the true health effects of consuming fish oil. For those who depend upon fish as a source of omega-3 fatty acids, a list of safe alternatives is provided.

The far-reaching health consequences suffered by people who eat these fish have rocked marine scientists and medical communities around the globe. Modern attempts designed to reverse this plight, such as producing genetically engineered fish, have only provided a new set of problems. With Killer Fish, the public has a chance to become educated as to the depth of this problem. Hopefully this awareness will not only safeguard their health, but be part of the solution.


Our review:

In an effort to “get healthy” people all over the world are trying to eat more fish. We are being told on tv and in magazine, and from our doctors, that this is a healthier alternative to animal meats, whether red or white, and that fish is one of the big sources for the Omega-3 fatty acids that we all need more of. This book, however, brings out new data on how we are not only endangering our health with our fish consumption, but we are also hurting the planet as well with over fishing.

The author, Brian Clement, is an expert in the fields of preventive medicine and natural health. He spends a good portion of the book discussing what are the facts and what are fictions in what the media is telling us about the consumption of fish. He provides documented reports and other evidence about the toxins found in fish. I know personally, that Women are told when pregnant about the dangers of eating certain fish due to the mercury content. However according to this book there are many other toxins that no one really mentions, that are bad for humans whether pregnant or not. These toxins include: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), betamethylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), Dioxins, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and many, many more. The list was huge and a bit overwhelming.

I was surprised how Killer Fish really got me thinking about what I eat and what it can do to my health, if I don’t pay attention. The book tries to educate its readers on the dangers of fish consumption, in an easy to read format with plenty of tables and lists for easy reference. It also doesn’t just give you the information and send you on your way. It provides resources and alternatives and ways you can make a change for the better. I was quite impressed with the content in this book. Also, I am happy to note that there is not a lot of wasted words in the book. The author gets right down to the point from word one. All in all I found this book to be a very interesting and thought provoking read.


You can purchase the book on Amazon.com



Tuesday, January 15, 2013

5 interesting findings from Scholastic's report on digital reading among children

The New York Times reported yesterday that "Digital reading is rising fast among children ages 6 to 17, but this is not necessarily translating into a greater desire to read, according to a report released on Monday by Scholastic Inc.". Here are the most 10 interesting things you can learn from the report:

1. "The percentage of children who have read an e-book has almost doubled since 2010, to 46 percent." This is a pretty impressive figure comparing to the general share of ebooks in the book market, giving you a pretty good indication how common the use of ebooks will be in 10-15 years (like you didn't know..).

2. "During the same period, the number of girls who reported being frequent readers declined to 36 percent from 42 percent." - does it mean that the growing use of ebooks doesn't necessarily translate into reading more books in general? The answer might be found in the next finding.

3. Children "are increasingly using tablets, like iPads, which allow for more activities than just reading. In fact, slightly more children reported having read a book on a tablet than on a plain e-reader device." - it means that they have in their hands a device with which plenty of stuff they can do with it other than reading, so it might not be that surprising that spending more time with the iPad doesn't necessarily translate to more books read.

4."About one-fourth of the boys who had read an e-book said they were reading more books for fun. Boys have traditionally lagged behind girls in reading." - what does it mean in terms of the competition between books and games? Would we see more integration between the two forms to create a more attractive format of entertainment for kids? Probably yes.

5. "Children said e-books were particularly good when they wanted to be secretive about reading. But at night in bed, most children said they still liked to read books in print." - I have a feeling you will receive the same replies from adults!

Yours,

[Image credit: Soppy Chen, Flickr Creative Commons]