Tedium Highlight in Books: How the “Who’s Who” concept of reference books devolved from a genuinely useful idea into a very costly form of vanity publishing. 

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Tag results: Books

Michael Wolff’s Internet Book Empire

The Trump administration tell-all scribe has a history with digital publishing that goes way back. In fact, he edited one of the first guides to the internet.

Straight Flush

The story of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, the greatest book series of all time that targets a uniquely captive audience. The series turns 30 this year.

Biography, Unauthorized

An unauthorized look at the master of the unauthorized biography, whose name is not Michael Wolff, as it turns out. Meet Kitty Kelley.

We're Running Out of Widgets

What do Barnes & Noble, Radio Shack, and Blockbuster have in common? Simple: Their flawed business models relied on selling physical objects in stores.

Who’s Who? Who Cares

How the “Who’s Who” concept of reference books devolved from a genuinely useful idea into a very costly form of vanity publishing.

Who Killed The Encyclopedia?

The fast demise of the physical encyclopedia came about thanks to an upstart publisher, an indecisive giant, and the world’s biggest software company.

The Great Gnome Fad

Roughly 40 years ago, an illustrated Dutch book about gnomes took the U.S. book market by storm—and, curiously, quickly faded out of view.

Delivered To Your Door

The internet made monthly subscription boxes cool, but the roots of this business model can be found in decisions made in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Books on Vinyl

Audiobooks are common these days, but advocates for those with vision disabilities saw their value early—as well as the value of the vinyl record.

Burn After Reading

Controversial literature that lives at the very edge of the First Amendment plays an important societal role: It tests exactly what we can say.
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