For-Profit Education Now Available

An article Walter Block and I wrote opposing school vouchers a long time ago was included in the For-Profit volume of the Opposing Viewpoints book series. I got a copy in the mail today, and it looks great. It’s also available via amazon (referral link).

Opposing Viewpoints is a long-running series that dedicates a whole volume to each of a range of controversial topics. The books present the major issues and sub-issues in a pro–con format using articles, cartoons, quotations, and other materials collected from many sources. They’re designed to give children a fairly balanced overview of the topics from all the major sides.

Alton Brown in New Orleans

Alton Brown is coming to Octavia Books on October 19, 2011, to sign copies of the newest volume in the Good Eats series, Good Eats 3: The Later Years.

The cost of a ticket is the price of a copy of the book at Octavia. You trade the ticket for the book at the signing. Unfortunately, the store’s website indicates that Alton will only be signing books purchased from the store. I bought my ticket yesterday, and it came to just over $40 with in-store pickup. Also, for those who want pictures with AB, keep in mind his no-camera-phone policy (third paragraph from the bottom) and bring a real camera.

See you there!

Book Review: Ready Player One

 

I’m on vacation and hadn’t planned on blogging again until I got home, but I need to share Ready Player One. I first read about it on boing boing around the time it was released. After a short wait on my reading list, I downloaded it.

I started reading it yesterday evening after we got back from vacation activities and kept going until 3 A.M. It broke my heart to put it down, but I needed some sleep. So when we got back to the hotel this evening, I picked it up and didn’t put it down again until I finished it.

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Book Review: Typography for Lawyers

Full disclosure: I’m a design nerd. I love good design. Good design — whether it’s in the shape of my Macbook Pro or in the syntax of the Ruby programming language — makes me happy. I notice it, and I’m willing to pay for.

In the opening pages of his exceptional book, Typography for Lawyers, Matthew Butterick reminds us that every producer — especially lawyers — should pay attention to his product’s design. But what do lawyers produce? Documents. Lots and lots of documents. But many lawyers don’t even know they should be thinking about document layout and design. Typography for Lawyers is where those lawyers should start. Continue reading