The Solomon Scandals
The D.C. newspaper novel, the media, the Washington area, tech and other surrealism: David Rothman at large
07.19.2011
AdWords finally working

Update, 7:51 a.m., July 20: The AdWords gods have sent me other notes recommending Amazon-style features but for now are letting me use the service without them. – D.R. Good news, Google fans. The AdWords gods in India were finally satisfied that I didn’t have to do a mini-Amazon act and include certain store-style features […]

05.03.2011
E-trends and other fun for book people to mull over: A mix of reckless and not-so-reckless predictions

Note: This is an expanded version of my talk to the Washington Biography Group on Monday at Washington International School. By David H. Rothman Founder of TeleRead, Co-Founder of LibraryCity, and author of The Solomon Scandals SEEING the windmill blades turn—in Al Gore’s multimedia book Are we wasting our time talking about books and the […]

01.01.2011
E-books vs. movies and other streamed media: Which should be first priority at Library of Congress?

With so many local libraries facing cutbacks, the case for a well-stocked national digital library system grows stronger each day. At TheAtlantic.com  I’ve written of the possibility of a decentralized public library system existing within the Library of Congress but run by librarians in many cities, so that Washington does not dictate to America what […]

12.17.2010
Politics and Prose bookstore: A role model for the Washington Post, with potential Post-Kaplan synergies?

Something bizarre is happening at Politics and Prose, and perhaps a few other bookstores in the Washington area—and therein may lie a lesson for the Washington Post. These booksellers are prospering, even as many others across the nation are closing or cutting back. Sales at Politics and Prose have zoomed from $3 million two years […]

10.08.2010
Philip Roth’s new novel: A do-it-yourself ‘Nemesis,’ plus a few thoughts on Roth vs. e-books

Philip Roth was an evil literary influence on me. I don’t write like him, but love his sarcasm, irony and well-crafted dispatches from the battles of the sexes, the very stuff that unsettles Leah Hager Cohen, author of a favorable New York Times review of Nemesis, Roth’s latest novel. Ms. Cohen until recently despised Roth’s […]

06.25.2010
iPads for every Congress member? A good start but not enough by itself

Give iPads to all members of Congress? That’s the recommendation of Melissa Bluey, the Atlantic’s assistant art director, who correctly notes the general cluelessness of our solons on technological matters. It would be a good start, but we really should go beyond that with the iPad Stimulus Plan discussed here and earlier in the Atlantic […]

06.23.2010
An iPad Stimulus Plan: It’s about books, jobs, lower healthcare costs and fewer paperwork hassles

Apple has sold some three million iPads in 80 days, according to the latest news from the company. Many thousands of books are now available for the iPad and the newer iPhones and iPod Touches through Apple’s iBooks app—including The Solomon Scandals. But three million is still a small number compared to the total U.S. […]

03.23.2010
‘Red Hot’ Engel sisters, possible iPad edition, Henry Adams and ‘Scandalize your classroom’

Remember my optimism about Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, the play by the Engel twins, based on the life of the uppity liberal Texas columnist who fondly gave George Bush the nickname of “Shrub”? So far, the write-ups are upbeat, and I predict that R.H.P. will make it to Broadway—aided by […]

02.14.2010
A Valentine’s Day lesson from P. G. Wodehouse

Carly is asleep now, but I know my first order of business when she wakes up. Happy Valentine’s Day! V Day is also notable for a sadder, far less romantic event, the death of P. G. Wodehouse, who died on Feb. 14, 1975, at age 93. Coincidentally I began today with a partial reading of […]

06.04.2009
The Jonathan Stone-David Rothman Q. & A.

Jonathan Stone, the reporter in The Solomon Scandals, grilled me for this Q. & A.—uncut. STONE: Why’s Scandals copyrighted in your name? Those are my newspaper memoirs. ROTHMAN: Er, faux memoirs. Without me, you wouldn’t even have been born…or have worked for the Washington Telegram…or have struggled to avert an IRS-CIA building collapse…or lived through […]