The Solomon Scandals
The D.C. newspaper novel, the media, the Washington area, tech and other surrealism: David Rothman at large
12.24.2011
Holidays musing—on e-books and LibraryCity

E-books aren’t like regular books—they’re invisible except on the screen of a computer. Particularly at a time when so many bookstores have vanished, could e-libraries be one way to keep books on people’s minds? And help reinvent the concept of family literacy? Check out my other site, LibraryCity, where I discuss those issues and more. […]

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 […]

12.06.2010
How to read ‘The Solomon Scandals’ instantly, via the Google eBookstore, on your PC, Mac, iPad, Android phone or other gizmo

The new Google eBookstore, a rival to the Kindle Store, didn’t disappoint me when I tried it just now. Books display on PCs, Macs, iPads, nooks and other gadgets (although not the Kindle), even offline—and you can adjust the type size and style, line spacing, and other variables. More info here. Also see Google Blog. […]

11.12.2010
Library e-books now readable on iPad, iPod and iPhone
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DRMed library e-books—at least ePub and PDF ones from the OverDrive service for public libraries—are now readable on the iPad, iPod and iPhone via the free Bluefire app. Psst! The secret is here, shared by Mobiputing. Screen shot, from Mobiputing, is of Bluefire on an iPod.

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 […]

04.03.2010
Apple iPad: Another way to read ‘The Solomon Scandals’ and other books

The Solomon Scandals is mostly about yesterday, but e-books do show up briefly in the afterword. We learn about the Scandals as people looked back on them many decades later in the 21st century. So what’s it like to read Scandals electronically on the just-released iPad—via the Kindle e-store or otherwise? As both a reader […]

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 […]