Category: books

publishing your book

On By Rick McIn books, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Of the vanity publishing options, seems Blurb is the best.

Blurb BookSmart is the only start-to-finish publishing service simple and smart enough to make anyone an author. (This means you.) Better yet, the software is free. So download and play all you like – you pay only when you publish your bookstore-quality book. How sweet is that?

Blurb | Frequently Asked Questions

If you are actually able to write a book, you can print just one copy if you wish. Cost ranges anywhere from $30-$80 / book. Less if you print more copies.

blurb-sample.jpg

Arthur Black – comedian

On By Rick McIn books, humour, McCharles family, travelogues, TVLeave a comment

My Mom treated me to an entertainment by Arthur Black.

He spoke just down the street at the Parksville City Hall. Black was on tour flogging his 11th book, Pitch Black.
Pitch Black

After the late, great, beloved Peter Gzowski, no other personality was more the voice of Canadian radio to me than Arthur Black. He retired to Salt Spring Island, BC 11-years-ago — but he is still in fine form, as sharp and witty as ever.

I had forgotten that Black first introduced the comedian who played Father Guido Sarducci who went on to Saturday Night Live fame. The Stephen Colbert of the 1970s, Sarducci posed as gossip columnist and rock critic for a Vatican newspaper.

» next travelogue post on this trip – flee to Coombs, BC

book – Scream And Run Naked

On By Rick McIn books, philosophy, travel, travel IndiaLeave a comment

The perfect book for Rick McCharles?

An author friend strongly recommended Scream And Run Naked – Lessons from a Neurotic’s Journey to Nepal by Alison Arnold.

It’s on the top of my “to read” list.

Scream And Run Naked

author – Michael Crichton

On By Rick McIn books, movies, TVLeave a comment

Just finished Congo, Crichton’s 1980 book exploring themes of communication with great apes and the possibility that man and chimpanzee had inter-bred at some point in the distant past.

What I like about Crichton is that his books are accessible by a 10-year-old yet are based on serious scientific research. He is a medical doctor by training.

Of course he has had fantastic success translating his work to film and TV. I never realized until recently that Crichton wrote and directed one of my formative early films Westworld

I liked Crichton even better after I read his autobiographical book Travels:

Travels

In some ways Crichton’s heir is Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer…

Actually, (after I had written the statement above) I got the chance to ask Robert if he was influenced by Crichton and he said he had not read him since age 12. Though both have a scientific background, Crichton is “anti-Science” — in his books the scientific breakthrough always goes wrong. The dinosaurs run amok.

book – a decade of Burning Man photos

On By Rick McIn books, photos, travelLeave a comment

This may be the closest I ever get to the famous desert festival.

Barbara Traub’s new book Desert to Dream is an unprecedented photographic record of a decade of Burning Man celebrations. Contributions from filmmaker Les Blank, Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, Leonard Nimoy and beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti …

10 Years of Burning Man – photos – Wired magazine

If interested in the book for one of your alternative friends:

A Decade of Burning Man Photography
Desert to Dream: A Decade of Burning Man Photography

Satanic Purses – the myth of the War on Terror

On By Rick McIn books, government, IslamLeave a comment

Just heard the radical professor R.T. Naylor blast the “War on Terror”.

His research says that Osama does not have millions at his disposal. That money has long been shut off.

He states almost every claim made about the “Global War on Terrorism” is a ridiculous exaggeration.

Money, Myth, And Misinformation in the War on Terror

Book Mooch – trade used books

On By Rick McIn books, internet1 Comment

I heard good things about BookMooch.com, a community for exchanging used books, so I signed up.

I was looking for something to do with my many (still-up-to-date) Lonely Planet travel guides.

BookMooch is tech millionaire John Buckman’s baby. He is doing it for the good of the universe.

bookmooch_logo-1.gifbooks.jpg
I will mail any of my used books to any Book Mooch member who wants one.

Later I will request books I want mailed to me.

the Thirsty Traveler

On By Rick McIn books, food, TVLeave a comment

Gourmet chef Dave Adlard tipped me on to The The Thirsty Traveler series on TV hosted by Kevin Brauch.

I had never heard of it.

But I got my hands on the “cookbook” — if you can call tinkering in the kitchen with vodka, tequila, single malt scotch and other fine alcohol, “cooking”.

It’s excellent.

Cooking with Fine Wines, Beers, and Spirits

book – Marching Powder

On By Rick McIn books, photosLeave a comment

Published 2003, this is a shocking expose of a lax Bolivian prison in La Paz. Backpackers bribe guards to stay the night inside & do drugs!

Marching Powder

Seems tourists are no longer allowed into the party prison in 2006. BBC published a photo journal on the jail.

book – The Tailor of Panama

On By Rick McIn books, moviesLeave a comment

Normally I love John le Carré novels and have read most of his books.

This one had great potential.

I could not finish it. The dialogue, full of complex British slang, was too much work.

Le Carré is perhaps the most popular writer producing “literature” today. But in the case of Panama — I think I’ll prefer the movie.

The Tailor of Panama