Tim O'Reilly Talks the Future of Publishing

He’s been dubbed the “oracle of Silicon Valley” by Inc. magazine for his uncanny ability to foretell what’s going to happen in publishing and technology. Founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, a computer-book publisher and company that hosts tech conferences like Tools of Change, Tim O’Reilly launched the first web service for online book content in 2000 with Safari Books Online, well ahead of the digital bell curve. Here, O’Reilly took a few minutes to talk to us about obstacles to digital success, how authors can distinguish themselves online and what’s next in publishing ...

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Kirkus Q&A: Patton Oswalt

Patton Oswalt is one of those comedians who is seemingly everywhere, yet everything he touches he does well. Whether it’s his liberally charged stand-up taking jabs at modern-day society, the Bush era, or Hollywood (his last recorded album, My Weakness is Strong [2009], even got a Grammy nod), acting on hit TV shows like King of Queens, or voicing Remy the rat in Ratatouille, he’s shown that he’s more than capable of bringing the funny. In his first stand-alone book of essays, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, he demonstrates that his storytelling abilities ably translate off the stage as ...

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2010 Best Books: The Grace of Silence, by Michele Norris

Michele Norris wrote one of the best nonfiction books, The Grace of Silence, of 2010. Inspired in part by Barack Obama's presidency, the NPR journalist investigates race in America through the experiences of her family's, especially her father's, history. Here, Norris shares her five favorite must-reads about race in America:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama by Gwen Ifill

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

For ...

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More Stuff White People Like

StuffWhitePeopleLike.com’s Christian Lander may not have scored a TV show like that Shit My Dad Says guy, but his website is still a pop-culture phenomenon, nearly 70 million hits and counting. Lander’s first book based on the blog, Stuff White People Like, was a New York Times bestseller when it was published in 2008. Now, he returns with more stuff about white folks—only this time, he breaks it down region by region in Whiter Shades of Pale, which hits bookstores this week. Sit back and enjoy the whiteness:

Boston, Conan O’Brien – “The news that Conan ...

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What Would Keith Do?

Now, I need not improvise when life’s little snafus arise—and neither do you. The legend, the icon, the ...

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10 Reasons to Read James Franco

James Franco’s camp wouldn’t give us an interview with the Everywhere It Boy, but we think you should read his book anyway. His first short story collection, Palo Alto, is out today.

And now, 10 Reasons to Read Franco:

1. Four out of four Kirkus reviewers and editors have read Palo Alto and agree—it’s really, really good.

2. His character kills someone in the very first story, “Halloween.”

3. Lines like this are peppered throughout the entire book: “Funny how new facts pop up and make you doubt that that there’s any goodness in life ...

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Assault of the Bieber!

According to many news outlets, including the Vancouver Sun, teen heartthrob Justin Bieber is under investigation for an alleged assault at a British Columbia laser-tag facility. It puts his brand-new memoir, Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story, in a context HarperCollins, his publisher, would probably like to avoid.

“My music and lyrics give a glimpse of what’s in my heart, but I think this book is a window into my world,” Bieber says on the inside jacket. “In here are hundreds of pictures of me that no one’s ever seen before…this is my gift to ...

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