Wow; high praise. I think I'll check this one out.

Quoted: “Netherland” is a bit like the wily and ebullient Chuck Ramkissoon. It has more life inside it than 10 very good novels.

Very interesting story about new money clashing with old values in Aspen. The deceased owner was a bohemian; the new owner helped fund the swift-boat ads. I wonder how the owner of this newspaper feels about the issue :)

Quoted: Many Aspenites were happy to see Explore purchased and preserved. Yet others see it as just the latest sign that Aspen is being sold off to the ultra-wealthy. They worry that Mr. Wyly, who paid $4.6 million for the store, will change its politics. Distrust of wealth among some longtime Aspenites runs so deep that no matter what Mr. Wyly does with the store he will be criticized.

Quoted: He adds that calling him a "conservative" and Mrs. Thalberg a "liberal" is oversimplifying. "I'm interested in personalities, not political parties," he says. What's more, he says, it's irrelevant to the bookstore. "People go to a bookstore because they love books, not because of politics."

Topic: The Internets are making us stupid. Discuss...on the Internets.

Quoted: I don't like that Rush Limbaugh listeners call themselves "dittoheads." It's funny, but it's kind of horrible. Fox News is a self-identified conservative outlet. The more extreme elements on the left treat their fellow citizens as if they're idiots, or as if they're rich people who don't care about anybody. So, I look at some of our culture, I see demonization, and I think, where does that come from?

Quoted: History Arts & Libraries - The following list of 50 essential works of Michigan history was selected by a team of noted historians assembled by the Department of History, Arts and Libraries and Randy Riley, Special Collections Manager for the Library of Michigan.

Fun w/ fonts.

Quoted: To accompany Mia Fineman's essay on Helvetica, the font that is now the subject of a documentary film and an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, Slate asked a number of prominent writers to tell us what font they compose in and why.

My favorite professor wrote an article that inspired a novel - I'm just about done with "Free Fire." It's a pretty entertaining read, and apparently there is talk of a movie. I don't know how one gets compensated for something like that, but it's pretty cool.

Quoted: Could there really be such a thing as a perfect crime? Legally, MSU law professor Brian Kalt thinks there just might be. And an article he wrote in the Georgetown Law Journal has inspired mystery writer C.J. Box's latest novel, "Free Fire." Michigan Radio's Jack Lessenberry spoke with Kalt about his article.

This was a very interesting interview with the author of a book about the difficult transition from blind life to sighted life - very surprising. I think he was also on the Diane Rehm show a while back.

I thought I dotted this earlier, but I guess not. This looks interesting, and according to Tavis Smiley the book is worth the price for the cover art alone.

Quoted: Indeed, it was the courage and vision of Kennedy's presidency — and the dangers it posed to many entrenched interests in and out of government — that Talbot believes was the reason for his death.

That's old. Nice acquisition for the Meeter Center.

Quoted: The book was printed in Geneva in 1562 by Vincent Bres and only five libraries in Europe are known to own it and none in the United States.