Great book titles

Introduction:
Books are a common feature in today’s fast moving world. It is quite difficult to find someone who has not seen, touched, and read at least one book in his or her lifetime. Today, authors write books on nearly every subject be it arts, science, commerce, history, literature, poetry, and other contemporary subjects.

Publishing and printing of books has become easier and more widespread since the invention of the printing press. Earlier, books were copied and written by hand, making books expensive and rare. Let us travel a little back in time to discover the journey that books have taken since first known to humankind.

History:
The word ‘book’ comes from an Old English word called ‘bMc”. According to the popular site thefreedictionary.com, a book in modern terms is “A set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers.”

The early Mesopotamians wrote books on clay tablets. The ancient Egyptians wrote on papyrus rolls in Egypt as early as 3000 B.C. In China, bamboo strips tied together with chords served as books. These dated back to around 1300 B.C. In ancient India, seers and sages wrote ancient religious texts on palm leaves - nature’s paper. These early writers would preserver these books for posterity and hand them down from one generation to another for preservation and dissemination of knowledge.

By the 19th century, printers could no longer meet the demand for books by hand printing. The printing press and the moveable type press, attributed to Johannes Gutenberg, changed the scenario, thus bringing the cost of books down to a considerable level. Johannes Gutenberg is also credited with printing the first real book - the Gutenberg Bible, using the movable type printing press.

Large presses followed this invention, thus making it possible for larger books to be printed. Further advances were made during the mid 1800s. For example, the invention of the paper making machine, binding machinery, the cylinder press and the linotype machine made it possible for books to be printed in large numbers. In modern times, books are printed using a number of sophisticated processes, which require special attention out of scope of this article.

Classification of Books:
Books are classified into various types according to their content. A popular segregation is fiction and non-fiction books. Fiction books contain largely fictitious material, such as novels, which are the most common form of fictional books. Typically, novels consist of a plot, setting, themes, and character.

Non-fictional books usually provide useful information as opposed to fiction books. A common type of non-fiction book usually found in libraries is the reference book. Other books can include handbooks, almanacs, encyclopedias, atlases, instruction manuals, and others. School and college textbooks are come under the non-fictional category. Other non-functional books can take the form of directories, address books, phone books, appointment books, logbooks and diaries.

Another popular method of classifying books is by the type of covers they are provided with. Accordingly, they can be classified as hard cover and paper back books. While hard cover books have a stiff binding, paperback books have paper binding which are less robust and last lesser compared to their hardbound counterparts.

In the modern day world, many of us manage to get some time out to read their favourite or new books. The present day book publishers offer several book categories such as fiction, non-fiction, reference, poetry, history, fantasy, thriller, crime, law and travel books to name a few. Since every reader has different reading preferences, the stage is well set to bring back those wonderful reading habits of passionate and avid readers by offering them multiple choices.

If you are looking at some of the absolute masterpieces in the world of books then you can try the online market. The online shopping portals of today offer millions of books to their customers and you, as a prospective book reader and customer, will be really glad to be living in this century. Some of the websites even offer you online books after you become a member and seek their services for a paltry subscription fee. These online books can be easily accessed through the reliable medium of the Internet by using credit card or any other payment mode prescribed by the websites. A few websites also offer fresh as well as second-hand books so that all the readers, irrespective of their spending abilities, can enjoy the pleasures of some of the most acclaimed books of all times without burning a big hole in their pockets.

Some of the most famous books such as the “Pride and Prejudice”, “Sense and sensibility”, “The Great Gatsby”, “The Rescue” and “Letters from a father to his Daughter”, which were earlier elusive to the high-class section of readers are now within the reach of all classes of readers.

If you have an avid interest in traveling and exploring new destinations then the highly acclaimed books such as “The Rough Guide to Goa”, “The Rough Guide to Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra” and “Traveller’s Atlas” are excellent reading options. These informative travel books will help you to spend an eventful vacation with the complete confidence of knowing the place without actually ever being to it earlier.

Don’t wait for the reading habits to change themselves for the good, take total control and stay informed of the world’ best writing materials by simply sitting and studying these cheap books in your study room.

Everyone who has ever been afflicted with acne knows how terribly annoying it is. And how frustrating it can be trying to keep it under control.

There are a number of treatments for acne both conventional and alternative. Some of the alternative methods are quite simple and should definitely be attempted even if conventional acne products are being used.

Alternative methods include the drinking of pure green tea due to it’s antibiotic properties, and the applying of certain natural oils such as castor oil, topically.

Another such alternative technique is outlined in the popular book; “Acne Free In 3 Days” written by Chris Gibson. Chris Gibson’s book has been featured on some of the biggest media networks in the U.S. as well as abroad such as, Fox News, CBS & ABC just to mention a few.

As the title suggests, this book actually outlines how to permanently cure acne in 3 days, due to that stunning claim, the book has become massively popular.

The methods described actually remove the root cause of acne. Most people are totally unaware of what the main cause of acne really is.

According to Chris Gibson, it involves much more than clogged pores, but is actually an indication of a certain type of toxin in the body. The body tries desperately to remove the toxin and it results in acne.

Acne Free In 3 Days outlines a stunning method to remove that toxin.

I recommend Acne Free In 3 Days to every acne sufferer no matter how mild or severe your acne.

“An important book is one which had a profound effect when printed and which continues to exert influence; important books are in large part desirable because collectors - affected by the book in some way - want a copy.”

These “important books” cross over into Collectible, Rare and Antiquarian books.

Take for example 1984. Truly this was an important book as it was about the future and people wanted a copy. But, it is also rare if you are looking for a first edition, first printing, with a dust jacket and fine condition..

If a book becomes an important, like 1984, then it will probably become at first a collectible, because it was not old when it was first printed, but when it has stood the test of time, it will become rare. But hundreds of years from this moment, it will be considered antiquarian.

Everybody has there favorite book. Mine is Noble House by James Clavell. Set in Hong Kong it is the story of two Tai-pan’s and seven days in the business life of this city built by pirates. For me, I wanted a first edition. Through the years I have picked up my share of first editions. But, they are getting difficult to find in good condition. Now does this mean that it is going to be worth thousands of dollars? Well, not right now, but down the road someday, there going to go up in price. Everyday, books are lost to floods, fire and garage sells. They are not printing anymore first editions, so all of Clavell’s books could be worth something in the future. Already I priced any of eshis early hard bounds at $25.00. More for his first book.

If enough people also like this book then it might become collectible.

Those people who have a private library, from one shelf to twenty or more bookcases all have important books. It might be said that an important book is one that you don’t want to get rid of just yet. I have about thirty boxes I will be clutching on my deathbed.

When you go into a bookstore, you actually cherry pick the store. You take out the books you can afford and really want to own and read.

I have been in situations where people who are selling off their collections but won’t go through the books if somebody else has gone through them. They think the bt has been cherry picked by other dealers.

But everybody has different tastes. Everybody collects or sells different types of books. Yes, we all have Stephen King and Anne Rice. But we don’t necessarily have the same books at the same time. There is room for everybody.

Would I pass up a pile of books because a dealer or a book scout had already gone through them. Nope, I will be there in spades to see what I can dig up. The flip of the coin is, someday they will be following me. I have left thrift stores when new books are being shelved and there is a scout working the shelves and checking each row as the books appear. They were there first and I know he is looking for what he considers “important books” and I leap frog to my next target area to see what I can find. Important books - something for everybody, and that’s the beauty of books.

This book is excellent for the new dichroic glass hobbyists. It covers many of the fundamental s of what to do/what not to do in working with dichroic glass and could save the novice many failed attempts.

Any glass artist should have a selection of books to guide them as a source of inspiration and reference. Dichroic Glass artists in particular should have this book in their library. It’s fantastic for those, ‘I know what I’ll try’ moments as they tend to have been covered within the book and it can save a very expensive dichroic disaster!

The book has 64 pages of excellent projects, covering topics such as stenciling. It is one of the very rare books of it’s kind were it is worth actually sitting down and reading the book cover to cover, as apposed to thumbing through it till you get to a project you want to try.

A few of it’s ‘golden rules’ are slightly questionable but perhaps they are open to debate between experienced glass artists who know how far to take their particular medium.

Overall, this book is excellent-the only criticism being that there is a definite kiln worker bias to the book, with flameworking not really covered in too much depth. I’d love to see some dichroic flamework projects covered as there’s definitely a gap in the market.

Score 8/10

Dichroics:Art Glass All Dressed Up by Jackie Paciello-Truty is availble from many good crafts stores and available online from Amazon.com.