News, Links, Sales and an Infographic!

First, an infographic, which are like the Louboutin shoes of the internet. So trendy! Neomam.com forwarded me a link to their 50 Shades infographic, and I expected to roll my eyes (and possibly bite my lip) a lot, but it made me laugh – especially this part:

 

 

If you'd like to see the entire infographic, here it is: 

Click image to see it in full size.

Fifty Shades of Grey Infographic –Infographic design by NeoMam

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The band The xx did a visual study of virality by sending their new album to one fan – and then tracking the distribution of that album from fan to fan around the world. 

They set up a site to visually represent the stream, too. I love when the world looks small because people want to share something they love. 

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Speaking of making the world seem small, prepare to have your mind blown. From Elizabeth comes this link to a sliding representation of things that are big, and things that are small, including distances, planets, galaxies, and the pieces that make up matter: The Scale of the Universe 2.

Don't scroll too fast – you'll get nauseated.

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What does your brain look like when you read? What's going on in your brain when you read – specifically Jane Austen? Scientists and MRI machines are looking at that very question: 

During a series of ongoing experiments, functional magnetic resonance images track blood flow in the brains of subjects as they read excerpts of a Jane Austen novel. Experiment participants are first asked to leisurely skim a passage as they might do in a bookstore, and then to read more closely, as they would while studying for an exam.

 

Phillips said the global increase in blood flow during close reading suggests that “paying attention to literary texts requires the coordination of multiple complex cognitive functions.” Blood flow also increased during pleasure reading, but in different areas of the brain. Phillips suggested that each style of reading may create distinct patterns in the brain that are “far more complex than just work and play.”

 

Graceful curtsey to Jill for the link.

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Librarian tattoos? Yes, librarian tattoos! Are you a librarian with a librarian tattoo? More power to you! 

Graceful curtsey to Tina C. for the link. 

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From Sarah (not me), comes a fascinating examination of Georgette Heyer's A Civil Contract through the critical perspective based in the works of Nobel laureate economist and philosopher F. A. Hayek: A Hayekian Love Story.

What gets Adam and Jenny out of the fix in which they find themselves, and what brings them to the happiest ending possible for a couple brought together in such unpromising fashion, is F. A. Hayek. Or more accurately, it’s a subtle distinction that Hayek noted in The Fatal Conceit:

 

Moreover, the structures of the extended order are made up not only of individuals but also of many, often overlapping, sub-orders within which old instinctual responses, such as solidarity and altruism, continue to retain some importance by assisting voluntary collaboration, even though they are incapable, by themselves, of creating a basis for the more extended order. Part of our present difficulty is that we must constantly adjust our lives, our thoughts and our emotions, in order to live simultaneously within different kinds of orders according to different rules.

We need more funky badass literary criticism. I had to read that article closely, but I thought it was way cool.

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A few books on sale and newly released! I'm featuring 2, but I have more in the queue to share later this week.  

What I Did for a Duke by Julie Ann Long is .99c until late October. This book has some amazing reviews behind it at Goodreads. You can get a copy at:

• Amazon
• BN
• Sony
• Kobo
• iBooks

 

 

Zoe Archer has re-released one of her early Dorchester novels, Lady X's Cowboy, digitally for $3.99. Archer mentioned in her email to me that this book received the “Book Buyers Best Award for Best Historical & Regency Romance” in 2007. The blurb sounds really interesting (I totally bought it – American cowboy in London? Ok!):

Constrained by her life as a Society widow, Lady Olivia Xavier finds escape in two unusual ways: as the owner of a successful brewery, and as a secret reader of penny dreadful Western novels. But Olivia’s beloved brewery is being threatened, and she has no ally in her fight. Until a mysterious cowboy steps out from the London fog, saving her from a terrifying brawl. Suddenly, Olivia isn’t just reading about the Wild West, she’s living it.

Colorado cowboy Will Coffin has made the long journey from his Rocky Mountain home to discover his birthright. While searching for his family, he encounters the beguiling Olivia. Will’s never met a real English lady before—certainly not one as lovely and courageous as Olivia—and he can’t resist coming to her rescue.

Olivia is powerfully drawn to the rough but honorable cowboy. She proposes a most scandalous arrangement: in exchange for helping protect her brewery, she’ll help Will find his family. Even more scandalous is that he’ll be sleeping under her roof. The entire arrangement sets Society’s tongues wagging. Meanwhile, the danger to the brewery, and Olivia herself, keeps escalating. But nothing’s as dangerous, or seductive, as the growing desire between the lady and the cowboy…

You can get a copy at Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo.