Gertrude Stein. (Courtesy Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.)
What exactly did renowned U.S. writer and art collector Gertrude Stein mean when she said “there is no there there” about Oakland, California? In honor of Gertrude Stein’s 138th birthday today, we explore the meaning of this oft-quoted phrase.
In fall 2011, I attended the SF Museum of Modern Art’s exhibit of Stein’s groundbreaking Paris art collection. At the exhibit, a small display about her childhood in Oakland, California, sparked my interest. I was born in Oakland, and I’m currently writing a book about Oakland. I wondered what it was like for Gertrude Stein growing up there in the 1880s. I purchased The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas from the Google eBookstore to read about Stein’s experiences in Paris and San Francisco with her companion, Alice Toklas. The more I read by Stein and saw how she plays with language, the more I wondered about the meaning of her “no there there” quote.
This is a guest blog post written by Graham Waldon, manager of East West Bookstore, an independent bookseller based in Mountain View, California
People are more important than things. That motto lies at the heart of what we believe at East West Bookstore, lending a certain resonance to our partnership with Google and its philosophy of "focus on the user and all else will follow."
East West is not just a business. It is above all a resource for expansive ideas, a retreat from ordinary life, and a gathering place in support of community ideals and spiritual growth. True spirituality is always current, vibrant, and applicable to daily life, not something to be hidden away or buried in the depths of history. In that spirit, East West always strives to evolve and adapt to people's current needs. One of our fun new evolutions this past year has been our integration with Google to sell Google eBooks on our website.
Our partnership has given us a complete ebookstore, with a vast selection, so that as more and more people move to ebooks, we'll be there ready for them. Since we rely heavily (like all independent bookstores) on people who love helping to support us, we're glad we can offer them this way of doing so. And when you buy a Google eBook from us, you're supporting more than just East West. You're serving our whole community by supporting an important spiritual and cultural resource that is unique in the Bay Area.
Please note some images may not be available in full view to readers outside the United States
In honor of Samuel Langhorne Clemens' – better known to the world as Mark Twain – 176th birthday today, Google has prepared a special doodle evoking one the most famous scenes from one of Twain's most famous novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. We at Google Books invite you to take a trip through this American author and humorist's life via our body of digitized works, and maybe even convince you to read a free ebook copy of one of Twain's classics.
As a child, Twain lived in Hannibal, Missouri, a town on the Mississippi River, in the early to mid-1800s. Twain describes one of his first jobs as a "printer's 'devil'" – an apprentice at his uncle's newspaper, the Weekly Hannibal Journal. "500 subscribers, and they paid in cord-wood, cabbages, and unmarketable turnips," he recalls of the experience later in his short-lived column "Memoranda" (circa 1871) for The Galaxy magazine. Read the full post
Posted by Mark Tanner, eBooks Partnerships Manager, Google Australia (Cross-posted on the Official Google Australia Blog)
Today, Google eBooks has landed in Australia, and whether you're a bookworm or casual reader, you're invited to stop by and stock up on some great reads for summer.
We've got hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, including plenty of best sellers, and more than two million free eBooks on top of that. It's easy to find great Australian authors like Kate Grenville, Thomas Keneally, Geraldine Brooks and Christos Tsiolkas.
Google eBooks is all about choice: we're offering more titles and more ways to buy, access and read them, so that your library is literally at your fingertips. You can choose from great titles from hundreds of local publisher partners at launch, including award-winning publishers like Allen & Unwin, Scribe and Text Publishing, not to mention the many thousands of international publishers Google works with around the world. In addition, we are working with some of the best local booksellers in Australia, including Booktopia and Dymocks who are selling eBooks today, with QBD The Bookshop and The Co-op Bookshop coming soon.
Greg Sanders, Technical Writer, DoubleClick and display products
We were pleased to host Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad, for an Authors@Google event in our New York office this August. I had the pleasure of moderating the talk with Egan in front of a group of Googlers.
Although the cast of characters spanning Goon Squad is vast and raucous, Egan is most interested in the sometimes self-destructive, sometimes tender-hearted protagonists, a music producer and former punk-rocker, Bennie Salazar, and his klepto assistant, Sasha.
Posted by Mireya S矇melas, Google eBooks Strategist
My beloved grandmother loves to talk to others about her grandchildren and how proud she is of what each one of us has become. Although, I always worried -- actually, I had solid evidence -- that she didn't fully understand my job at Google as an eBooks Strategist.
Explaining Google to her has been a real challenge, as her daily interactions with technology are limited to the use of a phone (a landline, not even a mobile one), the washing machine and the TV. Worse, my mind used to go blank every time she asked me, "So, what is it you do there at Grogel?" I won't even get started on my efforts over the last three years trying to correct her pronunciation.
Enough was enough. I love my Nana and I wanted her to be part of what I do. I wanted to share with her not only my personal but also my professional life. Nana is a fervent reader; her shelves are filled with literary gems that have been passed down through three generations in the family. I began to think about how I could connect her interest in books with my work on Google eBooks. It would still be a challenge: as an 87-year-old, Nana would likely have trouble imagining the existence of a paper-less book. Read the full post
Recently, John Dau spoke as part of the Authors@Google speaker’s series about his latest book, God Grew Tired of Us, and the similarly named award-winning documentary based on his life. He recounted his journey as a lost boy of Sudan from the age of 13, when his village was first attacked by Northern armies, through his journey to the United States. Dau calls his remarkable life story a living testimony because "the story goes from me to you and then from you to someone else..."
The video above shows Dau being interviewed on-stage as part of the Authors@Google series
At the beginning of his talk, Dau proudly announced that with the recent creation of the Republic of South Sudan, he is now a South Sudanese citizen. He then began to tell his story:
Dau grew up in a small village with no school. But he remembers being very happy. Then in 1987, his village was attacked. The whistling of bullets, thunder of bombs, and fearful screams woke him and his brother from their sleep. Dau recounted how he and his brother hid, and then fled the village, walking for three days without food or water.
As they fled, many other lost boys joined their group until it grew to 27. To survive, the boys were forced to eat mud and drink their urine. Many perished.
Once in Ethiopia the four remaining boys met other groups of lost children. They all banded together to organize a makeshift refugee camp. In total, there were 200 boys ranging from ages 5 to 18. But disease and malaria ran rampant, and without a clinic nearby, two to eight boys would die each day.
They stayed there for four years until in 1991, the Ethiopian government was overthrown and the new ruling party forced them to leave, along with thirty-seven thousand other refugees. They were given only three days' notice before armed troops forced the people to cross a crocodile-infested river.
Dau and other survivors then traveled through South Sudan. They faced bombings by Northern rebels, starvation, thirst and poor hygiene. Soon they found Kakooma, a United Nations refugee camp. Dau was now 17 years old and went to school for the first time. Due to the school's limited supplies, children would draw their responses in the dirt when taking exams.
Reflecting on his first time in school, Dau stated, "Education is so important and you can get anything you want [through learning]". He recounted how he would line up to enter the refugee camp's library at three in the morning every day, and how hard everyone worked to get into the fourth grade, since it was only then that they were allowed to sit in a classroom with shared pencils and notebooks.
Dau was 26 when the Americans came to take the refugee youth to Nairobi. He was selected to go to the US, where he could rebuild his life. However, he was surprised by many things in America such as the vast amounts of food and the pet aisle in a grocery store. Eventually he adjusted. Dau earned his Associate’s degree in 2004 and then his bachelor’s degree at Syracuse University in 2006.
In 2006 Dau founded the Lost Boys Rebuilding Southern Sudan nonprofit group so that the lost boys could learn to help themselves. He also founded American Care for Sudan, which raised enough money to build a clinic and has treated over 60,000 people. This clinic in South Sudan has the only ambulance in the country and is one of only six places in the entire country to have wireless internet.
Dau's message in an inspiring one: to never give up, no matter what has happened in the past.
It was an epic geekfest that could only be matched by the likes of a Comic-Con or a Star Trek convention: Googlers flocked to hear master fantasy writer George R. R. Martin talk at our Mountain View headquarters last month, in the first-ever live-streamed event for the Authors@Google series. Though you may have missed Martin live -- in which the Game of Thrones author took a variety of questions from Googlers as well as the general public -- you can now watch the recorded talk on YouTube:
Martin answers questions about the Game of Thrones books and HBO® series at Google. (Warning: slight spoilers during the talk, but nothing major revealed.)
The catalyst for Martin's visit to Google was a happy accident -- or as some might say, the work of the old gods. Last May, Nicholas Farmer was at Professor Thoms', a New York City bar, where a viewing party for the HBO® series Game of Thrones was being held. The bartender nudged him: "Hey Nick, there's the author of Game of Thrones." Farmer went and struck up a conversation with Martin, eventually asking if he'd heard of the Authors@Google series, which his mother Ann Farmer was an organizer for. Martin, friendly guy that he is, was open to the idea of visiting Google, saying "Have your mother contact my publicist, it's up to him." The rest is history.
At the event in July, Googler moderator Dan Anthony kicked things off by noting, "The only thing that would be cooler than this was if Joss Whedon came rushing in the door, and said he suddenly had to cast a Googler to star opposite Scarlett Johansson." Anthony praised Martin for creating the "world's favorite dwarf Lannister," quickly adding, "that doesn't mean you can kill him now."
Martin -- on tour promoting his latest book A Dance with Dragons -- was himself an engaging and humorous speaker. He answered fan questions and topics from "How did you get the TV show creators to stay so true to the novels?" (Martin: "Candy and chocolates"), to why he doesn't read internet fan forums ("What if they come up with better ideas than the ones I had?"), to his being something of a post-modern Tolkien ("There's an unspoken assumption in [Tolkien's] Return of the King that Aragorn is the king now and everything will be hunky dory. You never actually get into the nitty gritty of Aragorn ruling. And what is his tax policy?").
He also answered other questions often asked by fans, like why he kills off major characters so often ("There's a reason") and whether he plans to do any prequel books to the fantasy series (Maybe).
After the talk, I was able to chat with Martin a little about ebooks. The author says he carries his e-reader with him now whenever he travels, whereas in the past, he would incur overweight baggage charges because of the 10 or more physical books he would inevitably bring along. But he was also concerned that digital piracy might do to the book industry what it did to the music industry.
Martin, holding a Google eBook version of A Dance with Dragons on the Story HD from iriver
If you haven't already, make sure to get a digital copy of Martin's just released book from the Google eBookstore, A Dance with Dragons, for your smartphone, tablet, PC, netbook, laptop or e-reader device (see a full list of supported devices).
If you're new to the series, catch up on the previous books:
Finally, during the talk, Martin was presented with a dragon-ized Android t-shirt, designed by Googler Michelle Nguyen and made specially for this event. You can now get your own Android Dragon T-shirt at the Google Online Store:
Growing up as the child of an Air Force colonel with a passion for military history, I have traveled to almost every battlefield in the United States. Thus, there is a special place in my heart for Revolutionary and Civil War history. As this year is the Civil War's 150th anniversary, I've been celebrating in my own way, by reading as many related Google eBooks as I can download.
Last week, I read about Fort Sumter and its eventual surrender to South Carolina in Reminiscences of Fort Sumter and Moutrie in 1860-'61,. Right now, I'm reading a fascinating book called Woman's Work in the Civil War. Interestingly, the author only decided to write this book after searching for a different book and discovering the heroic sacrifices and bravery that many women had shown, but were not remembered for.
I also found a rare firsthand account from Abner Doubleday that provides a riveting perspective of a staunch Unionist. In his narrative he claims to have been the only officer of the garrison who actually wanted Lincoln to win the presidential election.
While surfing through lists of Civil War books, I stumbled upon Manassas: a novel of the war by revered author Upton Sinclair. This novel provides a very detailed description of life before the war, focusing on a young Southern man’s life in the Union army.
Toward the middle of 1861, the North had increased its naval strength and began a blockade of the South. The South’s efforts to create small and fast ships that could outmaneuver the North is detailed in Three Years on the Blockade: a naval experience.
From there, I plan on following the 150th anniversary of different Civil War events. I can't wait to begin reading about Confederate "Stonewall" Jackson's defeat of the Union forces in 1862, and Lincoln's preliminary announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation.
George R. R. Martin, the acclaimed author of the Game of Thrones novels -- also a recent hit HBO series -- is coming to Google for a live-streamed interview where he'll be taking your questions submitted online. The interview, part of the Authors@Google series as well as Martin's book tour promoting his latest novel A Dance with Dragons, will take place on July 28th at 12pm PDT.
Martin is a bestselling author most famous for his A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series of novels that has been adapted to the popular HBO drama Game of Thrones. Time magazine has dubbed him an "American Tolkien". In his series, Martin creates a rich world populated by a large cast of intriguing characters and interwoven storylines.
This is the first-ever live-streamed event for the Authors@Google series, where authors of all stripes visit the company for informal talks about their recently published books. It should come as no surprise that in addition to technology, Googlers love things like dragons and fantasy worlds, and we also love meeting talented writers like Martin.
This is your chance to get to know the author a little better too. In the live-streamed interview, Martin will be answering some online user-submitted questions.
Submit your questions for Martin on this page: Open from now until July 27, 12pm PDT.
Watch the live YouTube broadcast of Martin's interview: On July 28th, 12pm PDT, at the Authors@Google page, youtube.com/atgoogletalks. We'll also post the recorded interview on this page afterwards.
Meanwhile, make sure to get a digital copy of Martin's just released book from the Google eBookstore, A Dance with Dragons, for your smartphone, tablet or e-reader device (see a full list of supported devices).
If you're new to the series, catch up on the previous books:
Davis was interviewed by Google director Stacy Brown-Philpot, who asked her questions about her career, being black in America, technology's impact on the media, and her hopes for the future.
During her career Davis anchored at three major network affiliates, CBS, NBC and PBS, and currently hosts a highly respected political affairs program on KQED-TV in San Francisco. She has interviewed icons such as Malcolm X, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Alex Haley, Dianne Feinstein, Fidel Castro and Condoleezza Rice. During her interview at Google, Davis said that she would like to add President Barack Obama to this list.
In the video above, Davis is interviewed on-stage as part of the Authors@Google series
When asked how she started her career, Davis pointed to the Republican National Convention of 1964. She explained that it was during that convention where she saw how the mainstream media shaped public opinion and perpetuated racism.
Seeing the media's power to tell a story of hatred to America inspired her to try to tell a different story, "I thought to myself... I want to do something like that... I want to be able to tell people what happens to us. No one is truly interested in what happens to us if we don't tell our own story."
Something that surfaced during the conversation was how important it is to continue telling your story, even after you think you've broken down a wall. Asked if she thought being black in America has changed since the 1960s, Davis said it had, but this did not mean that people should stop working toward change:
It's like two different worlds for black Americans today. There is the group we dreamed of, that people fought for, march for... And then there is the other world, where unemployment is higher than it's ever been, where poverty is at an unmeasurable amount, where walls are so high that some don't see that they can climb over them.
So as a country we need to do more, but as a people there is no denying that the world is totally different: When I was starting in this business, I was often asked to leave news conferences because no one could believe I was a real legitimate reporter. Today the president of the country is black.
In her book Davis recounts where she was the night that Barack Obama won the 2008 Presidential election, and her initial hesitation to celebrate. Once she realized his success was real and being acknowledged, she was unable to control herself and had to share her experiences. She spoke about her experience of America in the 1960s, and the miracle she felt Obama's election was. And yet, always the journalist, Davis admits:
Deep down, I suspect that this glorious glow will fade into a more complex reality. Every progressive step in America seems to evoke its own backlash. In the same way that Brown v. Board of Education and passage of the Civil Rights Act helped spawn the reactionary rhetoric of the Goldwaterites, so too will Obama's election trigger angry Tea Party movement protesters brandishing him "un-American" and clamoring to take their country "back."
Yes I choose to remain hopeful. Over the years I've followed my mantra--a note I wrote to myself years ago. Its message applies to the fate of Belvagene Metlon Davis Moore from hardscrabble Louisiana, and to the Obamas and Oprahs and Christophers of the world, and to all who follow the arch of history as it blends toward justice. It begins like this: "Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality" (16).
Ultimately, Never in My Wildest Dreams, is about not giving up. Davis points out that we are living in a time when young people are throwing up their hands and abandoning their dreams. Davis wanted to let anyone who has thought of giving up that there "are rewards for hanging in there, for having wild dreams, for envisioning yourself as whatever it is that you think will make you happy."
She writes, "If you can somehow along the way convince yourself to do the work that it takes to get where you want to go, then there you are."
Last month I went to visit a friend in Seattle. Wanting to make the most of it, I did three things to prepare: (1) I asked my friends for advice on where to go, (2) read up on Seattle's demographics, major economic players, and history, and (3) perused Google eBooks for travel guides.
Initially, I simply typed "Seattle" in the Google eBooks search box, but then I decided to refine my search "By Subject," and selected “Travel."
I'm happy to report the trip was lovely and the weather held. I ended up being able to fit a lot into my two and a half days. I made it to the Space Needle, which was crucial to my trip as it reminds me of the film Sleepless in Seattle, my many years watching Frasier and of course, the Twilight Saga - not to mention Robert Pattinson's oh-so-famous pout! We also spent time in Belltown, Pike's Place Market, and Capitol Hill. I even snuck in a trip on Seattle's Central Link light rail, which was remarkably quiet, mostly above ground, and rivaled New York's subway system in terms of cleanliness.
Posted by Diego Puppin and Derek Lei, Google Books Software Engineers As the young (and young at heart) know, books aren't simply meant to be read - sometimes they're meant to be marked up, colored in and scribbled all over. Up until now, however, you couldn't really do that with digital books. Today, we're introducing Doodle Mode for a select group of Google eBooks. Take a virtual crayon to these digital books and go wild: draw pictures and diagrams, connect the dots, or underline words.
To get started, select any of ebooks, available for purchase, in the list below from "The Everything Kids'" series, which is the first line of ebooks to have Doodle Mode. Open them in the Google eBooks Web Reader. The Web Reader works in all modern browsers and lets you read Google eBooks without having to download them. (Note, however, that Doodle Mode does not yet work with Internet Explorer browsers.)
Once you've chosen and opened an ebook, go to the upper-right hand menu and click on "Doodle Mode" to begin. A box will appear, showing you where you can start doodling.
Use your mouse to click inside the box, and you'll start drawing with the crayon. You can use Doodle Mode in the Web Reader whether you're accessing it through your computer or iPad.
Doodles aren't saved, so you're free to doodle again and again on the pages of the ebooks without having to worry about using them up. (But if you do create a particularly stunning doodle, be sure to take a picture or a screenshot.)
Giulia, Diego's six-year-old daughter, tried her hand at Doodle Mode...
...and created some instant masterpieces:
From The Everything Kids' Connect Dots Puzzle and Activity Book
Last week, Google had the wonderful opportunity to meet comedian and author Tina Fey. Eric Schmidt asked her about her past, present and future, and read several passages from her debut book Bossypants. The new book is a New York Times™ best seller and you can purchase it at the Google eBookstore.
Here is an excerpt from the introduction explaining the book's title:
"Why is this book called Bossypants? One, because the name Two and a Half Men was already taken. And two, because ever since I became an executive producer of 30 Rock, people have asked me, 'Is it hard for you, being the boss?' and 'Is it uncomfortable for you to be the person in charge?' You know, in that same way they say, 'Gosh, Mr. Trump, is it awkward for you to be the boss of all these people?'"
Fey discussed her road to stardom, adventures in motherhood, and favorite lines from 30 Rock. She even answered live questions from Googlers and fans all over the world, including who her favorite guest star on 30 Rock was. "We've had so many guest stars on 30 Rock. We've been so lucky," she said. Fey called out favorites like Mad Men's Jon Hamm, comedian Tim Conway and former Saturday Night Live cast member Jan Hooks.
Watch the video below, and make sure to keep an eye out for Fey giving Eric a few tips on improv!
