Signings in Dayton

I'll be signing Before Oprah at two Dayton-area libraries this coming Saturday, and again in August. Books will be available:

Saturday, June 27, 2:00 PM
Wilmington-Stroop Public Library
3980 Wilmington Pke, Kettering, OH 45429

Saturday, August 01, 2:00 PM
Huber Heights Library
6160 Chambersburg Rd, Dayton, OH 45424

Click here to see a calendar of my signings, updated as new events are scheduled.
--Mike

A Rich Repository of Computing History

Did you ever own an Atari computer--400, 800, ST? How about a TRS-80, or Apple? Or a less common sort of machine? If so, you'll find The Classic Computer Magazine Archives of more than passing interest. This site hosts content from these 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s computer magazines:

Compute!
Antic
Compute II
Compute!'s Gazette
Creative Computing
ST-Log
Video Arcade
Whiz Kids (Tandy Whiz Kids comic books)

I wrote for ST-Log (as well as Analog Computing) and, at some point for Creative Computing. It's a real informative trip down memory lane to browse these magazines! You can look through indexes, or browse by subject, authors, and other criteria. (Whiz Kids has full-page color scans.)

Not every article from every issue is available yet, but the quantity of information is gratifying.
Have a look!
--Mike

Book Launch Video

I promised earlier to write about the April 29 launch of Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons, the Woman Who Created Talk TV. There were two events that day, one at 11:00 AM, the other at 6:00 PM. You can see a portion of the morning event (which included WLWT announcer Bill Myers, singer Colleen Sharp, Ruth's former secretary Mickey Fisher, and producer Dick Murgatroyd) here:
http://www.wlwt.com/video/19335128/index.html

There's a partial interview with me in that segment, too. Also, a longer video of the reenactment of "The 50-50 Club" that we did for the evening signing is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh2qiLKpYG4

The actress who portrays Ruth Lyons is Shelley Bamberger Bailey. Her performance was outstanding!
--Mike

20 Percent of South Korean Population Blogging?

As I reported some time back, Blogging Heroes is out in a Korean edition, shown here. It's also available in Brazil, in Portuguese.

I can't tell how it's doing in Brazil, though there are many positive reviews. But in Korea the book has really taken off. Sales quotient numbers indicate that it's outselling the bestselling iPhone book in Korean. A reporter from Seoul's daily newspaper is traveling here to interview me next month.

The demand seemed odd at first. Then I learned that 95 percent of South Korea's 50 million citizens have access to broadband. Plus, South Korea is said to be the most-connected cellphone nation on the planet, too. SMS messaging has influenced the outcome of elections. Back to blogging, in 2005 there was an estimate of 11.7 million as the number of bloggers in the country. This is not difficult to believe, even though it means 20 percent of the population are bloggers.

(Update, 6/15: As holterbarbour astutely pointed out, the iPhone is not offered in South Korea. I stupidly did not stop to consider that. The iPhone book is offered there, however.)

ISPs have pushed blogs heavily, along with other kinds of social networking. One company, Navar.com, was said to have included a massive TV campaign. Business blogs appear to be popular and on the rise.
--Mike

I've Been Busy

Being the guy who wrote Blogging Heroes, I really should post more. frequently (check back on Saturday for some interesting news about that book). However, the outside world has kept me and my thoughts away from blogging for a time. I've done over two dozen signings since the launch of Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons, the Woman Who Created Talk TV, on April 29. Plus, three television appearances, several radio shows, and a bunch of newspaper and magazine interviews.

John Keisewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote two very nice pieces about Ruth Lyons, the book, and the reenactment of "The 50-50 Club" that Shelley Bamburger Bailey and I did at several of the signings. You can read those here and here.

(If you would like to see our version of "The 50-50 Club," click here. It's not Ruth, but Shelley--in period Ruth Lyons costume--did a great impression!)

Cincinnati Magazine ran an interview with me about Ruth Lyons in their May, 2009, issue. And that's an artist's rendering of Ruth above, decorating a tea towel. I found this in 2007, and knew nothing about it. I assumed it was a premium stuffed in boxes of Tide or Fels soap powder (ala the Porter Wagner and Dolly Parton in a laundry soap commercial--Rinso?) An elderly Ruth Lyons fan brought the same towel to a signing I did at Books & Company in Dayton, and told me that she sent off for it in 1954, but couldn't remember the product with which it was associated.
--Mike

Japan's Bestselling Book

This reminds me a bit of Dan Quayle: The number-one bestselling book in Japan for the past six months has been a guide to reading Chinese characters correctly. The book's huge sales--one million copies since January, 2008--churned upward when Prime Minister Taro Aso made a number of mistakes in reading Chinese characters in public statements last fall.