November 18, 2020

"We have every reason to believe a Trump memoir would be primarily misinformation, ungrounded opinions and flat-out lies."

"Don’t pay him to do it and don’t give him the legitimacy of a contract with a major publishing house. If you’re going to set yourself up as a gatekeeper, you have a responsibility for what goes through your gate"

Said Celeste Ng, a best-selling novelist, who says she'd protest if her publisher (Penguin Random House) was going to publish a Trump memoir — quoted in "A Trump Memoir Would Sell. Will Publishers Buy It?/Some publishing executives worry their authors and staff might rebel, but they say their bigger concern would be ensuring the book’s accuracy" (NYT). 

But Stephen King, who hates Trump, took the free-speech side: “Anything he wrote would be a pack of self-serving lies, but I believe in the freedom of people to read what they want, and I hate censorship... Let him publish, if he wants. I hope my publisher won’t be the one to do it, but in any case I can’t wait to see the critics take him apart.” 

Notice that the free-speech position denies your opponent the glow of victimhood and gets the speech out there where it can be attacked.

Anyway, obviously Trump will get his book published. The president of the conservative publisher Regnery is quoted saying,  'I’m hoping [the other publishers] will stand by their principles and not get involved... so we have a better chance of picking it up!" And everyone knows Trump could self-publish his book... like he self-publishes his tweets.

123 comments:

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

How awful to go through life with such malignancy in your heart.

Jersey Fled said...

Penguin isn't going to publish it anyway. Regency will.

But it still astonished me how intolerant of opposing viewpoints the tolerant Left is. And how they label anything they chose not to believe a lie.

hawkeyedjb said...

Celest Ng, a writer who loathes free speech, is perfectly representative of the modern American self-anointed elite.

"Hey, this is a publishing house! You can't express unapproved ideas here!"

MartyH said...

What would he call it? “Trump Change?” “The Trump Card?”

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

And I’ll say it again, kids. Buy your books in hard copy. Kindle = Celeste Ng gets to decide what you can and can’t read.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Also this world can have three Obama autobiographies full of utter bullshit, but the publisher of a Trump memoir is worried about “accuracy?” Snort

Clyde said...

Trump doesn't need the money-laundering of a memoir, unlike many former politicians, one of whose onanistic fantasies just dropped like an 800-page brick.

Temujin said...

Love the left's view of justice. It's always the same. Mao had that same view. So did Stalin. Pol Pot. It's an illustrious list.

Ya think Obama wrote any of his three autobiographies? I wonder how many autobiographies a God has to write to fill in all the glory that is His life?

Trump's story would be phenomenal. He actually did stuff. Obama? Well he did receive a Nobel Peace Prize. The first ever for not doing anything yet.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I Have Misplaced My Pants said... And I’ll say it again, kids. Buy your books in hard copy.

AMEN!

A hard copy of a book will not be subject to after the fact editing. Passages changed or deleted to suit the current PC rules without your knowledge or consent. Books can't be merely erased from your library.

You OWN a book. You are just renting/borrowing a digital copy.

Years from now your tangibl books and photographs will exist in the real world. Digital media can disappear at the blink of an eye or the next electrical surge.

When your devices become as outdated as a Commodore Vic-20 you will have lost your information. How about all that data you saved on those 5.25 floppy discs? Hmmm. Was that really a good plan?

Rick said...

The publishing industry has become corrupt as leftists have realized they can enforce their political ideology. It's now a payoff mechanism.

For example Bernie Sanders' response to people pointing out his three homes was something like 'they should have written a best-seller'. But who bought a book from a little known communist crank? Schools.

Speaking fees work the same way. Since our education system functions as a funding mechanism for far left activists this is an effort to extend that funding beyond direct hires.

Oso Negro said...

I am 63 years old. I have done a lot in life and have a reasonable good opinion of myself. But it never crosses my mind that I am an infallible judge of "truth". It amazes me that leftists seem certain that the opposition is always lying, wrong, denying science, etc. I would like to see just ONE of our local leftists admit the possibility of massive cheating in the recent election. Or even advocate for a system that does everything possible to assure an honest vote. Anyone?

Todd said...

"Don’t pay him to do it and don’t give him the legitimacy of a contract with a major publishing house. If you’re going to set yourself up as a gatekeeper, you have a responsibility for what goes through your gate"

God forbid people get to make up their own minds.

This is JUST like when Obama got those two book deals and got tons of money for tripe. Oh, wait no. This is actually nothing like that.

iowan2 said...

A publisher performs what tasks?
My wifes brother in law has published 6 books(we get a new one for Christmas) so what exactly does a publisher do?

Editing
Promotion
Printing

This doesn't seem like much of a hill for a man that paved the way for the fastest development of a vaccine ever.

Shhh...quiet (the advance is a great way to launder $$$payolla)

As always this propaganda piece is nothing but a vehicle to snipe at President Trump. Its always about the narrative. Not facts.

Todd said...

Commodore Vic-20, my very first computer EVER! Was a birthday gift if I recall. I saved up my after-school money to get the 80 column dot-matrix Epson printer that was paired with it.

MayBee said...

Now I feel like I can't read any more Celeste Ng books.

Mary Beth said...

Am I confusing which candidate it was that got in trouble for plagiarism? Anyone ever question the accuracy of either of Biden's books?

mikee said...

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
Kipling

iowan2 said...

The accusation that a memoir by President Trump would be full of lies, as contrasted to Obama's 'Dreams of my Father'. You remember that right? Some intrepid soul sought out the persons Obama wrote about, and couldn't find a lot of them. Surprise! Obama said those "real people" were composites of people in his life at the time.
A more accurate description? An Obama memoir that is an entire work of fiction.

iowan2 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MayBee said...

I really do realize liberal people are completely protected from the idea that there are millions of people who don't like *their* guy, for both policy and personality reasons, and we would be happy never to hear from them again.
Obama? He's an incredible liar! And yet he's on his third memoir. With a 1000 page book that only gets him near his second term! You think we like hearing his lectures, justifications, and lies?

My sons - a libertarian and kind of an old school liberal- were watching a preview for the new Ta-Nehesi Coates show that's going to be on HBO Max. It starts with a reading about explaining the injustice of Michael Brown to his son.
Just before that, there was a preview for a new show about the Mueller report. And all three of us talked about how nice it must be to be liberal, and see all your falsehoods and fantasies made into high-quality television on one of the premier cable services You never have to face the lies and untruths, you get to just cocoon in them and bathe in them and no one lets you know that you're an idiot for believing it.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The corrupt anti-free speech left are your "gatekeepers" now.

Enjoy.

Sebastian said...

"a pack of self-serving lies"

At least, unlike O, he won't have to create fictive girlfriends.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

That’s so weird because the other candidate is the one who was caught plagiarizing in school, falsifying his law school ranking, slanderously claimed the guy involved in his wife’s fatal car accident was drunk, dropped out of the 1988 presidential race after being caught stealing speeches from UK pol Neal Kinnock and claiming that man’s life story as his own, and dropped whoppers during the last primary and general election such as claiming he never spoke with Hunter about the overseas trips he took with him on AF2 and his crazy memories of many things that never happened. In fact the only absolutely true statement Biden made this year was just before the election when he said explicitly, “We’ve put together the most diverse voter fraud coalition ever” with no trace of irony or self-awareness. But hot damn that Trump’s a liar ain’t he!

Laslo Spatula said...

"We have every reason to believe a Trump memoir would be primarily misinformation, ungrounded opinions and flat-out lies."

From Wiki: "The royal we, or majestic plural (pluralis majestatis), is the use of a plural pronoun to refer to a single person who is a monarch."

Of course, she is not royal. Instead, what we are seeing is the Stasi We.

Best to get used to it.

I am Laslo.

Kevin said...

But Stephen King, who hates Trump, took the free-speech side: “Anything he wrote would be a pack of self-serving lies, but I believe in the freedom of people to read what they want, and I hate censorship... Let him publish, if he wants. I hope my publisher won’t be the one to do it, but in any case I can’t wait to see the critics take him apart.”

Not really. King did the Progressive three-step:

1. Say you're for a civil right.

2. But you hope others won't enable the right to be exercised.

3. And if it is, the person will pay a steep price for doing so.

Wince said...

"We have every reason to believe a Trump memoir would be primarily misinformation, ungrounded opinions and flat-out lies."

While I assume that's true about every book by a politician, I'd never assume that it was for me to actively interfere with its publication.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The left are terrified of free speech.

Imagine if we knew about Hunter's lap top and his father's insider dealings to make his family rich off of international grift and tax payer money laundering for Biden family fortune.

“All Speech Is Not Equal”: Biden Taps Anti-Free Speech Figure For Transition Lead On Media Agency.

They stole this election knowing they would do everything to clamp down on free speech.

Kevin said...

Let's apply King's "support" to abortion:

But Stephen King took the pro-choice side: “Anything the mother does will be self-serving, but I believe in the freedom of peoplelike me to end unwanted pregnancies, and I hate government control in this area... Let her abort, if she wants. I hope my medical facility won’t be the one to do it, but in any case I can’t wait to see people who already hate her harass her endlessly for doing so.”

Wince said...

As indicated by the last two Althouse posts, so much of the "creative" left is rife with revenge fantasy.

Breezy said...

Gosh, some people really need to find something productive to do... Why worry about this at all? He the President and can do whatever the heck he wants on this front. Jeesh!!

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Todd said... Commodore Vic-20, my very first computer EVER! Was a birthday gift if I recall. I saved up my after-school money to get the 80 column dot-matrix Epson printer that was paired with it

LOL

Memories
Light the corners of my mind
Misty watercolor memories
Of the way we were

Scattered pictures
Of the smiles we left behind......


..can it be it was all so simple then?

The beginning of my gaming obsession. I especially liked the dot maitrix printer. Way better for school work than a manual typewriter!!!

Peek and Poke!!!

daskol said...

Alex, I'd like to buy an "E." Or maybe an I, O, U or Y? Celeste is missing something.

daskol said...

Too bad Alex didn't sell clues.

ga6 said...

She is one generation from Hong Kong. I wonder what the now suppressed fredon protestors there would tell her about free speech.

I wonder what her parents would tell her.

roesch/voltaire said...

I wonder who will be the ghost writer for this one or will it be just a collection of cut and paste tweets? In any case I look forward to reading the delusions of Trump which will not wear well as history moves on.

Lurker21 said...


The woke young manuscript readers probably won't let the biggest publishers buy Trump's memoir, if he writes one, but Trump has been a great subsidy for the media. A lot fewer people would watch cable news if they didn't have Trump to hate or love. CNN and MSNBC would love President Trump to write a book.

And the attacking media have also been good for Trump in a way. The attacks have been so over the top that he looks pretty good by comparison. So much of what he says is denied or dismissed without being seriously considered that the attacks and condemnations lose their force.

One good thing about Bush (I think it was Bush I, but I'm not going to look it up): he didn't bother us by writing a memoir. Maybe he knew that nobody reads them anyway.

gilbar said...

a Trump memoir would be primarily misinformation, ungrounded opinions and flat-out lies."

hmmm
and this would be different, from ANY OTHER memoir (not just politicians); HOW?

Doug said...

Let Celeste Ng protest to her publisher all she wants - that's what freedom of speech is all about.

Todd said...

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Peek and Poke!!!

11/18/20, 7:51 AM


Had access to Commodore PET(s) (which I liked using a lot) as well as an Apple 2(s) at school. Also had those teletype machines with the acoustic coupler that connected to a school district main-frame somewhere.

Using those systems completely changed my live path. Have been "bending computers to my will" professionally and for hobby, 40 years now and am still amazed with the things we can make them do!

campy said...

"Surprise! Obama said those "real people" were composites of people in his life at the time."

Or they were people in Bill Ayers' life.

wendybar said...

Now do Saint Obama and his merry 800 page tome of lies. With another 800 pages coming!! YAY.....Bernie Goldberg was right...The left is STILL having that Slobbering Love Affair with an empty suit...because he is black...“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” Congratulations. Now you have a guy who says the MOST racist things as your new white old man President. Enjoy the downfall.

Fernandinande said...

er parents deprived her of a vowel, and this is her revenge, taken out on the rest of us.

A vowel removement. Chicker or chickee?

rcocean said...

The "Staff" at any newspaper or Publisher are easily replaceable. Their jobs at the top newspapers and big time publishers are in GREAT demand. If their demands are met, its because the top execs and owners WANT To meet them.

Notice the Orwellian language of the liberal/left. Lies and disinformation = stuff we don't like. Of course, the Republican establishment says NOTHING.. They don't care about anything but tax cuts for the rich, and invading the middle east.

The Crack Emcee said...

"We have every reason to believe a Trump memoir would be primarily misinformation, ungrounded opinions and flat-out lies."

They said memoir, not alternative medicine manual.

Louise B said...

Lurker 21, actually George W. Bush did write a memoir titled Decision Points after he left office. Rather than do a chronological approach to his life, he centered the chapters around important issues/decisions he made in his life. The first chapter is about how he quit drinking because that decision led to everything else. Really a very interesting book to read.

MacMacConnell said...

Meanwhile Obama is ready to publish his THIRD autobiography.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

I basically don't buy hardcopy books anymore except for comic strip collections and reference books that work better on real paper. It's amazing how having north of 1000 books on my kindle makes deciding what to take on trips easier.

It's a little extra trouble, but I load every Kindle book I buy into Calibre and convert it to a text file, and I back up the original and text files in several places.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

You know politics was mostly revered for its truthfulness and honesty before Trump came along and media had always treated both parties with equal respect and compassion. That’s what I get from Obama’s memoir anyway.

Darrell said...

Stephen King likes to write about Kiddie orgies and stuff drugs in his body until he passes out. Sure. Get his opinion.

Darrell said...

If Obama's memoirs don't mention playing the meat pipe organ, they are dishonest, as well. And that ignores the other lies.

hawkeyedjb said...

rcocean said...
"Of course, the Republican establishment says NOTHING.. They don't care about anything but tax cuts for the rich, and invading the middle east."

Now that Trump has been dispatched, I see a Great Reset for both parties. Accompanied by great sighs of relief from all.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Todd: Using those systems completely changed my live path. Have been "bending computers to my will" professionally and for hobby, 40 years now and am still amazed with the things we can make them do!

I know! What a great time to live.

My younger brother (retired now) went on to become a systems analyst. Worked at Ames Research with NASA and the Mars Program as lead analyst for some time. Then computer programing for some other companies in Silicon Valley... creating and improving financial programs and security issues. E-Commerce. We can thank him for the ability to safely do online purchasing.

All way over my head!!! But if it weren't for the Vic-20...who knows what path he would have taken. I was interested in programing early on, but not nearly as talented or as much as my brother.

Narayanan said...

to be accurate what they are saying : = he would not even need the book advance = laundered money payola

daskol said...

Ha, OK, so they need more vowels in Central Asia than East Asia, but maybe they spare a few for the Ngs of the world.

Roughcoat said...

Churchy LaFemme @8:25 AM:

I've been having trouble lately converting Kindle books with Calibre. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance ...

rehajm said...

Fantasizing over things Trump in the leftie world. Book tours are important to the leftie mind.

Narayanan said...

news fact from longer than 15 minutes ago >>>>
Bennett Cerf (I) (1898–1971) Bennett Cerf. Writer. Best known as publisher and founder of Random House. Published many giants of 20th century American literature, including William Faulkner, James Michener, and Ayn Rand. Published James Joyce's Ulysses in the US after winning landmark Supreme Court obscenity case.

rehajm said...

For me this Althouse parsing of the leftie world is grown tedious and boring. She's entitled to it...

I've abandoned so much print and TV media to the leftie plague. I'm glad the commentariat is still here...

Churchy LaFemme: said...

I've been having trouble lately converting Kindle books with Calibre. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance ...

If you are importing files from amazon, you need Apprentice Alf's de-drm plugin for Calibre.

The latest version should be here. There is a problem that it doesn't work with Calibre 5.x. Also, I use .azw & .azw3 files on my (older) kindle. If yours uses kfx, there may be problems. (Just going by the blog post for that..)

Michael K said...

I use Kindle for fiction. My hardcopy library is overflowing but that just means I need another book case.

That's the behavior of the knowingly guilty. That's the behavior of criminals afraid of being caught. This is becoming more and more obvious to everyone with every passing day.

I am waiting to see what Sydney Powell has. It could be a lot of fun unless you have large windows in a leftist city.

bgates said...

everyone knows Trump could self-publish his book... like he self-publishes his tweets

Irony, or a misunderstanding of how Twitter works?

Sam L. said...

Ah, New York! A hive of villainy and hate.

Narayanan said...

Dust Bunny Queen said...
Todd: Using those systems completely changed my live path. Have been "bending computers to my will" professionally and for hobby, 40 years now and am still amazed with the things we can make them do!

I know! What a great time to live.

My younger brother (retired now) went on to become a systems analyst. Worked at Ames Research with NASA and the Mars Program as lead analyst for some time. Then computer programing for some other companies in Silicon Valley... creating and improving financial programs and security issues. E-Commerce. We can thank him for the ability to safely do online purchasing.
--------===========
Q: have we / will we hear(d) from people of this caliber on security issues with election software development?
Q: if they speak up will they be employable? is there / how strong is silicon valley OMERTA culture?

Narayanan said...

word on the street says >> smoke the meat pipe

jim said...

May be all the pages will be blank. Works for me.

Iman said...

Blogger MayBee said...
Now I feel like I can't read any more Celeste Ng books


This appears to be an informed decision.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Narayanan said...
Q: have we / will we hear(d) from people of this caliber on security issues with election software development?
Q: if they speak up will they be employable? is there / how strong is silicon valley OMERTA culture?


Probably not directly or publicly. If they are employed or want to be employed in Silicon Valley they will just keep silent or maybe find a way to anonymously let some information out. It is a horrible cult like and vindictive environment there. No deviation whatsoever from the politically correct stance is to be allowed or you will be destroyed.

My brother has been retired for some years now and although he could have something to say....he hasn't any relevant realtime/current experience in the industry anymore. Although he still does contractual independent trouble shooting for some clients.. Financially he doesn't need to, but he loves the challenge and it keeps his mind active

But...even so...I doubt he would stick his head up above the foxhole.

Michael said...

Oh shit. Ng’s opinion is so very important. Where and how the hell did they find her?

MayBee said...

People who make a living in the printed word have really outed themselves to be little despots as of late.

Ambrose said...

Self serving lies in a political memoir? Why, I have never heard of such an abomination.

Michael K said...

man said...
Blogger MayBee said...
Now I feel like I can't read any more Celeste Ng books

This appears to be an informed decision.


I'm still wondering who she is. Is she like Rigoberta Menchu, the fake Nobel Prize winner?

Joe Smith said...

These people are fucking sick.

Obama's cock must be bloody and raw from being sucked 24/7.

Sigivald said...

Ain't that most Presidential memoirs?

It's just that the people complaining don't mind (or rather don't notice) that it's lies and opinion when it's a President they like.

(I suspect Teddy Roosevelt's memoirs are, while full of opinion, basically true.

I'd expect the same of George W Bush's, as the most recent President I think would have anything interesting to say and be vaguely concerned with honesty.)

Francisco D said...

Lurker21 said...One good thing about Bush (I think it was Bush I, but I'm not going to look it up): he didn't bother us by writing a memoir. Maybe he knew that nobody reads them anyway.

The memoirs are very important for virtue signaling. That became obvious after Clinton left office and his admirers had his memoir in their bookcases ... at work nonetheless.

Patrick Henry said...

The guys over at Legal Insurrection are talking about building platforms that are independent. It has come to this - and our proprietor may also get deplatformed by Google for allowing heretical viewpoints to be expressed.

Deplatforming is a dangerous trend. What most people don't realize is that the pendulum always swings. Ideally, it just vibrates a little. When it gains amplitude things go bad. What happens with the Midwest decides to "de-platform" food production for the coasts?

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. This happened once before. The Left seems hell bent on making it happen again.

Howard said...

Francisco d: bush left and even more stunning memoir that showed his intense personal guilt for starting the unending wars in his tribute to veterans that he painted as portraits of courage.

Big Mike said...

I have never read anything by Celeste Ng. Now I never will.

Jaq said...

My bet is that it will be lied about far more than any “lies” it may contain. I doubt there will be any intentional ones, just opinions that cannot be tolerated by the billionaires and their lickspittle toadies.

Jaq said...

" bush left and even more stunning memoir that showed his intense personal guilt for starting the unending wars “

Any yet he still serves the war mongering class who pulled out all of the stops to undermine the president who set new records for wars not started. God knows Iran tried to start a war, and Bolton tried hard to oblige them.

Howard said...

I really don't know what bush has been doing since he left office Tim. I just assumed he was back in Crawford clearing brush writing his mountain bike and banging the old lady.

Big Mike said...

rehajm said...

For me this Althouse parsing of the leftie world is grown tedious and boring. She's entitled to it...


@rehajm, so she is. My take is that she is trying to make sense of a reality about 21st century liberalism that is wildly at odds with the liberalism of the long-ago days when she was a hippie chick majoring in fine arts. She will fail, but she will not stop trying.

Readering said...

If, at 74, he has a book in him. I wonder who the last president, who did not die in office (Harding, FDR, JFK), was who did not write a memoir. Invalid Wilson? I believe Truman wrote his because he needed the money.

Readering said...

How common for FLOTUS?

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

The archetype memoir is U.S. Grant's. It's still in print. It's a really good read for those who are Civil War buffs. Get it in hardcopy. Unlike Obama's fictional autobiographies, there are other sources (Ron Chernow's "Grant" is an excellent account of Grant's life) that back up Grant's writings. Grant wrote it while he had throat cancer from all of those cigars he smoked. He wrote with minimal revisions and died right after he finished it.

Readering said...

Grant also did it for the money (for his family).

mccullough said...

Trump will start his own media company.

This company will include a publishing subsidiary. That subsidiary will publish Trump’s Memoirs.

Regnery is Salem’s publishing subsidiary.

Trump’s brand is more valuable than Salem or Fox News.

Robert Cook said...

Of course Trump's self-apologia should be published--assuming he wants to have a ghost-writer write one for him and a publisher wants to publish it for him. Free speech is for everyone (who can afford a press, as the man said).

The virtue of having Trump's post-presidential ruminations in print is that such an object would enshrine for posterity all of Trump's narcissistic self-glorification, delusions, and lies. If only we had such documents from Nero and his historical ilk!

Readering said...

Pair Obama's books with David Garrow's 2017 doorstop, Rising Star. Only lightly touches on his presidency, but of everything that precedes, oh boy.

doctrev said...

The Senate of the late-stage Roman Republic was renowned for its decadence and incompetence, but I must give them this: at least they didn't speculate about Julius Caesar's upcoming book deals when his army was marching on Rome itself.

I'm mildly annoyed that the Pax Americana won't have outlasted the Pax Romana, but the globalist leadership really does deserve to perish amidst the flames.

Readering said...

Now there's a guy that measures up with Grant.

mccullough said...

Truman’s memoirs were good.

John henry said...

Having published (CRC Press) and self-published (Amazon) several books, I cannot understand why anyone would choose a legacy publisher.

Other than advertising and promotion, I don't see what they bring to the table.

I was very happy with CRC Press. They treated me just as an ideal publisher should. No complaints whatever.

But Amazon treats me soooo much better.

Would I like to know how many books I sold yesterday? Amazon tells me.

Would I like to know how many I sold in 2020? CRC will let me know in February.

And so on.

Self-publish, president trump. Hire editors and designers a la care and publish.

John Henry

John henry said...

I had a vic20 too. I was even a member of a local user group and very jealous of those guys and gals with their hotshot 64s.

I splurged. I got the extra memory 4(?)kb in a cartridge the size of an 8track.

Also a tape drive. I could up/download a programing just 5-10 minutes.

Peeking and poking was actually a pretty good way to ease into computers.

John Henry

Paul Snively said...

Dr. Althouse: Notice that the free-speech position denies your opponent the glow of victimhood and gets the speech out there where it can be attacked.

This is a particularly apposite observation coming on the heels of the previous discussion of the purported influence of the economics of F. A. Hayek ("With an 'H.'") on Wikipedia. Several commenters correctly observed that Hayek's major contribution regards The Use of Knowledge in Society, and, crucially, the role price signals serve in reflecting the distributed knowledge of society.

So we find that Wikipedia editing and physical bulk mail and e-mail spam all work on the same principle: the cost of production asymptotically approaches $0. The result can only be characterized as a memetic virus, in the original Richard Dawkins sense.

Dr. Althouse's point about free speech is exactly right in Hayek's sense: free speech allows the marketplace of ideas to determine the marginal utility of that speech. As Megan McArdle wrote when the Dixie Chicks complained about some radio stations refusing to play their work after their anti-Bush/WoT comments at a concert: they weren't asking for speech to be free. They were asking for talk to be cheap.

Joe Smith said...

"The virtue of having Trump's post-presidential ruminations in print is that such an object would enshrine for posterity all of Trump's narcissistic self-glorification, delusions, and lies. If only we had such documents from Nero and his historical ilk!"

Unlike Obama's missives, which are paragons of modesty : )

I, I, I, I, I...

rehajm said...

Also a tape drive. I could up/download a programing just 5-10 minutes.

I got the tape drive, too! Somewhere I still have the tape of the horse race game I diligently copied out the back of Compute!

My interest faded in the Vic20 once I started running out of the very limited memory in the indy car game I was writing. One car worked great. Two slowed things to a crawl. Three was right out...

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

If you want lies and total crap - read anything written by an Obama.

Readering said...

A journalist friend came out with his third book this year benefited from the advance and the editor.

Readering said...

I miss Obama.

Joe Smith said...

"I miss Obama."

If Biden gets in, I will too : )

Btw, where's Hunter's laptop?

Michael K said...

Grant wrote it while he had throat cancer from all of those cigars he smoked. He wrote with minimal revisions and died right after he finished it.

Mark Twain helped him and did some editing.

Sherman's Memoirs are more controversial and were published before all the others written by well known generals. Sherman, never one to pull punches, created a lot of controversy. They are also very good.

Jim at said...

How awful to go through life with such malignancy in your heart.

Indeed.

And that's why I welcome the misery the left inflects upon itself. They deserve it.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Trump brought out the left's inner authoritarian dictator.

MadisonMan said...

I can't decide if I want to buy Dolly Parton's latest book or have my kids buy it for me for Christmas.
I'd buy Trump's book. I'd also put it on reserve at the library.

Jim at said...

May be all the pages will be blank. Works for me.

Too dumb to recognize an own goal Congrats.

Unknown said...

I became pretty much willing to watch the entire book publication industry burn down and then use the embers to light my cigarette after what happened with Milo.

Sure, every publisher didn't drop him. But I don't remember any major publishers sticking up for him when it counted. And they cheered the censors and happy-face fascists along as an industry. Even the industry trades took a pro-fascist view at the time.

Lurker21 said...

The first Bush didn't write a post-presidential memoir or autobiography. The second one did. But of course "write" is a tricky word. All these books are more or less collaborative efforts, which is to be expected.

I don't think people actually read the books unless they are paid to, and even then, you can expect readers in the media to miss a lot, at least with the books Democrat presidents write. Nobody read Obama's first book as far as the "dog eating" reference, or if they did, they missed that part.

Readering said...

I read Obama's first and found it a slog. I read Carter's campaign campaign bio when it came out. I was young and found it refreshing. If I read any others I don't remember. Some of Nixon's 6 crises for a class. He could write.

Clues? said...

ungrounded opinions

Since when do opinions need to be grounded? Judgments, sure. But opinions?

It is my judgment (not opinion) that Celeste needs to work on her vocabulary.

It is my opinion that Celeste is a pretty name.

See the difference?

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Yes, Grant wrote his memoirs for the money. He'd been scammed out of all of his money by a business partner that left him dead broke. Mark Twain persuaded Grant to let Twain publish the book to provide for his Grant's wife, Julia. Twain brought a much better deal than what Grant had originally agreed to.

OSU '92 said...

"We have every reason to believe a Trump memoir would be primarily misinformation, ungrounded opinions and flat-out lies."

Replace "Trump memoir" with "NY Times news article" and you arrive at the view of the other 50% of the country. Must be nice, without a hint of self-examination, to know you are right.

John henry said...

Roosevelt came from money but lost all of it in his North Dakota ranching. He came back east and supported himself with writing. I think he wrote about 20 books. His history of the war of 1812, published whle still at Harvard is still considered one of the better books on the war. I tried it but could not get into it.

His book about his expedition up the river of doubt (now Roosevelt river) in Brazil is a terrific read.

His 4 volume set on the history of the American west (when the "west" was eastern kentucky & Cincinnati) are pretty good. I've read vol 1 and keep meaning to read the rest.

Herbert Hoover was no slouch as a writer either. His 1912 principles of mining economics is still used in mine schools. I have no interest in mining but still found it interesting. His book on fishing is supposed to be very good.

His memoirs span 3 volumes. V1 is mainly his mining career which he left in 1914 to do relief work in Europe. He probably saved 20 million civilians from death by starvation 1914-20.v2 is time in govt to Jan 33.

Fascinating throughout.

John Henry

Readering said...

Wilson was an academic who wrote extensively before taking up politics. I had a history professor who disliked him as president who recommended I read his history of reconstruction for its bonkers racist take on things. I tried but gave up quickly. (But was impressed the LA public library had a copy.)

John henry said...

Roosevelt came from money but lost all of it in his North Dakota ranching. He came back east and supported himself with writing. I think he wrote about 20 books. His history of the war of 1812, published whle still at Harvard is still considered one of the better books on the war. I tried it but could not get into it.

His book about his expedition up the river of doubt (now Roosevelt river) in Brazil is a terrific read.

His 4 volume set on the history of the American west (when the "west" was eastern kentucky & Cincinnati) are pretty good. I've read vol 1 and keep meaning to read the rest.

Herbert Hoover was no slouch as a writer either. His 1912 principles of mining economics is still used in mine schools. I have no interest in mining but still found it interesting. His book on fishing is supposed to be very good.

His memoirs span 3 volumes. V1 is mainly his mining career which he left in 1914 to do relief work in Europe. He probably saved 20 million civilians from death by starvation 1914-20.v2 is time in govt to Jan 33.

Fascinating throughout.

John Henry

Clyde said...

Michael said...
Oh shit. Ng’s opinion is so very important. Where and how the hell did they find her?


Diversity hire.

John henry said...

Blogger Readering said...

A journalist friend came out with his third book this year benefited from the adv1ance and the editor.

The advance comes out of royalties, not in addition to royalties. Wiley offered me a $1,000 advance but 8% royalty. CRC offered me no advance but 10% royalty. CRC has more cachet among my potential clients so I would have gone with them anyway.

CRD provided copy editing (grammar, spelling, typos etc) but no technical editing. They designed the cover and did the book layout.

So there is that.

When I did my Packaging Machinery Handbook, I hired a person I know who has about 30 years experience as an editor of a packaging trade magazine. They did technical editing and it helped a lot. They also did copy editing. I paid a few thousand dollars of my own money.

I designed my own cover. Did my own layout and typesetting.

CRC pays me 10%, twice a year. They allow me to buy up to 10 author copies a year at cover price less 10% plus shipping. Amazon discounts the book and free shipping so when I want copies to give away, I buy from Amazon.

Royalties at Amazon vary depending on sales channel and whether paper or Kindle. They range from about 30%, if Barnes & Noble buys a copy for a customer to 45% for an amazon sale to 70% for a Kindle sale. There are also some variations between countries.

Sales and royalties are reported daily by country/region and paid at the end of each month for the prior month by direct deposit.

I can buy unlimited paper author copies for about $4 each plus shipping.

There is no fee from Amazon to publish anything. My first book, written because 1) I wanted to "write a book" and have something to give to clients and 2) to understand how publish on demand works.

I got permission from the magazine, collected about 50,000 words of columns and articles I had written for them over the years, spent a weekend hammering it all together and designing a cover. Submitted it to Amazon on Monday, got a mechanical approval Tuesday, ordered a proof copy and had the finished book, by mail, the following Monday. Didn't like the font so changed my "normal" font in the document and resubmitted it. This time I approved an electronic proof and it was available for sale on Amazon in about 12 hours.

This is a smaller book, I pay about $2/copy and give away 100 copies a year to clients instead of pens or calendars. And most months I still make $20-30 from Amazon royalties it.

You can download a free copy of it and another of my books at www.fraingroup.com/ebooks if you want to see what it looks like.

I can't imagine ever doing another book with legacy publishers for any reason at all.

I don't see why Donald Trump should either.

Screw 'em. (Except CRC)

John Henry

Drago said...

Readering: "I miss Obama."

Far too little spying on opposition candidates and framing them for collusion going on these days for readerings taste.

Drago said...

Howard: "Francisco d: bush left and even more stunning memoir that showed his intense personal guilt for starting the unending wars in his tribute to veterans that he painted as portraits of courage."

Howard doesn't care much for his new teammates who, to a person, instinctively understood they belonged on Howard's side of the field.

Funnier: Howard just voted for more of those very wars.

Lots more.

Perhaps in a year or two Howard will decide that its time to declare that Biden voters never really existed, they were just an idea.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Readering, you can't possibly miss Obama; he's literally everywhere. Ya gotta plump up those sales.

Readering said...

...in the WH.

PM said...

Back cover of that billion-seller:
"Horrid shit from a horrid man." Nancy Pelosi
"Get that crap off my nightstand." Adam Schiff
"Skithuvud!" Greta Thunberg

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