Photo: Ye Old Cat Prints

Has your cat ever walked across your keyboard? Well, it’s not a new problem. Medieval book historian Erik Kwakkel recently Tweeted this photo of a 15th century book with… you guessed it… cat paw prints in ink on the pages! We’re part of a long and glorious historical movement, friends. 

Source: Dr. Marty Becker

Infographic: Timeline of the One Ring

Swedish Lord of the Rings fanatic Emil Johansson, who has previously mapped the entire genealogy of Middle Earth, visualizes the timeline of the One Ring.

Book Reading: J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien reads from The Hobbit

"When Tolkien visited a friend in August of 1952 to retrieve a manuscript of The Lord of the Rings, he was shown a “tape recorder”. Having never seen one before, he asked how it worked and was then delighted to have his voice recorded and hear himself played back for the first time. His friend then asked him to read from The Hobbit, and Tolkien did so in this one incredible take."

Interview: Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson Interview

Trivia: Puzzlewood

Puzzlewood is an ancient woodland site, near Coleford in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. The site, covering 14 acres, shows evidence of open cast iron ore mining dating from the Roman period, and possibly earlier.

In 1848 some workmen, after moving a block of stone in the woods, found a small cavity in the rocks. In this cavity, hidden away, were three earthenware jars containing over 3,000 Roman coins. No-one knows why the coins were hidden away in the cliff face nor by whom.

J. R. R. Tolkien, a frequent visitor to the Forest of Dean, may have visited Puzzlewood, and many believe Puzzlewood was the inspiration for the fabled forests of Middle-earth, such as the Old Forest, Mirkwood, Fangorn or Lothlórien contained within The Lord of the Rings. J.K Rowling is also said to have visited Puzzlewood, and it may have been this that influenced her idea of The Forbidden Forest in the Harry Potter books.

Gadgets: Albatros

Albatros by French designer Oscar Lhermitte

Lhermitte is currently raising funds on IndiGoGo to manufacture these simple but clever bookmarks that automatically mark the page as a reader progresses through a book.

"The Albatros bookmark consists of a thin piece of polyester that is inserted in the book; thanks to its structure and shape, every time you turn a page, the bookmark follows it. Placing the bookmark in a book is done in the blink of an eye. Its repositionable adhesive allows it to last a long time without damaging any pages."

Video: A Year in Full Colour

"A Year in Full Colour" directed by the graphic motion designer Rogier Wieland

Moleskine notebooks come to life in the company's stop-motion animated commercial by Roger Wieland.

Interview: Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross at Google

Authors@Google: Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross

Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross put in an appearance at Google to plug their new book, The Rapture of the Nerds.

Cory and Charlie intend to write a third novella in the sequence begun with "Jury Service" and "Appeals Court," and THE RAPTURE OF THE NERDS will consist of all three novellas, possibly with some small additional connective tissue if necessary.

Many distinguished SF "novels" have actually been stitched together from short-fiction serieses like this; the venerable industry term for such a book is "fix-up", which doesn't imply anything deprecatory.

Photo: Stuttgart Library

Nicknamed “Book Mountain” by its designers at Dutch architecture firm MVRDV, the new 100,000 square foot public library in Spijkenisse, Netherlands is an 85 foot tall glass pyramid housing a spiraling arrangement of bookcases within. Visitors to the library can peruse more than 10,000 feet of shelves and enjoy a bit of reading at a café at the top of the pyramid.

Video: Literary Flash Mob at Lafayette College

Banned Books Week Flash Mob

In honor of the 30th annual commemoration of Banned Books Week, some bookish types at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania descended on a library in a flash mob that had participants reading aloud from 30 books that had been banned throughout American history.

Humor: Ban This Book

"Ban This Book" was drawn by Grant Snider to celebrate Banned Books Week

Posters: Banned Books Week

Quills Coffee Print by Bryan Patrick Todd

Limited Run Screen Prints for Quills Coffee, Louisville, KY​

Photo: Stuttgart Library

Stuttgart Library

Humor: That Moment...

Photo: Vennesla Library

Vennesla Library & Cultural Center

Vennesla, Norway

"The new library in Vennesla comprises a library, a café, meeting places and administrative areas and links an existing community house and learning centre together."

Video: Troy Library Campaign

Troy Library from Jennie Hochthanner

Via: Neil Gaiman

Why a proposed book-burning party was a Very Good Thing Indeed.

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Photo: LiYuan Library

LiYuan Library

Lecture: Will novels remain writers' favourite form?

China Mieville asks Will the novel remain writers' favourite narrative form?

Has the dominant literary form of the 19th and 20th centuries grown stale? Is it no longer the best means of delivering stories in the 21st century? Or does the classic literary novel remain the form best placed to deliver innovative, memorable writing? Drawing on discussions about censorship, style, politics and identity, this session, bringing Edinburgh's 2012 Conference to a close, offers an address by multi award-winning author, China Mieville with renowned author Janne Teller in the moderator's chair.

Humor: Better Book Titles

   

Better Book Titles is a blog in which famous books are given “improved” and often hilarious new titles. Comedian Dan Wilbur started the site back in 2010. Wilbur creates some of the re-titles himself, with the remainder coming from reader submissions. To see some of the best, take a look at Wilbur’s top 10 list of his own re-titles as well as his top 10 list of reader submissions.