Do you love reading? Love trees? Try our monthly subscription option!

We would like to remind you the option of monthly subscription for Eco-Libris.

If you have a big library at home and you want to green it up one bookshelf at a time, balancing out 5 or 10 books every month on a regular basis, our subscription option can be a good fit for you.

The process is very easy and similar to one-time purchase: On the subscription page you choose how many books you want to balance out each month. Then just click on the 'Buy' bottom and complete the payment process on the PayPal page. That's it.

Then, every month we'll work with our planting partners to plant trees in developing countries on your behalf the number of books you chose (10 trees for 10 books each month for example). You will receive a confirmation email from PayPal following each monthly payment, and of course we'll send you our "One tree planted for this book" stickers on monthly basis.

And that's not all - If you're also a member at bookmoocher, you will receive 1 bookmooch point for every 10 books you balance out!

If and when you'll decide you want to suspend your subscription, you will be able to do it easily and quickly on PayPal website.If you have any questions about the subscription option, please feel free to email us at info [at] ecolibris [dot] net.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Green book review: Killer Fish by Brian Clement

We're back to our weekend green book reviews and our first book for 2013 with a thought provoking book on a very interesting topic from a great publisher - Book Publishing Co. 

Our book for today is Killer Fish: How Eating Aquatic Life Endanger Your Health by Brian Clement, PhD, NMD, LN.

What this book is about?
People the world over are eating more fish than ever before and assuming fish to be a healthful alternative to meat as well as an excellent source for omega-3 fatty acids. Killer Fish alerts consumers to how eating aquatic life endangers their health.

An acclaimed expert in the fields of preventive medicine and natural health, Brian Clement separates myth from fact as he presents powerful evidence of deadly toxins—particularly mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and pharmaceuticals—that travel up the food chain and concentrate in the tissues of both farmed and wild fish and then into the humans who eat them.

Readers are provided with an overview on how aquatic life became contaminated, how fish consumption affects human health, whether farmed fish are safer to eat than wild, the problem of overfishing and the decimation of fish species as well as the true health effects of consuming fish oil. For those who depend upon fish as a source of omega-3 fatty acids, a list of safe alternatives is provided.

The far-reaching health consequences suffered by people who eat these fish have rocked marine scientists and medical communities around the globe. Modern attempts designed to reverse this plight, such as producing genetically engineered fish, have only provided a new set of problems. With Killer Fish, the public has a chance to become educated as to the depth of this problem. Hopefully this awareness will not only safeguard their health, but be part of the solution.

Our review:
In an effort to “get healthy” people all over the world are trying to eat more fish. We are being told on tv and in magazine, and from our doctors, that this is a healthier alternative to animal meats, whether red or white, and that fish is one of the big sources for the Omega-3 fatty acids that we all need more of. This book, however, brings out new data on how we are not only endangering our health with our fish consumption, but we are also hurting the planet as well with over fishing.

The author, Brian Clement, is an expert in the fields of preventive medicine and natural health. He spends a good portion of the book discussing what are the facts and what are fictions in what the media is telling us about the consumption of fish. He provides documented reports and other evidence about the toxins found in fish. I know personally, that Women are told when pregnant about the dangers of eating certain fish due to the mercury content. However according to this book there are many other toxins that no one really mentions, that are bad for humans whether pregnant or not. These toxins include: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), betamethylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), Dioxins, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and many, many more. The list was huge and a bit overwhelming.

I was surprised how Killer Fish really got me thinking about what I eat and what it can do to my health, if I don’t pay attention. The book tries to educate its readers on the dangers of fish consumption, in an easy to read format with plenty of tables and lists for easy reference. It also doesn’t just give you the information and send you on your way. It provides resources and alternatives and ways you can make a change for the better. I was quite impressed with the content in this book. Also, I am happy to note that there is not a lot of wasted words in the book. The author gets right down to the point from word one. All in all I found this book to be a very interesting and thought provoking read.

You can purchase the book on Amazon.com

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris Plant a tree for every book you read!

5 interesting findings from Scholastic's report on digital reading among children

The New York Times reported yesterday that "Digital reading is rising fast among children ages 6 to 17, but this is not necessarily translating into a greater desire to read, according to a report released on Monday by Scholastic Inc.". Here are the most 10 interesting things you can learn from the report:

1. "The percentage of children who have read an e-book has almost doubled since 2010, to 46 percent." This is a pretty impressive figure comparing to the general share of ebooks in the book market, giving you a pretty good indication how common the use of ebooks will be in 10-15 years (like you didn't know..).

2. "During the same period, the number of girls who reported being frequent readers declined to 36 percent from 42 percent." - does it mean that the growing use of ebooks doesn't necessarily translate into reading more books in general? The answer might be found in the next finding.

3. Children "are increasingly using tablets, like iPads, which allow for more activities than just reading. In fact, slightly more children reported having read a book on a tablet than on a plain e-reader device." - it means that they have in their hands a device with which plenty of stuff they can do with it other than reading, so it might not be that surprising that spending more time with the iPad doesn't necessarily translate to more books read.

4."About one-fourth of the boys who had read an e-book said they were reading more books for fun. Boys have traditionally lagged behind girls in reading." - what does it mean in terms of the competition between books and games? Would we see more integration between the two forms to create a more attractive format of entertainment for kids? Probably yes.

5. "Children said e-books were particularly good when they wanted to be secretive about reading. But at night in bed, most children said they still liked to read books in print." - I have a feeling you will receive the same replies from adults!

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

[Image credit: Soppy Chen, Flickr Creative Commons]

Holiday Greetings from Eco-Libris

Wishing you and yours happy holidays

and a peaceful, prosperous and green New Year! 

 Your friends at Eco-Libris

picture credit: lara604, Flickr Creative Commons

and we'd also like to share with you this great Christmas video from our planting partner RIPPLE Africa:

Green book review (and a giveaway!): Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland

This week we're also happy to share with you one of Patagonia Books' brand new eBook offerings, and we're even more excited to have a giveaway of one digital copy of the book we're reviewing today! See details below.

So today we have the pleasure to review a great book from Patagonia Books: Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland.

What this book is about?
In a tale remarkable for its quiet confidence and acute natural observation, the author of Paddling Hawaii begins with her decision, at age 60, to undertake a solo, summer-long voyage along the southeast coast of Alaska in an inflatable kayak. Paddling North is a compilation of Sutherland’s first two (of over 20) such annual trips and her day-by-day travels through the Inside Passage from Ketchikan to Skagway. With illustrations and the author’s recipes.

Our review:
As someone who has spent many, many hours paddling down a river, I could certainly relate to this book. Paddling North, by Audrey Sutherland is the story of her journey at 60 years old, padding all alone, over 800 miles through the Alaskan waters, from Ketchikan to Skagway, in a blow up canoe/kayak. The trip takes two months of her life, but it was the adventure she had been waiting for and planning for, and dreaming of. Every day brought new adventure or trials. Launching at high tides, the rain, the wind, the cold water waves, the utter exhaustion, this is a book not just about the mechanics of a trip, it is about surviving on your own muscle, with a small bit of flair tossed in. Her motto being: Go Simple, go solo, and go now. 

I don’t know about the solo, but I agree with all the rest. She is a refreshingly honest woman, that sees herself and her life with a critical eye, and one I wish I possessed for myself. Then there is the food. When you think of camping trip fare, I think of flame charred hotdogs and warmed in the can within the hot coals of the fire, baked beans. I certainly never thought about fine dining with fresh steak, mushrooms, garlic and curry, and then a class of chilled wine. 

A wonderful perk of this book is that she not only shares what she is cooking, she actually then provides you with the recipe. That is awesome. Easy, anyone can accomplish recipes, too. One of the most inspiring things of this book is the author’s courage and her spirit on her journey. I am truly impressed. If I had to find one thing about the book that I didn’t particularly like, I would have to say that at a whopping 457 pages, it was a bit on the long side. Admittedly, my brain began to wander during the last ¼ of the book, as I grew more and more restless. Regardless of the length, I found it a very good book. Well worth my time. 

You can purchase here (both in paper and electronic formats).

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!

We're giving away one digital copy of this book, courtesy of the publisher, Patagonia Books!

How you can win? Very simple. All you have to do is to add a comment to this post with a reply to the following question: What is your favorite river? (and why..). We will have a raffle on Saturday, Dec 29, 5:00PM EST between all the readers that will reply by then. The winner will be announced the following day.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Digital Publishing: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas?

This is a guest post by Tony Viardo, the CEO of the publisher, Astor + Blue Editions. [Astor +Blue Editions has put its entire first season’s list of e-book titles on a holiday promotional sale for $0.99 or $1.99 until Jan. 7, 2013]

So how many articles have we read about E-books and Digital Publishing this year? For anyone who generally follows the book world (rabid booklover, book-blogger, industry pro or casual reader), we’re literally inundated with the amazing numbers—“E-book sales up 125% (again) over the 175% they were up from last year’s 225% increase!”—and equally amazing technological announcements—“Next Fall, the new ZimWittyZoomDitty tablet not only updates your Facebook and Goodreads friends whenever you snort in disgust … it cooks dinner for you at the same time!” 

This leads many to take at least casual stock of what’s going on/going to happen to the “Publishing World” as we know it. And if your friends are like my friends (hardcore print book consumers), that stock is usually pretty morbid (sharp Greenwich Village angst not included): “Print books are doomed, so are brick-and-mortar stores. Goodbye literary quality. Oh and some pajama-wearing techie living in a basement with a laptop is going to be the new Sulzburger; we’ll all have to bow down!” 

If you (or that good friend of yours) fall into the mortified category, my take (for what it’s worth) may come as positive news: E-books are not, and will not be, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas; in this case, the “Print World’s” bacon. Now, as the owner of a “Digital First” publishing house (Astor + Blue Editions, www.astorandblue.com) my opinions may easily be written off as self-serving and invalid. But bear with me for a minute… these are fact-based observations and I might just make sense (Someone tell my mom and dad). 

As someone who earns a living from publishing, I have to follow numbers and industry trends as closely as possible. And while some see doom and gloom for Print, I see exciting developments for both Print and E-book formats. What do the numbers show? Digital book revenue is skyrocketing, print revenue is declining. Natural conclusion? E-books are killing print books. But not so fast. Historically, Print revenue has always seemed to be declining (even before E-books were invented), but that doesn’t mean the book market is dying or shrinking. 

We have to remember that in fact the book market is growing. Readership always grows because population always grows. Every year, new readers enter the vast pool of the club that is “adult readership,” (despite Dancing with the Stars). And every year more readers are being born and theoretically being inspired by Ms. Crabtree’s elementary reading class. **So why the decline? Readership grows gradually, but the sheer number of books and book vendors grow exponentially, showing an investment loss almost every year. (Basic statistics: the widening universe makes it look like a shrinking pie when it isn’t). 

So what does this mean? If you look at the numbers (historically), revenue for print books may have declined, yes, but not more than “normal,” and not significantly more than it did when there were no E-books around. (This is arguable of course, but the long term numbers do not show a precipitous drop-off). The yearly revenue decline, if there is one, can just as easily be written off to economic conditions as to E-book competition. Bottom line: Any drop in print revenue that may be caused by E-books are not significantly sharp enough to declare that E-books are destroying print book sales. (Hence no Grinch). 

What may be happening, and what I believe is happening is that a whole new market for E-books is developing, while the print book market growth, like Publishing as a whole, is still growing at a historically gradual pace. (Boringly flat). Come up with your pet anecdote here, but I believe that more new readers are entering the market (who otherwise wouldn’t have) because of E-readers; existing readers are consuming more books (both print and e-book) than they did before; and while it would seem that a certain print title is losing a sale whenever readers buy it in E-book format, this is offset, at least somewhat, by the fact that more print titles are being bought (that otherwise wouldn’t) because of the extra marketing buzz and added awareness produced by the E-book’s cyber presence. All of it evens out in the end, and I believe, ultimately fosters growth industry-wide. 

So take heart Print fans, E-books are not the dark villain you think they are. And here, I should correct my earlier analogy—that E-books are not the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. They may actually be the Grinch…in as much as, at the end of the story, the pear-shaped green guy ended up not only giving all the presents back to the singing Who-villers, he created a flash mob and started a big party as well.

CR Press launch tree planting collaboration with Eco-Libris with 2 new books of Anis Shivani and Bob Dixon

We are happy to announce on a collaboration with a great publisher who make great books - C&R Press. Committed to supporting new and emerging writers whose work might otherwise be ignored by traditional commercial publishers, C&R Press publish imaginative, diverse books of literary excellence, mentor writers and publishing professionals, and engage new audiences in the essential tradition of literature.

Through this collaboration, authors that publish with C&R Press will be able to plant 100 trees for the title they publish. These authors will also have the option to add a special "100 trees planted for this book" logo to their book's design, as a way to showcase their commitment to environmental sustainability.

Here are the two first books that take part in the new program. 100 trees will be planted for each one of them!

The Fifth Lash & Other Stories by Anis Shivani
The old securities everywhere are gone; identities are switched and tried on and abandoned faster than ever; the media landscape saturates individual consciousness, and makes lies out of centuries of tradition and heroes of plastic idols. The Fifth Lash and Other Stories daringly enters this phantasmagoric cauldron, where appearance and reality have seamlessly blended, to complicate the picture even further, to turn all we think we know about Islam and Pakistan on its head. The “truth” will never set you free, is the ironic signature of the original voice defining this collection.

Some of the stories in this new collection have appeared in turnrow, Nimrod, Phoebe, Other Voices, Asia Literary Review, Confrontation, Crazyhorse, and other literary journals.

About the author:
A member of the National Book Critics Circle, and the winner of a 2012 Pushcart Prize, Anis Shivani publishes criticism in many newspapers and magazines. He is the author of three books, including Anatolia and Other Stories, which was longlisted for the 2010 Frank O’Connor Short Story Award. Shivani lives in Houston, and studied at Harvard College. www.anishivani.com

You can buy the book on Amazon or directly from C&R Press.

Look Forward: A Father and Son’s Journey to Healing by Robert & Bobby Dixon
No "Parent Instruction Manual" prepares you for this--the news that your son is dying halfway across the world. But that's the news Robert Dixon received while working in Shanghai, China. This is his story, told as only a father could tell it.

Look Forward is the harrowing account of how 34-year-old Bobby Dixon survived a motorcycle accident that left his body hopelessly shattered. None of the first responders thought he'd survive the ambulance ride. None of the ER doctors thought he'd survive the night. No one ever thought he'd wake from the coma. But with the skill of the first responders from Worcester Fire Station 11 and the amazing commitment of the UMass Medical Center, Bobby lived, despite the odds. His hope? To one day walk again.

Look Forward is the true story of how Robert Dixon and his son overcame unfathomable adversity together. It's a chronicle of courage, commitment, self-exploration, and faith. What they learn along the journey is how a fragile relationship between father and son can become the most unbreakable of bonds.

About the author:
Bob Dixon entered that United States Air Force in 1970 at age 18. When he left it in 1978, he spent the next 14 years in night school to earn his Associate's and Bachelor's degrees. Along the way, he worked for Honeywell and other major corporations as an employee or consultant in supplier management, global sourcing, and quality. In December 2010, Bob founded The Military Civilian Career Coaching Connection (MC4), a LinkedIn group that partners pro-bono coaches and mentors with U.S. military veterans to help them successfully transition into civilian careers. 

He's been featured on numerous national media outlets and has been a guest speaker at such venues as Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Georgia Tech University, Rutgers University, Drew University, and some of the largest corporations in Israel, Japan, the U.S., and China. Currently, Bob lives with wife in New Hampshire. On weekends, you're likely to find him on a John Deere tractor--or golfing. www.bobdixonbooks.com

You can buy the book directly from C&R Press.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!