Our New Ad in GOOD Magazine

Posted by Geoff on 11.14.2008 at 12:25 pm

Check out our first ever print ad in GOOD Magazine on newsstands now. GOOD is a really well done bimonthly magazine about what is right in the world. What is really cool about GOOD? 100% of your subscription fees go to non-profit organizations like our friends at Room to Read or Dave Eggers’ 826.

Also in the issue is a new feature called GOOD Business. The GOOD Business section was done in partnership with B-Corporation. (Of which Better World Books is a founding B-Corp). The most interesting article for me was “What Nau?” about what went wrong with the clothing start-up Nau. Here is an excerpt from the article:

“Nau had gambled naively without a backup plan. But the company had come close to turning a corner. The clothes, the webfronts, the giving program, the bylaws—they all worked. The fundraising and the timing hadn’t. The irony, of course, is that a company so committed to sustainability was ultimately unsustainable. But not because of its principles. Rather, the mundane problems that plague most startups—lack of money and poor execution—had undermined Nau. Still, the brand had an impact in its short life span, accelerating the greening of the apparel industry and creating a new genre of outdoor clothing.”

Read more…

3 Comments » | Tagged Uncategorized, bcorporation, good magazine, natural capitalism, Nau, press, Thomas Friedman

Top Ten Best Books about Africa

Posted by Geoff on 11.07.2008 at 11:40 am

The following list is 10 of the best books written in recent history about Africa. These titles were chosen based on their ability to give insight and tell a powerful story about what life is like on the African continent.

(N.B. click on the images to go to the product page at betterworld.com):

10. A Long Way Gone (Sierra Leone)

9. Unbowed (Kenya)

Read more…

8 Comments » | Tagged Book Lists, africa, Dave Eggers, Nelson Mandela, Top 10 Books, what is the what

Ready Set WriMo

Posted by Geoff on 10.31.2008 at 2:50 pm

Today (Halloween) is actually the eve of National Novel Writing Month (more affectionately known as NaNoWriMo). What is national NaNoWriMo you ask? Good question. NaNoWriMo is 100,000+ people around the world, each committing to write a 50,000 word novel in November. It’s like a support group for folks that don’t want to carry out their dream of writing a novel – with a crazy deadline.

Some facts about the event:
Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Our Partners, Uncategorized, Book & Author News, NaNoWriMo, Sara Gruen

The Classic American Road Trip

Posted by Geoff on 10.16.2008 at 10:25 am

This book piqued my interest not because of the obvious timeliness of the release with the election, but because Dave Eggers contributed the writing for Illinois. I don’t recognize any of the other authors, but What is the What and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius were both great reads.

Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, anthony bourdain, book reviews, Dave Eggers, road trip, state by state

Find Me at the Beach

Posted by Geoff on 07.21.2008 at 5:47 pm

I just found out about this series of waterproof summer readings that debuted in 2005 (yep that’s right – waterproof books!). With Beach and Poolside you could get some goggles and read the pages of great writers like Garcia Marques, Hemingway, and Updike underwater. Try doing that with your Kindle…

P.S. – for the eco-inclined, Cradle to Cradle is also waterproof.

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, beach, book reviews, cradle to cradle, geoff, poolside, waterproof books

Read This… Not That

Posted by Geoff on 07.18.2008 at 4:32 pm

Read this:

Not that:

For the hundreds of our BetterWorld.com customers who are still buying James Frey’s book, A Million Little Pieces, and the hundreds more thinking about it, I have one suggestion: you deserve better.

If you’re looking for a memoir about addiction, scrap Frey’s book and check out An Officer and a Junkie.  Here you’ll find a well-documented story about a humble guy named Mike Winder going through the horrible realities of addiction.

The story begins as his parents drop him off for his first day at West Point Military Academy and chronicles how he became addicted to various drugs. His drug use at first is reminiscent of a Hunter S. Thompson dope journey but changes course as the years of drugs take serious toll on his body, his mind and his relationships with family.

Mike and I grew up together and he was one of my first friends when my family moved to a new town.  We often played hoops together, caused trouble here and there, but also stayed up late occasionally doing homework or studying for physics tests.

The fact is that An Officer and a Junkie simply has more value for people and society. Chances are that, whether you are aware of it or not, you know someone that is an alcoholic or a drug user and functions in his or her everyday life. Some people can even achieve at the highest of levels while simultaneously stuck in the snare of addiction (some examples – Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, and Mickey Mantle).

I saw my friend Mike during most of the stages of his book, from his acceptance to the Academy, his drug abuse, graduation, addiction and recovery. He lives with the physical and mental repercussions of his drug use everyday – his doctors assure him a lifelong sentence of antipsychotic and mood-stabilizing medication – but he is committed to sobriety and living a healthy life.

We all know about the James Frey Oprah debacle. If you think it’s important for a memoir to be true and want to read a good book, check out An Officer and a Junkie.

Which is more important in this case: the story or the truth?

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, betterworld.com, Book & Author News, book reviews, drug abuse, geoff