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63,271,794

Top Ten Fridays: Better World Books

Posted by Jack on 12.19.2008 at 12:23 pm

The following is a different kind of list. These are my Top Ten favorite things about Better World Books:

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10. Feeling Connected – Through the wonders of Facebook it’s so easy to know what’s going on in the company. At 200+ people we’re right on the fringe, but it’s still like middle school where you know everyone–or at least have heard a slightly incriminating story about them–and thus are comfortable wishing anyone a happy birthday (even at the UK office!), new birth (to Casey and Justin’s newborn!), marriage (way to go Dustin!), or holidays (everyone!).

9. The Employee Discount – I would be bankrupt if it weren’t for the sweet discount that we get for being the loyal horde that is BWB employees. It’s just that simple.

8. Customer Service – Have you ever had a problem with an order? If you’re one of the few who have you’ve encountered our studly team of CS rockstars, you know that they’re a rare kind. They don’t just want to talk to you, they won’t rest Read more…

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Neologisms

Posted by Jack on 09.02.2008 at 10:37 am

I hope you all had lovely Labor Day weekends here in the US and grand usual weekends abroad.

Just found an article about neologisms (new words) and how to make them and I’m loving it.

1. Affixation:
Over half the words in our language have been formed by adding prefixes and suffixes to root words. Recent coinages of this type include semi-celebrity, subprime, awesomeness, and facebookable.

2. Back Formation:
Reversing the process of affixation, a back-formation creates a new word by removing an affix from an already existing word, for example liaise from liaison and enthuse from enthusiasm.

3. Blending
A blend or a portmanteau word is formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two or more other words, such as bromance (a combination of brother and romance), pixel (picture and element), staycation (stay and vacation), and flirtationship (flirt and relationship).

See the other 3 here.

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Happy 4th of July!

Posted by Jack on 07.04.2008 at 9:04 am

Hey all, writing to you from the Rothbury Festival, a phenomenal collection of artists in Rothbury Michigan with a dash of eco think-tanking and camping.  I already have numerous stories to tell, from book buying to grooving to some poor choices on a place to stop for food, but those are to come.

In the meantime, Happy 4th of July, folks.  Take this time to appreciate all the people making sacrifices so that you can live the way that you do.  My shout out goes to 2nd Lt. Thomas P. Cahill, currently in Fallujah.  Besides being a literary and book smart monster (fitting in with our crowd), he’s been stationed in Iraq for several months in the Marines and we can’t wait for him to come home.

Happy 4th to you and yours!  Go watch some fireworks!

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Plans for President’s/Presidents’ Day?

Posted by admin on 02.15.2008 at 12:42 pm

For those of you who care, and those of you who don’t, I am headed to Gainesville, FL for a relaxing weekend with my good friend and former colleague Patrick Kindregan.  For those of you who do not know Patrick, he was the second employee of Better World Books Library Division, and he played an integral role in making the Discards & Donations Program the invaluable program that it is today.  I would like to take this opportunity to ask all of you readers to post your favorite story about Patrick so that I may share them with him and his wife this weekend.  Here’s mine:

It took place at the Charleston Acquisition Conference in 2006.  We departed for Charleston , SC the morning the Conference began.  We had given ourselves plenty of time to make the 6 hour drive, leaving time for a lunch break so that we didn’t eat all of the hors d’oeuvres during the Vendor Showcase.  We decided to stop at one of those local grocers to grab a fresh made sandwich and some water for the Conference.  Well, we all ordered our sandwiches, sat down to eat, and as Patrick bit into his sandwich…CRUNCH.  We looked at him as his facial expressions changed from confused to a painful grimace; he had bitten into a toothpick that was holding his sandwich together!  Once he collected himself, he looked at us, smiled, and to our surprise, he was missing half his front tooth!  We laughed hysterically at our colleague’s misfortune for a few minutes, and then continued laughing for the remainder of the afternoon as we realized that he would have to work the Vendor Showcase in this condition.  Needless to say, we made sure that every person that stopped to visit our table noticed Patrick’s dental disaster.  Fortunately (unfortunately), he was able to get his tooth fixed the next morning, but not without some goodhearted heckling throughout the evening.

Post your favorite story as a comment to this post and I will make sure that it is relived this weekend!

*Because Presidents Day is not the official name of the federal holiday, there is variation in how it is rendered.  Both Presidents Day and Presidents’ Day are today common, and both are considered correct by dictionaries and usage manuals.

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Happy Holidays!

Posted by admin on 12.23.2007 at 11:38 am

Hey all.  Check back on the 26th for some updates but for now Better World Books (and thusly the blog) will be taking a few days to enjoy the holiday season.  Happy holidays, best to you and yours, and come back soon!

Sincerely,
Jack and the everyone at Better World Books.

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Holiday Gift Ideas

Posted by admin on 12.17.2007 at 10:59 am

As I wrote previously, the holidays offer a chance to give gifts with a little more meaning than that new “Best moments of Reality TV calendar.”  I also wrote about Charity Navigator but I failed to make the connection.  I’ve been searching through the blogosphere and I’ve been seeing plenty of suggestions for gifts to your coworkers, clients or like minded friends and there’s one that keeps coming up:  Note the fourth idea at this website: “Make a donation in their name to a charity like Kiva or Room to Read.”  That Kiva idea sounds strangely familiar… but how about Room to Read?  Did you know that for only $250 you can sponsor a girl’s education for a WHOLE YEAR via Room to Read?  Amazing!  $10,000 will construct a library and fill it with books, puzzles, games and furniture.  Seriously.

I’ve already elucidated why Kiva is great, and if you look around and listen then you know that all of our partners are fantastic but if you’re not sold, Riches for Good, an excellent blog about social responsibility did a report called “Seven Best Bets for International Giving.”  The report shows the only seven international non-profits that have both Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award and Charity Navigator’s 4 Star Rating.  Room to Read is one of those illustrious seven!

If you’re not sure that people want gifts in their name so much as gifts in their hands, there’s still some great options.  Obviously you could buy a book from us where you’d be certain that portions of profit would go to our partners and that shipping would be carbon neutral (and free in the US).  But if you’re in the mood for something different check this out:

Flipanthropic is a company that sells flip flops through their site, Flipanthropy.  A new product comes out each year and the two founders donated all the startup money so 100% of your cash goes to support Room to Read and Women for Women International.

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