David Berreby
Recent Activity
A couple of hours after my last post about the battle over ebooks pricing, word emerged that Amazon and Macmillan had ended their feud. The day before, another giant publisher, the Hachette Book Group, joined Macmillan in switching to the "agency model" for ebooks. The New York Times says Harper Collins is planning the same move. Details of the Macmillan-Amazon peace treaty aren't public, but it certainly does appear that publishers have broken Amazon's control over ebook prices. … Read More
February 7, 2010 | In Media & Internet
Now that Amazon has shown it can and will cut off access to its stock of books whenever it pleases, the Authors Guild has created this tool for writers. Register at whomovedmybuybutton?.com and you'll be alerted when Amazon abruptly stops selling your work. It's a clever move, which shows the Authors Guild has learned a thing or two about asymmetrical warfare since its public shoving match with Amazon eight years ago. … Read More
February 5, 2010 | In Business & Economics
Black Swans, Male Strippers and Uncertainty
"This too, shall pass." Folk tales say this was engraved on a ring given to King Solomon, who had demanded a gift that would make him sad when he was happy, and happy when he was sad. I recall it whenever I'm confronted with the claim that history has a positive direction--that, by and large, we're progressing toward a more peaceful, just and prosperous future. And conversely, too, when I hear someone say we're on an inevitable path of decline and doom. … Read More
February 5, 2010 | In Science & Tech
Crowdsourced Science Is on the March
Ornithologists have long connected with "citizen scientists" to gather data on bird populations and behavior. Now the Science for Citizens project has come up with a similar strategy for botany: a smartphone app that lets everyone track and report invasive species of plant. (It only works in one California park for now but coverage will expand, the inventors say.) It's only one of many projects now that invite people to use their cell phones for science. … Read More
February 4, 2010 | In Science & Tech
The eBooks Battle: I'm With MacMac
I buy books. I also have written a book. So I have a more-than-idle interest in this week's giant-monster fight over ebooks, which pitted Amazon against the big publisher Macmillan and, indirectly, Steve Jobs. My first thought as an author was for the African proverb ("when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers"). In fact, though, writers (and readers) will be better off if one side wins in this one. Maybe you can't forget how Godzilla leveled the post office, but there are still times when you root for him against Megalon. … Read More
February 3, 2010 | In Media & Internet
David Berreby is the author of "Us and Them: The Science of Identity." He has written about human behavior and other science topics for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Slate, Smithsonian, The New Republic, Nature, Discover, Vogue and many other publications. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Paris, a Science Writing Fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory, a resident at Yaddo, and in 2006 was awarded the Erving Goffman Award for Outstanding Scholarship for the first edition of "Us and Them."
