Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
We invite members of the WELL to participate directly in these discussions, 
and in most cases we offer review copies of the book (or cd, etc.) that we're 
discussing in exchange for a commitment to join us and be prepared to ask 
questions of our guest, so that we'll have diverse approaches that would be 
missing if the discussion leader was the only other participant.

We'll post here when we have review copies. There are some qualifications. The 
first and most important I've already mentioned: you must be willing to join 
the discussion (which will normally last two weeks), and to absorb the 
material in advance so that you'll be prepared.

You also have to be a member of the WELL, and reachable by normal U.S. mail. 
Unfortunately we're not equipped to send mail where higher international rates 
apply.

(We should add, parenthetically, that non-members can still submit questions 
for our guests by e-mailing them to inkwell-hosts@well.com. However if you 
want a review copy, you'll just have to sign up!)
  

    
Note: requests for books should include your WELL member name. Send requests 
to jonl@well.com.
  

    
On May 17 David Mason will be our inkwell.vue guest, discussing his book
_Spirit of the Mountains_, about Korean Mountain-spirits and Mountain-worship.
David is a Professor of English Education, and Grad Student of Oriental
Philosophy.   He travels a lot in Asia & elsewhere, and writes about his 
travels.

More information at http://www.san-shin.org/

"As Buddhism, Daoism & Neo-Confucianism entered into Korea from China, they
exchanged and melded icons with the native Shamanism rather than just
suppressing it. San-shin became the central figure of all Korean religious
culture, the most common deity, nearly universally revered.  This process is
not just history, but is still evolving and enjoying a widespread revival. Due
to its association with all of the major religions that Koreans subscribe to,
mountain-worship is flourishing in 21st-century industrialized Korea, a unique
and valuable phenomena in our world."
  

    

We're looking for a few good readers for "Secret Celebrity" by Carol Wolper,
who will be interviewed in the Inkwell July 26-August 9.

The book is the story of a filmmaker in LA who sets out to make a documentary
on a guy who was a huge start for a short time in the '70s and then disap-
peared.

This offer is open to current WELL members who are in the continental US.  If
you get a book, you are expected to read it and to participate in the
conversation.

Email <cdb@well.com> if you'd like a copy of "Secret Celebrity."
  

    

And don't forget to include the address to which you'd like the book sent 
by snail mail!
  

    

Well-known liberal theologian Michael Fox will be joining us in Inkwell.vue
for the second half of May. Fox, who was silenced by the Vatican in 1989 and
subsequently left Catholicism and became an Episcopal priest, believes we
are living in a time of ecological and spiritual crisis. In his latest book,
"Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet," he expounds on the
pressing need to use our creativity and to serve God's agenda of compassion.

We have some copies of this book to give to WELL members who'll agree to
read it and join the conversation. If this sounds like something you'd like
to participate in, please send email to me, cdb@well.com, and say so. Be
sure to include your current snail mail address so we'll know where to send
the book!

NOTE: This offer is only for WELL members with US mailing addresses. Sorry.
  

    
Oops!  She means MATTHEW Fox.
  

    
At the beginning of August, author John Ross will be joining us to discuss
his latest tech effort, "The Book of WI-FI," a how-to manual on installing,
configuring and using 802.11b wireless networking. 

We have a small number of review copies to give to WELL members who'll
volunteer to read the book, then participate in the conversation with
John Ross. The book is geared toward non-technical readers, so you don't
need to be a network wizard to join in.

If you're interested, please send email to me, cdb@well.com, and let me
know. And be sure to include your snail mail address so we'll know where
to ship the book!

NOTE: We have a limited number of books, so I can't promise everybody who
wants a copy will get one. Also, we can't ship outside the United States,
so you must have a US mailing address.  
  

    
Starting July 11, Wes "Scoop" Nisker begins a two-week stint in Inkwell to
"The Big Bang, the Buddha and the Baby Boom," an exploration of the
spiritual experiments of his generation. We have a small number of review
copies to offer to WELL members who'll read the book then join in the
conversation.

If you're interested, please send email to me, <cdb@well.com>, and let me
know. And be sure to include your snail mail address so we'll know where to
ship the book.

NOTE: We can't ship outside the United States, so you must have a US
mailing address.
  

    
Curtis White comes to the Inkwell beginning December 12 to discuss his
new book, *The Middle Mind: Why Americans Don't Think for Themselves*,
about the "current failure of the American imagination" in the media,
politics, education, art, technology and religion and how we can
recapture creativity and imagination in those domains.

We are holding a couple of copies to share with Well members who would
like to read the book join in the conversation. Zat you? If so, e-mail
me <bumbaugh@well.com> to say so. Let us know where (in the United
States, sorry, non-US'ns) to ship the book.

The first to shout the relevant info into my e-mail inbox shall be the
first to nab the books.
  

    

We're looking for volunteers to read Art Kleiner's new book and join the con-
versation:


 WHO REALLY MATTERS

 THE CORE GROUP THEORY OF POWER, PRIVILEGE, AND SUCCESS

 ART KLEINER

 Do corporations really seek to return investment to shareholders? Do govern-
 ment agencies really act to serve the public interest? Do companies truly
 believe that the customer comes first? Here, at last, is a book that ex-
 plains why organizations fail so often at their ostensible purposes ñwhile
 succeeding at their true, hidden objectives.

 According to Art Kleiner, bestselling author and contributing editor at
 Strategy + Business magazine, all organizations have their own unique Core
 Group: an informal network  of key people who set the direction of the en-
 terprise. If employees believe the Core Group needs and wants something to
 happen, they assume that making it happen is part of their job. Even those
 who resent or disapprove of the Core Group will fulfill its membersí per-
 ceived wants, at least to some extent, for they feel it is their job to do
 so, and everyone around them continually reinforces that feeling.

 Kleiner explores this theory in his new book, WHO REALLY MATTERS: The Core
 Group Theory of Power, Privilege, and Success (Currency/Doubleday;
 Hardcover; October 14, 2003; $29.95), a provocative and interactive look at
 the influence of Core Groups on the way the world works.




---

If you'd like to read the book and participate, send email to inkwell-
hosts@well.com -- first four to respond get the books.
  

    

The four copies of Art's book are spoken for.
  

    

If anymore show up, I'd love to read Art's book and join the
discussion.
  

    
We have a small number of copies of Ramon Sender Barayon's "A Death in
Zamora" to distribute to WELL members who will agree to read the book and
join the conversation when it commences on March 26. For more on the book:
 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1588987892/thewellauthorspr

If you're interested, please send email to helpdesk@well.com
Be sure to include your snail mail address so we'll know where to send
the book.

NOTE: We can only ship to US addresses, sorry.

Also, if you want a copy of the book, you'll have to send email. Posting
here won't work. Send email. Thanks! 
  

    
Out of curiosity: why can you ship only to US addresses?
  

    
Because they're CHEAP. [insert smiley or something]
  

    
So is international mail if you mark the package as being a book. I
feel so discriminated! ;-) What about giving the international folks
the chance to pay the extra costs? You would get more varying
viewpoints from an international group I think.
  

    

It is possible there is a concern the book rate wouldn't get to you in
time to read it for the interview?
  

    
Yeah, sea-mail to Europe takes about a month. The fastest cheapest
way, if the book is the right size, and most are, is the prepaid
International Priority envelope. I forget how much that is by now, but
it's a few dollars, like six or seven. <wafel> is new here, so he may
not be aware of the cash-strappedness of the Well and its parent
company, Salon, but from what I can tell from all these miles away,
every buck counts. 

That said, it would be nice if the publicists at publishing houses
took the Well a bit more seriously as a venue for publicizing and
promoting books and could stick the odd IP envelope in the mail from
time to time. 

But that would mean the publishing industry had a glimmer of
intelligence!
  

    
Kathy B. <helpdesk> has asked me to post here that the Ramon Sender
Baryon books are completely claimed already. He's a marvellous writer,
so that is hardly surprising!
  

    
Coming up in a month (November 19 discussion start):

Total insecurity: The Myth of American Omnipotence

By Carol Brightman

 Total Insecurity is about the collapse of a National Security Strategy
 that really goes back to Vietnam, when anti-communism powered the
 invasion of Southeast Asia, just as anti-terrorism and the defense of
 Israel drives the invasion of the Middle East. Iraq is all about oil
 and the petrodollar, of course, and there's a lot of new info in the
 book about the challenge of the euro. Also some autobiography from way,
 way back.

We have a couple more books for volunteer readers. If you're interested in
reading the book and participating in the discussion informed by your
reading -- and if you have a U.S. postal address -- and a member of the
Well, drop a line to inkwell-hosts@well.com volunteering and giving the
address to which to forward the book.
  

    
curious - have we sent out review copies of my book (Power of Many)
yet?
  

    
Oh, and if there are any of those left, I would love one.  I promise
to read and participate.  
  

    
Sharon, I think they're all out but send me your address via email and
I'll have a review copy sent to you.
  

    

We have a small number of review copies of Brian McWilliams "Spam Kings" to
distribute to WELL members who'll read the book and join the conversation at
the end of January '05.

If you're interested, please send email to <cdb@well.com> -- please be sure
to include your snail mail address so we'll know where to ship it. *



* This offer is limited to those with a US mailing address. Sorry.
  

    

We have a small number of review copies of Deborah Santana's "Space Between
the Stars" to distribute to WELL members who'll read the book and join the
conversation that begins in the earlier part of April. 

If you're interested, please send email to <cdb@well.com> -- please be sure
to include your snail mail address so we'll know where to ship it. *
 
* This offer is limited to those with a US mailing address. Sorry.