At last, it’s here. The long unawaited-for book that critics have hailed as “rectangular” and even “a book”. Yes, now you too can have your own copy of Raised by Penguins, the compilation of selected entries from this website.
Why would anyone pay good money for words they can get for free, you might ask? I have an answer for that, which was supplied by my friend, Christine: It’s for the toilet.
That is, unless you have a notebook computer with wireless networking, you can’t take this website with you when you… uh… do your business. The book, on the other hand, is entirely portable and doesn’t require any special hardware for you to read it — except maybe glasses. Also, each entry takes only a minute or two to read — timed perfectly to whatever you happen to be doing. So that’s one good reason why you want Raised by Penguins. Christine has a very sensible head on her shoulders… and probably has an entire library in her bathroom.
I should add that it’s also good with coffee breaks, bus stops, sushi stands, park benches, elevator rides, and salad bars. I don’t recommend it for use with fast food because you’ll get greasy fingerprints on the pages.
The real reason for printing this book is this: I don’t trust the web. Formats change, browsers change, and we can never be certain that the format we write in now will be readable in a few years. I’ve posted many thousands of words to this blog, and I’d like to keep some of them.
Paper, on the other hand, is never obsolete. So I’ve decided to go the route of so-called “vanity publishing”, which means that I bodged together the entries into a PDF, slapped a cover on it, called it a book, and sent it to Café Press, who can print copies on demand. I don’t expect to sell (m)any, but should you decide to order a copy of Raised by Penguins, then thank you, and I hope that you enjoy it and whatever activity you’re doing when you read it.
View some sample pages from Raised by Penguins: Raised_by_Penguins_sample_pages.pdf (PDF, 3.35MB)