Guns, Germs, and Steel

If you are like me and have Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

on your "must read someday" list then this video should save you a lot of time. Here is Diamond summarizing the main points of his paradigm shifting book. Enjoy. 

Quote of the Week

“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.” 
― Hermann Hesse, Demian

Bringing Books to Life: Going West

I had to share this awesome find. He brings books to life via the delicate animation of actual pages.

Online Booksellers & The Repeal of the 1099 Provision

Big thanks to Steve for keeping me up-to-date on what's going on when it comes to taxes for the 2011 fiscal year. As a new bookseller, its bad enough to have the rules of the game change on me the moment as I enter, but they keep changing! I can't really complain about it this time, since this change is saving me from having to do all kinds of pointless paperwork.

As of Thursday, Obama repealed the controversial tax provision which would have required small and large businesses send a 1099 to anyone that they purchased more than $600 worth of goods from.

Online sellers who purchased shipping materials from a single supplier that exceeded the $600 annual threshold, for instance, could have been required to file a 1099 form with the vendor.

It might be hard for non-book sellers to believe, but yes, in 2010 I'm pretty sure I spent that much on bubble envelopes alone.  Now that I'm doing Fulfillment by Amazon, the cost of shipping supplies will go down this year, but then again, this is only April. 

This Auctionbites article does a good job of going over the provision in more detail.

Circular Bookshelf

I loved this post from inhabitat.com and had to share it.

The Highest and Lowest Suicide Rate

Book Bound With Human Skin

Book Bound With Human Skin of a Would-Be Assassin Bought at Car Boot Sale

This post is compliments of the abebooks.com blog. I'm not sure which part is weirdest, his preserved piece of skin that once bound a book together or way this odd piece of ephemera was bought at what is called a British car boot sale, a.k.a. a trunk sale. Oh how I wish I could come across something this rare while scouting for books.