In thinking about taboos recently, it occurred to me that while some of them are obvious (no peeing in public, for example), some of the cultural standards with the deepest impact are the ones which are hardest to see: those dealing with ideas. Here in the United States, we champion our freedom, and get into heated debates over the limits of freedom of speech. Usually, those arguments center around saying things which could be damaging in some way to another (libelous or slanderous), and occasionally we get caught up in whether or not it is wrong to be “disrespectful”. Rarely do we consider, however, that there are some ideas and beliefs which are completely socially unacceptable, to the extent that even sounding like you might be about to say them is cause for a full-blown attack from anyone in the vicinity. Continue reading
The Way of Books: An Interview With Brendan Sherar, CEO of Biblio
Seven years later, the company has managed to carve a solid niche for itself in the field and continues to grow and thrive from its base in Asheville, North Carolina. I contacted Biblio’s CEO, Brendan Sherar, for an interview, hoping to get a little insight both into how this tiny company has managed to become so successful, and into the tales of impressive charity endeavours I had heard of Biblio undertaking. Along the way, I felt compelled to pick his brain for his thoughts about the future of books in general, how visiting Bolivia had changed his life, and what kind of reading a Book Lord of his magnitude would recommend to others.