This and that

Second book by Britain's youngest author

Libby Rees was only nine when she wrote her first book, Help, Hope And Happiness, a 60-page self-help on how to cope when parents separated. Now she is 12 and has published her second self-help book, At Sixes and Sevens, about moving from primary to secondary school. Like her first book she hopes it will be translated into Dutch, Japanese, Italian, Taiwanese, Mandarin and other languages. Her new book will be published early next year.

The Daily Mail


Amazon ordered to stop free delivery in France

The high court in Versailles has ruled that Amazon.com may not offer free delivery on books in France. In suit brought in January 2004, the French Booksellers' Union (Syndicat de la librairie Francaise) accused Amazon of offering illegal discounts on books and for selling some books below cost.

The court gave Amazon 10 days to start charging for the delivery of books. Retail prices of books are tightly regulated in France. Using ‘loss-leaders’ and selling products below cost to attract customers is illegal, and book retailers must not offer discounts of more than 5 percent on the publisher's recommended price. Free delivery offered by Amazon exceeded the legal limit, the union said.

The New York Times


Sir Arthur C Clarke turns 90

Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. He will be 90 today Dec. 16, author of the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was made into that 1968 cult classic movie by Stanley Kubrick's, the one that started it all. He is the last surviving member of the "Big Three" of science fiction authors (the other two members being Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein).

Other trivia (from Wikipedia): the command centre of the Apollo 13 craft was named "2001" after the movie. Arthur C Clarke has an asteroid and a species of dinosaur Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei named after him.

Wikipedia