Gail Rebuck
Back in April, Penguin Random House UK Chair Gail Rebuck gave a 20-minute talk at the London Book Fair’s Quantum conference, during which she shared her views on the effect technology has on books today. According to Rebuck, books will forever remain the “DNA of our civilisation”, despite the technological changes that have already happened or will happen in the future.
That is not to say, of course, that technology hasn’t changed anything. To the contrary, Rebuck believes that publishers’ jobs are made easier by the huge amount of online research tools, since they can learn more about the world’s tastes in literature. It’s not all positive, however. Rebuck also thinks that technology has its dangers. In her speech, Rebuck noted a “concerning decline in authors’ revenues”, as only one out of ten writers live on the money they make from writing. She believes that modern problems such as price deflation and more competition from other media forms could be responsible for this situation.
That being said, Rebuck urged publishers to not think of digital and physical media as “enemies”. After all, books are books, no matter how or where they’re read. She hopes for a balanced future, one which will allow the possibility of giving young writers more options for getting published, but also one in which “the uniqueness of the author” is never put under risk.
For more than 20 years, Gail Rebuck has been the most important publisher in the UK. As the head of Random House, she’s been responsible for many literacy projects and industry promotions, achieving success in a very difficult industry. Surprisingly, no one could’ve predicted this when she was appointed back in 1991; she had a reputation as a publisher of lifestyle titles rather than “serious” books. However, in the years that followed, she has become the dominant force in UK publishing.
For Rebuck, this success has come as a result of her approach to work. Failure is not an option. She wants only the best efforts from all of her employees. However, she’s not arrogant, despite her success; she believes it’s always the authors that are responsible for a publisher’s success.
Source : Albanese, Andrew “Rebuck: technology ‘cuts two ways’.” London Show Daily, April 2016, 1
Clee, Nicholas “Gail Rebuck: making things work.” London Show Daily, April 2016, 24
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Alessandro Volta is the inventor of one of the most important inventions to date. Google celebrates the battery inventor’s birthday today.
If you click on Google’s doodle, it shows battery charging and Google lighting up at the same time.
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than it’s brain.
Ostrich eyes are indeed large (it is the biggest bird eye and even larger than that of many large mammals), and bigger than their brains but this does not make them stupid, however. it is not a case of an undersized brain but rather of over-sized eyes.
A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
Some sources say that crocodiles don’t have tongues at all, while others say that the tongue is attached to the rest of the mouth. But either way, they can’t stick their tongue out at you if you do this:
We are taller in the morning than in the evening because during normal activities during the day the cartilage in our knees and other areas slowly compress, but when you go to sleep and rest the cartilage goes back to normal. On average we are about 1cm taller in the morning than in the evening.
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Did you know …
… some jellyfish are bigger than a human and others are as small as a pinhead?
… people in some countries eat jellyfish?
… that jellyfish have been on Earth for millions of years, even before dinosaurs?
… jellyfish have no brain but some kinds have eyes?
… that jellyfish are mainly made up of water and protein?
… a group of jellyfish is called a smack?
The tallest Christmas tree ever cut was a Douglas fir that was displayed in 1950 at the Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle, Washington, USA.
It was 67.36 m (221-ft) and had 3,600 Christmas lights on it. It could be seen from 1 km (0.6 miles) away.
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In 1251, Henry III was given a polar bear by the King of Norway. He kept it in the Tower of London, on a long chain so that it could swim and wash itself in the Thames River.
For more information about what went on in the Tower of London check out:
[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313816/The-polar-bear-lived-Tower–grumpy-lion-baboon-threw-cannon-balls-Britains-bizarre-zoo.html” target=”blank” ]Animals in the Tower[/button]
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Octopuses have three hearts.
Two hearts pump blood through the gills; the third heart pumps blood through the rest of the body.
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At over 2000 kilometers long The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth.
The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN labeled it one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland.
A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures on the reef and its ecosystem include runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish. According to a study published in October 2012 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985.
The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups’ cultures and spirituality. The reef is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over $3 billion per year.
In November 2014, Google launched Google Underwater Street View in 3D of the Great Barrier Reef.
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