On the road...in Boston, MA

We continued our tour today in Boston, where we signed at the Old State House, site of the Boston Massacre in March 1770. Our hosts for this two-day signing is the Bostonian Society. Our thanks to Chuck Gordon, Peter Leavitt, Nick Trainor, and the rest of their staff for making this event possible. 

We were encouraged by the number of visitors to this shop who knew of the book and had actually read it before. We made a lot of new friends whom we will no doubt call upon to get the word out about the sequel, Signing Their Rights Away.

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On the road...day 2 in Philadelphia, PA

Day 2 in Philly. We signed today at the Independence Visitor Center Store in a facility managed by the National Park Service. We’ve been at this spot numerous times before, and it’s always a great day. Our thanks to gift shop manager Tom Curry and staff for putting this one together.

Some hilarity ensued thanks to the addition today of our pal, actor Scott Sowers, who read quotes of the signers while attired in colonial gear.

With actor Scott Sowers.

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On the road...in Philadelphia, PA

A short ride to Philly from DC last night put us right where we needed to be for the two-day, back-to-back signings in the city of the Declaration’s birth. 

John Hopkins.

We did two signings today. The first was at the Christ Church Burying Ground where Ben Franklin and four other signers are buried. We hung out for a few hours with the docents, including our friend and favorite, John Hopkins (right), who is very knowledgeable about the signers, their resting places, and their association with remarkable Christ Church in Philly. 

The second signing was just outside the walls of the Church itself, where two of the signers were buried. There, we got to hang out with the church’s historian, Neil Ronk. Our thanks to Neil and Anne McLaughlin for making this event happen.

Some other highlights today:

• We got to meet Chris Johnson, a local actor who has portrayed numerous historic figures, including Declaration signer Francis Hopkinson. We have no photo of Chris in his regalia, but hope to post one in the future.

• We guzzled some of this excellent beverage, Dr. Physick’s Black Cherry soda, which is reputed to be the first soda pop crafted in the U.S. by Dr. Philip Syng Physick, a Philly physician, in 1807. The good doctor’s descendants make the soda with pure sugarcane, no high fructose corn syrup. And it’s darn tasty.

Neil Ronk.

Historian Ronk showed us an old bell that Christ Church will ring on Fourth of July. The bell’s history is described below. It’s a good launching point to discuss the fact that there were multiple “Liberty Bells” that tolled the nation’s independence.

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On the road...in Washington, DC

We just wrapped up our first Fourth of July weekend signing at the National Archives in Washington, DC, where the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are preserved.

We enjoyed getting to see some of our friends from the National Archives gift shop, including gentlemanly bookseller Dennis Braden, who presented us with this box of snacks, which was lovingly inscribed with a reference to Beat writer, Jack Kerouac.

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Creative Freelancer Conference notes here...

We were in Chicago this past weekend at the Creative Freelancer Conference, sponsored by HOW Magazine. We had a blast, speaking to a sizable group about the principle strategies behind money management for freelance workers.

We told the group what we believe, namely, that freelancers don’t go into their line of work for the money, but many leave freelancing because they can’t make the feast-or-famine cycle of freelancing work for them. As any any successful freelancer knows, it doesn’t have to be a feast or famine cycle. The trick is knowing how to build a nest egg on your variable income, so you can build your net worth AND have a cushion to tide you over in case you hit  rough patch or the client flakes out a misplaces your invoice.

Our notes of the conference are here, and will stay up for two weeks. By downloading them, you’re agreeing to you them for your own education and not to disseminate.

Some interesting books about money and freelancing which we encountered at the conference:

Better, Smarter, Richer: Seven Business Principles for Creative Entrepreneurs, A Workbook by Jackie B. Peterson.

What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants, by Laurie Lewis

The Creative Professional’s Guide to Money: How to Think About it, How to Talk About It, How to Manage It, by Ilese Benun

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Fibers & Fibonacci: The Return!

Fibonacci potholders.

Here’s more of my exchange with the leader of a weaving camp for kids. Above and below are shot of the creations the children made using the Fibonacci Sequence...

Dear Joe,

Heritage Weavers & Fiber Artists have just completed a 2nd week of Fibers Arts Camp for Kids using Blockhead, the Life of Fibonacci as the focus. You would have enjoyed the closing ceremony where the campers demonstrated the activities they learned. They explained the concept of Blockhead, the Life of Fibonacci, and demonstrated how they used the sequence to plan both the potholder project and the width of stripes used in weaving a book bag. 

Fibonacci book bags.

 I am including 2 pictures this time—more potholders (top) and a picture of the finished book bags (below).  Using the sequence for proportion of the stripes seems to make any color combination pleasing to the eye.

 We will look forward to meeting you at your next book signing in our area.

Ruth Howe, HWFA Camp Director

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Fibers and Fibonacci

Fibonacci potholders.

I am constantly learning new uses for the Fibonacci Sequence, and ways that people in different professions use these remarkable numbers. I recently corresponded with a woman who runs a fiber arts camp for children near my home in North Carolina. Above is a shot of the creations the children made using the Sequence. Here’s what the teacher told me about it.

This is a picture of the potholders made at the Fiber Arts Camp hosted by Heritage Weavers & Fiber Artists last week at Johnson Farm in Hendersonville, NC.  The Fibonacci Sequence is used with one looper of color 1, two loopers of color 2, three loopers of color 3, and five loopers of color 4, and reversed—1, 2, 3, 5, 3 ,2, 1—and then is woven in the same sequence. 

As weavers, we find using the proportions of the Fibonacci Sequence are always pleasing to the eye, no matter what combination of colors are used.

 Thank you for an inspiring book... 

Ruth Howe, Camp Director

Summer Book Updates

We just sent around our semi-annual note letting people know all the stuff we have going on. I’m posting it here for our friends at large. If you want to get on the real list, sign-up below. We only do about two of these letters a year, so I promise you will not be deluged.

Creative Freelancer Conference: 

We'll be speaking about our book, THE MONEY BOOK FOR FREELANCERS, at the Creative Freelancer Conference in Chicago, June 24.

Signings for Signers:

We're doing our annual drive up the east coast, visiting sites associated with the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, to promote our book, SIGNING THEIR LIVES AWAY. If you're in any of these cities on these days, please stop by to say hi. More details at this BookTour link.

June 30: National Archives, Washington, DC (where Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are preserved.)

July 1: Christ Church, Philadelphia, PA

July 2: Independence Hall Visitor Center, Philadelphia, PA.

July 3: Old State House, Boston, MA

July 4: Old State House, Boston, MA

New Signers Book coming Sept 6!

In September, Quirk/Random House will release SIGNING THEIR RIGHTS AWAY, our new book about the 39 men who signed the U.S. Constitution. Some online bookstores allow you to pre-order now. If you want to pre-order or get an autographed copy, consider ordering from one of the indie bookstores in our neighborhood. They're listed here.

T-shirts:

Yes, we have still have the geekiest Signer T-shirts available, via our DOI Store. 

Joe's Science Book:

As an experiment in self-publishing, Joe released a collection of his best nonfiction science journalism articles as an eBook. You can download a copy of THE SCIENTIST AND THE SOCIOPATH for the ridiculous price of 99 cents, if you have a Kindle, Nook, iPad or any other device.

Girls of Atomic City

Denise is hard at work on a nonfiction book about the women who unknowingly made the fuel for the world's first atomic bomb. That book is due out from Simon & Schuster next fall, 2012. You can follow Denise's progress here and sign up for her list here.

As always, if you're a member of the media or a book buyer, let us know if you need a review copy of any of these books. If you'd like us to do an event at your shop or site, also let us know.

Thanks all, and enjoy the summer.

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Advance copy: Signing Their Rights Away!

After some long months of waiting, our publisher, Quirk Books, sent us an advance copy of our next book in our Signer series, Signing Their Rights Away: The Fame & Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the U.S. Constitution.

The book tells brief, personal stories about the 39 men who signed this historic and durable document. The book cover unfolds into a copy of the doc itself, complete with all the signatures of the men. It will only be available in hardcover and ebook formats. No paperbacks for a while. Nice for gift-giving, blah blah blah, $19.95.

So you want a copy, you say? Well, so do we, but this precious display copy will have to do until the book debuts post Labor Day, September 6, 2011. 

A few websites — and you know who they are — are already offering pre-order options. If you think you want us to autograph  your copy, contact our local bookstore and order one now.

What the heck. It’s America, dammit, and Article VII.I of the U.S. Constitution guarantees your right to buy a book 2 months before it’s out.

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New book: The Scientist & the Sociopath is out!

I’m pleased to announce the publication of my new book, The Scientist and the Sociopath, a collection of some of my best science writing.

At least two of the articles in this collection have already appeared in the prestigious Best American Science Writing anthologies, but it’s nice to have one volume collecting my pieces from Discover, Wired and Seed.

The book, which features a cover by awesome artist Jeroen ten Berge, is something of a milestone: it marks my foray into digital publishing. The title is available immediately as an eBook on Amazon and Smashwords. In the weeks to come, B&N, Apple iPad, Sony, and all the rest will be next. You can download a free sample from all of these sites onto your digital device. You can always find more details on the book page of this website. But for now, here’s the pitch:

DECEPTION

A modern-day computer scientist struggles to unlock the secrets of a mysterious book apparently written in a secret code, matching wits with a sociopathic con man who died 400 years ago.

RECOGNITION

A humble cosmologist conceives one of the biggest theories of the universe—and watches helplessly as the Nobel Prize goes to someone else.

DEDUCTION

A maverick doctor investigates bizarre ailments using a method that seems shockingly radical in modern medicine: befriending patients and asking them how they feel.

THE SCIENTIST AND THE SOCIOPATH presents remarkable nonfiction stories, some of real-life scientists tackling theories and discoveries that will change our world, others of laymen grappling with some aspect of science in their lives.

Along the way, there are smashed ancient skulls, dead chimps in the back of pickup trucks, flying snakes, lordly windmills, haunted warriors, and beautiful, geeky kids building us a new world, one Lego at a time. 

These all-too-human players overcome their own foibles to make sense of the unknown, touching on everything from the Big Bang theory to tissue engineering, human evolution to cryptography, strange animals, robots, and the secret of human ingenuity. 

Culled from the author’s extensive reporting for magazines such as Discover, Wired and Seed, these tales are bundled together for the very first time. This collection includes two bonus stories on green energy and two never-before-seen stories.

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