Author: Andy Le Peau

I've been an editor and writer for over forty years. I am passionate about ideas and how we can express them clearly, beautifully, and persuasively. I love reading good books, talking about them, and recommending them. I thoroughly enjoy my family who help me continue on the path of a lifelong learner.

The 2012 Andys

What are the winning books from the list of titles I finished this year? Yes, you will get the answer to that pressing question here. In addition you’ll find my über-creative categories and the wit-soaked comment of the judge. More than that (yes, it is hard to believe), you also find below what the people demanded– short summaries of each. So included for the first time is a Synop-Tweet (a tweet-like synopsis) of the winning books. Here they are.
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Following the Wise Men

Gift giving at Christmas is a wonderful tradition which comes to us from the wise men. They visited Jesus, and gave him gifts that honored and recognized him as king. When we give gifts to show our love and respect for each other, we follow their path.

Yet gift giving can be difficult–and not necessarily because we lack generosity. Sometimes it’s simply hard to know what to give. When so many of us are awash in material goods, it is a challenge because it seems everyone has everything.
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The Obvious Solution for Publishers

Publishing faces unprecedented challenges these days, with the decline of bookstores and the rise of the Internet and ebooks. The ultimate difficulty may, in fact, be the digital dilemma.

Music, videos and news have been digitized, and which has sent those industries into chaos. And all sorts of other information have been digitized and liberated on the Internet for the greater good of the planet–at the ability of content providers to make a living, which ultimately has a negative effect on new content produced and so a negative effect on the planet. But I digress.

What is a publisher to do?
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Mr. Manners Speaks (or Doesn’t)

Okay, listen up, people. And I don’t just mean you twenty-something-Generation X-Y types either. I’m talking heavy-duty, born in the ’40s and ’50s Boomer Bambinos too.

You’re at a meal with others. Enjoying good food and good conversation. Your cell phone, smart phone, pad, pod or doodad rings, beeps, chimes, vibrates, intones or otherwise comes to life. What do you do?

A. Answer the phone and chat it up while your friends keep eating and talking.

B. Don’t answer the phone and let it ring out.

C. Get up from the table, withdraw to a secure location, and answer the phone.

The correct answer is not ever A. I’m talking (well, actually you are the one talking) mega-rudeness, galactic vulgarity, whacked-out boorish behavior.

Answers B and C are completely acceptable. A? Never!

All right. I’m done now with my very polite rant.

“I Complained to God” (Outliers 3)

Malcolm Gladwell, as I’ve noted in previous blogs here and here, makes the case in his book Outliers that success is not totally the result of individual initiative or ability. It is inextricably wrapped up in our background and historical circumstances. This doesn’t mean that individual responsibility is a myth.
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Why Did Malcolm Succeed? (Outliers 2)

Why did Malcolm Gladwell succeed? Is he a self-made bestselling writer? Is his story different than the story of why some succeed and others don’t that we looked at in my previous blog about Gladwell’s book Outliers? Does he have none to thank except his own hard work and native talent? In the epilogue to his book, he offers an answer.
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IVP Acquires Biblica Books

InterVarsity Press has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Biblica Books, the book-publishing arm of Biblica Worldwide. In the acquisition, which is expected to close by the end of the calendar year, IVP will obtain 170 current Biblica Books titles, as well as nearly 30 forthcoming books. This includes Operation World, the definitive global prayer guide that’s now in its seventh edition.
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