Twilight and Harry Potter sales notwithstanding, there's a growing reality in our fair nation -- people just don't read like they used to. And with the slowdown in reading comes a definite decline in book sales.

The Book Industry Study Group reported that publishers sold fewer books in 2008, down 1.5% from 2007 to 3.08 billion. Of course, all was not lost -- total revenue edged 1% higher thanks to increased prices.

Continue reading Borders, Barnes & Noble need you to kill your television

Borders, Barnes & Noble need you to kill your television originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading LeapFrog (LF) hopes that Tag is it

LeapFrog (LF) hopes that Tag is it originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Amazon.com ready to launch the Kindle?

Amazon.com ready to launch the Kindle? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Owning a newspaper seems to get less fun every day. As Warren Buffett has said, "Every time someone dies, that is a newspaper reader gone that will not be replaced." According to the Newspaper Association of America's analysis of figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulation, average daily circulation (Monday-Friday) of newspapers dropped 2.1% for the six months ended March 31st compared with last year, based on data received from 745 newspapers. Average Sunday circulation sank 3.1% among 601 reporting papers.

On the plus side, USA Today was up 0.2% and the Wall Street Journal gained 0.6%. What does this mean for investors in stocks like Gannett (NYSE: GCI), Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ), and the New York Times (NYSE: NYT)? It didn't seem to stop Rupert Murdoch from his huge bid for Dow Jones today.

Wall Street is an expectations game, and newspapers have had lowly expectations for awhile now. Given how bad they are, I would argue that there might just be opportunity in newspapers.

Newspapers continue to lose readers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 May 2007 18:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CNBC offered a list of some must-read exposés on the inner workings of Corporate America. Among the picks: Conspiracy of Fools, about Enron (and my second favorite book of all time behind A Separate Peace), Barbarians at the Gate, Liar's Poker and The Predator's Ball. These are all excellent books, and I'm embarrassed to say I've read every book on CNBC's list, which is probably part of the reason I don't have a girlfriend. However, I have some additional favorite Wall Street exposés. Oftentimes, you can learn as much about investing reading these books as you can reading the more expository books; and these ones are about 20 times more interesting:

Andy Kessler's Running Money and Wall Street Meat: These two cover the author's exploits as an analyst working alongside the likes of Jack Grubman, and his later career as a hedge fund manager focused on Silicon Valley stocks. They read crisply, and are great for the beach.

Once in Golconda and The Go-Go Years, both by John Brooks: These two, along with anything else published under the Wiley Investment Classics label are great. The first covers Wall Street from the Roaring Twenties through the Great Depression, and the second covers the Go-Go 1960s, when momo-managers like General Tsai rose rapidly, and then crashed just as quickly. Order the Wiley edition so you get Michael Lewis's foreword.

Continue reading Books that expose Corporate America

Books that expose Corporate America originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jeff Zazlow wrote a piece in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) about his dismay at the declining popularity of libraries among kids. With Google and other websites emerging as places to find information in seconds, there is often little need for kids to go there to do research for school. Indeed, many kids are arriving at college unaware of how to use the library effectively. As a young man, I still believe that libraries have an important place in society.

As Zazlow puts it, It's true that older Internet-phobes are missing out on an incredible tool. But many tech-savvy kids never experience the library as a place for serendipitous discovery. "The library is about delayed gratification," says Dr. Levine. "It's about browsing through shelves of biographies. 'Do I want Jackie Robinson? Franklin Roosevelt? What will I do when I grow up?' The library slows you down and makes you think."

So what's a librarian to do? How can we bring libraries back as a popular place for learning and discovery? Here are two of my ideas:

Continue reading With Google, who needs libraries? I do.

With Google, who needs libraries? I do. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Mar 2007 18:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.