Quotation of the Week

"Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us. . . . As to the rulers' saying that, if it were not for their power, the worse would do violence to the good, it means only this: that the violators in power do not wish to cede this power to other violators."
—Leo Tolstoy, "The Kingdom of God Is Within You"

(Our Quotation of the Week is taken from The Heretic's Handbook of Quotations, Charles Bufe, ed. When we're in the mood, we usually change our Quotation of the Week between 15:00 and 18:00 GMT on Monday mornings; ditto for our Definition of the Week.)

Definition of the Week

LEISURE, n. A perquisite of the rich, and one to be envied. Not to be confused with the working class perquisite of "laziness."

Our Definition of the Week is taken from The Devil's Dictionaries (Second Edition, revised & expanded): The Best of The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Biercee, and The American Heretic's Dictionary, by Chaz Bufe. This week's definition is by Bufe.

What's New

• Our most recent book, The Bassist's Bible: How to Play Every Bass Style from Afro-Cuban to Zydeco, by Tim Boomer, Mick Berry and Chaz Bufe, is a book/2-CD set that provides approximately 400 bass grooves written in standard notation, brief histories of all styles covered, and innumerable performance tips. The two CDs include performances of nearly 200 of the grooves with drum set accompaniment. Styles covered include blues, rock, jazz, salsa, bossa nova, samba, ska, rai, reggae, country, cajun/zydeco, funk, metal, polka, punk, surf, and klezmer. This encyclopedia of bass grooves is useful to everyone from beginning students to professional studio players. It's also a great song-writing aid.

• Our other new music book, Making Musical Instruments with Kids, by Bart Hopkin, is a detailed construction guide that offers over 60 age-graded musical instrument construction plans for parents, teachers, youth group leaders and everyone else working with children. All instruments are easy to construct and use free or cheap, commonly available materials. The book also provides instructions on playing the instruments. The accompanying CD offers audio samples of all of the instruments. The author, Bart Hopkin, is also the author of our very popular Musical Instrument Design, which is a standard work in its field.

  In July, The Marin Independent Journal did a very nice story on the book on the front page of its Features section.

• Still another of our new books, Stage Fright, by Mick Berry and Michael R. Edelstein, PhD, contains a lengthy chapter outlining proven-effective strategies and techniques helpful in overcoming stage fright, and also contains at-length interviews with 40 actors, comedians, musicians, and other public figures on how they deal with stage fright, America's #1 fear. Those interviewed include Jason Alexander, Mose Allison, Maya Angelou, David Brenner, Phyllis Diller, Olympia Dukakis, Melissa Etheridge, Richard Lewis, Ron Paul, and Robin Williams. This book is not only a fascinating read, but it should also be of considerable use to everyone who has problems with stage fright—from professional football players who appear before tens of thousands to office workers making Powerpoint presentations before their coworkers.
• Our fourth new release, Disbelief 101: A Young Person's Guide to Atheism, has been receiving favorable reviews, notably in Booklist, journal of the American Library Association. Another review states, "We've read a library-full of atheist books, and this is one of the best."

  Atheist and agnostic reviewers have almost universally loved this book while religious reviewers have universally hated it, labeling it, among other things, "abrasive . . . belligerent." (Kirkus)

• We've recently begun resurrecting some of our out-of-print titles via short runs. So far, we've reprinted Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?, Overcoming Your Alcohol Drug and Recovery Habits and Bi Lives: Bisexual Women Tell Their Stories.

• Our most recent pamphlet is Oscar Wilde's amusing, insightful The Soul of Man Under Socialism. This biting-yet-humanitarian essay makes mincemeat of the idea that capitalism encourages individualism, and also deals with the question of what type of political/economic system is best suited to artists.

• Due to the drastic increases in postal fees in recent years, we've had to greatly increase our overseas shipping rate. The new rate is a flat $10 for all orders. The only good news is that all overseas orders are now sent by air, so delivery time should be no more than a week. Domestic shipping remains $3.00 for orders of $24.99 or under and free for orders of $25 and above.

• We've reduced prices on all of our books, with every single See Sharp Press book ordered online now below amazon.com's prices. (Amazon often changes prices for newer books—sometimes more than once a week—so the preceding statement is true only about 95% of the time.)
  (Note to anyone interested in ordering bulk quantities: These discounted prices are only for direct sales to individuals. We apply standard discounts to cover price for bulk orders.)

• If you'd like to contact any of our authors directly, we've now posted contact info for a majority of them on our books page.

• Because it's unnecessary and bad for the environment, we've stopped sending out print catalogs, except for folks without Internet access. All of our books, pamphlets, bumper stickers, and T-shirts are listed on this site.

• We're now offering individuals a 20% discount on small bulk orders — 5 or more of one title — of pamphlets and bumper stickers.