Today we review The Blog Boo...huh? What? The Blog is now a Book? EXPLAIN PLEASE.
Yes, I am here to announce Fishing for History: The Best of Dr. Todd's History of Fishing and Fishing Tackle Blog, 2007-2008 book. They really did it. They took those computery words and little pictures and magically transformed them into something solid that you can hold in your hands: a real actual book. And you can show your unwavering support for the Fishing for History blog by buying your very own copy! Isn't technology great?
Seriously though, a crack team of scientists has combed the well over 500 posts from 2007-2008 to find only the most enjoyable, interesting and informative essays, articles, and other writings. After intense debate (and the occasional donnybrook) they settled on 80 of the best pieces, which have lovingly been re-edited and updated for the Blog Book as necessary, accompanied by many additional photos not seen on the blog.
Many of your favorites are here...who can forget the two-part discourse on Smelt in the Great Lakes? The Great eBay Fake Heddon Frog Incident? Attending a casting tournament? The origins of the words "tackle" and "plug"? Toothpaste and Ambassadeur reels? Ah good times...good times. But you'll also get the detailed and informative articles like the History of the Schmoo, Ted Williams--Lure Collector, Paul Newman as Sporting Goods Clerk, the Lure Makers of Corpus Christi, Mother Angelica's Lures, Paul H. Young and the South Bend lawsuit, The 1876 A&I Centennial Rod, Hildebrandt History, and not just two articles on Ed. vom Hofe, but FOUR photos of Edward vom Hofe himself not seen in 100 years! A complete table of contents is available on the product page.
Seriously, I got a lot of requests from people to print and copy pages from the blog for friends of theirs who are "internet challenged," like my dad. Enough requests to put the best pieces into a book came in that I decided to do this; it was a lot of work redoing the articles for press and especially reconfiguring all the images so they would be high enough resolution for the bindery. But I think The Blog Book captures the essence of the blog very well, and will work as a permanent reminder of the fun we're having here every day. I consider a book like this the classic "quick" read, it's trade paperback 5.5" x 8.5" means you can bring it anywhere, and most of the articles are between 1-4 pages and can be read in 10 minutes or less.
Thanks to everyone who supports my little blog. While the software to run the blog comes from Google, I maintain all the images for the regular articles on my own server, which as Joe Yates can attest is not cheap. Now it doesn't really bother me that they charge by the megabyte, as I love doing the blog, but I'd prefer to break even if possible doing it. Who knows? If I sell enough books I may even be able to buy my own domain name for the blog.
If you're new, The Blog Book is the best possible introduction, and if you're a veteran, I hope you'll get a copy to catch up on what you might have missed as well as revisit a few favorites. The book is $19.95 and a dense 232 pages (I couldn't believe it ended up over 60,000 words), 200+ B&W images, and is fully indexed. You can get your very own copy Clicking Here.
I promise you won't find a better book compiled from a fishing history blog this year!
-- Dr. Todd
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