Free books: It's the August GLC giveaway!
FREE BOOKS! | UPDATE: The books are gone. Yeah, you know the drill: The first person to write in and request one of the books linked below gets it for free. Limit one per person and you must request a specific book and send me your mailing address — although we won't use your email or postal address for anything other than sending you the book. Oh yeah... if you've already won a book from me then give other folks a chance! Thanks :-) Email me for a free book while they last!

Gone! Sent to Jerry of Alhambra, California
Ginseng Dreams: The Secret World of America's Most Valuable Plant | "Though the ginseng root is a mainstay of Chinese medicine, it's as American as apple pie: in fact, for over 300 years, Americans have exported ginseng to China. Today an acre of ginseng can bring a farmer $100,000. Travel and environmental writer Johannsen (Ecotourism in Appalachia: Marketing the Mountains) takes readers into America's ginseng fields and forests. Ginseng is one of the most devilish plants to cultivate, taking up to a decade to be ready for market and growing in only the most specific conditions. Despite the root's persistent popularity, the difficulty of farming ginseng, the constant threat of poachers and the dwindling number of wild ginseng plants has rendered its future uncertain. Instead of focusing on the medicinal powers of ginseng to those who can afford it, Johannsen paints a picture of the poor in Appalachia who still rely on wild ginseng to provide some cash in lean times. Unfortunately, she lapses into long descriptions of ginseng farming that would bore all but the most devoted horticulturalist. For many, ginseng holds the promise of perfect health and miracle cures. Johannsen shows that, for just as many, ginseng holds an even more American dream — that of instant riches." By Kristin Johannsen —Publishers Weekly (List price: $24.95)

Gone! Sent to Michael of Brooklyn, New York
The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell | "Who knew that New York City was once the oyster capital of the world, and that at one time it held half of the earth's supply, harvesting 700 million in 1880 alone? Or that oysters were not just a delicacy for aristocrats but also affordable, cheap even, sustenance for working folk. Tom Stechschulte's pairing with Kurlansky's (Salt, Cod) ode to the heyday of the Crassostrea virginicas (the eastern oyster) is a dead-on perfect match. With an authoritative yet amiable tone and sounding very much like Gene Hackman, Stechschulte delivers the information in as calm and instructive, yet wholly engaging way. The Big Oyster is a cautionary tale of man's nature, which lays waste to any exploitable resource, with conservation always a tardy afterthought. Stechschulte's fine reading entertains while educating about how New York City, once known for its oysters and concretely connected to the sea, slowly becomes an island unto itself, losing its connection to its surrounding waterways completely and, along the way, lost some of its unique identity to the name of progress." by Mark Kurlansky —Publishers Weekly (List price: $14.95)

It's true -- just email me for a free book while they're still available! UPDATE: The books are gone. Posted at 10:22 PM Central Time

Famous lost words: Finding art (and joy) in scraps of memory
Here's a fun article by Mackenzie Dawson in today's New York Post:

Book inscriptions, grocery lists, Post-it notes -- one man's trash is truly another man's treasure.

Particularly if that man's trash is really weird.

For example, a dated photo that features an older woman standing proudly next to a Christmas tree - which is topped with an enormous, jeweled armadillo.

Or a shopping list that includes "Kid hair de-tangler, ibuprofen, Fibre-all, Sensodyne, Prozac."

Or a note that says "BIND ME, please! And bring COOKIES!"

It begs the question: What happens if the person brings the wrong kind of cookies -- will binding not occur? (Or will they, perhaps, be bound as punishment?) When will the cookies be eaten: before, after or during?

It's a lot for a complete stranger to ponder.

Bill Keaggy, the founder of Grocerylists.org, was leaving a grocery store one day when a sort of "silly serendipity" struck: he found a grocery list on a yellow Post-it note. The list itself was nothing special, but much like Raviv, Keaggy found himself fixating on the person it belonged to.

Posted at 10:52 AM Central Time

GLC seeking PSF
If you are the person with the initials P.S.F. who emailed me about recognizing your list in my book, please write back. Looks like the email you put in my contact form isn't working. Thanks! Posted at 7:45 AM Central Time

A 13-foot shopping cart
The Gotta Be NC shopping cart will be making an appearance Saturday at the reopened Capital City Grocery store at Seaboard Station in Raleigh. The cart contains a 396 Chevrolet engine and is part of the N.C. Department of Agriculture's "Got to Be NC" campaign that encourages people to buy local produce. Posted at 7:56 AM Central Time

He fits the bill
"A Huntington Beach man is part of the secret army of federal workers who check on goods that make up the Consumer Price Index." Posted at 7:53 AM Central Time

Skyrocketing milk prices hit families just in time for school
"Record-high milk prices are stinging Americans at the dairy case, just as millions of thirsty school children are returning to classes.

The average retail price of a gallon of whole milk has never been higher -- $3.80 a gallon -- according to July Department of Agriculture statistics. Experts blame the price spike -- up 51 cents since February -- on milk shortages in Europe and Australia." Posted at 12:44 PM Central Time

Hearing set for shopping cart assault
An Aug. 20 felony hearing has been scheduled for a Dutchess County man accused of running a 72-year-old woman down with a shopping cart because she was taking too long in the checkout line. Posted at 7:56 AM Central Time

Something cool for geeks with grocery lists
"Grocery List is a web based (PHP) frontend set up to maintain a list of items in a MySQL database backend. Grocery List was developed with the goal of being included in a kitchen computer project. The feature that sets Grocery List apart from other similar projects is that it supports the scanning of UPC barcodes as a means of entering items into the list. The idea was to utilize the great work done at www.upcdatabase.com in order to help people more easily create and maintain their grocery lists." Posted at 7:36 AM Central Time