Welcome

Welcome to the beta test of the Internet Book Information Center's new, improved Webspace. During this test period, which should run through ca. August 15, 1996, content will be updated somewhat less frequently than usual.

Our URL during this beta test period will be:

http://www.bookviews.com/ibic/

(It may change at the conclusion of the beta test period.)

We gratefully acknowledge our previous host, Sunsite.

For this new release, we've made three major changes:

We're especially excited about adding the on-line ordering capability because it means that at the same time as we are communicating our passionate beliefs about what is important and interesting in the world of books, we are also making it easy for you to buy some of those interesting and important books. Another reason we're excited is that we think this is something new in the world of on-line publishing: this is the closest marriage yet between value-driven editorial content and the business of on-line retailing. As we explore this intriguing new territory, our guiding editorial and business philosophy is to regard your interests as our own; that's the only way this (or any other) marriage can really fulfill its purpose.

We hope you find our enhanced services both interesting and useful. Please let us know what you think.--Ed.


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Comprehensive Table of Contents

  1. Current Highlights
  2. Introduction to IBIC
  3. The IBIC Guide to Book-Related Resources on the Internet (aka the WWW Virtual Library: Literature)--includes sections on Authors, Publishers, Booksellers, Libraries, Readers, Mailing Lists, Book Reviews, Rare Books, On-line Books and Magazine, Poetry, Short Stories, and Web Review Databases.
  4. What's New for Book-Lovers--a hypermail archive of announcements of new or upgraded resources; updated daily.
  5. The Commonplace Book--(n.) an edited collection of striking passages noted in a single place for future reference; maintained by IBIC as a shared resource for the Internet community. Updated daily.
  6. A Book-Lover's View of the News; updated occasionally.
  7. A Book-Lover's View of the Movies; updated occasionally.
  8. A Book-Lover's View of Magazines; updated occasionally.
  9. Bookviews (formerly known as the IBIC Journal)--selective, opinionated Guides to current and classic books, organized by author or genre.

Editor's Recommendations, Summer 1996

In this inaugural edition of IBIC's Featured Books, I'd like to draw your attention to several titles which have helped to shape my life and thinking.

  • When I was around fifteen, I came across Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's science fiction novel, INFERNO. This '70s remake of Dante's classic describes science fiction writer Allen Carpentier's descent into Hell. It's still a very fresh, accessible take on the classic. What a great movie it would make!
  • The Niven/Pournelle INFERNO immediately inspired me to read the original Divine Comedy. I've read a number of translations over the years, but my favorite is the one by Dorothy Sayers (INFERNO; PURGATORY; PARADISE). The notes are excellent, and Sayers had such a knowledgeable and witty mind that reading her prose is a pleasure in itself. (For those interested in a more contemporary translation, I should mention that Robert Pinsky received excellent notices for his 1995 THE INFERNO OF DANTE : A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION; it's a very handsome book.)
  • I also want to tell you about the late Henry Fairlie's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS TODAY, which probably did more than any other single book to galvanize me into a lifetime interest in Christianity that led me, eventually, to faith. Ironic, because Fairlie was a self-proclaimed agnostic socialist! But reading between the lines of this insightful and deeply feeling book, one realizes that the love of God cannot have been far from Fairlie's heart.
  • Finally, I should draw to your attention a more recent acquisition, the very handsome NIV STUDY BIBLE (10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) from Zondervan, indexed and bonded in leather in IBIC's theme color, burgundy (black and brown are also available). The notes to this Bible are amazing. They appear to provide you with a very substantial portion of what you need to know to have an intelligent layman's appreciation of the linguistic and historical issues involved in understanding Scripture.

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