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Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Free John Hodgman!

posted by on December 20 at 12:23 PM

Nerd alert: My favorite record of 2006 was an audiobook, specifically, the 6-disc audio rendition of John Hodgman’s almanac of complete world knowledge, The Areas of My Expertise. The book is a masterpiece, but I’ll go so far as to say that the audiobook is better, for several reasons. Most obviously, you don’t have to read an audiobook. Also, though: You can enjoy it while driving, or cooking, or cook-driving. Plus: songs by Jonathan Coulton! And: Paul Rudd can’t make cameos in books.

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Though I paid more than $30 for my copy, you can have yours for FREE RIGHT NOW at the iTunes store. I have no idea how long “now” will last, so if you’re smart, you’ll hurry. Don’t worry if you’re not smart. You wouldn’t like the book.

And triple points, obviously, for the Intellivisionesque ad campaign. Quadruple, even.

(Fact: I learned of this at mikedaisey.com.)

RSS icon Comments

1

Free John Sinclaire.

And while you're at it: "Free Computers. End Money."

This was the great graffiti I saw scrawled on a wall on my trip to Montreal in 1988.

Posted by Josh Feit | December 20, 2006 1:00 PM
2

I love the Quark crop marks in the ad. Nice to see Quark represented even if me and every designer I know hates it.

Posted by Leeerker | December 20, 2006 1:11 PM
3


What have you got against Paul Rudd?

"60% of the time, it works every time."

Posted by Brian Fantana | December 20, 2006 1:20 PM
4

I thank you Sean Nelson, Emeritus. I tried to read this book after I checked it out from the library, but this is a hard book to get through in 3 weeks. It's the kind of book you need months, perhaps years to really understand. The Audiobook is much easier to get through, and since I now own it, can re-listen over and over again.

Posted by Enigma | December 20, 2006 1:33 PM
5

Hooray!

And nothing, #3! I'm pro-Rudded. He's on the audio, not the book.

and:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=14224

Posted by SEAN NELSON, EMERITUS | December 20, 2006 1:39 PM
6

Ok, I am apparently stupid. But how do I find this freebie, if indeed it is still up there? In the audiobooks section? Do I have to buy something else first to get Hodgman?

Posted by Eli Sanders | December 20, 2006 1:47 PM
7

Wahoo! Thanks for putting the word out, Sean! It's downloading as I speak!

Eli - go to the Audiobooks section. There is a little promotion for it at the top of the page.

Posted by Jill | December 20, 2006 2:01 PM
8

Sean, thanks for the great tip.

Eli -- If you have Itunes on your machine, just click on Itunes Store and from there scroll down to where it says "FREE on Itunes"

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky | December 20, 2006 2:05 PM
9

Or just type Hodgman in the search field of I-tunes.

Posted by elswinger | December 20, 2006 2:10 PM
10

Now if they would offer Assassination Vacation by Sara Vowell, that would be a super great Xmas.

Posted by elswinger | December 20, 2006 2:13 PM
11

Got it, downloading now, thanks!

Posted by Eli Sanders | December 20, 2006 2:50 PM
12

Awesome--thanks Sean. I've had a copy of that book for far too long and can't seem to commit to finishing it. I have a long road trip for the holidays, so this is perfect!

Posted by Hannah Levin | December 20, 2006 2:51 PM
13

Quark crop marks? Those crop marks long predate Quark. You might as well call them PageMaker crop marks, but they predate PageMaker too.

Posted by litlnemo | December 20, 2006 5:41 PM
14

They're called "Bugs". I'm from 3 generattions of idiots who thought there was money in working for a printer.

Posted by Bummer | December 21, 2006 5:30 AM
15

If only I had electricity, I could log onto iTunes...

Posted by him | December 21, 2006 10:26 AM
16

I hope this is better spoken than in print. I read for 100 pages waiting for it to be funny before giving up. I'll give John 30 minutes of audiobook time, but that doesn't replace the 4 hours of my life I lost reading what I did... =/

Posted by MoTown | December 21, 2006 11:49 AM

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