Meet Six MIT Authors at 4/30 Book Signing

On Saturday, April 30--during the MIT150 Open House --six MIT authors will be present for book signings at the MIT Press Bookstore in Kendall Square. Each author has recently published a book with the MIT Press, MIT's renowned publishing house. Visitors are invited to come and meet the authors, learn about their research, and check out the newly expanded bookstore.

A schedule for the signings is posted below.

Schedule

11:30am Alex (Sandy) Pentland "Honest Signals: How They Shape Our World" How understanding the signaling within social networks can change the way we make decisions, work with others, and manage organizations. (Available as an eBook)

12:00pm Sanjoy Mahajan "Street-Fighting Mathematics: The Art of Educated Guessing and Opportunistic Problem Solving" An antidote to mathematical rigor mortis, teaching how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation.

12:30pm Samuel Jay Keyser "Mens et Mania: The MIT Nobody Knows" A memoir of MIT life, from being Noam Chomsky's boss to negotiating with student protesters.

1:00pm David A. Mindell "Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight" How human pilots and automated systems worked together to achieve the ultimate in flight--the lunar landings of NASA's Apollo program.

1:30pm Philip N. Alexander "A Widening Sphere: Evolving Cultures at MIT" How MIT¹s first nine presidents helped transform the Institute from a small technical school into a major research university.

2:00pm Erik Brynjolfsson "Wired for Innovation: How Information Technology is Reshaping the Economy" An expert on the information economy explore the true economic value of technology and innovation. (Available as an eBook)

Signing eBooks?

If you're an eBook enthusiast, this might be the point where you're asking, what about me?? Fear not, eBook readers; when it comes to book signings you have options beyond a)not attending and b)arming the author with a metallic Sharpie®. Consider:

Autograph, a free app for iPhone and iPad that accepts signatures and inserts them into documents. Unclear whether signatures can be inserted into eBooks.

Autography, an app that allows authors to sign a blank digital page with a stylus. The signed page is then sent to the reader electronically and can be inserted behind the title page of most eBooks. (Note: This app isn't currently listed in the iPad app store. Stay tuned for an update.)

Looks like there's still room for growth in the realm of eBook autography. If anyone has additional suggestions for useful apps, leave a comment!