For the first time in quite some time, I was happy to open an email:

If I don’t say it enough, please let me say it here in the immortal words of Yogi Berra: “Thank you all for making this day necessary.” The fact that so many of you were willing to take a chance on a new book in a time in which books have the appeal of a mauve polyester leisure suit means a lot to me. It’s not easy to adopt a new text and rewrite stuff for a class, especially as we’re being all asked to do more with less, so I appreciate the help and the faith.

As a sneak peek, I wanted to let you all know some things that the new book will include:

• Social media. The book includes a lot of best practices for blogging and simple-message posting. The book not only shifts more toward stronger “how to” content in the chapters on these topics, but it also addresses these issues as they relate to “fake news,” disinformation, the law and ethics.
• More exercises. The goal was to provide you with enough stuff that your students would learn to hate me for putting a ton of work in front of them. (I think I’ll have Zoe open my mail for a while after this edition hits the shelves.) I added extra options for simple exercise as well as some more “mid-range” pieces for people who want to do lab exercises. If that’s not enough, there’s always the Corona Hotline page.
• Best of the Blog: I get that not everyone is sitting on the website every day with bated breath hoping I’ll post something. (Except for my mom. Thanks, Mom.) I also understand that with more than 500 posts over the past three years (Wow… That went by in a blink), you might not always find the perfect post for each chapter to make a key point. To that end, I decided to build a “greatest hits” album of sorts, with each chapter having one blog post that attaches itself to the theme of that particular chapter. As always, all 500-some posts are available on this site and everything up here is freebie for anyone to use.
• Appendices: As with the last version, we broke out stuff like extra lead exercises, freedom information requests and video editing into the back of the book in appendix format. We also updated the “Get a job” appendix with more advice and added a whole thing on how to do freelance work, relying on three professional freelancers. Why freelancing? Because a professor asked for it, so we did it. (Good tip for anyone else who wants something: I have a hard time letting anyone down, so the more I can do to help you, the better I feel about myself.

As always, the blog will keep things current and humming in the time between editions, so you’ll never be “out of date” in terms of content. And if you want something that I haven’t provided, just ask and I’ll blog it.

This should be available just in time for that hard-to-shop-for person on your holiday list and as a perfect stocking-stuffer for every human being you actively dislike. I’d even be willing to autograph any copy, with the idea that it will decrease the value in it and the bookstore won’t buy it back.

Seriously, though, I really want to let you all know how grateful I am for all your support, help and suggestions over the years. I hope this book is what you want and need to keep the next generation of students moving toward greatness.

Best,

Vince

(a.k.a. The Doctor of Paper)