Three Things

First, after only a couple of weeks I have changed the name of my blog to Profrac, which is exactly what I should have called it in the first place. Now my blog name matches my presence on Twitter, YouTube  and elsewhere in the social media sphere.
Second, the proof copy of my book arrived and it looks great. It should be available from Amazon by the first of February. I hope that lots of people will buy copies for themselves and for their friends, and I hope that several people will take the opportunity to post a review of the book on Amazon, on book review sites, and on their blogs.
Third, I am working on my first video for YouTube. It consists of me reciting the adhan with a slide show of scenes from Cape Breton as the visual component.

Available Soon

The publisher has uploaded the content and cover files to Lightning Source, and a proof copy of my new book, Women, War & Hypocrites: Studying the Qur'an, from Cape Breton University Press, should be arriving for approval at the first of the week. If everything looks okay, the book will be available from Amazon and other web-based retailers in about one week's time. Copies will make their way to conventional bookstores over the next month or so. If you haven't seen my earlier book, Reading the Qur'an in English: An Introductory Guide, published by Cape Breton University Press in 2009, you might want to check it out.

Make Haste Slowly

This is my second blog entry one whole week after my initial post. I've tried blogging before and while I started out posting several times per week, it soon became once a week and then a couple of times per month, and then nothing. This time I'm going to take my time by starting with the more modest goal of posting once per week, even if the content of my posts is merely stream of consciousness material. My objective is to develop the discipline of posting regularly rather than attempting to be the most erudite blogger on the web. See you next Saturday.

First Post

I decided to call my blog "Palimpsest" because it's my favorite word.
I have no idea how successful I will be at maintaining a regular schedule of posting, but I want to use this blog to talk about the articles and books I have already written and the ones that I am working on now.
The topics I am interested in include genealogy, intellectual property, leadership, libraries, print culture, religion and science.
Please check back often. Hopefully, I'll say something interesting.