Espresso to the rescue
Toolbox
By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER - Published: June 29, 2009
MANCHESTER – When former Vermont Gov. and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean was invited to talk about his new book on health care reform on Stephen Colbert's television show, he had a small problem when dealing with a visual medium: No book.
"Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer" had already been written by Dean, Faiz Shakir and Igor Volsky, but the book doesn't go on sale until July 1 and White River Junction-based publisher Chelsea Green didn't have a copy Dean could hold up on "The Colbert Report."
Fortunately, Chelsea Green president and publisher Margo Baldwin knows Chris Morrow, owner of the Northshire Bookstore, and the independent book store in Manchester has an Espresso Book Machine.
The Northshire, the first bookstore to offer the machine, uses it to print books "on-demand." The machine can print and bind books on an as-needed basis so that the store does not need to keep extra stock.
Morrow said it was a simple process to make up the copies that Dean took with him for his appearance on the popular Comedy Central show.
"They just had to e-mail us a couple of files," he said.
Baldwin said when she saw the results on Colbert's show, she was very pleased.
"I thought (the book) looked great. I was a little nervous because I had never seen one of the books printed by the Espresso machine, but it looked very high-quality and professional," she said.
While Baldwin said it would have been nice to have the book ready in time for Dean's appearance on television, she said the renewed national debate on health care, led by the efforts of President Barack Obama's administration, would make the book relevant.
On the Colbert show, which aired June 23, the host joked that Dean "could never give me a kidney because my body would reject it as being too liberal."
"Why do we need real health care reform? Whatever happened to 'Walk it off?'" Colbert asked Dean.
The host also joked that even if there are 50,000,000 Americans without health care, continuing to deny them coverage should bring those numbers down quickly. Dean replied that Colbert's suggestion was the "essence of the Republican plan."
Baldwin said that Chelsea Green, which describes itself as the preeminent publisher of books about the politics and practices of sustainable living, had approached Dean about writing a book.
"Once he agreed, it became obvious the book should be about health care reform," she said.
In the book, Dean makes arguments for a public option for Americans so that the cost of providing health care coverage would shift away from small businesses.
Morrow said Dean is scheduled to make an appearance at the Northshire on Aug. 30 to talk about the book.
A link to a video of the interview from "The Colbert Report" is available from Chelsea Green's Web site at www.chelseagreen.com.
patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com
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