You’re darn tootin’ Wednesday links. We’re leaving the realm of the Internets until Monday, so we thought we’d leave you some reading material until we get back.

We know this last year hasn’t been an easy one for many people. It was a year many of us or our friends lost their jobs. It was a year that saw the closing of the Milwaukee institution we sprang forth from, Harry W. Bookshops, after 80 years in business. Everything certainly did look grim there for awhile, and for many it still does. But, we still feel we have a lot to be thankful for and hope that those of you on the other side of this screen feel the same. In other words… Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

◊ Company friend and former president Todd Sattersten linked to a great series from the wonderful illustrator Scott Campbell earlier this week (with a tip of the hat to Dave Gray and Adland). It’s an illustrated guide to ideas and how to kill them. Here’s a sample of Cambell’s work.

◊ We’re really excited about Greg Mortenson’s upcoming book, Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If you’d like to see waht it’s all about, check out his recent article in Parade.

◊ Pirate’s Dilemma author Matt Mason posted a video of Lawrence Lessig’s latest presentation that’s rather long, but really thought-provoking. In it, he discusses “Institutional Corruption,” or “A certain kind of influence … an influence within an economy of influence that has a certain kind of effect … that weakens the effectiveness of an institution … weakening public trust of that institution.” You may know Lessig as the author of Free Culture or Remix. If so, you know he’s brilliant and well worth 30 minutes of your time.

◊ Guy Kawasaki explains a new interview process that Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon—authors of I Hate People!—have developed. It consists of watching candidates cross the street.

◊ Don’t Think Pink author and friend of the company Andrea Learned asks “Do Women Have ‘Social’ Advantage?”

◊ With it being Thanksgiving tomorrow, Roy reminds us to remember The Family.

◊ The Coauthor of Friends With Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook, Darren Barefoot, wrote about the Eleven Lessons He Learned About Writing a Book yesterday. Number nine is my favorite:

I forget where I heard this, but there’s so much truth in this quote: “Publishing isn’t an industry, it’s an organized hobby.”

◊ The New York Times book blog, Paper Cuts, posted the video below yesterday, writing:

This stop-motion advertisement from the New Zealand Book Council is a delight for ink-on-paper fetishists everywhere.

And it is.