Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell: This marvelous collection of essays chronicles everything from film shoots to novelists rescued from oblivion. (The essay on the Underground Literary Alliance, with its portrait of raucous factions, unexpectedly reveals how soft today's literary world has become.) But if you peer between the cracks of these smart pieces, you may very well see how cultural lives are formed from the most unexpected life choices. And as we follow Bissell's development as a writer over the years, that goes for Bissell as well. (Bat Segundo interview with Bissell)
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway: Harkaway's latest novel greatly improves on his previous book, The Gone-Away World, which I'm already on record as praising. Angelmaker adopts genre elements without ever feeling like a genre book, and it leads me to believe that Harkaway is well on his way to a narrative grace close to China Miéville's. Yet inexplicably this very fun book, which includes an eightysomething badass named Edie Banister, a mysterious mechanical object that may destroy the world, farcical scenarios involving lawyers and the police, and some unexpectedly moving moments about fatherhood, doesn't appear to be getting much attention in American newspapers. Nothing from the snobs at The New York Times Book Review, nothing from The Washington Post. And since I can't get Harkaway on Bat Segundo, I hope this Jump Up and Down mention gets you hopping as well.
The Age of Insight by Eric Kandel: Unless you're really pressed for time, forget Jonah Lehrer. If you want to understand creativity and its relationship to neuroscience, then the bowtie-wearing Nobel laureate is your man. In addition to being a physically beautiful book (you will drool over many of the paintings), there are helpful overviews on optical illusions, science, biographical backgrounds, and many vital figures from the Vienna Secession. Kandel's enthusiasm (and his call for greater unity between the humanities and science) is contagious.
Archive for July, 2005
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Actually, “Wild-Eyed Cowboy” Comes to Mind
Posted on July 25, 2005 | 1 CommentSalon: “Since 2003, the perception that Bush is ‘warm and friendly’ has dropped from 70 to 57 percent. In that time, the notion that the president is ‘well-informed’ has fallen... -
Wickett Strikes Again
Posted on July 24, 2005 | No CommentsThe tireless Dan Wickett offers another entry in his literary journal editors series. -
Books by the Bay Report
Posted on July 24, 2005 | 2 CommentsIt was roasting, at least as San Francisco weather goes. Sunshine hit the tents and the grass and the hatted heads of a mostly older crowd — some of them... -
The Bat Segundo Show #3
Posted on July 24, 2005 | No CommentsThis Week’s Author: Jonathan Ames Condition of Mr. Segundo: Still bitter, but surprisingly articulate given multiple Grey Goose martinis. Subjects Discussed: Subconscious influences, environmental decay, secret references, John Buchan’s The... -
“Living Off the Grid” Apparently Means Living Away from Solid Influences
Posted on July 24, 2005 | No CommentsTod “Thirteen Hawks” Goldberg has the last word on The Traveler: What the bio fails to mention and what the publisher might have failed to note was that, “John Twelve... -
Paul Reubens Day
Posted on July 23, 2005 | No CommentsA Books by the Bay report with photos will be posted here sometime over the weekend. Needless to say, there are a good deal of notes to sift through. In... -
Live from Books by the Bay
Posted on July 23, 2005 | No CommentsIt’s a remarkably sunny day here in the City. I got to Yerba Buena Gardens a little later than expected, but fortunately with enough time to chat a bit with... -
Jesus
Posted on July 23, 2005 | No CommentsMore explosions in Egypt. -
Longhorn Gets a Name
Posted on July 22, 2005 | No CommentsThe next version of Windows has been given an official name: Windows Vista. This is, of course, a preposterous appellation. I’m guessing that Microsoft intends to connote the following definition... -
AM Roundup
Posted on July 22, 2005 | 1 CommentThe real podcasts worth listening to? The sexual ones. Sophie Kinsella learned to bake bread while researching her latest novel. Sadly, neither the recipe nor samples of Kinsella’s bread are... -
Vonnegut Watch
Posted on July 21, 2005 | No CommentsVia the Millions comes the scoop on Kurt Vonnegut’s next book. A new collection entitled A Man Without Country (Seven Stories Press), will collect “short essays and speeches composed over... -
In Other Words, Ride Out Your Fifteen Minutes with a Playboy Spread
Posted on July 21, 2005 | 1 CommentNew York Post: “Cutler, meanwhile, knows exactly how Haobsh feels….’She has to realize that her window of opportunity is very small. She needs to get out there, interview. She needs... -
One Man Leaves, Another Lady Enters
Posted on July 21, 2005 | 1 CommentMad Max may be gone, but Miss Snark, the Literary Agent has arrived. I sense a conspiracy here. Miss Snark’s entries are composed of enraged one-sentence paragraphs, depicting an attention... -
Last We Heard, 180 Seconds is Enough to Realign the Hippocampus
Posted on July 21, 2005 | No CommentsWe really wish we could make this, but we have other social obligations. Still, for all culture vultures, if Books by the Bay doesn’t whittle you down on Saturday afternoon,... -
Roundup in the Morning
Posted on July 21, 2005 | 5 CommentsThe Sydney Morning-Herald examines the disparity between male and female writers, suggesting that female novelists outrank male novelists. Unfortunately, they base their conclusions on a survey from a print-on-demand publisher.... -
Grab Some Popcorn
Posted on July 21, 2005 | 1 CommentJames Wood vs. Dan Green. -
The Lost World of Rebecca Solnit
Posted on July 21, 2005 | 2 Comments“You rely too much on the brain. The brain is the most overrated organ, I think.” — Isaac David, Manhattan I should say from the onset that I am not... -
Behind the “Peanut Gallery”
Posted on July 20, 2005 | 2 CommentsAsk Yahoo looks into the origin of “peanut gallery” — a term that I’ve been enamored by over the years, perhaps because the idea of happy elephants enjoying a show... -
Thanks for Beaming Us Up Over the Years, Scotty. RIP James Doohan.
Posted on July 20, 2005 | 5 Comments -
Comic Book Article Cliches
Posted on July 20, 2005 | 5 CommentsJumping off from this Book Standard article by Jessa Crispin, here is a list of cliches to be found in any article written about comic books. I urge all reviewers... -
Birnbaum Alert
Posted on July 20, 2005 | No CommentsBobbie-B chats with Ian McEwan. Among the most shocking revelation: Birnbaum doesn’t celebrate April Fool’s Day! There’s no mention of Saturday‘s parallels to Mrs. Dalloway, but this probably has to... -
John Roberts — A Justice Who Must Be Stopped
Posted on July 20, 2005 | 3 CommentsI’m about as depressed as one can be over that a slick motherfucker like John Roberts, a man infinitely worse than Scalia, is now being seriously considered for the Supreme... -
Hell, Nearly Every Post We’ve Put Up This Week Has Had Typos and Half-Formed Thoughts!
Posted on July 19, 2005 | 2 CommentsScott Esposito offers an article about litblogs for Rain Taxi. Not a man to explore an issue without looking at it from multiple angles, Scott notes that the current litblog... -
SF Sightings — Jonathan Ames
Posted on July 19, 2005 | No CommentsTonight at the Booksmith, a solid crowd of thirty (including the erstwhile Tito Perez, myself, and several people from Greenpeace) gathered to hear Jonathan Ames read from his book, Wake... -
Beware the Cat Ladies and Gentlemen of the Night
Posted on July 19, 2005 | 2 CommentsI’ve had a few unfortunate run-ins with cat ladies — more, quite frankly, than a thirtysomething man deserves. The incidents in question have been so harrowing and traumatic that I... -
Fortune 500: Individuals with Riches or Madness?
Posted on July 19, 2005 | No CommentsChicago Tribune: “Hare, 71, is one of the world’s foremost experts on psychopaths. He developed the ‘Psychopathy Checklist,’ which has been used to diagnose psychopaths for 25 years, and the... -
“Nourishment” Secretly A Code Word for Desperate Live Act Revival
Posted on July 19, 2005 | No CommentsSeattle Post-Intelligencer: “More clever, but equally embarrassing, was the device of explaining the solo acoustic section of the show as a way to give the band a dinner break. ‘It’s... -
Unfortunately, No One Told the Princeton Boys That Beating a Machine to a Pulp Gets Better Results
Posted on July 19, 2005 | No CommentsWired: “Using random event generators — computers that spew random output — they have participants focus their intent on controlling the machines’ output. Out of several million trials, they’ve detected... -
Stalk Dr. Mabuse (and a Few Other Bloggers)!
Posted on July 19, 2005 | No CommentsSo if you plan on stalking me, you have a great opportunity to do so this week. If you’re in the San Francisco area, I will be at the Jonathan... -
Like a Fiery Antiquarian
Posted on July 19, 2005 | No CommentsEver since finishing Jonathan Coe’s Like a Fiery Elephant quite a while ago, an excellent biography that I will go into length at in another venue (I’m dancing as fast...