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 August, 2007
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Lost Email
Posted on August 24, 2007 | No CommentsIf you sent an email to me today at my edrants account, I’m afraid I’ve lost it. Entirely my fault. Please send it again. Very sorry. -
Freedom Babies
Posted on August 24, 2007 | 1 CommentIf, like me, you’re one of those people who ponder too much over why things are the way they are, considering why specific colors and symbols are chosen to reflect... -
BSS #133: William Gibson
Posted on August 24, 2007 | 2 CommentsCondition of Mr. Segundo: Puzzled by cyberspace. Author: William Gibson Subjects Discussed: Coats, blankets, and carapaces in Gibson’s fiction, textures, characters with shaved heads, on not having technological issues, the... -
Google: Enabling Stalkers, One Feature at a Time
Posted on August 23, 2007 | 3 CommentsGoogle: “Starting today, Google Maps users can add a map to their website or blog just by copying & pasting a snippet of HTML. This new functionality enables Google Maps... -
Roundup
Posted on August 23, 2007 | 3 CommentsDesperate dental measures for desperate freelancers. (via The Publishing Spot) Sometimes, you just need to go for a stroll. Christ, I miss California. (via Smart Bitches) The “This I Believe”... -
BSS #132: Matthew Sharpe & Megan Sullivan
Posted on August 23, 2007 | No CommentsCondition of Mr. Segundo: Denied a toasted bagel with cream cheese. Guests: Megan Sullivan and Matthew Sharpe. Subjects Discussed: Post-apocalyptic novels with a sense of humor, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road,... -
Will Wright: A Danger to Creativity
Posted on August 23, 2007 | 5 Comments1Up: “Spore is finished. That’s the first thing I learn as I head in to my play session at the Leipzig Games Convention. Obviously, the game isn’t finished finished (as... -
Alistair Harper: Chickenhead of the Month
Posted on August 22, 2007 | 4 CommentsIt’s been a long while since I awarded anyone the “Chickenhead of the Month” prize, but Alistair Harper comes to us from across the Atlantic with a stupidity that is... -
Roundup
Posted on August 22, 2007 | 14 CommentsSo who was the real Agatha Christie? Because Christie wrote the lines, “You know, you’re the sort of woman who ought to be raped. It might do you good,” under... -
BSS #131: Kate Christensen
Posted on August 22, 2007 | No CommentsCondition of Mr. Segundo: Contemplating his biographical legacy. Author: Kate Christensen Subjects Discussed: First-person vs. third-person narration, Hugo from The Epicure’s Lament vs. Oscar in The Great Man, dead men,... -
Patrick McGoohan & Sean Connery Duke It Out Over the Role of James Bond
Posted on August 21, 2007 | No Comments -
The Case for John Barth
Posted on August 21, 2007 | 26 CommentsIf literary blogs exist to dredge up the underrated authors of our time, I must ask why the litblogosphere, so capable of unearthing the neglected, has remained so silent concerning... -
On Adam Gopnik’s Ridiculous Philip K. Dick Essay
Posted on August 21, 2007 | 15 CommentsThere’s nothing more exciting to a literary enthusiast than a once overlooked and perhaps mainstream writer like Philip K. Dick being seemingly considered by The New Yorker. But Adam Gopnik,... -
Leona Helmsley, Trendsetter in Avarice, Dies
Posted on August 21, 2007 | 1 CommentThe Toronto Star: “In 1987, a series of adverse articles in The New York Post about the Helmsleys, set off by one of their disgruntled employees, led to a broad... -
Roundup
Posted on August 21, 2007 | No CommentsI figured that ignoring the LongPen(TM) was perhaps the best way to avoid getting too excited about a pedantic and rather preposterous invention that (a) is something of a satirical... -
“It’s Hard Work”
Posted on August 20, 2007 | 3 CommentsRonald Reagan on W (1986): “A moment I’ve been dreading. George brought his ne’re-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political... -
Responding to Tod Goldberg
Posted on August 20, 2007 | 3 CommentsTod Goldberg has so outdone himself with this very funny post that I feel compelled to respond to him on a point-by-point basis: 1. Whenever I see young children, I... -
All Roads Lead to Writing
Posted on August 20, 2007 | 2 CommentsJohn Baker coaxes Jenny Davidson to chart her writing process. And I find it very interesting. Because there are many things there that I can’t fathom (for me, the premise... -
Not Tony Blair by a Long Shot
Posted on August 20, 2007 | No CommentsDespite the fact that Robert Harris’s The Ghost involves a former British prime minister attempting to justify a war in the Middle East, Harris insists that his character Adam Lang... -
Roundup
Posted on August 20, 2007 | 3 CommentsI profoundly disagree with Levi’s condemnation of Luc Sante’s excellent overview of the many versions of On the Road that are now available. Levi does have a point about the... -
Hitch the Blogger
Posted on August 19, 2007 | 2 CommentsChristopher Hitchens has posted a series of blog entries for Vanity Fair. -
More Rupert
Posted on August 18, 2007 | No CommentsIt was a great pleasure to meet all the fine folks who introduced themselves at the Rupert Thomson reading last night. I didn’t take notes and will leave all reports... -
Draconian Distribution Tactics at Angus & Robertson
Posted on August 18, 2007 | 3 CommentsSteven Beattie exposes a remarkable arrogance from Australian book chain Angus and Robertson. The hubris was directed towards small to medium-sized distributors. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Angus and... -
Rupert Thomson Tonight
Posted on August 17, 2007 | No CommentsThis is a reminder that Maud Newton will be interviewing Rupert Thomson tonight at 7:00 PM at McNally Robinson. Please be sure to check this out, as this is a... -
There’s a Little Thing Called Statistical Distribution
Posted on August 17, 2007 | 5 CommentsThree sex partners on average for a heterosexual woman? This can’t be right. And a mathematician says this is logically impossible. UPDATE: More from Janet Hardy, one of the authors... -
Who Pays Attention to the Line Anymore?
Posted on August 17, 2007 | 1 CommentGlenn Greenwald: “To this day, many people, including myself, cite the Padilla case as the ultimate wake-up call to the true character, the genuine soul, of the Bush administration. Imprisoning... -
Collapse
Posted on August 17, 2007 | No CommentsMore from me soon, but hopefully four podcasts in two days should tide you over. -
BSS #130: Katharine Weber and Levi Asher
Posted on August 17, 2007 | No CommentsCondition of Mr. Segundo: Fleeing the Bolsheviks. Guests: Katharine Weber and Levi Asher Subjects Discussed: Fibonacci spirals and Sierpinski triangles, Fibonacci sidewalks, the unknown etymological origins of the Triangle Shirtwaist... -
BSS #129: Katie Roiphe
Posted on August 17, 2007 | 1 CommentSPECIAL PROGRAM NOTE: I had arranged an interview with Katie Roiphe because I felt that she might be misunderstood. Ms. Roiphe had laid down some interesting ideas over the years... -
BSS #128: Katherine Taylor & Mindy Schneider
Posted on August 17, 2007 | No CommentsCondition of Mr. Segundo: Smitten with literary Kates. Authors: Katherine Taylor and Mindy Schneider Subjects Discussed: The similarities and differences between Taylor the person and Taylor the character, declarative dialogue,...