literary pretensions
Library in the New Age and the Pedigree of Information
Robert Darnton’s piece in the New York Review of Books, The Library in the New Age, is a fascinating look, seasoned by experience, of the life of information. This was not the main thrust, but it’s my favorite part -
I used to be a newspaper reporter myself. I got my basic training as a […]
Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night
Photo by Unhindered by Talent
The Atlantic’s Ben Carlson turned me on to Alberto Manguel’s The Library at Night in Breathing Books, a book which itself will almost certainly make it into my library by virtue of my relentlessly optimistic perception of my own free time, only to spend its lifetime queued in my reading list.
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Jordan Crane’s gorgeous cover art for Michael Chabon’s Maps and Legends
I really don’t have time to read anything besides law books anymore and my time as a graphic designer now seems a far distant memory, but I may have to pick this one up on looks alone. Yes, yes, I know, so it turns out you can in fact judge a book by its cover.
One […]
New York Review of Books, The Case for Judas
In the forthcoming New York Review of Books, Harold W. Attridge, Dean of Yale Divinity School, expounds The Case for Judas, Continued, revisiting the subject of a 2006 article in the same publication - The Betrayer’s Gospel - in light of two new works - Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King, Reading Judas: The […]
Favorite Near-Word of the Day: Pajamahadeen
Yes, Pajamahadeen, which I learned about in Sarah Boxer’s excellent article, Blogs in the New York Review of Books. Do not dwell on why I did not know about this word before hand (I am ashamed) but be glad I am sharing it with you now. It is a frightfully interesting mental image.
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These […]
Why I shop at Borders and buy on Amazon
and why when the time is right, I hope Amazon will buy them.
Borders is increasing the number of books that it displays with the cover facing out (rather than the spine facing out), even though this shelf-space-eating approach will require cutting inventory at each store up to 10%. Says one analyst: “Breakfast cereals are not […]
Wikipedia and Civic Duty
I read Nicholson Baker’s article The Charms of Wikipedia, took a look at the sparse and paltry edits in my own Wikipedia edit history and was ashamed. Civic-minded people everywhere will soon come to feel the obligation of adding to its borg-like hive of facts the way we now think of voting.
New York Review of […]
S.O. Young’s Historical Collections of Houston Stories
Houston Chronicle Blogger J.R. Gonzales at Bayou City History clued us in to two classic titles in early Houston history being reissued in limited edition sets by Copano Bay Press. Dr. S.O. Young’s “A Thumbnail History of the City of Houston, Texas” and “True Stories of Old Houston and Houstonians.” Copano Bay is producing 500 […]
Gladwell on FBI Profilers, new book on the workplace of the future
Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Blink and The Tipping Point takes on the subject of FBI profilers in typical fashion in Dangerous Minds: Criminal profiling made easy.. Noting the successes of well-known profilers throughout the FBI’s history - James Brussel, Howard Teten, John Douglas and Robert Ressler - Gladwell turns to recent empirical research to […]
Oliver Sacks, Music and Amnesia
Oliver Sacks, the famous neurologist who authored Awakenings, about a group of patients he treated in the late 60’s, has continued to produce some of the most fascinating and intelligible books on the mysteries of the human mind. His most recent book is Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.
Sacks previews his work in The […]