Damn I was going to pick that. Frak, all of my picks are evaporating.
Well, you are 4 or 5 picks behind, why didn't you just go ahead and catch up?
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
under wildcard, I'll take Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero by Leigh Montville
An excellent read on one of the greatest players ever to swing the bat. He was an ornery old cuss, but at least he was honest. Missed 5 whole years of his career due to military service or his numbers would have been even more amazing. Hit a home run in his last at bat, a prefect end to a career. Circled the bases and didn't even come out to tip his cap. He said later that he thought about it but it "just wouldnt' have been me".
One of my favourite quotes from his Hall of Fame induction speech:
"I've been a very lucky guy to have worn a baseball uniform, and I hope some day the names of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson in some way can be added as a symbol of the great Negro players who are not here only because they weren't given a chance."
I've also read other Leigh Montville books and would recommend them highly.
In the category of Science Fiction, Team Bartleby and the Scriveners are pleased to select Karel Capek's 1936 landmark work War With the Newts.
Capek is perhaps most famous for having coined the term "Robot"--but War With the Newts, like every good work of sf, is heavily embroiled in the politics of its time, offering a trenchant critique of fascism, socialism, international European politics and war--and in that sense is almost prophetic in forecasting how the unstable environment of Europe would explode into global conflict just three years later. Best described as a dark political satire, War With the Newts tells the story of the discovery of a race of intelligent amphibians who are at first exploited and enslaved and who then rebel, starting the book's eponymous war which degenerates into a globally destructive conflagration. Beyond all of this--it's a great book, and one that not too many people have read. Check it out--you'll thank me later.
I'll take in the Mass/Pulp Fiction category, what was one of my favourite books in Jr. High, and one I always thought would make a seriously kick-ass movie.
Unfortunately, the type of film adaptation I had envisioned was destined to be realized by The Bourne Identity series, leaving this novel to get the "Patrick Swayze treatment" in 2005... This is something I only realized 2 weeks ago, when happening upon the DVD, in a bargain bin of a grocery store in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (I'm not kidding).
From Amazon.com This is the second-best way to expose yourself to the particular genius of Frank Zappa (music is the best, after all)--through his own words. In addition to being an idiosyncratic American composer of some degree of controversy, Zappa was an orator of no small ability or scope. He was known for his ability to expound at great length (and to hilarious effect) on any number of topics. The Real Frank Zappa Book faithfully captures this side of its author, composed of essays on everything from his background and upbringing, to politics, capitalism, and raising children. Zappa takes the opportunity to dispel some of the most pervasive rumors that surrounded him right up to (and even persist after) his death in 1993 (no he didn't do drugs, or sleep with all those groupies). If you're familiar with the man, you will be able to hear his distinctive enunciations (aided by the bold-facing of certain words and Zappaisms) as you read the assorted road stories, his views on making music for a living, and scenes from two--count them, two--organized hearings on obscenity in music. Of course, the chapter titles speak for themselves and include such Zappa winners as "All About Schmucks," "Marriage (As a Dada Concept)," and "America Drinks and Goes Marching."
From Library Journal Determined to write a book that had " real stuff in it," the outspoken Zappa, one of the most inventive and controversial artists of the past 20 years, is frank, often disgusting, and always entertaining in describing his life ("How weird am I, anyway?"), his philosophy of music ("Take it or leave it, I now will this to be music "), and art in general ("The most important thing in art is The Frame "). Zappa also relates his opinions about the music performing and recording industries, but then rattles on about a myriad of things: church, drugs, yuppies, politics. The book would have benefited from a discography and a bibliography. Recommended for libraries with large pop culture collections.
His adventures with Tipper Gore and the PMRC are legendary:
Part Two
Frank Zappa's testimony at the PMRC Senate Hearing[September 19, 1985], second part, in which we discover that Al Gore is a "fan."
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
Exp:
For my (traded from Troutman) pre-20th Century or Poetry pick, I would like to choose War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
Set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the novel chronicles the lives of a seemingly endless multitude of characters through the period; almost unbelievably long and complex, it isn't exactly the kind of thing one should pick up for an afternoon at the beach (unless you want to work on your arm strength as well as your tan). Sometimes you will feel lost among the truly epic cast of characters, but Tolstoy's masterful use of description and the straightforward impetus of the narrative manages to keep your attention even while you puzzle over the countless patrynomics and nicknames.
The recent translations are (imo) far better than the older ones, and are recommended for clarity. Regardless, this is a work that deals with universal human themes with humour and profundity that endures despite the gap of years between ourselves and its author.
__________________
Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
I will fill in the pulp fiction (emphasis on horror) category.
This is a book that scared the ---- out of me when I first read it.
Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror
I think most people would not believe that the events in the book happened, and that's fine. But reading it as a 11 or 12 year old I was terrified. A little context:
At that time I my family was living in England, out in the Buckinghamshire countryside. The village we lived in was called Little Marlow, it had fewer than 15 houses I think. We lived almost at the end of this tiny road. At the very end was a small ancient church and graveyard. So our massive back garden bordered on the graveyard on one side. You could look through the hedges and see old headstones clearly. This old lady used to chase me out of the graveyard. I just wanted to read the stones and dates.
Also in our backyard was a pool...coffin shaped.
My parent's went in to London to see a show with friends and would not return till early morning. I was left in the house with my brother younger sister and the friends two children. Everyone was asleep but I couldn't sleep. Why? Well I had started reading this book.
For some stupid reason, I decided to read it in the dining room with my back to the French doors to the patio and pool. It was a big old house that seemed to make the most in appropriate noises when reading such a book. I remember horrific startles when the grandfather clock would chime suddenly.
As I got more into the book I became scared to turn around and look out the french doors; sure that that damned pig of Missy's would be staring right back at me.
At some point I started to believe it was safer to stay in the dining room than to try to get upstairs to my room.
Every time the wind would rattle the french doors behind me, I was sure something was coming in. I remember sitting there shaking.
Ah good times.
Oh the book. It's about a family moving into a haunted house and all sorts of disturbing things happen to them, a preist and some of their friends. Spawned a multitude of movies.
From Publishers Weekly
Barclay (Bad Guys) tugs hard on the heartstrings with the tragic tale of Cynthia Bigge, whose parents and brother vanished without a trace the day after she had a tempestuous teenage argument with her father. Twenty-five years later, raising a daughter with her husband, Terrence Archer, in Milford, Conn., but still haunted by her family's disappearance, Cynthia goes on TV to talk about what happened and plead for clues. A mysterious phone call leads her to believe her father, at least, may still be alive, but as her excitement grows, so do Terrence's worries. It soon appears that someone is playing a unexpectedly vicious game with Cynthia's emotions, and that her family held secrets she never suspected. Though some plot twists require significant suspension of disbelief, skilled characterization and convincing dialogue more than compensate. (Oct.)
For my eleventh pick of the draft, I select in the Picture-book / Coffee Table book category, Frank Lloyd Wright The Houses, by Alan Hess and Alan Weintraub.
2005
Frank Lloyd Wright is not only synonymous with architecture, his name is also synonymous with the American house in the twentieth century. In particular, his residential work has been the subject of continuing interest and controversy. Wright's Fallingwater (1935), the seminal masterpiece perched over a waterfall deep in the Pennsylvania highlands, is perhaps the best-known private house in the history of the world. In fact, Wright's houses-from his Prairie style Robie House (1906) in Chicago, to the Storer (1923) and Freeman (1923) houses in Los Angeles, and Taliesen West (1937) in the Arizona desert-are all touchstones of modern architecture. For the first time, all 289 extant houses are shown here in exquisite color photographs. Along with Weintraub's stunning photos and a selection of floor plans and archival images, the book includes text and essays by several leading Wright scholars. Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses is an event of great importance and a major contribution to the literature on this titan of modern architecture.
A book about arguably the most famous architect ever. The pictures are amazing, the descriptions of the houses are nice to read. The book is huge. I haven't gone through the whole thing yet, but eventually I will. I am in the business so it's interesting to look in detail at such a great architects work.
It is good. I honestly can't remember a lot about it but I had to read it for a class in school and I do remember liking it enough to recommend to sciencey type folks. There is a memorable chapter about how all of us hoomans have to be related somewhere down the line.
In the Scientific category: Stephen Hawking; A Brief History of Time 1988 Bantam.
Hawking's book is both a layman's look at physics while at the same time extrapolates some basic ideas such as the Big Bang and gets pretty fancy smancy with some indepth calculations that I failed to grasp (Math 33 Grad). I felt it gave me an excellent reference point to start my journey into the world of physics and greater understanding of the cosmos.
May I suggest getting the Audio book? He has a funny accent because he is from England.
