I am sure you join me in great anticipation of David McCullough‘s next book, The Wright Brothers (Simon & Schuster, 2015), scheduled for release on May 15. He is certainly one of the great writers of our time. Truman (Simon & Schuster, 1992) is a terrific and comprehensive biography of America’s favorite autocratic president. The… Read More Can’t Wait for McCullough’s Next Book About The Wright Brothers
On June 13, 2014, Alexandra Alter called James Thurber‘s The 13 Clocks (Simon & Schuster, 1950) “required reading for human beings.” Why is that? What would make someone suggest that this book, now written 65 years ago, is so important? Alter says, “‘The 13 Clocks is at once a fable, a love story, a ghost… Read More A Rare Exhortation: Thurber’s 13 Clocks is Required Reading
I will never forget Bowling Alone (Simon & Schuster, 2001). It remains the most depressing book we have presented at the First Friday Book Synopsis in Dallas. It contained chart after chart, page after page, of the demise of civic, social, religious, and fraternal groups in America. All of it was true. If you were… Read More Putnam’s Newest is a Certain Presentation For Us at the First Friday Book Synopsis
The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006). I just finished this wonderful book by Kati Marton. Marton was an NPR and ABC news correspondent, who was widowed twice. Her first marriage was to ABC News anchor Peter Jennings, with whom she had two… Read More Marton’s Great Escape is Worth the Trouble to Find a Copy
What an amazing concept that Siri Hustvedt exposes in her new best-seller, The Blazing World (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014). As described in The Wall Street Journal, “to expose sexism, a female artist asks three men to be fronts for her work. The stunt goes terribly awry” (p. C8). The book has only been… Read More The Blazing World – A New Take on Deception by Siri Hustvedt
NOTE: I am aware that I have done a very poor job with these posts, especially concerning my views about advances in technology. Those posts were highly misaligned with the books we have presented about technology, so I will not write about that subject anymore. However, I will share some thoughts about some of the… Read More Marton’s Story is Love With Paris
Here you go – this is my list of the Best of 2011 in a number of categories. Best Business Book: The 3rd Alternative by Stephen Covey (New York: Free Press) – this book explains and promotes a tired “win-win” philosophy in a fresh way, opening up applications in multiple contexts for many people who… Read More My Best of 2011
In a stunning reversal against the digital book market, the Wall Street Journal reports that a successful author has turned to phyiscal paperbacks through a contract with a traditional publisher. The article, authored by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, is entitled “E-Book Author Tries New Format: Real Paperbacks” (August 23, 2011, p. B4). The author, John Locke, was the… Read More Back to the Future With Physical Paperback Books
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