Subterranean for free

Issue #4 of Subterranean, edited by prolific blogger and accopmplished sci-fi author John Scalzi, was just released on the web for a free download. Lots of short stories, all with a twist to a "cliche". Check it out!

Subterranean Press � Blog Archive � Subterranean #4 — Completely FREE

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100 sci-fi books to read

Yet another list, this time the 100 sci-fi books you have to read. The original is here. I've read a few of these, mostly the older ones. Makes me want to go back and try some of them, like Triton, Zanzibar, and, especially Canticle.

Index of the 100 science fiction books you just have to read

1.	Childhood's End Written by Arthur C. Clarke
2.	Foundation Written by Isaac Asimov
3.	Dune Written by Frank Herbert
4.	Man in the High Castle Written by Philip K. Dick
5.	Starship Troopers Written by Robert A. Heinlein
6.	Valis Written by Philip K. Dick
7.	Frankenstein Written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
8.	Gateway Written by Frederick Pohl
9.	Space Merchants Written by C.M. Kornbluth & Frederick Pohl
10.	Earth Abides Written by George R. Stewart
11.	Cuckoo's Egg Written by C.J. Cherryh
12.	Star Surgeon Written by James White
13.	The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Written by Philip K. Dick
14.	Radix Written by A.A. Attanasio
15.	2001: A Space Odyssey Written by Arthur C. Clarke
16.	Ringworld Written by Larry Niven
17.	A Case of Conscience Written by James Blish
18.	Last and First Man Written by Olaf Stapledon
19.	The Day of the Triffids Written by John Wyndham
20.	Way Station Written by Clifford Simak
21.	More Than Human Written by Theodore Sturgeon
22.	Gray Lensman Written by E. E. "Doc" Smith
23.	The Gods Themselves Written by Isaac Asimov
24.	The Left Hand of Darkness Written by Ursula K. Le Guin
25.	Behold the Man Written by Michael Moorcock
26.	Star Maker Written by Olaf Stapledon
27.	The War of the Worlds Written by H.G. Wells
28.	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Written by Jules Verne
29.	Heritage of Hastur Written by Marion Zimmer Bradley
30.	The Time Machine Written by H.G. Wells
31.	The Stars My Destination Written by Alfred Bester
32.	Slan Written by A.E. Van Vogt
33.	Neuromancer Written by William Gibson
34.	Ender's Game Written by Orson Scott Card
35.	In Conquest Born Written by C.S. Friedman
36.	Lord of Light Written by Roger Zelazny
37.	Eon Written by Greg Bear
38.	Dragonflight Written by Anne McCaffrey
39.	Journey to the Center of the Earth Written by Jules Verne
40.	Stranger in a Strange Land Written by Robert Heinlein
41.	Cosm Written by Gregory Benford
42.	The Voyage of the Space Beagle Written by A.E. Van Vogt
43.	Blood Music Written by Greg Bear
44.	Beggars in Spain Written by Nancy Kress
45.	Omnivore Written by Piers Anthony
46.	I, Robot Written by Isaac Asimov
47.	Mission of Gravity Written by Hal Clement
48.	To Your Scattered Bodies Go Written by Philip Jose Farmer
49.	Brave New World Written by Aldous Huxley
50.	The Man Who Folded Himself Written by David Gerrold
51.	1984 Written by George Orwell
52.	The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde Written by Robert Louis Stevenson
53.	Snow Crash Written by Neal Stephenson
54.	Flesh Written by Philip Jose Farmer
55.	Cities in Flight Written by James Blish
56.	Shadow of the Torturer Written by Gene Wolfe
57.	Startide Rising Written by David Brin
58.	Triton Written by Samuel R. Delany
59.	Stand on Zanzibar Written by John Brunner
60.	A Clockwork Orange Written by Anthony Burgess
61.	Fahrenheit 451 Written by Ray Bradbury
62.	A Canticle For Leibowitz Written by Walter Miller
63.	Flowers for Algernon Written by Daniel Keyes
64.	No Blade of Grass Written by John Christopher
65.	The Postman Written by David Brin
66.	Dhalgren Written by Samuel Delany
67.	Berserker Written by Fred Saberhagen
68.	Flatland Written by Edwin Abbot
69.	Planiverse Written by A.K. Dewdney
70.	Dragon's Egg Written by Robert L. Forward
71.	Downbelow Station Written by C.J. Cherryh
72.	Dawn Written by Octavia E. Butler
73.	Puppet Masters Written by Robert Heinlein
74.	The Doomsday Book Written by Connie Willis
75.	Forever War Written by Joe Haldeman
76.	Deathbird Stories Written by Harlan Ellison
77.	Roadside Picnic Written by Boris Strugatsky & Arkady Strugatsky
78.	The Snow Queen Written by Joan Vinge
79.	The Martian Chronicles Written by Ray Bradbury
80.	Drowned World Written by J.G. Ballard
81.	Cat's Cradle Written by Kurt Vonnegut
82.	Red Mars Written by Kim Stanley Robinson
83.	Upanishads Written by Various
84.	Alice in Wonderland Written by Lewis Carroll
85.	Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Written by Douglas Adams
86.	The Lathe of Heaven Written by Ursula K. Le Guin
87.	The Midwich Cuckoos Written by John Wyndham
88.	Mutant Written by Henry Kuttner
89.	Solaris Written by Stanislaw Lem
90.	Ralph 124C41+ Written by Hugo Gernsback
91.	I Am Legend Written by Richard Matheson
92.	Timescape Written by Gregory Benford
93.	The Demolished Man Written by Alfred Bester
94.	War with the Newts Written by Karl Kapek
95.	Mars Written by Ben Bova
96.	Brain Wave Written by Poul Anderson
97.	Hyperion Written by Dan Simmons
98.	The Andromeda Strain Written by Michael Crichton
99.	Camp Concentration Written by Thomas Disch
100.	A Princess of Mars Written by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Technorati Tags: sci-fi+books

July Book Reading

I haven't done one of these for a couple of months now, but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading. I've been doing pretty well, a normal reading schedule - finish a few, make a dent in a few, return most. Nothing has really reached out and grabbed me, but there have been a few enjoyable moments since the last posting in May.

Update from May

• Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr. A solid entry into the fantasy epic sweepstakes. I lost some of the backwards references, as the book revolves around some kind of reincarnation, and a main character who has to live (and relive) life until he rights a wrong he did. But once it started getting into battles, and spells, and the main storyline and stopped jumping around in time, it really jelled, and I'm looking forward to reading the followup, Darkspell.
• River of Gods by Ian McDonald. I was doing really well with this 600 page behemoth. I was about 300 pages into it and was finding it interesting reading. Set in the near future in a fractured India, it described an advanced cyber-society, and a war of some kind raging. But then I was sitting in bed with my daughter reading it while she read her book (I think it was Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill, as mentioned in Laura's post) when she asked me what my book was about. And, after reading nearly 300 pages, I couldn't give her a synopsis at all, that either of us would understand! So I gave up. What a wimp.
• Pennant Race by Jim Brosnan. In the end, I don't think this book on the 1961 Reds pennant race was as good as his first, The Long Season. It felt more forced, with more long conversations recorded, rather than the personal impressions of its predecessor. And it ended before the World Series started, which I thought very odd. Maybe it was too painful to write about, as they lost to the Yankees in 5 games. There were still some laugh out loud moments though.
• I returned both The Raj Quartet and Dreaming the Eagle, making no start at all on the former and practically none on the latter. I started reading Dreaming, but, I guess not surprisingly, it had plenty of dream sequences and, as I've mentioned before, I just don't like reading about dreams. It just too easy a cop out for the author.
• Rereadings edited by Anne Fadiman. Reprints of essays found in The American Scholar where authors comment on rereading a favorite book from long ago. It was moderately interesting, although many of the writers were unknown to me, as were many of the books (and one album - David Michaels wrote about Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band) being written about.
• The untied states of America : polarization, fracturing, and our future by Juan Enriquez. Interesting book about today's political and cultural atmosphere, wondering if we as a country are on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Written in a graphical style, with bold, italic and normal typefaces and strange formatting, which both works and repels. Interesting book nonetheless.
• Night Fall by Nelson DeMille. My mother-in-law is a huge fan of today's turgid thriller, whereby men (almost always) of strong will, dashing looks and witty repartee stave off certain demise of either the world or our country. She's always fobbing the latest paperback bestseller off on me. So I try to read it for a little bit, only to get put off by the bad writing, stereotypical characters and laughable premise. But this one hooked me, perhaps because I was wondering just how he was going to get himself out of the jam he created. This book posits a terrorist connection in the downing of TWA Flight 800 off of Long Island in 1996. And it is a real problem when you try to novelize a true historical action. Like Day of The Jackal (about a proposed De Gaul assassination), the audience knows how it will end, so you need to do some good writing to make it worthwhile. So, I admit it, I read it pretty much constantly for about 3 days, to see what John Corey, ex-NYPD man of steel and his anti-terrorist FBI agent wife, Kate Mayfield, would find out. My mother-in-law said the ending was stunner and kept her up at nights. Well, I have to agree with that, but only because it was stunningly inept and cheating! If you're reading this book, you should stop now. If you haven't started it, I say don't bother and I'll tell you why. And it's funny, because in the afterword he even says:

  I'd like to thank my son, Alex... It was Alex who came up with the perfect ending to this book, helping me out of the corner into which I'd painted myself.

  Yeah, I'd say it was a corner alright. And to kill off everyone involved except the main characters in the World Trade Center attack is the ultimate cop-out. And to not even offer up a single answer to any of the questions you pose throughout the book is just plain wrong. Don't bother with this one! I used to read a lot of these potboilers, but that was a long time ago, and now I know why. Speaking of rereadings, I should go back and read The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. I was a huge fan of Ludlum, especially this book, until I read few more of them and realized they were all the same, and started to get tired of the straining prose and italics. I wonder if I would still like this book today?

Currently Reading

• Smartbomb : the quest for art, entertainment, and big bucks in the video game revolution by Heather Chaplin & Aaron Ruby. I write sporadically for a video game review site, The Game Chair and I like to include the occasional book review. I wrote up a short review on the book Game Over (about Nintendo), and so I'm reading this one with an eye towards another short review. So far, it's the typically smarmy mainstream coverage of the game industry, with this wry "aren't they cute and geeky?" tone to it.
• Two books on absinthe, because I've become fascinated by both its colorful and checkered past, as well as the emerald (usually) liquor itself. In fact, a friend and I have started an absinthe blog called In Absinthia, where we write about our absinthe discoveries. The two books are Hideous Absinthe : a history of the devil in a bottle by Jad Adams and Absinthe: History in a bottle by Barnaby Conrad. The former is a pretty solid overview of absinthe in the 19th century, albeit with a condescending tone, while the latter is more of a picture book of absinthe and its lurid past.

In The Queue

• The miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinniss. Bill Harris, writer of one of my favorite blogs, Dubious Quality, has been raving about this book since the Soccer World Cup started. It's the true story of a small Italian town and its soccer team, which made the miraculous leap to the top division of Italian soccer.
• The devil's picnic : around the world in pursuit of forbidden fruit by Taras Grescoe. Continuing my absinthe obsession, this is a book by a veteran travel writer who tries out various "forbidden fruits" like unpasteurized cheese, bull testicles and, yes, absinthe.
• I got my Feast for Crows and Gardens Of The Moon books back from my sister, so I'll have to read those. I still think I'll hold off on Feast until the next one comes out. Maybe I'll reread the last one in the previous trilogy first.

Technorati Tags: books

Expensive books

Some cool lists about AbeBooks, the used book aggregator and seller.  The first one is the most expensive books ever sold on AbeBooks.com, with a US$65,000 top prize, for a first edition of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit. Ten years of sellings gives them these lists:

Abebooks: Powers of 10

May Reading Update

I've actually been doing pretty well in my reading schedule. I finished three books, and am making good progress on another one. Having the Stanley Cup playoffs on TV helps, as I like to get in bed early, turn on the game(s) and read.

Update from Last Month

• The Tyranny of the Night by Glen Cook. I was doing pretty well on this. He had just gotten beyond the background and started to get into the story, when I gave up. I still might try this one more time. (ha)
• Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier. I almost gave up on this a couple of times, but I pushed on and ended up enjoying it. Like several other fantasy & sci-fi "first in a series" books I've read over the past few months (Old Man's War and Hammered), it spent most of its time setting the situation and was just getting into the main story when it ended. But it was good enough to make me want to try the next in the series (Magic Lessons). The protagonist is a 15 year old girl, just learning about her magic powers after her now-committed Mom spent her formative years shielding her from them. It'll be interesting to see where she goes from here.
• Now I can die in peace : how ESPN's Sports Guy found salvation, with a little help from Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank and the 2004 Red Sox by Bill Simmons. I saw this in the New Books shelf at my library, so I took it out again. This time, I just read the last half or so, where things got interesting. This book has probably come the closest to telling the real story of the season, from a fan's point of view, but there are a number of annoying quirks that keep it from being the definitive one. For one, he's too much of a TV culture name dropper and I find it both tiring and boring to read about Survivor, Real Life, OC, etc. I don't watch "normal" TV, and I could care less about it. He also intensely disliked Fever Pitch, which I happened to like. His hatred felt forced, like it was expected of him to dislike it in order to be "cool". In fact, striving to be "cool" was probably the most annoying thing about the writing. I was also surprised at just how much autonomy he lost when he signed on to be an ESPN columnist. They won't let him badmouth announcers on other stations, because it wouldn't be fair as they won't let him badmouth ESPN announcers. And there were numerous examples of where he would say that the editors made him change columns, like when he wasn't allowed to say that working at Taco Bell was a bad thing, due to the fact it might be construed as racist. Huh? But I enjoyed the ending a lot:-)
• The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr. A book about the search for a missing Caravaggio painting, The Taking of Christ (see above). Interesting book, except I just couldn't feel the passion for Caravaggio that the author and his subjects obviously had. Much ado about nothing to me. And he spent the first part of the book talking about two Italian researchers, when in fact they had nothing to do with finding the painting, as was described in the second half. They did uncover much of the back story, I guess.

Currently Reading

• River of Gods by Ian McDonald. A book set in the near future, India 2047. A huge book at nearly 600 pages, with a George RR Martin like "persona per chapter" way of writing. So far, so good. Heavy going, but now that the table is set, the characters are beginning to come alive.
• Pennant Race by Jim Brosnan. Followup to the classic The Long Season, it follows him playing for the pennant winning Reds of 1961. Seems to be even funnier than the first one.

In The Queue

• The Raj quartet by Paul Scott. Ha! I didn't even know that The Jewel In The Crown, a classic historical novel I had borrowed from the library before (also set, oddly enough, in India), was the first of a trilogy. This book contains all three books and clocks in at nearly 2000 pages long! Unlikely I'll ever finish this, but I couldn't resist taking it out when I saw it on the library shelf.
• Dreaming The Eagle by Manda Scott. Turns out the book I mentioned last month, Dreaming the Bull was, in fact, the second book of the series. So I picked up this one, the initial book. It is about Boudicca's Rebellion, a subject I find pretty interesting.
• Eats, shoots and leaves : the zero tolerance approach to punctuation by Lynne Truss. I saw the new edition of this classic and popular book for a good price at the local Super Stop & Shop and I couldn't resist buying it.

Technorati Tags: books Larbalestier bill+simmons ian+mcdonald

April Reading List

I'm having some trouble finishing fiction books these days. I have been doing pretty well on the non-fiction, but not so well on the fiction. Looking back on it, three of the books I finished were on baseball - must be Opening Day still in the air! Still adding about as fast as I can subtract, though.

Update from last month

• The Long Season by Jim Brosnan. Wow, what a fun book! It was a fascinating insight into the life of a major league ballplayers, especially a pitcher. And my guess, life still hasn't changed all that much for the overgrown adolescents since it was written nearly 40 years ago. Still playing juvenile games in the bullpen, ragging on each other about salaries, calling guys who actually read books "Professor", etc. Definite thumbs up!
• The Last Best League by Jim Collins. A very good book on the Cape Cod League, which is a summer amateur baseball league down on the Cape. Notable for being one of the few amateur leagues that still use wooden bats (only the pros don't use metal bats), so it gives scouts a good feel for how both hitters and pitchers will fare in the pros. It must be so hard to adjust to "real life", being a sports star in high school, if you just aren't good enough (or healthy enough) to move on. Lucky for me, I was good enough to play a few sports in high school, but never good enough to have any illusions of going anywhere with my "talent". Very well written indeed.
• Cypress Grove by James Sallis. Another winner by the author of Drive which I had read earlier. In fact, I think I liked this one even better. The story of an ex-cop, ex-con who is living a life of seclusion in the south, and who gets drawn into a murder mystery. Very interesting characters and some real sharp writing. My only complaint is the presentation is identical to Drive, with interwoven chapters alternating between the present and retelling his past. Felt a little overused by now even.
• A Tale of Two Cities by Tony Massarotti and John Harper. Not bad, but I'm still looking for the perfect 2004 storybook retelling. Like pretty much all the other books on the season written by sportswriters, it dwells far too much on the personalities, and press relationships for my liking. Don't care, exactly, who treats the sportswriters with respect and who doesn't. Don't care, really, who is a "nice" guy and who isn't. But it was fun reading the NY/Boston interplay between the writers.
• I started but didn't finish:
  • Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte - just never clicked with this historical novel of mideval Spain.
  • Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott - this historical novel set in 1800s India looked real good, but I just never found the time for it. I will get back to it, though.
  • Why Black People Tend To Shout : Cold Facts And Wry Views From A Black Man's World by Ralph Wiley. Race relations are not my strong suit. Nor are books of collected columns.
  • 1776 by David McCullough. I wanted to finish this fascinating book of a pivotal year in US history, but our new car doesn't have a tape player, so now I don't know what I'm going to do for books on tape!

Currently Reading

• The Tyranny of the Night by Glen Cook. The first book in a new fantasy series called Instrumentalities of the Night, by the author of the Black Company series of fantasy books. I really like the first 1.5 books of the Black Company series, and have been meaning to restart it, as I have the sci-fi book club edition that comes with the first three. He's an interesting writer, in that he doesn't seem to explain much straight off, not even what the narrator knows. It is sort of assumed you know what is going on, and it gradually begins to make more sense as the pieces fall into place. An interesting way of writing, but one that requires more concentration than I am usually capable of, given my 30 minute reading chunks. But it is a rewarding effort, so I want to try again. So I thought I'd try this new one by him when I saw it on the new books shelf of the library. So far, very reminiscent of his prior style of writing. Through the first chapter, a very intricate portrayal of a world in upheaval, both spiritually and physically, and I'm not really clear on what is happening.

In the Queue

• Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier. A fantasy book highly recommended by sci-fi author John Scalzi over at Whatever. I read too many sci-fi/fantasy blogs, or blogs by folks who like sci-fi and fantasy, and keep trying out these kinds of books, although they don't tend to be my cup o' java. But I'm always game to try another. Oh, and Scalzi even pointed out a lukewarm review of his Old Man's War, which actually mirrors my feelings about the book exactly. You can read it here. To be honest, that same ssite also has a pretty warm review of it here!
• Dreaming the bull by Manda Scott. The other thing I keep picking up is historical novels. This series is on Boudicca, the warrior queen of England who fought the Roman armies to a standstill for two years in AD 61. I think there are four books currently in the series, and I saw the latest on the new book shelf at the library. So after checking it out, I notice the library also happened to have the first three, so I grabbed this first one to check it out.

And I really have to get back to my Lifetime Reading Plan and read some more classics. There's nothing quite like a book having stood the test of time - the writing is usually stupendous and the ideas mind blowing. Maybe DH Lawrence or even get back to my Arabian Nights.

Technorati Tags: books reading+list

Kid books

A friend of mine asked me for some kid book recommendations, so I thought I would just post them here. We have a ton of books, and story time is an integral part of our bedtime routine. My wife has been a stickler for a regular time (7pm) and routine for bed, and I think it is the major contributor to our girls' excellent sleeping habits. They tend to go to bed reasonably easy, and are usually sound asleep before 8pm. And they sleep until 6:30 or so, no matter what time they actually go out. And rarely wake up during the night. And it has been that way ever since they were very little. Can't ask for anything more!

The final step in the routine (after things like toothbrushing, bathroom, washing, and the like) is for all of us to gather together on our bed and read a book or three. We borrow plenty of books from the library, and each girl has a full bookcase. This list doesn't include any classics, like Goodnight Moon (Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd), Pat the Bunny (Dorothy Kunhardt) or anything by classic authors like Dr. Suess, Sandra Boynton, or Eric Carle (you can't go wrong with any of them). These are more obscure books that I think really work well with any child up to about 6 or so, but are also interesting enough to read (over and over and over and over) again and again by adults. Often this means some good rhyming action, but not always.

• Click Clack Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. We haven't found the sequels to be nearly as clever.
• How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. On the other hand, we've found all the books in this series to be outstanding. One of my fondest memories of our youngest are of reading this book and her answering the question "Noooooo".
• Bubba and Beau Go Night-Night by Kathi Appelt, Arthur Howard (Illustrator)
• Oh My Baby, Little One by Kathi Appelt, Jane Dyer (Illustrator)
• The Water Hole by Graeme Base. This one has some cool illustrations, with hidden animals on each page. We're still working on finding all of them
• The Complete Adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog by Dav Pilkey
• Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers, Marla Frazee (Illustrator). Babies love babies and this one has a bunch of them, with some really nice rhymes too
• Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. The whole series remains a favorite, with sparkly illustrations that really attract the eyes, and very nice fables with solid morals.
• Sally Goes To The Beach by Stephen Huneck. All the Huneck Sally books are big colorful books on a Labrador Retriever's adventures. This one and the mountain one are favorites.
• The Everything Book by Denise Fleming
• Kiss Good Night by Amy Hest, Anita Jeram (Illustrator)
• My Car by Byron Barton. Probably the best for the youngest set, very bold bright colors and easy words. A real favorite of the girls when they were younger. The author has a bunch of books and all are good.
• Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown and Leo and Diane Dillon. Clever rhyming in this one, with typical odd Brown patterns.
• All By Myself by Aliki. If I were forced to pick just one book, I think this would be it. Clever rhymes about growing up and trying to do stuff yourself.
• I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose A. Lewis and Jane Dyer. A poignant book about adopting a Chinese baby
• Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. For any parent who has tried to convince their kid about clothing choices. That means all of us.
• When Sophie Gets Angry...really, Really Angry by Molly Bang. Very clever book about a little girl who can barely contain her anger.
• Alpha Bugs: A Pop-Up Alphabet by David A. Carter. There's a whole series of these pop-up books, but this was a favorite.
• I Love You, Blue Kangaroo by Emma Chichester Clark. All of these are very cute stories about a little girl and her stuffed animal, Blue Kangaroo

As for buying these, I can heartily recommend AllBooks4Less.com and its sister site BookCloseouts.com. I think they may actually be the same company, but the prices can't be beat, although as you can imagine from the names, the selection is hit or miss. I always start with AllBooks4Less and then try the other major online vendors.

Technorati Tags: childrens+books kid+books

March Book Reading

I've been reading at a fairly reasonable clip these days.  I try to get to bed by around 10pm, turn on a hockey game (thank Zeus for NHL® CENTER ICE® that's all I can say!), and try to get some reading in. Still, progress has been slow through my library list.

Update from last month

• Blink : this book made for some truly fascinating reading. It dragged in a few spots, where Gladwell went on too long with some particular example, but perceptive insights into how we "thin slice", or make snap judgments, abounded. Here's just a few examples:
  • Vic Braden, the famous tennis pro, could tell with astounding accuracy when a player was about to double fault. During one match, he was correct 16 out of 17 times, as he was able to pick up tiny clues he couldn't later even articulate.
  • A pretty scary section on how the brain can be "primed". In one study, researchers would give users lists of words and ask them to make sentence fragments. By using particular kinds of words, people would act accordingly. For instance:
    1. him was worried she always
    2. from are Florida oranges temperatures
    3. ball the throw toss silently
    4. shoes give replace old she
    5. he observes occasionally people watches
    6. sky the seamless gray is
    After being asked to make 4 word sentences out of a long list of similarly scrambled words, you would actually walk back down a hallway slower than you walked in, because these words all bring out "old" feelings! A similar study was done using "polite" and "rude" words, and the subjects were asked to walked down a hallway and talk to another person. This second person was involved in a discussion with someone who wouldn't stop talking. The "rude" primed people would interrupt after less than 5 minutes, but the "polite" primed people never interrupted!
  • In another study, one group was asked to take 5 minuets beforehand and think about what it would be like to be a professor and to jot down their thoughts, while another was to think about soccer hooligans. The "professor" group answered 55.6% of Trivial Pursuit questions correctly, while the "soccer hooligan" group only got 42.6%.
  • In a truly scary study, using black college students and questions from the GRE, one group was asked to identify their race on a pretest question, while another was not. Test scores for the ones asked about their race were cut in half, due to being primed with the negative stereotypes associated with African Americans! Yowza.
  • The book opened with an interesting study involving two decks of cards, a blue and a red one. Each card turned over either wins you alot of money or loses money; only the decks are rigged and the red one is a losing deck while the blue one is a winning one. Most people would begin to notice the difference after about 50 cards and be certain by about 80 cards. But most amazingly, if the body's response was measured (like sweat glands), the unconscious mind begins worrying after only ten cards.
  • Researchers hung two ropes down from the ceiling and asked groups of people to figure out how to grab onto both of them, as they weren't long enough to reach easily. Most figured out three ways (move one rope closer and tie it to something, use another rope or cord tied to one to pull it closer, and to stretch as far as possible holding onto one rope and use a pole or something to grab the other). But a fourth method, to start swinging one until it swings out far enough to grab when holding the other, occurred to very few until the researcher would casually brush a rope, causing it to begin a slight swing. Suddenly, most people would come up with the fourth solution. Most surprisingly though, none of them would later say that seeing it swing caused them to think of the answer, preferring instead to say that it just popped into their heads. Funny how we can deceive ourselves!
  • In another racially charged study, selecting words for two competing lists tells us alot about how our minds are subtly conditioned by society. You can even take this test yourself here: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/. It is called an Implicit Association Test.
  • I was amazed to find out that only 14.5% of American males are my height (an even six feet) or taller. I was even more amazed that nearly 60% of the Fortune 500 CEOs are 6' or taller. And while less than 4% of the population is 6'2" or taller, nearly 1/3 of the CEOs were! One study came to the conclusion that each 1" in height was worth $789 in extra annual salary.
  So yeah, this was a pretty interesting book. There were a couple of long passages about military exercises and facial muscles that I found a bit tedious, but definitely an eye-opener. So next time before you take a test, think smart thoughts!
• Fer-De-Lance : my first Nero Wolfe novel, it was pretty good although it took me too long to read it. It was actually more of a "howdunit" rather than a "whodunit", as about half way through the book, the narrator (Wolfe's right hand man, Archie Goodwin) says something like "Now that we know he did it, you might think my thoughts are done in hindsight, but I truly didn't like him from the start", which was quite startling! There were some nice turns of phrases, like Goodwin's surprise at seeing one of the women witnesses all dressed up:

  Well, I thought, they're all different in the bathtub from what they're like at Schraft's

  I also learned a new word when Wolfe accused someone:

  Your tone is minatory.

  Which means "having a menacing quality". I'll have to remember that one! I will probably try a couple more, as I work on my own ideas of a mystery novel.
• The Kalahari Typing School For Men : As good as the other one I listened to. Lots of fun. Pretty light stuff but a nice view of a different culture, incredibly well narrated.
• I returned Voyage of the Narwhal and Uncommon Clay as I just didn't have time to read them. I figured I can always get back to the latter one, as I enjoy the Deborah Knott mysteries.

Currently Reading

• The Last Best League : a very good book on the Cape Cod Baseball League. I'm enjoying this quite a bit, although the way the author quotes the internal thoughts of others has me a little uncomfortable.
• 1776 by David McCullough : a book on tape read by the author. I just started this, as I only recently got my Explorer back from the shop. Did you know that it is nearly impossible to get a tape player in a car these days? I was looking around at new cars, and none offered a tape player. That is a shame, as I find books on CD to be far less useful than books on tape. The problem is when you eject a book on CD, you lose your place, whereas the same isn't, obviously, true of a book on tape. My Explorer has a 6 CD player and a tape player, so how hard is that?

In the Queue

• A Tale Of Two Cities : the 2004 Red Sox-Yankees Rivalry And The War For The Pennant by Tony Massarotti and John Harper : Still looking for the perfect book to match the perfect 2004 season. This one looks pretty good, co-written by a Boston and a New York beat writer.
• Why Black People Tend To Shout : Cold Facts And Wry Views From A Black Man's World by Ralph Wiley : A collection of columns from a very opinionated African American columnist.
• The Long Season by Jim Brosnan : Purportedly one of the best "written by a player" books on baseball. I'm doing a short bio for another Boston SABR book project, this time on the fabulous 1967 Impossible Dream team. I'm doing one on Don Demeter, and I guess he is mentioned in this book, written by Brosnan during the 1959 season while he pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Somehow, I resisted the urge to buy any new books, always a good sign!

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Reading List Update

I'm sure you've been sitting on the edge of your seat, just wondering how my reading has been going along. Here's the update. First, some books I've previously mentioned.

Update from the previous entry

• Hammered : I really enjoyed this. It got a little too techy for me at points, where stuff is explained (or explained away) in belabored sci-fi terms, but it was a pretty good future noir nonetheless. And it really is the first book in a series, as it ends just when things are beginning to get interesting! Not standalone by any means.
• The PayPal Wars : I got through about half of this. It was a pretty interesting story of small, tech company madness. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. And it was also from a marketeers point of view, even more annoying to this tech guy. Still, most people from outside the software industry would probably find this pretty fascinating.
• Frankenstein : Sorry, just couldn't get through it. Made it less than halfway. Just not riveting enough for car audio.
• Drive : Really good book. Short, to the point, mystery / noir. Sharp writing, interesting characters.
• Gardens of the Moon : loaned this out, along with George RR Martin's fourth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Feast For Crows, to my sister. She says it is pretty good and amazingly drew the same conclusion that I did - it felt very similar to the wonderful Chronicles of Lymond series by Dorothy Dunnet - complex "historical" fiction. Early reports are, though, it isn't as heavy as the Lymond stories.
• Blink : haven't started this yet.

Here's all the books I have currently ongoing.

Currently Reading

• The Kalahari typing school for men by Alexander McCall Smith. I listened to the first book in this series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, a few months ago and enjoyed it immensely. The narrator of these, Lisette Lecat, is really good, and it's nice to have someone who can correctly (and lyrically) pronounce the foreign names. I just finished this one, and it is as good as the first one. Small, interesting stories about life in modern Botswana. Thumbs up!
• The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett. Saw this on the display by the checkout counter, which contain lots of "winter" books. This one is a fictional account of the search for the Northwest Passage. It seems cool enough, but I've just started it.
• Fer-de-lance by Rex Stout. As a devout mystery reader, I'm ashamed to admit I haven't ever read a Nero Wolfe mystery novel. Rex Stout wrote a bunch of them (over 70!) and the relationship between Wolfe and his action man, Archie Goodwin, is one I've actually thought about when thinking about my own nebulous detective novel. Just started this one, which is a collection of the first three books.
• The Last Best League : one summer, one season, one dream by Jim Collins. Really fascinating book about the 2002 season of the Chatham Athletics of the Cape Code Baseball League. All of these kids, on the cusp of either stardom (see Nomar Garciaparra or Jason Varitek) or failure, battling curveballs, being 20 years old, injuries and doubt. Good book!

Of course, I can't just keep the ones I haven't read yet. I have to add to the pile!

In The Queue

• Uncommon Clay by Margaret Maron. One of the Deborah Knotts mysteries, which I find to be very well written and nicely plotted. I'm not crazy about her other series, but this one has some nice atmosphere and a good protagonist. I've read most of them up to this one and have been usually happy with the results.
• Cypress Grove by James Sallis. Another one by the author of Drive. I'm also looking into getting one from his detective series, but my local library didn't have the first one, so I have to continue looking.
• I was reading this review in the Globe the other day, and being a big historical fiction fan, I couldn't resist picking up the first in the series, Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. And I also picked up the other highly regarded one talked about in the review, The Jewel In The Crown by Paul Scott.
• The End Of The Beginning : from the siege of Malta to the Allied victory at El Alamein by Tim Clayton. I like reading history even more than I like reading historical fiction, and one of my favorite things to read about is World War Two's Campaign in North Africa. An incredibly complex subject, it was the area where the tide finally turned in favor of the Allies, and where the American army learned to fight.
• The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin. I found The Origins of Species to be highly entertaining, and I heard that Voyage was even better, so I finally picked up a copy. You can find both of them online here.

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Reading List update

So, how I am doing on my reading list, you might ask. To be honest, not very well. I've read some, but I add them much faster than I read them, so it is much like other parts of my life, where I can't seem to catch up. But at least with books, it is a fun race!

• I haven't had a chance to do any more reading of the James Agee books, although I was able to renew them for one more go 'round.
• I finished Old Man's War. It was an okay sci-fi combat novel. Nothing too deep or very meaty, but the characters were engaging enough. I kept hoping for more though. I won't be rushing out to buy the second novel in the series, which is due Real Soon Now, The Ghost Brigades. Probably won't even remember to read it when it makes it to the library.
• I truly loved Unfinished Business, right to the last word. Bill Simmons was right - this is a great sports book!
• Speaking of Simmons, I'm currently reading Now I Can Die In Piece and am finding it pretty good. It is a collection of his old blog and ESPN columns, with side notes talking about how he currently feels, what happened in the end, etc. Once again, I can't renew it due to its popularity, so I'll probably give it up soon and wait for the paperback.
• I did finished The Journey Of Crazy Horse on tape and found it to be an excellent listen. Highly recommended. I would even recommend the tape over the book, so you get the Indian pronunciations correct.

I have added, of course, many more books to my pile. I received a few for Christmas, and requested a few more from the library:

• Hammered by Elizabeth Bear [ISBN 0553587501] : Scalzi posted a question in his Whatever blog, about Gateway Science Fiction, where he asked for sci-fi intro novels, and this one came up a few times. He's also mentioned it a few times himself, so I thought I'd order up a copy from the library. Looks like it could be a cool noir sci-fi novel.
• The PayPal Wars : battles with eBay, the media, the mafia, and the rest of planet Earth by Eric M. Jackson [ISBN 0974670103] : A description of the founding and growth of PayPal, the online payment center, by one of its insiders.
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley [ISBN 0760732663] : A book on tape. I like the classic horror books (Dracula is one of my favorite books of all time), but this one has been slow going. A little wordy, with emotions over the top. Might be better as a real book, where I can skim some of the excessive language. But we'll see.
• Drive by James Sallis [ISBN 1590581814] : The cover blurb calls Sallis "one of the nation's most respected and honored writers", but to be honest I've never heard of him! I forget where I came across the recommendation for this book, a short noir about a guy ("Driver") who is a stunt driver by day and an armed robber by night. Looks pretty good, and I might have to try a few others by this author.
• Gardens of the moon by Steven Erikson [ISBN 0765310015] : I came across author and game designer Mike Stackpool's home page, and checked out his reading list (he's find it as hard as I am keeping his pages up to date:-). It's always fun to see what others are reading. It's a very long and comprehensive list, and includes one by the aforementioned Sallis, but the one that caught my eye was this one. We seem to have similar taste in books, at least where my previous reading had intersected his (his has more sci-fi than mine), and he couldn't say enough great things about this series. And it sounded enough like A Story of Fire and Ice by Martin that I thought I'd give it a whirl. Looks to have great promise, and I may have to get it in paperback. Actually, I just noticed that BookCloseouts.com has the hard cover for only US$5.99!
• Blink : the power of thinking without thinking by Malcolm Gladwell [ISBN 0316172324] : A book about intuitive thinking, by the author of The Tipping Point, which also sounds interesting.

As for Christmas gifts, I got a few books. I received several very interesting cocktail books, which I will write about as I use the recipes. Otherwise, it was the usual assortment of sports, parenting and movie books:

• Watching Baseball : Red Sox World Series Edition by Jerry Remy [ISBN 0762737492] - I had taken this book out from the library a few months ago, and decided it would be a good one to own, so I returned it. And voila, it showed up under the Christmas tree - and the "World Series Edition" to boot! Local icon Jerry Remy talks about the game behind the game and things to look for while watching a game. Lots of interesting vignettes.
• Leonard Maltin's 2006 Movie Guide : an annual gift that keeps on giving. While I disagree with some reviews (both Memento and Run Lola Run get the shaft), it is a very handy guide to have around. Now I just have to add his Classic Movie Guide, as he moved some of the older listings over to this book, which is updated less frequently.
• The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn [ISBN 1585422657] : Looks kind of interesting, as he weaves fact and fiction in the story of Santa Claus.
• Fun With The Family : Massachusetts by Marcia Glassman-Jaffe [ISBN 0762734922] : This is the 5th edition of a travel guide to Massachusetts, with a special emphasis on "hundreds of ideas for day trips with the kids". Oddly enough, I gave my wife a very similar book. We love to do stuff with the kids, and I hope to get out and see some things we haven't seen yet.
• The Little Red (Sox) Book - "Curse Reversed" Edition by Bill "Spaceman" Lee [ISBN 1572435275] : Very funny revisionist history, written as if the Red Sox were the continual champions instead of the Yankees.

Phew! Plenty to keep me busy over the next few lifetimes, wouldn't you say?

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Best off.... books

A couple of lists from the Boston Phoenix, the local alternative weekly newspaper:

Books | It’s all true - favorite non-fiction books

Books | Speeding through life - best in fiction

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Book List revisited

So let's see how I've been doing on my reading list, which I last talked about here:

• Spring Forward and Freedom Of Expression® : I have to admit, I didn't quite finish either of these. I did get about 7/8^th's the way through the former and about 3/4 through the latter. For both of them, I felt I got the point - sort of a one-trick pony who's trick gets tiring after awhile. They both had some fascinating moments (at one point you could drive for 45 minutes in the Atlantic states and cross 7 times zones!), and I'm glad I read them, but I had had enough and it was time to return them.
• Speaking of returning, I had to return both Curse of the Narrows and The Republican War On Science before reading much of either, due to their popularity at the library. Both looked excellent and I've printed out their library page in the hopes of returning to them some day (ha!)
• I also had to return In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse - I just couldn't get 'round to tackling its 600+ pages. But again, I hope to soon.
• I'm still listening to The Journey of Crazy Horse, despite the fact it is overdue. It's been a good listen, and I like the change of view from the normal Euro-centric history.
• I haven't had time for any of my non-library books (The Ancestor's Tale or Seabiscuit), but they remain nearby.

I have added five(!) more library books to my pile, though:

• Film writing and selected journalism [ISBN 1931082820] and Let us now praise famous men ; A death in the family, & shorter fiction both by James Agee [ISBN 1931082812] : after reading a fascinating review on BostonPhoenix.com, I went and ordered these books at the library. Part of the Library of America series (you know, the fancy books with the black covers), these are the collected works James Agee, a fascinating writer of American fiction, screenplays and film criticisms. I've flipped through them, and read his offhand review of Casablanca, and I hope to be able to read some more. It doesn't seem like he likes too many movies!
• Old man's war by John Scalzi [ISBN 9780765309402] : I've been reading Scalzi's blog Whatever since I came across his list of "50 most influential Sci-Fi movies of all time" in his book The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies (I posted about it here). Now, I'm not much of a sci-fi fan, but I like easy, space-opera-ish kinds, and his books sounded like they might fit the bill, so I ordered the first one, as the second one has just been published. It looks pretty easy going, and I'm looking forward to tackling it.
• Unfinished business : on and off the court with the 1990-91 Boston Celtics by Jack McCallum [ISBN 0671733745] - I'm even less of a basketball fan than I am a sci-fi fan, but Bill Simmons, the ESPN Page 2 Sports Guy, was talking about great sports books and this one topped his list, so I figured I'd give it a go. After all, this was about the only Celtic team I cared one whit about (you know, the LarryKevinRobert team), and their last gasp during the 90-91 season. And so far, it is worth all Simmons' accolades - what a brilliantly funny, in depth, perceptive and opinionated book it is! I'm nearly finished with it, and I've been having a blast! Highly recommended, even if you'll need to get it from the library.
• Now I can die in peace : how ESPN's Sports Guy found salvation, with a little help from Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank and the 2004 Red Sox by Bill Simmons [ISBN 1933060050] - speaking of Bill Simmons, his book finally made it to the top of my "request" queue, and I picked it up at the library the other day. I should probably get right to reading it, as it has 21 holds out on it, so I won't be able to renew it. This is a collection of vignettes on the 2004 Red Sox, that magical season none of us diehards will ever forget. I've only flipped through the first few pages, and so far so good!

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Reading List

I've got quite a stack of books to read! When I see something interesting on the 'net, I put in an "order" from the local library. Here's a list of recently, currently and see to be read books:

Recently Finished
• Reversing The Curse : inside the 2004 Boston Red Sox by Dan Shaughnessy [ISBN 0618517480] : This book sucked the joy out of a grandiose happening. While the beginning of it got some of the feelings right, CHB (Curly Headed Boyfriend, as my buddies on the BoSox mailing list are fond of calling him, using "Jurassic" Carl Everett's term of derision) spent far too much time on the peccadilloes of the various players, like Nomar's sulkiness, Pedro's prima-donna act, and Curt's self-aggrandizements. It was a struggle getting through it, and nothing should tarnish the unmitigated joy of the entire 2004 season like this book does.
• Captiva by Randy Wayne White [ISBN 0399141405] : I often go in and browse the new books at the library. I'll scan through the new mystery books and see if there are any interesting looking series that I haven't read before. I saw the latest one by this author and so I wandered down back and grabbed Captiva. It isn't the first in the "Doc Ford" series, but oddly enough it seems to be the first one written from the first person perspective (mainly, anyway). The first two I saw were third person, and for my mysteries, I much prefer a first person narrative. Despite the blurb on the front of the book ("The best new writer since Hiassen!"), I didn't see the connection. It was okay, but a tad pedestrian. Enough so that I probably won't seek out any of the others.
• Mind Game / by the writers of Baseball prospectus, Steven Goldman, editor [ISBN 0761140182] : Now this is more like it! Subtitled "How the Boston Red Sox Got Smart, Won a World Series, and Created a New Blueprint for Winning", it chronicles the season in a very detailed, statistically-oriented way. Using a method very similar to the Bill James Baseball Abstract, each part of the season is examined from a Sabermetrical standpoint. Some fine, opinionated writing, if sometimes a bit dry. Still, a real eyeopener and I enjoyed every minute of it. Highly recommended if you are at all interested in the numbers behind the story.

Currently Reading
• Spring Forward : the annual madness of daylight saving by Michael Downing [ISBN 1593760531] : A look into the social roots of Daylight Saving (not with an 's'!) Time. Not too much mention of the pros and cons, just how it came about, and a general history of time, especially in the United States. Hard to believe just how fractured it was in the beginning of the 20th century, with cities, towns, states and regions all going their own way. It's a little heavy on the quotes and sometimes hard to follow for some reason, but still it tells a fascinating story.
• Freedom Of Expression® : overzealous copyright bozos and other enemies of creativity by Kembrew McLeod [ISBN 0385513259] : a very funny yet chilling account of the stifling effects on creativity by bean counters and other copyright police. A truly remarkable look into reuse, mostly of songs, but of other material too, and just how bizarre the whole thing is. One of the most fascinating aspects is that, by law, you have the right to record a cover version of a song, with the rates specified by an early 20th century law. But you cannot re-use even a snippet of a song without opening you up to a whole host of lawsuits. The most chilling story was of Verve's mega-hit Bittersweet Symphony. They used a five second sample from an old Rolling Stones B-side, that they actually negotiated the rights to. However, an old manager successfully sued them, even though you can hardly hear it, as it is buried underneath the many layers of the song. They lost 100% control over their song. To make matters worse, another old manager sued them for the song recording, while the first one got them for the songwriting! To rub salt into their wounds, when the song was nominated for a Grammy, because Verve had lost all rights to the song, it was credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards! Read the whole sad story here on Wikipedia. But the book is rife with infuriating examples just like this; for example, the descendants of Woody Guthrie, one of the most liberal borrowers and donators in all of folkdom, aggressively protecting any re-use of "his" songs. Don't read this if you want to keep your blood pressure down!

In The Queue
• Curse of the Narrows by Laura M. Mac Donald [ISBN 0802714587] : the story of the disaster in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Dec. 6, 1917, when an freighter loaded with ammunition blew up in Halifax Harbor. The resulting firestorm and tidal wave killed over 1500 people and obliterated much of downtown Halifax. It's a compelling story, made even more interesting to me because of a local angle - due to Boston's immediate response to the disaster, sending a train load of help and supplies through a raging blizzard, the good people of Halifax to this day donate a huge Christmas tree to the city of Boston.
• In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen [ISBN 0670836176] : Matthiessen is one of my favorite authors. His Killing Mister Watson trilogy is a fascinating look into early Florida history, and he writes some incredible travelogues. This book is a 600+ page behemoth on the '75 shootout at Wounded Knee between the FBI and the American Indian Movement. It was suppressed for over 8 years due to pending litigation, all of which were thrown out, costing over US$2 million dollars in legal fees. This examines the dubious motives of the FBI, as well as making a compelling case for Nelson Peltier's innocence. A little too "spiritual" at the start, from what I've read - sorry, but I don't have a spiritual bone in my body! But we'll see what happens once it gets past the American Indian background and gnaws at the bones of the case. Makes a good companion to the book on tape I'm listening to, The journey of Crazy Horse, written and read by Joseph M. Marshall, III. I tend to shy away from these things, as everyone knows it'll end in tears (very much like I'm skittish about Holocaust movies and books), but this has been a fun listen so far, as it details the life and times of Crazy Horse, the celebrated Lakota warrior and leader. The author is a Lakota Indian himself.
• The Republican War On Science by Chris Mooney [ISBN 0465046754] : I read his blog The Intersection (link found on the left), and here he documents the unprecedented misuse of facts and science by the current Republican administration. Another book to raise my blood pressure!

Non-library books to be read
• The Ancestor's Tale : a pilgrimage to the dawn of evolution by Richard Dawkins [ISBN 0618005838] : One of the best non-fiction books I've ever read, it uses an amazingly simple conceit - work backwards through history and use various "Rendezvous" where our lineage meets another branch on the tree of life, and then use that meeting as a springboard to discuss something about evolution. I started to read it after taking it out from the library and realized I absolutely had to own this book. Now I've got to get started back on it. Simply a fascinating work on a variety of subjects, from evolution, to gene theory and biology. You have to read this book.
• Seabiscuit : an American legend by Laura Hillenbrand [ISBN 0449005615] : the celebrated book on the celebrated horse. I buy my mother-in-law a bunch of books every year for Christmas. She's a voracious reader and it's nice to try and get her some interesting books, as she is very willing to read most anything. So I've confiscated this one back from her now that she's done with it.
• A Feast For Crows by George R.R. Martin [ISBN 0553801503] : book four of the immensely popular fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. I'm not normally much of a fantasy fiction fan. I recently tried a couple after seeing a list of fantasy authors on Pharyngula, but none of them really grabbed me. But this series of George RR Martin's about the land of Westeros has grabbed me every since I picked up the first book when it first came out. Maybe it is the realistic setting, with a minimum of magic with plenty of medieval bloodshed. He's very willing to kill of any of his characters at the drop of a hat! I even reread the trilogy just to be ready for book four. I've had this book on pre-order for more than a year and it finally arrived the other day. But I hear it really is book 4a, as the book grew too big for a single printing. So I think I'll await A Dance With Dragons and let my sister, who is also a huge Song fan too, and is patiently awaiting the birth of their second child, read it first. As for medieval books, I can also highly recommend the Dorothy Dunnett series, The Lymond Chronicles. The six books were recently (well, within the last 10 years!) republished in a handsome set of trade paperbacks by Vintage. Really top notch writing, with intricate royal stories. Great stuff!

Phew! It is quite a pile of books, and I hope I can slog through most of them. I don't have nearly enough time to read, but I try to get up into bed well before 11pm, and settle in with a good book. I put the TV onto some sports contest, almost certainly a hockey one this time of year (let's all hear it for Center Ice!), and read my book. Or books. Or fall asleep.

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Boston Baseball Book

I'm proud to have contributed to the newly published book, '75: The Red Sox Team that Saved Baseball. It is a collection of short biographies on all the members of the fabled '75 Red Sox, who came up one game short in the best World Series ever played. It is so much easier to think about them, in the post-2004 glow, now isn't it?

Anyway, I wrote the Juan Beniquez biography, and it was a humbling experience. Of course, I waited until the last minute to get started, but I did a pretty good job getting the words down, I thought. I tried to get in touch with Mr. Beniquez, having gotten a number in Puerto Rico that I thought was his. But despite leaving many messages over a period of a couple of weeks, I never did get a chance to talk to him, which was unfortunate because I was unable to add any pre- or post-baseball experience to my bio.

But I did get an extensive writeup of his baseball career and sent it off for initial editing. It came back with some excellent suggestions, so I incorporated them and sent it off again. This time, though, it went to a fact checker. And boy, was I embarassed when I got the reply - talk about an ugly smackdown! I got even the simplest fact wrong, like screwing up his major league debut (I mentioned his first atbats, when in fact, he had appeared in the game before as a fielder - doh!). It was a sobering experience, but I'm looking forward to writing some more in the future!

It was a great project, edited magnificently by Bill Nowlin and Cecilia Tan, and coordinated perfectly by David Southwick, all proud SABR Boston chapter members, as are nearly all the authors. It is fascinating reading and I encourage you all to take a look, if you are in the slightest a Boston Red Sox, or even baseball, fan.

Rounderstore.com | Nowlin, Bill & Cecilia Tan - '75: The Red Sox Team that Saved Baseball

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