Old books

The overwhelming majority of the books I read are new.  Many are freshly published clothbound or paperback books with new book smell.  Most are fewer than five years old.  But older books still warm my heart.  I love the look and feel and character of tomes older than me. I recently looked up something in [...]

Read Full Post »

This is Your Brain on Music (Daniel Levitin)

Musicians are constantly toying with us. They roll a melody up and down a musical rollercoaster. They take us on unexpected sidetracks. They bounce themes from one instrument to another like kids playing hackey sack. And sometimes they smuggle other tunes (themes or motifs) into their melodies to knock us off our guard. Somehow we [...]

Read Full Post »

Come On People (Bill Cosby)

The Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s went a long way toward assuring black equality under the law. So why does actual success elude many African Americans more than forty years later? Racism may still be a factor, but Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint argue that many of the problems holding back progress [...]

Read Full Post »

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Jeff Kinney)

QUICK TAKE: It’s not easy being a middle school kid. Just ask Gregory Heffley, the narrator in Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons. The boy who figures he’s “somewhere around 52nd and 53rd most popular” in school relates an entire year of fun and mishaps in his journal. Using simple [...]

Read Full Post »

High Rocks and Ice (Bob & Ira Spring)

A while back I expressed to you my wish — my ache — to be up hiking the high country trails at Mt Rainier. I shared a few mountain photography books with you at the time, but I’d be remiss to talk about such things in this region without mentioning Bob & Ira Spring, twin [...]

Read Full Post »

Walking to Canterbury (Jerry Ellis)

I love walking. A good walk has the power to revive your body and spirit whether it’s in the woods, a park, along a waterfront, or just in the neighborhood. I try to slip one in whenever possible — if I’m not out biking, of course. That’s my favorite exercise. Often, if my wife wants [...]

Read Full Post »

27 Men Out (Michael Coffey)

Spring training games started yesterday so it’s time to start dreaming of spring, sunshine, and fresh-mowed grass. While I’m not one of those devotees that flock to Arizona or Florida for spring training every February and March, I am enough of a fan to enjoy a good baseball story, book or movie when one shows [...]

Read Full Post »

Chronological Book List

I recently finished Jim Rasenberger’s book, America 1908, and started thinking about other books with years or dates in the titles. I’ve read at least ten over the years, and managed to come up with a few others that were reasonably popular. I slipped in five novels (Orwell and Clarke, of course) but left out [...]

Read Full Post »