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I Am Ozzy

I Am Ozzy

February 8, 2010 | 1 Comments

Ozzy Osbourne marvels at his own success. When he was a child no one (but no one!) would have predicted that of all the kids in his class, of all the kids on his street, he is the one who …

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This Week’s Bestsellers

February 6, 2010 | 1 Comments
This Week’s Bestsellers

Last week I wrote that the bestseller list had stabilized with an average of three new books added each week. Sure enough, this week saw exactly that new many new titles. I am finding that I can read three of …

Review: Just Kids

February 4, 2010 | 6 Comments
Review: Just Kids

Patti Smith is the godmother of punk, punk long before it was cool to be so. Starting in the mid-seventies, she blended her beat poetry with three-chord rock and very quickly became the kind of artist that millions of others …

 

Review: Drive

February 3, 2010 | 1 Comments
Review: Drive

Looking back at the books that made their way onto the New York Times list of bestsellers in January, I was rather surprised to see that only one of them could rightly be termed a business book. Daniel Pink’s Drive, …

Review: Evidence of the Afterlife

February 1, 2010 | 8 Comments
Review: Evidence of the Afterlife

You knew I was going to enjoy reading this book. In Evidence of the Afterlife Jeffrey Long, M.D., looks at “The Science of Near-Death Experiences.” The book really just contains the results and analysis of the largest-ever scientific study of …

 

10MillionWords: January Round-Up

January 31, 2010 | 3 Comments
10MillionWords: January Round-Up

The first month of the 10MillionWords project has come to an end. There were fifteen books added to the New York Times list of bestsellers in January. So far I have reviewed ten of the fifteen, though I’ve actually read …

This Week’s Bestsellers

January 29, 2010 | 3 Comments
This Week’s Bestsellers

We seem to be settling into a nice routine here, where each week a few new books are finding their way onto the list of bestsellers. This week there are three new titles.
Starting at #7, Just Kids is the memoir …

 

Review: The Checklist Manifesto

January 29, 2010 | 4 Comments
Review: The Checklist Manifesto

I’ve heard Atul Gawande referred to as “The Malcolm Gladwell of Doctors.” I suppose others have noticed what it took me all of two chapters to realize about this book–that there are clear similarities in writing style, in form, even …

Review: All Things at Once

January 28, 2010 | 5 Comments
Review: All Things at Once

Let me begin with a confession. I’ve never (to my knowledge) seen or heard Mika Brzezinski on television. The cover of her book All Things at Once says that she is cohost of MSNBC’s popular Morning Joe show and I …

 

Review: Game Change

January 26, 2010 | 4 Comments
Review: Game Change

Game Change was in the news before it was even released. Several shocking revelations (or perhaps “shocking” revelations) reverberated around Washington. John Heilemann and Mark Halperin broke the news of Harry Reid’s use of the word “negro” in relation to …

This Week’s Bestsellers

January 23, 2010 | 5 Comments
This Week’s Bestsellers

I am falling behind a little bit. I got through only three of last week’s four bestsellers by the time the new list was released. And this week’s list contains two new bestsellers. That gives me three to get through …