There are a lot of great political cartoonists working in America today, but if I had to pick just one to follow, it would be Danziger. Meanwhile, the POTUS visited an independent bookstore during his Iowa trip: President Obama spent plenty of time in Iowa as a candidate. On Thursday, he had a little homecoming …
Books
Either a crackpot or the American Tolstoy
Catcher In the Rye didn’t make a huge impression on me when I read it in high-school, but I loved the Franny part of Franny and Zooey. James Wolcott has an excellent, short piece on why that’s his favorite part of Salinger’s work. The New York Times also has a terrific obit of Salinger, emphasizing …
Either a crackpot or the American TolstoyPost + Comments (79)
Surgery As A Metaphor for the Complexity of Modern Life
Has anybody here had the chance to read Atul Gawande’s latest book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right ? I am a big fan of Dr. Gawande’s writing — his New Yorker articles always tell me things I didn’t know, and his first two books (Better and Complications) deserve every accolade they’ve collected. …
Surgery As A Metaphor for the Complexity of Modern LifePost + Comments (58)
Open Thread: Terry Pratchett’s New Book
Pratchett released Unseen Academicals six weeks ago. If you’re a Pratchett fan, have you read it yet? And if so, what do you think of it? I liked it, more than I had feared, especially since all I know about Foot-The-Ball I learned from TBoggs and translations of the Japanese manga Whistle. It’s not one …
Open Thread: Terry Pratchett’s New BookPost + Comments (107)