In the opening chapter of Parmy Olson’s gripping new book, We Are Anonymous, the CEO of the now-defunct HBGary Federal assumes the role of an unwitting character in a horror movie, haunted by inchoate dread, but unable to see how awful his demise will be. Due primarily to his own stupidity and overconfidence, a group [...]
My friend Gayle and I have tossed books back and forth for years, and I must admit that now that she’s retired, she’s getting way ahead of me, and further afield. Since she spent her career working with banksters, and I’m sort of a commie, we both reveled in the page-turning corruption potboilers that [...]
Under The Banner of Heaven: A Story of a Violent Faith Jon Krakauer, 2003 Having torn through Krakauer’s earlier books, Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, I had every expectation that this book would be an up-all-night page-turner, and I wasn’t disappointed. What I didn’t expect, though, was that it would end up being [...]
I’ve been traveling a lot lately, and thus reading more (political, natch) books than usual, but none seemed new and juicy enough to review. Fortunately, Karma chose to compensate me for the money I’d thus far wasted at Powell’s; I showed up at a Firebagger Meetup in Portland, and they had FREE BOOKS. I grabbed [...]
Posting was light over the last few days because I was working in Seattle, but the attendant train rides finally gave me time to read the latest from one of my favorite authors, Jonathan Franzen. While it may sound a tad cliche and as such not entirely believable, I discovered Franzen long before Oprah did, [...]
Ever since this song came out in 1996, it’s always found its way onto my winter playlist because, cockeyed optimist that I am, I always believe that “this year will be better than the last,” and with that and the right amount of alcohol, I find this somewhat mournful song cheery. Some background… In December [...]
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/encounter/stories/2010/3054099.htm
There was Jessica Savitch. The video above shows the last, drug-addled broadcast of a grasping, narcissistic and damaged young woman whose relentless pursuit of fame landed her, days thereafter, in a watery grave at 34…. Having been a key figure who heralded a new era of profit-driven infotainment in TV News, Savitch was the first [...]
I had heard good things about Liar’s Poker author Michael Lewis’ new book about the financial meltdown, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, but as usual I procrastinated a bit about buying it, figuring it would turn up used at Powell’s before too long. Well, when I walked into work on Thursday and found [...]
Watergate was undoubtedly the first time I paid attention to politics, mainly because it was suddenly so interesting for a change. Had it played out on the comics pages, or even Perry Mason, I wouldn’t have believed it. I was only a kid at the time, but I was utterly fascinated and delighted when our [...]