~ Books ~
Current Read
Accidental Presidents (J. Cohen) Caught my attention as I walked through my local Barnes and Noble. This is a series of short bios of the eight vice presidents who ascended to the presidency when the incumbent died in office. Ford was not included. Pity. I wonder what conclusions the author will make at the end, if any. Not totally into it, but I'm up to Lyndon Johnson, the last one of this book.
Feb
Liar's Dictionary (E. Williams) A whimsical novel about the making of a dictionary of rather dubious ends. Interesting concept, but I couldn't get into it and put it aside.
You Knew the Price / Of Kindness and Kilowatts (S.K. Quinn) The second and third installments in a 4-book story, Nothing is Promised. Sci-fi of the not-too-distant future. Recommended by niece Linda, I got hooked, enjoyed the first three, only to find out the final won't come out for another several months. CURSE YOU SUSAN QUINN!
Jan
New Rules (B. Maher) A book version of the recurring segment of the comedian's HBO show "Real Time". I'm a fan of both Bill and the segment, so when I saw it at a used book store in Arcata (Tin Can Mailman) I got it. Sadly, the book came out in 2005, so it's not nearly as topical as it really needs to be. Also, most of the pieces are only a paragraph with a picture and lots of white space in between, so not much "'meat on the bones." Still, good fun.
Shin the Scholar - 2022
Last update: April 7, 2022
Books, DVDs and Other Scholarly Pursuits
~ DVDs & Other ~
Current DVD
Einstein's Legacy - Modern Physics All Around You (C. Orzel) Yet another attempt to understand something of physics. Sometimes it works, more often it doesn't.
Feb
Baseball (K. Burns) This is a 10-DVD set (each about 2 hours) of the PBS series on the history of baseball, done by Ken Burns. I found it while taking my daily walk through the neighborhood - someone had left it out to be taken by anyone interested. He gave a great account of minorities, women, scandals, unions, a great set even though in my opinion he messed up the 1968 World Series (won by my beloved Tigers!)
~ Mo' Books ~