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By Marc Velasquez, on April 19th, 2013  Author: Mary Roach
2013, Reader’s Digest
Filed Under: Nonfiction, Humor
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
3 |
| Entertainment..... |
4 |
| Depth..... |
6 |
Mary Roach recently released a book that has received rave reviews, has been called both hilarious and informative, and has even earned her a guest spot on The Daily Show.
Mary Roach also has a new book called My Planet, which is a collection of columns she wrote for Reader’s Digest. Despite the promise on the flap copy that Roach will bring to these “essays” the same, “uncanny wit and amazingly analytical eye,” that makes her other books so popular, My Planet, falls far short of being informative, or funny, or even interesting.
Roach’s other books—her well received and well read books—are in-depth and thoroughly researched. Roach’s writing is accessible and witty. Roach’s curiosity is a catalyst for those books, and her subjects are worth being curious about. …
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By Daniel Parr, on March 18th, 2013  Author: Simon Goddard
2013, Titan Books
Filed Under: Nonfiction, Other
Find it at Titan Books
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
6 |
| Entertainment..... |
5 |
| Depth..... |
9 |
Any Smiths fan will be thrilled at what Simon Goddard has accomplished here. Within this attractively-packaged 350-page tome – an update to the author’s original 2002 version – resides passionately researched exhaustive appendices about the bands catalogue, as well as comprehensive annotated histories of Smiths shows, radio and TV appearances. It’s all here, and the author is to be commended in the diligence of his research.
But is Songs fun to read for, at best, a casual Smiths fan? Well, as the rating above suggests, kind of? To explain: this isn’t so much a retrospective of a body of work as it is an effort from the author to explain how brilliant his favorite band is… over and over. When I wrote that the material was passionately researched, I mean Goddard is the most passionate person about the Smiths, except for maybe Seymour Stein (more on him below) and probably Morrissey. …
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By Sean Clark, on November 29th, 2012 Author: Caleb Scharf
2012, Scientific American
Filed Under: Nonfiction
Find it on Goodreads.
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
6 |
| Entertainment..... |
7 |
| Depth..... |
10 |
I really enjoyed reading this book. That said, having finished it about a week and a half ago, I’ve already forgotten most of what I read. That’s not an indictment of the book–Scharf does a great job in putting astrophysics into palatable bites for laymen–so much as it’s indicative of how difficult to really fathom so much of the subject matter is at its roots.
This is a book all about black holes, and how they work. I’d always thought of black holes as weird anomalies littered throughout space that suck things into some great unknown, perhaps other dimensions. While the latter part of that may be true, the black holes Scharf describes are far from anomalies. Black holes, it seems, are fundamental components of the universe: engines (hence the title) producing and consuming enormous amounts of energy that power a universe and possibly even multiverses of immeasurable complexity.
Ever wondered why so many galaxies, including ours, form giant spirals? Well, it’s because there are super massive black holes at the center, gobbling up infinite amounts of matter and cramming them into a near-infinitely small space. Woah.
The sheer scales of Scharf’s subject matter is astounding. He’ll show a picture of a blob, and explain it’s billions of galaxies, each larger than our own. He does a great job of breaking the information down into entertaining, easy enough to understand ideas. If you want the info to stick with you more than superficially, though, you should probably read the book a little slower than I did.
If you’re interested in space, watch shows like The Universe avidly, and enjoy the popular science Malcolm Gladwell-style of book, give this one a go. It’s fascinating.
Similar Reads: Remarkable Creatures (Carroll), Into the Silent Land (Broks), How We Decide (Lehrer)
By Eric Markowsky, on October 22nd, 2012  Author: Jonathan Lethem
2011, Doubleday
Filed Under: Literary, Nonfiction, Memoir, Short Stories, Sci-Fi
Find it on Goodreads.
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
7 |
| Entertainment..... |
7 |
| Depth..... |
8 |
In case you missed it last year, Jonathan Lethem’s essay collection, The Ecstasy of Influence, is out in paperback this month. It’s easy to recommend for any fan of Lethem’s work, offering a broad look at his development as a writer and some of his most cherished influences.
But it’s easy to recommend for a few different kinds of readers as well. There’s some interesting music writing in here about Bob Dylan and Rick James, essays about comic books and “Wall Art,” not to mention the Harper’s essay that lends its name to the collection, a surprising meditation on plagarism, copyright, reuse, and creativity. There’s also–and being a fan of Lethem’s fiction, I had not anticipated this–a set of pretty funny stories all featuring Drew Barrymore.
So there’re a lot of reasons you might decide to give this little collection a try, while not forgetting its self-referential structure and its circular conception of itself. Reading the whole thing straight through could be a worthwhile project for the dedicated enthusiast, but cherry picking the bits you find most intriguing is fine too, and probably equally in keeping with the book’s madcap sensibility.
At the very least, you should check out the Harper’s essay, available here or in the heart of this strange survey of the preoccupations of a writer named Jonathan Lethem.
Similar reads: The Disappointment Artist by Jonathan Lethem, Advertisements for Myself by Norman Mailer, and The Gift by Lewis Hyde.
By Sean Clark, on August 28th, 2012 
Editor: Steve White
2012, Titan
Filed Under: Nonfiction
Find it on Goodreads.
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
7 |
| Entertainment..... |
9 |
| Depth..... |
8 |
| Dinosaur Bonus... |
10 |
Look, there’s not much of a bush to beat around here. Let’s start with a simple question, are you in favor of coffee table books? No? Very well, carry on, friend; we’re done for today. If yes, a follow up question: dinosaurs are fucking awesome, true or false? A second follow-up: dinosaurs were real, true or false? If you answered false to either, hit the road you crazy creationist weirdo. (Perhaps this creepy Amish romance novel is more to your liking.)
Okay for all the sane people still here: boy, do I have the book for you. This has the distinction of being the last piece of mail I received at my former address, an apartment I was all too happy to be rid of. What a pleasant surprise to open the box and find this cover rawring up at me; what a fine send-off from the book review gods. I read it cover to cover twice in one sitting, nestled in a throne/fort I crafted out of packed-up boxes of books (seriously). It was an amazingly great way to unwind after a very long day.
This book compiles the paleoart of a number of different artists. It’s full of interviews with them talking about their craft, as well as explanations of the paintings and the creatures they bring to life. I don’t know what else there is to say. It’s pretty interesting stuff, how they take paleontological data and interpolate into into huge, life-like scenes of dinosaurs being awesome.
 CRUNCH! Tell me this doen’t make you squee like a little kid being offered a ride in the firetruck with the separate steering wheel for the back wheels. Pardon the image quality, my new apartment doesn’t have many lights yet. I’ve actually read a good number of dinosaur books in my day, and I’ve got to say, this is right up there with some of the best I’ve seen. The pictures are lush and colorful (there’s even a page that pulls out into a giant panorama scene) and the range of creatures covered is varied–and described to satisfying detail in the accompanying text. But that’s just icing on the Jurassic cake of badass dinosaur paintings.
The very first thing I did when I opened this book was flip through the pages quickly to see how many different pictures of stegosauruses there were. If you’re a manchild like me, or perhaps even a real child, and you already know which dinosaur you would look for, you should probably go out and pick up this book when it comes out next week.
I hope next time I move someone sends me a copy of a book full of drawings of giant robots fighting in space.
[A review was requested and a review copy provided.]
By Nico Vreeland, on July 27th, 2012  Author: Evan Wright
2012, Byliner Originals
Filed under: Nonfiction
Find it at Byliner
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
5 |
| Entertainment..... |
8 |
| Depth..... |
5 |
How to Get Away with Murder in America is the mind-blowing story of a psychotic Miami mobster and his right-hand hitman, who get protection from their heinous crimes because of ties to the CIA.
The mobster—Albert San Pedro—rapes and later marries his own step-daughter. That’s the kind of monster he is. On the business side, he smuggles hundreds of kilos of coke into the U.S. each month, and simultaneously corrupts the Miami government so thoroughly that he sits next to Ronald Reagan during a gala dinner celebrating victory in the war on drugs. Yeah. Really.
The hitman, Ricky Prado, joins the Air Force special forces, and later becomes a fireman and then a CIA paramilitary officer. Before and even during Prado’s CIA career, he works for Albert as a “Transworld detective,” the on-the-books cover for his real job, killing people. …
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By Marc Velasquez, on July 3rd, 2012  Author: Bill Clegg
2012, Little, Brown and Co.
Filed Under: Memoir, Nonfiction
Find it at Goodreads
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
5 |
| Entertainment..... |
3 |
| Depth..... |
3 |
Ninety Days is Bill Clegg’s follow-up to his 2010 memoir Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man. While Clegg’s first memoir dealt with his headfirst fall from literary agent to crack addict, his newest purports to follow his slow, capricious path back to sobriety. Its title refers to the first major milestone in a recovering addict’s journey—the first ninety days of sobriety after which a healthy habitual routine stands a fighting chance against the cravings of addiction. As Clegg reports in the book, and as seems to be a standard credo among recovering addicts, the first ninety days of sobriety are the most difficult.
Clegg’s fight against his addiction is definitely arduous. And even though he eventually makes it to the ninety day mark, for most of the book that milestone is lofty and unattainable. He finds himself in a cycle of humility, temptation, and desire that lead to several relapses and oft expressed desires to end it all for good. Even so, I never really cared. As the books action ambles back and forth between attempted recovery and relapse, Clegg fails to evoke any empathy. Yes, I don’t have any idea what it takes to recover from a crack addiction, but when I pick up a memoir about recovery, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a little insight into how that recovery feels.
…
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By Marc Velasquez, on June 4th, 2012 [This collection of essays about music is a C4 Great Read]
 Author: Rick Moody
2012, Back Bay Books
Filed Under: Nonfiction
Find it on Goodreads
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
10 |
| Entertainment..... |
9 |
| Depth..... |
9 |
For an essay to be great, it must be balanced. The writer must be overly knowledgeable about his subject and yet also accessibly present said subject. I don’t want to read essays written by an author who knows less about his subject than I do, nor do I want to read essays by a writer who makes me feel like an ass for not knowing enough. I want to feel like I’m learning, not like I’m being preached to.
In his collection On Celestial Music, Rick Moody displays his deft ability to write essays. In all thirteen of the collection’s pieces, Moody finds the sweet spot, striking that balance between teaching and preaching. The book is presented as a collection about music, but the essays are really much broader, covering creativity, and life itself.
…
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By Sean Clark, on May 21st, 2012 Author: Jenny Lawson
2012, Putnam
Filed Under: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor
Find it on Goodreads
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
7 |
| Entertainment..... |
9 |
| Depth..... |
6 |
Jenny Lawson is an insane person. It’s a wonder her husband hasn’t drowned himself. Of course, when you’re talking about a memoir by someone who has zero historical impact on the world, insane is good, because insane is entertaining.
Here’s the plot of Lawson’s book: she grew up, went to college, got married, had a kid. She and her husband both work from home in Texas. And occasionally she’ll do weird things like buy a giant metal rooster welded together from oil drums. She’s got a thing for taxidermy (note the dead rat Hamlet on the cover). There aren’t any lessons to be learned from her, or deep insight to be gleaned. Luckily, she is very funny. Lines that seem to come out of left field are plentiful, like this:
I just bought a fifty-year-old Cuban alligator dressed as a pirate.
…
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By Sean Clark, on April 23rd, 2012 Author: Dirk Hayhurst
2012, C Hardcover
Filed Under: Memoir, Nonfiction
Find it on Goodreads.
| C4 Ratings...out of |
10 |
| Language..... |
6 |
| Entertainment..... |
8 |
| Depth..... |
7 |
Dirk Hayhurst’s previous outing, The Bullpen Gospels, was a success largely due to its ability to relate a deeper life story through the framework of a minor league baseball season. The book was not without its flaws; namely, it didn’t have much of a narrative arc. Still its effortless humor and sentimentality made for a charming memoir that was one of my favorites of last year.
Out of My League, a direct followup, addresses the shortcomings of its predecessor, but falls a little short of recapturing what worked so well before. It’s a very good book, just one that suffers from trying a little too hard.
…
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Author: Mary Roach
