Tag Archives: From the Books

From the Books: “Measure Twice, Cut Once”

I saw a news item the other day that carpenter Norm Abram is retiring from his decades-long job on the teevee show This Old House, which he has been on for over 40 years. I haven’t watched a lot of This Old … Continue reading

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From the Books: Mike Royko

A repost, because somehow the subject of Mike Royko came up on Twitter. For many years he was my father’s favorite columnist. I remember him handing me the Opinion section more than a few times, saying, “Royko’s got a good … Continue reading

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January Reading (From the Books)

I’m going to try, in 2022, to write a monthly recap of the books (and other things) I read each month. I had a good reading month and am well on my way to meeting my annual goal of 52 … Continue reading

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From the Books: “This Will All Be Over Soon” by Cecily Strong

Cecily Strong is one of my favorite performers on what is a very strong present cast on Saturday Night Live. In fact, this particular season she is getting featured a lot more than usual, possibly because Kate McKinnon has been on … Continue reading

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From the Books: Why We Swim

Sometimes people cite the lack of browsing as a reason why it sucks that the independent bookstore has fallen on hard times in these, the Days of Amazon and other online retailers. And that’s true: one of the great joys … Continue reading

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From the Books: SO MANY WAYS TO LOSE

It’s been my experience that any baseball fan will hate at least one of New York City’s two teams, either the Yankees or the Mets. I’ve never really hated either, which makes me an outlier, I suppose. I just like … Continue reading

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Happy birthday to the Bagginses of Bag End

 Mr. Tolkien was good enough to assign the birthday of two of my favorite fictional characters to the day when Autumn, my favorite season, generally starts. There’s poetry there, I think. Happy birthday, Bilbo and Frodo!

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From the Books: “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”

 Richard Feynman was an American physicist who contributed greatly to the field of quantum mechanics, eventually winning a Nobel Prize for his work. He also worked on the atomic bomb project and wrote a number of books about his colorful … Continue reading

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Repost: From the Books: Douglas Hofstadter on the Rubik’s Cube

A repost, first published in 2014, on the occasion of the anniversary yesterday of inventor Erno Rubik’s birth on July 13, 1944. Thank you for all the puzzling fun and intrigue, Professor Rubik! And as noted below, I *still* need … Continue reading

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From the Books: SEASONS OF A FINGER LAKES WINERY (On Geography in fiction and elsewhere)

 I’m reading a book right now called Seasons of a Finger Lakes Winery, by John C. Hartsock. The book is just that: a year in the life of a single winery in New York’s Finger Lakes region, a place where … Continue reading

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