Courtesy of the AFP British writer gets sales boost from Tiger Woods crash Thu Dec 10
LONDON (AFP) – Sales of a little-known British scientist's book have soared after it was pictured in Tiger Woods' crashed car, he said Thursday.
"Get a Grip on Physics" by Doctor John Gribbin was photographed in a footwell of the car after the US golf superstar smashed it into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his Florida home last month.
Within days of the pictures going round the world, the book's best-seller ranking on Internet retailer Amazon.com shot up from 396,224th position to 2,268th.
Unfortunately for Gribbin, an astronomy expert at the University of Sussex in southern England, the book was almost out of print, but the publicity has boosted sales of second-hand copies online too.
"I'm delighted by the publicity, but chagrined that it wasn't a book that is still in print," he told AFP. "There were only a couple of hundred copies left in stock, and they all went in a day or so.
"Now it sells second-hand for 75 dollars, but of course I get nothing from that. I don't even have any spare copies to put on eBay myself!," he added.
The fact that Woods had a book like his in his car was not a huge surprise, since he was roughly from the target audience of educated layman with an interest in science.
"I can only guess that Tiger was reading the book because like many people he has heard stories about the Large Hadron Collider and wanted to get some background," he said, referring to the world's biggest atom-smasher.
The book -- originally published as "Get a Grip on the New Physics" -- is "about the new physics of the second half of the 20th century -- quarks, string, and so on," he added.
It is unclear whether Woods -- whose life has been plunged into turmoil amid reports of multiple extra-marital affairs and signs he could lose lucrative sponsorship deals -- was actually planning to read it at the time of the crash.
If he had, "it's designed to dip in to, not to read from cover to cover," said Gribbin.
The Briton also noted that the book had since slipped back down the best-seller rankings, after available copies had been exhausted.
"The sales spurt was not as impressive as it seems, because Amazon compiles these lists hour by hour, so if you sell a dozen in an hour you shoot up the charts," he said.
By Thursday the book stood at 127,820 on the Amazon.com best-seller list, while several copies were available for bids on eBay, at least one of them described as "Get a Grip on Physics -- Tiger Woods".
If you are like me and you love economics then you will love this book. Even if you don’t find the laws of supply and demand fascinating and you don’t go to bed reading The Wealth of Nations every night, you will still be captivated by the latest book by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. It is very rare that an author can make the subject of economics so palatable to so many but they have done it.
Super Freakonomics applies the beautiful laws of economics (have I mention I’m an economics teacher?) to every day things in the world around us and come up with remarkable theories that will make you question some of your most closely held beliefs.
For Levitt and Dubner, it’s all in the data. None of their theories are based in political, moral, or social bias. It is with this data that they come to such conclusions as driving drunk is safer than walking drunk (at least for the drunk person). Chicago police are more likely to sleep with a prostitute than arrest one. Car seats for toddlers are unnecessary. Larger farms are more eco-friendly than smaller farms. And that is just scratching the surface.
By far the portion of their book that has caused the most controversy is their chapter on global warming. It’s actually referred to as “global cooling” which should give you an idea of the controversy. The do not make the claim that global warming doesn’t exist or is not a problem. What they claim is that there is very little we can do about it with the current approaches being taken. Some of the ideas proposed are creating artificial clouds over the Pacific and artificially cooling the Caribbean during hurricane season. In a sense the only way we can stop what we have done to Mother Nature is by continuing to tamper with her.
If you are interested in a fast, fun, and very educating book, I give my highest recommendation for Super Freakonomics.
Links to more information about Super Freakonomics:
One thing that struck with me when I read Band of Brothers (April 09 PHBC selection) was the story of the soldier who took home from Europe a family photo album of Hitler's. I was amazed that a piece of history this huge was just sitting on someone's bookshelf in Ohio. Well today I found this article via the associated press...
WWII veteran had Hitler's art book on bookshelf
DALLAS – After fighting his way across Europe during World War II, John Pistone was among the U.S. soldiers who entered Adolf Hitler's home nestled in the Bavarian Alps as the war came to a close.
Making his way through the Berghof, Hitler's home near Berchtesgaden, Germany, Pistone noticed a table with shelves underneath. Exhilarated by the certainty of victory over the Nazis, Pistone took an album filled with photographs of paintings as a souvenir.
"It was really a great feeling to be there and we knew, by that time, he was on his last leg," Pistone told The Associated Press.
Sixty-four years after Pistone brought the album home to Ohio, the 87-year-old has learned its full significance: It's part of a series compiled for Hitler featuring art he wanted for his "Fuhrermuseum," a planned museum in Linz, Austria, Hitler's hometown.
Pistone's album is expected to be formally returned to Germany in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department in January. Germany has 19 other albums discovered at the Berchtesgaden complex that are part of a 31-album collection of works either destined for or being considered for the Linz museum.
Pistone's 3-inch thick, 12-pound album's journey from obscurity began this fall when a friend became curious about the book sitting on Pistone's bookshelf.
The friend discovered after some Internet searching that the Dallas-based Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art was involved in 2007 in the restitution of two other albums that were part of a series documenting art stolen by the Nazis from Jewish families.
Its founder, Robert Edsel, who while living in Italy for a time after selling his oil and gas business became interested in what was done to protect art in World War II, traveled to Ohio this fall to examine Pistone's album. Seeing it convinced him that Pistone had one of the missing albums of the series on the planned museum.
Stamped on the album's spine is "Gemaldegalerie Linz" — Gemaldegalerie means picture gallery in German — and the Roman numerals for 13. It still has a sticker from the book's binder in Dresden.
Birgit Schwarz, a German art historian from Vienna who has written books about Hitler and art, including a book called "Hitler's Museum" describing the albums in the series, is convinced the album is authentic. She said she recognized paintings in the album along with the volume number and title.
"It's absolutely clear!" she wrote in an enthusiastic e-mail to the AP after reviewing scanned photographs of the album. "Hans Makart's 'Pest in Florenz' (Plague in Florence), for example, the first picture of album XIII, Hitler got as a gift from Mussolini!"
Souvenir hunting was routine by soldiers during the war, and problems arise when people try to sell rather than return culturally important items, said Thomas R. Kline, a Washington-based lawyer who specializes in art restitution and works for the foundation.
"It's really important that as people go through their attics and they find the things that grandpa brought home, people are aware that something as simple as a book of pictures could have a cultural significance," Kline said.
Ambassador J. Christian Kennedy, special envoy for Holocaust issues at the State Department, said the agency is happy to help return objects taken during the war. "This is all about doing the right thing," Kennedy said.
Edsel started his foundation in 2007 to honor and continue the work of the original Monuments Men, the roughly 345 men and women from 13 nations who helped Allied forces protect cultural treasures during World War II. After the war, they began trying to find the rightful owners of pieces of art looted by the Nazis, hundreds of thousands of which are still missing.
"It's my desire to see the works of the Monuments Men completed," said Edsel, who wrote two books detailing the group's work.
The discovery of albums could help. In Pistone's case, experts had the names of artwork featured in his album but the photographs could help match them to the correct piece of art, Edsel said.
"They are key documents from the crime scene," he said of the albums.
He said the art Hitler wanted for his museum was bought, stolen or confiscated. The 13th album contains works by some of Hitler's favorite German painters, including a photo of Adolf von Menzel's painting of Frederick the Great that hung in Hitler's office in Munich.
Edsel said his office gets about a call a day from someone curious about an item brought home after the war.
"We're looking for people with goodwill who don't know what they have," Edsel said.
Pistone, album in hand, returned home after surviving the battlefields in Europe. He finished college, got into the restaurant business and had five children. The album mostly stayed up on a shelf at his home in Beachwood, Ohio, but he'd occasionally take it down and let family members look through it.
Once he met Edsel and learned about the Monuments Men, he knew it should be returned to Germany. "I just wanted to get it in the right hands," he said.
Before the book makes the trip overseas, it and one of two other albums the foundation helped discover will go on display for about three months at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans following the State Department ceremony, Edsel said.
Edsel said that of the two albums from 2007, one has already been donated to the U.S. National Archives to join the other albums in that series used as evidence of Nazi looting in the Nuremberg trials. He said that the second will go to the National Archives in the next three years.
"When soldiers and their families realize what they have and come forward to return it, there's never an issue. It's a happy moment and there's celebrations of one kind of another," Kline said. "We owe a huge debt to this generation that saved the world from Naziism."
Vote for the 2009 Pleasant Hill Book Club Book of the Year! Though this is the 2nd year of the book club this is the first time this award will be given. Also be sure to vote for the 2009 Pleasant Hill Book Club Worst book of the Year. Winners of both polls will receive a special honorary position in PHBC history!
The December copy of the Pleasant Hill Community Focus has been been mailed out. Inside you'll find the review for The Communication Problem Solver by Nannette Rundle Carroll. Stay tuned for next month's issue with the review for Super Freakonomics!
If you happen to be outside of the mailing area for The Focus check it out online:
One of the first books read by the Pleasant Hill Book Club was Three Cups of Tea by David Oliver Relin and Greg Mortenson. Here is an interview of Greg Mortenson by goodreads.com.
Humanitarians such as Greg Mortenson wage wars of ideas. In the best-seller Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson described how he built a school in a remote village in Afghanistan. He then founded more than 130 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, hoping to supplant extremism with literacy and female equality. In the process, he survived a kidnapping by the Taliban, two fatwas, and 17 years spent traversing some of the world's most isolated territory. Mortenson's latest book, Stones into Schools, describes his recent progress in the Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan and how women are using education to better their communities. Fun fact: He studied more than 600 Goodreads reviews of Three Cups of Tea before he sat down to write Stones Into Schools. Mortenson spoke with Goodreads about working amid the Taliban and the transformative power of education.
Goodreads: You work in areas with very low female literacy rates. What is the "Girl Effect" and why is girls' education so crucial?
Greg Mortenson: Today there are 78 million female children who can't go to school (120 million children in total) because of slavery, poverty, religious extremism, gender discrimination, and human trafficking. When a girl gets an education to at least a fifth-grade level, three important things happen: Infant mortality drops significantly, population explosion is curbed, and the basic quality of health improves dramatically.
From my own perspective, the first thing that happens is that girls teach their mothers how to read and write. Boys tend to just learn for themselves. Girls immediately start teaching their mothers. It spreads like wildfire. When kids come home from the marketplace with vegetables or meat wrapped in newspaper, you'll see the mother very carefully unfold the newspaper and ask her daughter to read the news to her. That's very powerful because a woman can then understand what's going on in the outside world.
When women have an education—this is more political, and I'm specifically talking about Afghanistan and Pakistan—they are much less likely to encourage their sons to participate in violence or terrorism or to join the Taliban. After 9/11, the Taliban had a lot of desertion. Since then they have primarily targeted illiterate and impoverished societies because many educated women refuse to allow their sons to join the Taliban. [A mother's disapproval] is quite a strong deterrent.
There's a huge economic incentive. With female education and literacy, one of the first things that happen is that women start staking their rights for land ownership. They go to the district courts, and they file titles and deeds for land ownership. That's a key process if you want a civil society. That's happening in Afghanistan right now. There are more than a million widows. They know they have the right to own land, but when they're literate and have legal representation, they are much more likely to get involved.
GR: You've been dedicated to girls' education for 17 years—long enough to see a generation graduate. What kind of long-term effects are you seeing in these communities?
GM: When we first set up a school, the girls are very demure. Their heads are down. When we go back to that village a year or two later, all the women are excited, and they know what's going on around the world. We're focused on the very rural areas. We don't focus on the urban areas; our goal is to get schools started where there are no girls in school. The last place first.
Last year a young woman named Fozia Khan became the first woman—out of 4.2 million people—to pass her bar exam in northern Pakistan. She's now in the United States for two years, and she wants to get into land advocacy for women. She's become the role model for tens of thousands of young women. Next spring Shekila Aslam from Baltistan, northeast Pakistan, will become the first female physician out of 1.2 million people. She's planning to go back to her village and work there. We have had four women who have graduated from high school join the police force. One is now a captain. They help with domestic violence and abuse toward women.
GR: The Taliban has shut down only one of your schools, and it reopened under the protection of local guards just two days later. Given how often the Taliban tries to shut down schools, especially girls' schools, why do you think your schools have largely escaped its targeting?
GM: I grew up in Tanzania, Africa, for 14 years. My father started a hospital on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. One thing that my father insisted on that I've tried to follow is that he always put local people in charge, not Westerners or foreigners. For long-term sustainability and viability, you have to empower the local people and put them in charge. Sometimes it is frustrating, or it can take longer, but ultimately that's the real way to do it.
We're now able to go into pretty volatile areas, some of the Taliban areas. This year we put the first girls' high schools in four provinces of Afghanistan. There are many Taliban around, but we're able to [build schools] because we have relationships with the local people. They are able to talk to the Taliban, and so the Taliban are reluctant to attack our schools. Since 2007, the Taliban have bombed or destroyed 850 schools in Afghanistan and an additional 600 in Pakistan. We had one school attacked, but only for two days. I think [our schools remain open] because we insist that the community give free land for the school, as well as free wood, free resources, and free or subsidized manual labor—2,000 to 5,000 days of manual labor. We match that with teacher training and support, skilled labor like masons or carpenters, and materials. The community becomes invested.
GR: Three Cups of Tea was a runaway best-seller. Has the success of that book at home impacted your work overseas?
GM: We've had our best year ever, but I keep saying that every year since we started. Since Three Cups of Tea, the relationships that we've been so fastidiously and slowly nurturing are really coming together. Things are getting a lot easier. I call myself more of a cheerleader now.
GR: You have been both a critic of and an unofficial advisor to the U.S. military. How do you feel about the current military strategy on the ground in Pakistan and Afghanistan?
GM: In Three Cups of Tea, although I'm a military veteran, I was a little critical of the military. After 9/11 I went to the Pentagon a couple of times, and I called them all laptop warriors. I can say now that the military has gone through a huge learning curve in the last three to four years—even more than the State Department or our political leaders—and the military really gets it. It's about listening more, building relationships, and empowering the elders. Three Cups of Tea is now mandatory reading for all senior commanders and Special Forces deploying to Afghanistan. I tried to highlight some personal examples of the military's inspiring work in Stones Into Schools.
GR: You've received angry letters from Americans who object to educating Muslims overseas. Others question the right of Westerners to encroach on local cultures in developing countries. What is your response to these kinds of criticism?
GM: Some people say that I'm just trying to push Western ideas and morals and that I have my own agenda. But to be really honest, the reason I do this is because when I ask women in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan, "What do you want?" very consistently women say, "One, we don't want our babies to die. Two, we want security and peace. And, three, we want our children to go to school."
I'm not doing this for my own agenda or trying to pat myself on the back. If I wanted to make money, I definitely wouldn't be running around in this part of the world.
GR: You founded Pennies for Peace, an international service-learning program. A large part of your outreach focuses on educating American students about the lack of educational opportunities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. How are young people getting involved?
I visit about 200 schools a year in the U.S.: elementary schools and universities, private and public schools, urban and rural. I talk to kids and try to inspire them to go out and make a difference. My contention is that we should spend 99 pennies here in the U.S. for our education, and 99 people can work here in the U.S., and one penny or one person can go overseas. Let's keep to that formula, or even less—one out of 500 people.
I think there's been a phenomenon of community service happening around the country in the last 10 or 15 years. I read a U.S. News & World Report study that came out two years ago, which said that in 1970 about one-third of college graduates wanted to go out and make their community or the world a better place (and this was the time of bell-bottom jeans and peace guitars), and by 1990 it dropped to 18 percent (the "me" generation, everybody wanted to go out and make a buck). Today about 45 percent of college graduates really want to go out and do something, whether it's in their community or the international community. It's cool that kids are starting to look upon education as an honorable career.
GR: Can you describe a typical day spent writing?
GM: It takes a lot of organization. The first book I dictated and then wrote with my coauthor, David Oliver Relin. At the time, my wife said if I wrote a book it would be a pamphlet, so they wanted someone to bring it out more. This book was actually much more challenging because I wrote it in first person.
I compiled a list of about 600 of the Three Cups of Tea reviews and comments on Goodreads (criticism, complaints, suggestions, praise, et cetera), printed them out on paper, and went through them carefully. Some of the comments, such as "You didn't share enough about why you do what you do; you didn't talk about your family or your personal feelings; you describe these amazing women and girls, but you didn't talk about how they felt when they first went to school or what it meant to their mothers," were very insightful comments. I've incorporated some of the suggestions and criticism in my new book, Stones into Schools. It was a very helpful process. I really worked hard to bring out the women's personal feelings, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Some authors don't like to read any book reviews. I have a thick skin. I also appreciate even the critical reviews, because you can learn from them. My dad was big advocate of listening not only to the people who praise you but also to your critics.
I also had my wife's book club and a couple of other book clubs go through the manuscript of Stones into Schools. They gave some incredible feedback and really improved the stories quite a bit.
With the first book, I used to get up at 2:30 a.m. and work for five hours. I was under a lot of pressure. I did it because we had so many people interested in what we were doing. With this book, I got up at 4 a.m. and worked for three and a half hours. A lot of perspiration. But I actually enjoyed writing this second book.
GR: Do you have any books or authors who have inspired you?
GM: Nicholas Kristof just wrote Half the Sky. I've been in touch with him for many years. We talk a lot about women's issues. He's very inspiring to me, and it is really exciting to see that finally some of these causes related to women's rights are taking front and center.
I like Rory Stewart. He wrote The Places In Between, a travelogue about walking across Afghanistan. I pretty much only read nonfiction.
GR: What's next for you?
GM: I'm trying to wean myself off this work so that I can become a full-time advocate for girls' education. I've had 87 offers from Hollywood for a movie, but I've turned them all down. I'm very reluctant. I think a movie might jeopardize or put our girls at risk. If I do a movie, it's not going to be about money. I want to make sure the producer has a lot of sensitivity. Angelina Jolie read Three Cups of Tea, and she said she would help find a really good producer. She has a big heart.
I'm interested in starting a global women's scholarship fund. I think a lot of women graduate but then fall through the cracks because they don't have opportunities. They are the first wave of literate girls. I'd like to set up a Web site through which a person can individually sponsor a woman online.
I want to have more time with my family and be home. Some reviewers have said, "Well, you're doing a great thing, but you're a poor husband and bad dad because you got married and have responsibilities, and now you're off traipsing around the world." Obviously, that is the hardest thing for me. I'm gone from my family half the year. But on the other hand, I've met hundreds of people in the military. I think kids make the greatest sacrifice of all. My daughter, who is 13, actually takes great offense. She says, "Daddy, I can't believe they would say that about you." She has a black belt in tae kwon do, and she says, "Come to our doorstep and say he's a bad dad."
We did a young readers' version of Three Cups of Tea, which included writing from my daughter and was more geared toward girls. We're going to do a Stones into Schools version, but a little more geared toward boys, teaching little guys to respect women's issues. My son is eight, and he'll be writing about his experiences. My son and daughter come over [to Pakistan and Afghanistan] every year or every other year. You have to be careful, but it's been really wonderful. We get to spend 24-7 with each other for four to six weeks. Even a lot of American families don't get to do that.
Bulgaria and South Korea have joined the list of countries in which this blog has been viewed. This brings the total number of country hits to 25! Only 170 more to go before we become completely global!
Top 4 countries that we have readership:
1. United States (obviously) 2. Brazil 3. United Kingdom 4. Canada
We also have readers from 6 of the 7 continents. (If only I could figure a way to get someone in Antarctica to read our blog!)
In this wildly funny debut from former ad man Ferris, a group of copywriters and designers at a Chicago ad agency face layoffs at the end of the '90s boom. Indignation rises over the rightful owner of a particularly coveted chair ("We felt deceived"). Gonzo e-mailer Tom Mota quotes Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the midst of his tirades, desperately trying to retain a shred of integrity at a job that requires a ruthless attention to what will make people buy things. Jealousy toward the aloof and "inscrutable" middle manager Joe Pope spins out of control. Copywriter Chris Yop secretly returns to the office after he's laid off to prove his worth. Rumors that supervisor Lynn Mason has breast cancer inspire blood lust, remorse, compassion. Ferris has the downward-spiraling office down cold, and his use of the narrative "we" brilliantly conveys the collective fear, pettiness, idiocy and also humanity of high-level office drones as anxiety rises to a fever pitch. Only once does Ferris shift from the first person plural (for an extended fugue on Lynn's realization that she may be ill), and the perspective feels natural throughout. At once delightfully freakish and entirely credible, Ferris's cast makes a real impression.
Last week I was fortunate enough to visit the greatest, largest, and most beautiful library in the world...The Library of Congress in Washington DC. If you have ever been there you know that it is the greatest building in the city. I was also able to acquire an LOC Reader Card and was able to use the main reading room. Every true bibliophile should make this journey once in their life. It was amazing!
Local author Nannette Rundle Carroll’s debut book, The Communication Problem Solver, is a how-to for business managers who need help communicating effectively with their workers. However, what I learned early on in reading this book is that it is also a book for anyone who would like to communicate more effectively. Whether its with your co-workers, employer, or anyone else you may come into contact with as part of your job. For myself, as a teacher, I found that I could even apply most of these same strategies in my classroom or when I communicate with my students’ parents.
The book, which includes such chapters as Giving Feedback, Compelling Coaching Techniques, Communicating Your Expectations, and How to Break the Judging Habit, basically boils down to three simple rules. Be honest, be open, be positive. These themes seem to run throughout the many strategies the author describes.
Additionally, the thing that distinguishes this book from other business how-to’s of its kind is that it is very readable. The writing style of The Communication Problem Solver reads more like a Malcolm Gladwell book (The Tipping Point and Blink) rather than a the typical text book how-to for business. Carroll mixes real life situations with analogies to help the reader fully understand the concept being explained. Moreover, this book has short, to-the-point, easy navigable chapters and sub-chapters so that it can be used as a reference book for cases when you need a quick answer on how to approach a situation.
Nannette Rundle Carroll does a fantastic job in her debut book. This The Communication Problem Solver is an absolute must for anyone working in the field of business management, sales, education, or just anyone who would like to better communicate with the people they work with.
How long have you lived in the Bay Area? Which parts?
I’ve lived in the Bay Area all my adult life. I first moved from NY to San Francisco (Ashbury Heights then the Marina then across from Golden Gate Park). From San Francisco I moved to Sausalito to an artist studio overlooking the bay. Then I moved to Oakland to a neighborhood near Piedmont Avenue. Finally I moved to Contra Costa County and have lived in this home longer than I ever lived anywhere! We are so lucky with our beautiful scenery, climate, and people! When did you get your first book published?
November 2009. The Communication Problem Solver, Simple Tools and Techniques for Busy Managers (AMACOM Books)
What type of books do you write?
I write books that help people communicate and get along better at work so that they can concentrate on the work they are there to do. People generally pick jobs that interest them and develop their skills. When miscommunications and poor communications interfere, people can get upset and sidetracked. This is a communication book targeted to managers and helpful to anyone who wants to transform relationships. And the book discusses the concept of “managing up” which is proactively interacting with your boss instead of waiting for her or him to call you. So for that reason everyone needs this book to manage the relationship with his or her boss. This book ties together the concept of work relationships, step-by-step process skills, and collaborative conversations in delegating, feedback, and coaching. My next book will be an expanded communication book for everyone. I write books that give people specific how-to tools, pepper them with real life stories, and inspire them to do their best work and be the best they can be. Why do you write?
I love the process of “being lost” in words and ideas. I go to places I cannot anticipate. I’ve always been a conceptual thinker with a mission to help people communicate better. Writing pulls all that together for a worldwide audience. When I was six, I had a goal to meet everyone in the world. The book makes that dream rub elbows with reality.
I teach management and communication seminars to professionals who need to communicate 360º at work. Whether they manage people directly, or need to influence people who do not report to them, all people in the 21st century need to communicate well. Everyone needs to take the initiative to manage up and initiate a good relationship up with his or her boss and manage relationships sideways with coworkers. The response to my communication tips has been so overwhelming that it became apparent I could reach a larger audience through writing a book than on the speaking platform. My work is all about helping people be the best they can be and create happy work environments where people can be authentic and highly productive. In fact, many seminar participants have applied the communication principles at home and with friends and enjoyed stunning results.
How involved are you with the community?
I serve on the board of the California Writers Club and am a member of National Speakers Association. I’m also active in church activities.
What challenges have you faced as an author?
Peeling away the excuses of “no time” because I travel for business speaking engagements. Making writing a priority. Other challenges I face are outlining (I prefer to freeform it but that didn’t work for me) and project planning. There is so much to do in the whole process from pitching an idea to a New York editor to marketing the book. Project planning is needed to manage that. I’ve had a lot of corporate experience with planning so I know how to do it. It’s just carving out the planning time, disciplining myself to create a plan, and then following the plan and meeting my self-imposed schedules. Who were some your influences as a writer?
My first influences were my parents. My dad was a storyteller of the oral tradition. My mom recorded everything in notebooks, journals, letters to her family, and writing her trip experiences. They introduced us to our Irish culture of storytelling. Dad also took us to the library on Saturdays and I read voraciously. High school and college professors influenced me because in every subject, we were also graded on our writing ability, vocabulary, and grammar. As an adult, creative writing teachers such as Camille Minichino, Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff, Charlotte Cook, James Dalessandro, Robert McKee influenced me. Also members of various critique groups to which I have belonged. The California Writers Club (celebrating its centennial) has been an invaluable resource for making author friends and learning more from speakers. What types of books would you recommend for young readers?
A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. and his other books on what educated children need to know will lead to great conversations and choices of literature. Read poetry, mystery, plays, adventure, King Arthur and classical mythology, value-based books such as The Value of Believing in Yourself: The Story of Louis Pasteur by Spencer Johnson, M.D. (part of a series by Value Communications, Inc.) Try books by Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff, R.L. Stine, Tomie de Paola, and Shel Silberstein. Introduce them to children’s versions of Shakespeare, books published by Child’s Play, bible stories, fairy tales and Aesop’s Fables. Wonderful books are: Uncle Wiggily’s Picture Book by Howard R. Garis, The Raggedy Ann & Andy series by Johnny Gruelle, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Louis Sachar’s Wayside School books, The Boxcar Children--build on whatever interests them—biographies, science, the arts, history, technology, humor, etc. and build on it. Inspire them to a sense of awe that hooks them into reading.
What do you think is the best way to get young people excited to read?
Start newborns with picture books and read often every day. Have lots of books available. If your budget is tight, you can get them at thrift stores, charity and garage sales. Follow your toddler’s lead about what she or he likes. When they say, “Again!” always reread what they ask for. Then introduce books of similar topics or characters to expand the repertoire. Emphasize reading instead of TV or video games. Read together. Our family used to buy three copies of plays or books and read them out loud together—even on vacations. Go to the library for story time and browsing and hang out there and read. Be a reader yourself. Have bookshelves filled with books and let the little ones touch, play with, make piles with and eventually read the books. Ask them dictate their own stories so you can write them down for them. And draw exactly what they tell you to draw where on the page they tell you—be a good listener and don’t interject your own opinion. When they can write and draw, encourage them to record and illustrate their own stories. Take them to plays, act out your own family plays, and watch opera together on PBS. Watch PBS shows together like “The Importance of Being Ernest”—my 9 year old watched it repeatedly! Expose them to great literature and stories well told—you never know what the hook will be for them. Who are some of your favorite authors?
Shakespeare, John Irving, Richard Russo, Camille Minichino, Carl Hiaasen, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Agatha Christie, John Grisham, Annie Prouxl, Nuala O’Faolain, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Richard Carlson, Michael Soon Lee, and Daniel Pink. Other great authors are Tony Alessandra, Sam Horn, and Jim Cathcart. What are some of your favorite books?
Empire Falls by Richard Russo; Fr. Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul by Tony Hendra; A Widow for One Year by John Irving; Jesus, CEO by Laurie Beth Jones; Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy. I’m currently reading Twilight --Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith. Books about relationships, lighthouses, architecture, art, Ireland, trains, mystery, suspense, history, and conceptual ideas intrigue me. In reading your book and reading your response to the questions I was surprised to not see Malcolm Gladwell's name anywhere. Besides the obvious structural differences of the book, Communication Problem solver reads a lot like The Tipping Point or Blink. The way you write and the way you explain things I find to be very similar. Have you ever read any of his books? If so, what are your thoughts?
Wow--what a compliment to compare my book to those of Malcolm Gladwell's. No, I have not read any of his books. But now I'll have to check them out! Thanks for the comparison.
Do you have a website we can visit?
Yes.
http://nannetterundlecarroll.com Where can we find your book?
Barnes & Noble, Borders, Clayton Books, and other bookstores as well as online at numerous sites globally including Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com
For those readers who live in Pleasant Hill you may have noticed that the Safeway on Oak Grove and Putnam has a used book shelf at its exit. Its selling paperbacks for a dollar and hardcovers for two. I have walked past it several times without much thought and then finally decided to check it out yesterday. Besides the books having no recognizable titles or authors it was even hard to tell which genre they belonged to. It looks as though the manager of the store found a discarded box of unwanted books behind a Salvation Army and thought they might be able to make a quick buck from it.
If you want to buy quality books at those cheap prices check out the used books being sold at the PH Library. Same prices with a much better selection. I bought a Hobbit/LOTR trilogy set for $3! You'll be supporting our local library as well as getting a good deal.
In the third installment of the Robert Langdon series, Dan brown’s Ph. D. of symbology takes a break form his adventures overseas to conduct a more domestic adventure of the World’s greatest mysteries. Set in Washington D.C., Robert Langdon is tricked and later forced into helping a psychopathic murderer solve ancient puzzles hidden around the nation’s capital to crack the secret codes of the Free Masons.
Though the book is genuinely riveting and thought provoking, for much of its beginning you feel as though you are reading the script for the 2004 movie National Treasure starring Nicholas Cage. The book alludes to much of the same secrets and urban legends that the film brings up about the history of the Free Masons.
On the whole however I was very impressed with Dan Brown. You would think that an author like him could sit back and turn out mimicked fluff of his previous work just to cash in a large pay check and score a movie deal. On the contrary, Brown actually shows real growth as a writer.
He takes some very bold steps with his characters and adds layering that I have not read in any of his previous works.
Besides the characterization, the story in this novel is incredible. The twists and turns, unlike some of his past works, are unexpected and quite original. As you read you are constantly astounded at how wonderful a story Dan Brown has crafted... and then you get to roughly page 460. For as great as the first 460 pages are, the final 50 are equally disappointing. It feels as though he writes his ending to pacify the religious critics who were upset by the Da Vinci Code. And that would not necessarily be a bad thing if the ending actually made any sense. That what the characters were working so hard to find, and what people had worked so hard and sacrificed so much to hide was what it turned out to be is unfathomable. It would be like Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay climbing to the top of Mount Everest just to find a Starbucks and McDonalds waiting there for them.
This book raises the long debated question of whether the journey is better than the destination. If you are a fan of the journey you will absolutely love this book. If you are a fan of the destination then you should pass.
PS- Just as an aside, I always find it ironic how a book about symbolism and allegory has none.
The October meeting of the PHBC was last night and the book that we decided to read this month is "The Dumbest Generation" by Mark Bauerlein. To read more about this book please click on the Book of the Month Link at the top of the page.
Your humble blogger has gone black and white! Starting with the October issue of Pleasant Hill Community Focus you can now read my book reviews in print! In this month's issue I review local author John Keibel's book Behind the Barbed Wire. If you live outside of Pleasant Hill and didn't receive a copy in the mail you can read it online at http://www.pleasanthillcommunityfocus.com (page 9).
If you enjoyed this review, look out for the November issue in which I will be reviewing The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown as well as giving some book gift ideas for the holiday season.
If you are a local author, or know one, and would be interested in having me review one of your books for the paper please contact me at avkondon@pleasanthillbookclub.com.
The Pleasant Hill Book Club has moved their meeting to the second Wednesday of every month. So fear not, the October book of the month will be post the night of the 14th!
This Monday, September 28th, will be the last Monday in which the Pleasant Hill Library will be open. Starting October 1st the library will have its new schedule which includes it being closed both Sundays and Mondays.
If you would like to attend the PH library's final Monday for the foreseeable future (possibly ever) the hours are 11-6. I suggest wearing black and maybe leaving a wreath of flowers and perhaps a card by the front door.
I have been reading a few hardbacks recently and have wondered if everyone takes the jacket off when they read one or if its just me. For some reason it really bothers me. I feel like the book is slipping out of my hands when I try to read one while the jacket is still on. I also hate (but understand) that seemingly every book I get from the library is a hardback and the jacket is taped on.
That's all folks! The club members have come to the agreement that we will no longer be continuing our movies of the month due to a lack of interest from within the group. Hope no one mourns too long over this decision.
September's book of the month is "The Little Book" be Selden Edwards. "The Little Book" was published in 2008 and was apparently inspired by our last book of the month "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells.
To preview the book you can visit the limited preview on Google Books at this address: http://books.google.com/books?id=kJE4Qk0jDf4C&pg=PP1&dq=%22the+little+book%22#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Thanks to the September meeting of the PHBC being pushed back a week due to scheduling conflicts, I was able to pick up and finish one of the secondary book selections from August...Enemy Mine. I'm not going to lie and say it was the next War and Peace but for a fluff sci-fi novel it was pretty good. Written in 1985, the book, which is based on the movie with the same title which itself is based on a short story with the same title (author of the book and short story are the same), tells the tale of two soldiers from rival cultures who are forced to depend on each other for physical and mental survival on an alien planet and grow to be the best of friends. I believe that while there are clear allegories to the Cold War and the relationship of the US and Soviet Union the book is still compelling enough to be enjoyed from start to finish (which may be as short as taking off in SF and landing in NY).
One thing I must say though is that if you have had the misfortune to have seen the God-awful abomination of a movie that this book is based on please do not let that keep you from reading this book. The movie version of Enemy Mine, which plays as though you are watching a demented homeless man's alcohol fever induced nightmare, has very little in common with the book. The final thirty of minutes of the movie specifically (including the ending) are completely different from the book. There are a million other things I can say about why the movie is bad (including the fact that apparently when an alien speaks English it doesn't sound as though they are speaking with the accent they had when they were speaking their own language, but with an accent as though they just got off a plane from East Africa or maybe India) but I have yet to build a time machine that will allow me to finish list all of its problems and still have enough time to go back and celebrate my 115th birthday.
Again, I can not recommend this book enough. If you are a fan of science fiction and have a few hours to kill please pick up this book. You won't regret it...gavey?
Book Sale at the Pleasant Hill library today! Its from 10-3 and is happening in their back loading dock at 75 Santa Barbara Road. Even though it was raining this morning I'm sure it'll still be happening. See you there!
1. How long have you lived in the Bay Area? Which parts?
Since 1964, I lived first in Vallejo where I taught junior high music in the Unified School District. After I married in 1967, my husband and I made our home in Pleasant Hill. 2. When did you get your first book published?
Eliza, an Iowa Pioneer was first published in 1991, with reprints in 1992 and 2005.
3. What type of books do you write?
Eliza, and Iowa Pioneer portrays pre-Civil War stories starting in 1836 in Lower Saxony. (before Germany was unified) Eliza, 16 and brother Heinrich 14, were put on a ship to America. Eliza’s narrated stories describe their adventures from landing in New Orleans to her final settlement in Iowa in 1850. Magdalena’s Conflict is a mystery that occurs when the Mother Superior’s death appears natural to everyone except Sister Camille who along with a family detective friend find the murderer.
4. Why do you write?
Putting one’s thought and words on a page for anyone to read requires honesty and guts. I felt I had the discipline to write a book, after preparing for solo piano recitals often requiring a whole year’s practice.
5. How involved are you with the community?
I’m involved in Social Justice through Christ the King Church. We provide a pizza/salad supper once a month at the N. Concord Homeless Shelter. I meet with a student in a program called, Invest in Kids. I’m also historian and board member of the California Writer’s Club, and an usher at the San Francisco Symphony. 6. What challenges have you faced as an author?
Getting visibility. I expected my second book to be as successful as my first book.
7. Describe “print on demand” some of our readers.
“Print on Demand” POD allows the author, at their own expense, to become a published author with a professional book. It gives authors control of their work as well as a finished book to offer to agents and publishers.
8. What inspired you to write Eliza an Iowa Pioneer?
After reading stories that Eliza, my great grandmother, left, I felt consumed to study the period and enlarge on these tales and make them the back bone of this book. It is a fine line between fiction and nonfiction.
9. Who were some of the influences as a writer.
Clair Gustafson, an instructor of Creative Writing at Diablo Valley College and my critique group of writers.
10. What type of book would you recommend for young readers?
Eliza, an Iowa Pioneer has been used in schools in Iowa, California and also in an adult class in Germany. Young readers enjoy mystery and adventure in historical novels.
11. What is the best way to get young people excited to read?
Exposure to reading in the home. My parents subscribed to book clubs that brought books into our home not always suitable to youngsters, but I remember reading them anyway and declined librarians book lists for young readers as too babyish. 12. Who are your favorite authors?
I haven’t a favorite. I like to read mysteries, stories about families in other cultures, non-fiction books on current events and past historical. figures.
The interview two months in the making is finally here! I would like to thank Mayor Harris for his participation and for his help in giving some clarity to the many issues surrounding the Pleasant Hill Library's current financial woes. I would also like to thank City of Pleasant Hill Public Information Officer Martin Nelis for all his great work in making this interview happen. Without further ado...the interview... Since this is an interview for a book blog, lets start with some book questions.
1. Who are some of your favorite authors?
I am an avid reader and have many favorite authors. Among my favorite authors are: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Walter Isaacson, David McCullough, David Liss, Isabelle Allende, John Grisham, Brad Meltzer, and Mitch Albom
2. What are some of your favorite books?
Doris Kearns Goodwin: Team of rivals ; Wait till next year
Walter Isaacson: Einstein ; Benjamin Franklin
David McCullough: 1776 ;The path between the seas
David Liss: A conspiracy of paper
Isabelle Allende: Portrait in sepia ; The sum of our days
Mitch Albom: Tuesdays with Morrie
3. What was the last good book you read?
The book of lies by David Meltzer Moving on to the library budget issue...
4. Can you explain for our readers a little about the library money for green zone trade off that was proposed by the county?
As part of the County's Fiscal Year 2009/10 budget, the County reduced funding for the Contra Costa County Library system and recommended transferring most of the cost for facility management to the cities in which the libraries are located. If cities did not agree to fund the facility costs, library services would be severely curtailed at that location. In the case of Pleasant Hill, this cost amounted to $147,718 for the 2009/10 fiscal year. This presented a challenge to the City of Pleasant Hill because it is also struggling to maintain public services with limited financial resources. Because of its desire to maintain the maximum amount of library services as possible, however, the City of Pleasant Hill proposed a creative solution for an alternative funding source. In exchange for the County continuing to fund the facility management costs that otherwise would be the City's responsibility, the City proposed to fund a Waste Reduction Information & Outreach Program (also known as the "Green Zone") at the Library for the same dollar amount utilizing funds from the City's recycling fund. This solution was hailed by library staff as an innovative and effective way of keeping the library open while, at the same time, providing valuable education and information to citizens regarding the importance of recycling. 5. It seemed as though the City Council had mixed reasons for their decision to vote down the budget proposal. It was unclear to those of us in attendance if the reason was because the city had a lack of funds or if the city thought that the bill should be paid by the county. Which one is it? If the city had the money, would they have paid for the library or would they have pushed that this was a county problem?
The City Council did not vote down the library budget proposal. Rather, at its meeting on July 13, 2009, the City Council voted to approve the funding level as mentioned above to establish the "Green Zone" at the library. The Council also voted to provide additional funding of $25,733 to keep the library open for 7 hours on each Monday through the end of September. As a result of these actions, the Council was able to ensure that the library in Pleasant Hill would remain open for 6 days a week for a total of 35 hours. Otherwise, the library hours would have been cut back to 28 hours. Both of these options were recommended to the City Council in the staff report presented at that meeting and the Council did not vote on any other budget proposal in relation to the library. It is not possible to project what the City would have done if it had additional funds in its General Fund as that issue was not before the City Council.
6. If it is a county problem, what steps are we taking as a city to get more county funding for our library?
The County has made it very clear to the City Council that due to the current budget crisis facing the County, it is not possible for the County to provide additional funding to bring back library hours to the levels prior to July 1, 2009. These cuts in library hours are occurring at most libraries throughout Contra Costa County - this issue is not isolated to Pleasant Hill.
7. Continuing with it being a county issue, with the library literally across the street from the Walnut Creek city line, and roughly 25% of the library's circulation coming from Walnut Creek residents, has the city attempted to join with Walnut Creek to help with funding?
The numbers of Walnut Creek residents using the PH Library should decline once their new library opens in downtown Walnut Creek. Nonetheless, the City of Walnut Creek has recently implemented severe budget cuts and is having problems finding the money for operational and maintenance costs for its new library. It is highly unlikely that the City of Walnut Creek will contribute any funds towards the operation of the PH Library.
8. If it is a money issue, has the city considered proposing a bond measure to pay for the library like it did recently for the teen and senior centers?
The recent bond measure, known as Measure E, was placed on the ballot by the PH Recreation & Park District, which is a completely separate entity from the City of Pleasant Hill. The City has no plans currently for any bond measures.
9. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not ask this last question. In regards to the vote itself, at the time some community members in attendance remarked that it was in poor taste to have third grader Kevin Vasgerdsian call for the vote that limited the library's hours and staff. Looking back, would you have done anything differently in this regard?
By your question, I think you may have misinterpreted what actually happened. As indicated above, the City Council did not vote to limit the library hours, but rather voted to provide additional funding so library hours could be increased to 35 hours per week. (The City Council did not vote on staffing.)
Please allow me to provide a little background on the ceremonial "Mayor for the Day" program. This program was designed as a way to support local schools and raise additional funds during their annual auctions. We try to give the "Mayor for the Day" the opportunity to participate in the Council meeting in a meaningful way to make the experience as valuable as possible. One of the "ceremonial duties" is to call the roll for items on the council agenda.
As ceremonial "Mayor for the Day, " Kevin Vasgerdsian called for a vote to provide
$147,718 in City funding for the library so that the library could remain open for 35 hours a week. Additional funding of $25,733 allowed the library to remain open 42 hours a week during July, August and September of 2009. This vote helped guarantee continued operation of the library at the maximum number of hours fiscally possible and the provision of a new recycling program at a time when both the County and the City are struggling to provide essential public services to its citizens. I believe it was appropriate for the "Mayor for the Day" to call the roll on a vote that allows children and their families greater access to the library than they would have had otherwise.
10. Thank you very much for your responses. They were very helpful in clearing up some misconceptions. I guess on some issues it is a case of seeing glasses half empty versus half full. One last question though that remains is what does the future hold for the Pleasant Hill library? When, if ever, do you expect it to regain its former staffing and hours? Does it all relate to what happens with the economy? Is there the possibility of further cuts next year? What kind of creative solutions is the city and/or library coming up with to help the library?
Good question, but not one that is easy for the City to answer. Since the County funds and runs the Library, it's hard to know what their financial picture and plans will be in the future. We will certainly continue to work cooperatively with the Library staff and administration to try everything we can to keep the Library open at its current level. We are also working on other creative ideas like the "Green Zone." Unfortunately, it all does relate to the economy-which no one seems to be able to figure out. Thanks again for your continued interest in our Library. Take care.
Please leave your comments, I'd love to know what you think.
September 12th the Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library are having a book sale. The location of the sale will be at 75 Santa Barbara road right behind the library. This is a great way to support your local library!
I hate to admit, but I needed to take a bit of a breather from Frankenstein. I'll get back to it soon but my brain just needed a rest. For my mental relaxation I turned to one of my favorite guilty pleasures, Daniel X. The book is roughly 200 pages of adolescent superhero alien blood and guts.
The author of the Daniel X series is 62 year old James Patterson. Even more so than the first Daniel X book (The Dangerous Days of Daniel X), Watch the Skies is a painfully transparent attempt by a man in his 60's trying to write a relevant book for young teens. There are numerous references to 70's classic rock songs and an even greater amount of current pop culture references that are forced into the dialogue which are unnecessary and out of place.
I think that Patterson (who has co-authored both Daniel X books) was probably asked to write a series of books chronicling the life of a teen boy with super-natural powers and two dead parents (who also had special powers) to fill the hole left in the book market from the ending of the Harry Potter collection. I'm sure if I was a bigger Harry Potter fan I could a lot more similarities.
Given all of this however, I'm still going to be reading the next Daniel X book, Daemons and Druids, when it comes out late next year. Maybe I should check into rehab.
I am about 100 hard pages into Frankenstein and I began to wonder if great writing is enough to make a great book. What I mean is that if a story is bad but written very well is the book bad or good?
There can be no question that Mary Shelley's writing skills are outstanding, but the story itself is dull and boring. It is easy to see why all of the adaptations of the book never stuck to the original story. If they did, the Frankenstein monster, besides speaking like a Shakespearean actor and having a far greater vocabulary then I could ever hope to have, would only be in the film for about 5 minutes. The other hour and a half would be Dr. Frankenstein walking around lamenting his dreaded and cursed creation.
Anyway, back to the question. Is it more likely to have a good book with bad writing and a great story or a good book with great writing and a bad story? Or are they both equally terrible?
PS-I still have about 110 pages left of Frankenstein so my fingers are crossed that I get more monster and less doctor.
From a rare friendship, a book club for the homeless is born
By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff | July 5, 2009
At the crest of Beacon Hill in a well-appointed room, the Tuesday morning book club is tearing a novel apart.
The critique, on this warm early summer day, is merciless, and as it heats up, the meeting crackles with complaints. There should have been more clues to help the reader unravel the mystery, Donnie insists. Ned, between bites of a glazed doughnut, dismisses a main character as unbelievable. Rob is irked by the same character’s inconsistencies.
“For someone who knows everything about her son, she doesn’t know a damn thing,’’ Rob says, his voice dark with disappointment.
The men drinking coffee at the round wooden table are dressed casually in sweat shirts, jeans, and sneakers. Some of their faces are lined beyond their years. But as they deftly flip through paperbacks assessing literary merit, there is no sign their lives are anything but normal.
For two lively hours every Tuesday morning, in a church meeting room with old oil portraits, they are book club members first and homeless people second.
The story of the book club, now in its 10th month, is a tale of ordinary city life upended. It began with a stunningly unlikely friendship, between two men from different worlds: Peter Resnik, a high-powered lawyer on his way to work, and Rob, a homeless man guarding a friend’s shopping cart on Boston Common. Through months of daily conversations, that began with jokes and sports talk and gradually delved deeper, they found a common interest: literature. And when they saw the bridge that they had built, they recognized its potential for others.
In a short time, they say, the book club has proved its power to reach homeless people and build their confidence. Emboldened by its success, Ron Tibbetts, a Beacon Hill church deacon and longtime homeless outreach worker, has launched plans to replicate it. His new nonprofit group, the Oasis Coalition, aims to establish dozens of small social groups citywide, filling the gaps left by large, institutional programs that offer the homeless food and shelter but little or no personal connection.
“It’s five people in a book group, not 5,000 people fed, but it’s five people I can pull aside and talk to,’’ Tibbetts said.
When talk flows at the book club, the dynamic that emerges is pure and powerful. The members are equals, linked by what they read and respected for their insights. Their discussions, held at Swedenborgian Church on the Hill, are both a stimulus and a respite for people used to staying focused on survival - where to sleep and how to stay dry - rather than the themes and symbols of fiction.
Last Tuesday, they tackled O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi,’’ mulling the idea of objects as identity. Donnie, 47, said he understood the insecurities of Della, the character who cuts her hair and sells it to buy her beloved a watch chain.
“When I was a kid, I wore my hair long, and I took pride in it,’’ he told the group, leaning back into a plump settee. “One night, my mother came in drunk and cut it off, right down to the scalp, and after that I wasn’t the same person anymore. My confidence went out the window.’’
A former Marine who has been homeless off and on since he developed health problems that left him unable to work, Donnie said he likes the camaraderie, and the normalcy, of the book club.
“We’re real people,’’ he said. “You see us on the street and the sidewalk, and a lot of people think the homeless are dirty and drunk, but even those people, there’s a soul in there.’’
. . .
To Peter Resnik, the downtown lawyer on his way to work, the homeless people he saw on the Common did not become real all at once. He talked to Rob and Rob’s friend Chris for months - often, in the beginning, about basketball - before he saw them as friends, and worked up the courage to ask whether they wanted to get off the streets.
Given the distance between their two worlds, it seems extraordinary that they ever talked at all. “It struck me as amazing,’’ said Rob.
Resnik, 64, woke each morning in his home in the Back Bay, where he had moved with his wife and three children from Hingham. An English major at Yale, he moved to Boston for law school and joined the global firm McDermott, Will & Emery, where he rose to prominence trying high-profile product liability cases. He represented one of the makers of the Fen-Phen diet drug, and the foam manufacturer sued by victims of the Rhode Island nightclub fire.
Tall, trim, and quietly good-humored, Resnik almost always walked to his office, on the 34th floor of a gleaming State Street tower. Whenever he had time, he took the scenic, slightly longer route through the Common.
Rob, 50, rose each day from a sleeping bag rolled out on the stained sidewalk beside Tremont Street, where he slept in the doorway of an Army recruiting station. A Woburn native, he attended Catholic high school, joined the Army, and later worked in warehouses and as a courier. Six or seven years ago, feeling overworked and exhausted, he was fired from his job for taking too much sick time, he said. He fell behind on his rent and started living on the streets.
Compact and wiry, with cropped gray hair and a shy but agreeable nature, Rob headed to the Common early every morning after being roused by the Tremont Street businesses opening.
There, on a maple-shaded walkway near the playground, the homeless man stood each day and greeted passersby, who ignored him, insulted him, or gave him money. Resnik always said hello, and one spring day two years ago, he stopped to talk.
The lawyer says he wasn’t on a philanthropic mission. He struggles to explain what it was that drew his interest. But day after day, talking with Rob and Rob’s friend, what he found was not what he expected. The homeless men kept up-to-date on sports and current events. They looked after each other, and watched out for others on the streets.
And Rob, he discovered - Rob liked to read.
Resnik brought him a copy of “Water for Elephants,’’ a novel set during the Great Depression, about a veterinary student who joins a traveling circus. Then he brought him “The Kite Runner.’’ Standing on the Common, they talked about the books. And, there the idea for the book club was born.
Resnik buys the books, Rob makes the coffee, and Tibbetts leads the discussions and recruits readers, toting extra volumes in his backpack when he roams the streets. Because their lives are unstable, the roster of participants is always changing. The club has included people staying in shelters and with friends, and others given rooms through city or state programs. The number has ranged from four or five to a dozen. The members interviewed for this story asked that their last names not be used.
Since their first meeting in September, they have read “Water for Elephants,’’ “Angela’s Ashes’’ by Frank McCourt, and “A Monk Swimming’’ by McCourt’s brother Malachy. They read “The Glass Castle,’’ a memoir by Jeannette Walls, whose tale of her neglectful parents left them deeply troubled, and at Donnie’s request, they read essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson, an assignment almost everyone else found tough slogging. Some of their best discussions centered on “All Souls: A Family Story from Southie,’’ Michael Patrick MacDonald’s memoir of his childhood in South Boston.
At the start, Resnik offered to bring lunch each week.
The founding members of the book club turned him down, and settled on coffee and doughnuts instead. They had enough free meals, they said, they wanted something else - camaraderie and stimulating talk.
“You can’t solve the problem of homelessness, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help some people,’’ said Resnik. “You can do something, with minimal sacrifice, if you stay with it.’’
. . .
For people trying hard just to find a place to sleep, a book club may be nice, but it isn’t always easy. For starters, people on the streets can’t read after dark. In shelters, noise and chaos shatter concentration. When Donnie stayed at the Long Island Shelter in Boston, he read on a bench by the showers, the quietest spot he could find in the complex.
Just hanging on to a book is difficult when you have to carry everything you own. As much as reading meant to him, said Donnie, he had to prioritize the things he needed for survival.
“If it’s a book or socks,’’ he said, “I’m pitching the book.’’
The struggle pays off, book club members said, in the rush of accomplishment they carry from each meeting.
Last week, Tibbetts told the group about a prospective member with a problem: a homeless man who longs to devour books, but reads at a fourth-grade level.
“Get him here,’’ said Donnie, as Rob nodded agreement. “It’s a good start, being here.’’
For Rob, the unexpected friendship he forged on the Common has been transformative. When Resnik learned that an old traffic ticket had blocked his homeless friend from getting a room through the city, he drove him to a court in Palmer, where he represented him pro bono and resolved the case. Because of that kindness, Rob is off the streets. He has found a part-time job as a church custodian and volunteers his time serving meals to homeless people.
Resnik, meanwhile, is helping to raise money to replicate the book club.
“You can walk by somebody who you know is going to ask you for a buck, but if you know their name, you can’t walk by,’’ the lawyer said. “You can’t sleep comfortably if someone you know is sleeping outside.’’
Jenna Russell can be reached at jrussell@globe.com.
Thank you to all of those who raised their voice! The mayor has agreed to an interview, not a conversation but an actual interview! The details have yet to be worked out, but we should be able to get it done in the next week (hopefully).
I just got back from the book give away and the pickings are quite slim. I'd say there is about 10% of their young adult books and about 80% of their adult non-fiction left over. I went last year towards the end of week two and they had about five times as many books available. I think word is starting to spread (which I guess is a good thing!).
Despite the limited selection I still managed to find 56 books to add to my classroom library.
I highly recommend going soon if you haven't gone yet!
Here is the address of the library: 1750 Oak Park Blvd Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
The book give-away is going on behind the building in their loading dock area.
Before The Time Machine I have to admit that I was pretty intimidated by anything written pre-1900. Its true that I am a Government teacher and have to translate the US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Federalist Papers to urban high school students with 8th grade reading levels or lower (about 5% are at grade level). However reading a novel in this language is not exactly my idea of fun.
No longer!
After acclimating to the old language, I found The Time Machine to be a brilliant little novel. Besides being incredibly creepy at times, The Time Machine has some great chapters on class struggle as well as evolutionary and economic theory.
Since finishing The Time Machine I have a new interest in these early classics and have now begun to read Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Again it took about five or six pages to get the language down, but, just like The Time Machine, I am completely hooked! As I still wait for Enemy Mine to arrive in the mail (one of the drawbacks of paperbackswap.com) I know that I have a great novel to enjoy in the mean time. Maybe I'll read Bram Stoker's Dracula next!
Several people have contacted me about how to get in touch with the mayor to voice their own concerns about his lack of communication on the library budget cuts issue.
Here is the contact info:
To email him: http://www.ci.pleasant-hill.ca.us/forms.aspx?FID=74
To call: (925) 671-5267, faxing to (925) 671-5238
Thank you for your support on this issue!
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"--Martin Luther King, Jr.
