The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry

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The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry

It was a simple life for Charles Unwin. He rode his bicycle everyday to the Agency where he worked as a clerk. For the last 20 years, Unwin had been assigned to transcribe and file the case notes taken by Detective Travis Sivart, a man he’s never met. And, a man who is now missing...

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The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York by Matt

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The Sun and the Moon by Matthew Goodman

As newspapers are closing down in 2009, author Matthew Goodman takes a look at the tenuous birth of the newspaper industry almost two hundred years ago...

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by George by Wesley Stace

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by George by Wesley Stace

A tale of two Georges. George Fisher during WWII and George Fisher of the 1970’s. Two boys related by family but not by blood...

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Alex & Me by Irene M. Pepperberg

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Alex & Me by Irene M. Pepperberg

After trying (and failing) to write this review without bias towards Dr. Pepperberg and her work, I’ve decided to add this disclaimer at the beginning and stop trying to work against myself...

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Noir by Olivier Pauvert

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Noir by Olivier Pauvert

An un-named protagonist wakes to find a woman mutilated and hanging from a tree. Before he can figure out why she looks vaguely familiar, the police arrive and arrest him for murder...

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Peaches & Daddy by Michael M. Greenburg

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Peaches & Daddy by Michael M. Greenburg

"...Edward Browning was 51 when he met Frances 'Peaches' Heenan at a sorority dance. She was 15. They were married on her 16th birthday. The marriage lasted less than a year during which time she spent approximately $1,000 a day in New York department stores. I'd hardly call this a model marriage."---Ann Landers, January 6, 1970.

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Firmin by Sam Savage

It was a dark and stormy night...Boston, Scollay Square, 1960. Flo is alone and pregnant and being followed by drunken sailors. All she wants is a safe, dry place to rest. Escaping her pursuers, she ducks into a darkened used bookstore. Finding it free of people, she searches out a warm corner near the water heater, reaches for James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake and begins to shred it's pages as she builds a nest for her impending family.

Our narrator is Firmin. The thirteenth rat in this litter Flo has dropped. Being as Firmin is the runt and Flo has only twelve nipples to offer her young, our friend needs to use his wit to survive his own siblings. Nourishing himself on a steady diet of literature. First eating the pages. Soon reading the pages.

Sam Savage has created an interesting character in Firmin. Yes, he's a rat facing all of the pitfalls a rat encounters in it's short life. Scavanging for food while trying to avoid being seen by humans. But, as a result of his unexpected ability to read, this rat finds himself longing for some human qualities. Adventure, knowledge, romance...human contact.

Firmin has a generous, although, understated wit. He equates the taste of lettuce to Jane Austin. Firmin's narrative is often punctuated with book titles that fall into his mind as he describes various scenes.

This rat is also very dark. Savage's book is not a light read. This is 164 pages of character study touching on philosophy, humanity, mortality and the meaning of life through the eyes of a solitary creature longing for the world of social creatures.

As for we humans. Firmin is a bit of a cautionary tale concerning how, why and when we choose to read. With anything "addictive", when do we cross the threshold of entertainment or knowledge to escaping our everyday dull-drums. At what point should one pull there nose out of the pages of someone else's life (real or imagined) and remember to live ones own.

Street Gang by Michael Davis

"If Sesame Street is the most successful show on television, it is also the most analyzed, criticized, evaluated, debated, debunked, championed, viewed with alarm, pointed to with pride, interpreted, misinterpreted, and overinterpreted media event since William Randolph Hearst declared war on Spain:---Ron Powers, television critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, 1970 (one year into the life of "Sesame Street").

Conceived in 1965 by television producer Joan Cooney and experimental psychologist Lloyd Morrisett, and born in 1969, "Sesame Street" became an overnight success after four years of gestation.

In Street Gang, Michael Davis takes us through the entire history of "Sesame Street". From research into how children watch television and learn (short segments, "jingles", colors, animation) to the decision to have Sesame Street, itself, an inner city street, to funding, to hiring everybody both in front of and behind the cameras.

Davis includes small biographies on each of the players as they arrive on the scene. The reader gets to know "Gordon and Susan" (Matt Robinson/Roscoe Orman and Loretta Long), Jim Henson and Frank Oz, Joe Raposo and Jon Stone, and countless other professionals and entertainers who strove to make "Sesame Street" the most innovative children's program on television yet.

Street Gang also gives a bit of background on earlier children's programming..."The Howdy Doody Show", "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" and, possibly most importantly, "Captain Kangaroo".

Writers and producers (including Jon Stone) from "Captain Kangaroo" were involved in the development and production of "Sesame Street". The character of Mr. Hooper (portrayed by Will Lee) was created as homage to Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo). Although, reading through Street Gang, one would think it was actually Oscar the Grouch (brought to life by Caroll Spinney) who was meant to mirror Keeshan.

This is probably the most comprehensive book you will ever read about any television show. Yet, far from being a dry tome, author Michael Davis keeps Street Gang flowing (much like "Sesame Street", itself) with quick moving scenes, so the reader is never bogged down in the details that could easily become tiresome, such as the financial and political wranglings in creating and keeping this show on the air. Davis gives us just enough at just the right time to keep the story flowing.

If you have any doubt about whether you should read Street Gang, pick it up, read the prologue...and then enjoy the rest of the book.

Title: Street Gang
Author: Michael Davis
Publisher: Viking
ISBN: 978-0-670-019960

The James Boys by Richard Liebmann-Smith

Imagine the possibilities, if the intellectual Henry and William James of the east, were brothers to the villainous Frank and Jesse James of the west.

This is the premise of Richard Liebmann-Smith's farcical book The James Boys.

Working from the premise that the two youngest brothers of the east coast James family did not, in fact, die fighting in the civil war, but instead deserted, taking on the names Frank and Jesse and disappearing into the wild west, Liebmann-Smith weaves these two families together with the help of a free spirited young woman by the name of Elena Hite.

While on a return trip from a book tour, Henry James makes the acquaintance of Ms. Hite only to have their flirtations interrupted by the arrival of Jesse James, in the midst of robbing this very train. To Henry's surprise, he not only learns that his brothers are, indeed alive, but are notorious and about to take him on the ride of his life.

As an alternate history, The James Boys is a lot of fun. Liebmann-Smith takes these characters on a fascinating ride through 19th century America and into Paris at the height of it's artistic era. Introducing many historical figures, seamlessly, throughout the story.

Unfortunately, the seams not only show, but rip wide open when the author insists on noting actual biographical works, as he does throughout the book. This technique works fine in the introduction, before the story begins. And it works well again in the epilogue, once the story has ended. But, within the story itself, this practice only distracts the reader and sends one's mind into wondering, among the unfamiliar names, who is and isn't real.

This is Richard Liebmann-Smith's first novel and, even with this critique, I look forward to his writing another. I think he just tried to do more than was needed with this one. The idea, itself, is original and well written enough without the extra "gimmick" of noting his research.

Title: The James Boys

Author: Richard Liebmann-Smith

Publisher: Random House

ISBN: 978-0-345047078-2

The Economist Book of Obituaries by Keith Colquhoun and Ann Wroe

"A bad man in Africa"
"A brain as well as a body"
"A possible victim of alien abduction"
"A Beatle"

These are among the lives chronicled in The Economist Book of Obituaries.

Unlike most newspapers, where the job of obituary writer is given to rookies or "burnt out" reporters, Keith Colquhoun and Ann Wroe, of The Economist have turned this position into a job for artists, and, as a result, are highly respected journalists in their field.

As Ms Wroe explains in her introduction, obit writers in Great Britain began a bit of a rivalry in their reporting in the late 1980's with Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd of the Daily Telegraph and James Fergusson of the Independent.

No longer is the obituary a solemn rundown of how one died, who they were "survived by" and a stale report of careers and volunteerism.

The obits of The Economist are literary biographies. Rarely is the "cause of death" even mentioned in these pieces. The focus, instead, is on the over-all mark that each subject has left on the world. Be it, good or bad. But never, indifferent.

Colquhoun and Wroe have the daunting task of choosing only one subject each week to honor in the final pages of this publication. Though, they sometimes "cheat". Most creatively, in the combined obit of Robert Brooks ("Hooters") and Mickey Spillane told in the pulp narrative voice of a Mike Hammer mystery.

Another challenge to their creativity is selecting a mix of subjects. Among the 200 life stories in this book, you will find men and women from all over the globe. Politicians, artists, psychics, cooks, authors, entertainers, scientists and a parrot in addition to many, many people you've never heard of but whose lives will fascinate you.

These works are creative, honest, amusing and, yes, sometimes, opinionated.

Each entry is two pages (four columns) long, making this an excellent "bathroom reader".

However, if you should choose to read in bed, just be careful that you don't fall asleep with this book in your hands. At about 3 pounds, this is an incredibly heavy book. If it hits you in the head when your arms relax, you could be The Economists next subject...

Title: The Economist Book of Obituaries
Author: Keith Colquhoun and Ann Wroe
Publisher: Bloomberg Press
ISBN: 978-1-57660-326-0

Hubert's Freaks by Gregory Gibson

What becomes of a small-time dealer in rare books when he stumbles upon a possible photographic goldmine?

This is the scenario of Hubert's Freaks, by Gregory Gibson.

While soul-searching his way through life, Robert Langmuir has always found himself with a love for African-Americana. In his continuing struggle to keep his used bookstore afloat, he traveled the east coast in search of both books for his shop and collectibles for his soul. Fate was on his side when he stumbled upon an auction of an abandoned storage unit. Among the many unusual circus style artifacts that were being snapped up by dealers was a trunk full of photos, notes and diaries. Seeing these photos, it became obvious that this storage unit belonged to an African-American performer. Time for Robert to feed his soul. He was able to acquire about half of these paper goods.

After getting his stock home he started looking through the details of what he had just acquired. Among these items was a date book. This date book represents a turning point in the life of Langmuir. An entry reading, "Diane Arbus, 131 1/2 Charles St, WA-4-4608., morns 8-10 eves 6-8". Even more incredibly, the handwriting differed from other writing on the page. It appeared (especially in the writing of the name itself) to be written in the hand of Diane Arbus! What did this mean to the photographs? Could they, too, be from the same hand? It became Robert Langmuirs "calling" to find out.

What follows is years of legal wranglings, attempts to authenticate the photos and a goal of selling the works for a deserved price.

This is a book about Robert Langmuir, his professional, personal and spiritual trails.

This is not a book about "Hubert's Freaks". For me, there is precious little information pertaining to this small, African American run, dime museum. The author touches on the fact that he took part in an interview with a relative of the show's proprietors, Charlie and Virginia Lucas, however, after the initial haggling as to the parameters of the interview, there are no details as to what was said. Considering Gibson does recognize the importance of this lost part of Americana, I found this disappointing.

As for the Arbus photos, are they in this book? I couldn't say. Looking at the photos that are here, and judging by the descriptions in the book and my own passing familiarity with the work of Diane Arbus, I'm inclined to say, "no". I found this a bit disconcerting. As I also found the placement of the photos that do appear throughout this work. The pictures that are present show up on pages long before or after the mention of their subjects. For me, as much as I'm not a fan of pictures being bunched up together in the center of a book, it would have made referencing them much easier. As it is, looking at the pictures in their correct context requires long gaps in reading to find the photo, or, as I eventually did, giving up on looking at them in context at all.

Title: Hubert's Freaks
Author: Gregory Gibson
Publisher: Harcourt, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-15-101233-6

The Anatomists by Hal McDonald

Edward Montague and Jean-Claude Legard are medical students in London. The time is the early 1800's and medical cadavers are hard to come by...legally that is...

After hiring a young resurrectionist, the doctors in training learn that the robbed grave was host to the wrong body. They take it upon themselves to discover who this body belonged to and where the original grave owner has gotten to.

This is the premise of The Anatomists, from author Hal McDonald.

The Anatomists reads as a Sherlock Holmes type of mystery, with roommate Jean-Claude Legard playing Holmes against Edward Montague's Watson. While this works for the era of the story, it has the unfortunate effect of the reader being told what happened as opposed to discovering what happens.

The plot, itself, is quite intricate with many twists and turns along the way to its conclusion, some that are given away a bit to early and many that are surmised far to easily by the Legard character who often decides upon the "answer" with no lead-in to how he could possibly have come to that conclusion.

All that being said, The Anatomists is a fun story if the reader can take himself back in time a bit as a reader and imagine reading this book in the era the story takes place as opposed to 2008.

Title: The Anatomists
Author: Hal McDonald
Publisher: Harper
ISBN: 975-0-06-144375-6

The Urban Hermit by Sam MacDonald

For all the "lovable slackers" of the world...

Not living up to your potential? Credit cards maxed out? Behind on your bills? Living paycheck to paycheck? Motivated by beer? Aged 25 going on 17? Choosing jobs based on enjoyment as opposed to financial gain, or even, security?

This just may be the book for you!

In 2000, Yale graduate Sam MacDonald found himself tiring of certain aspects of this life-style and decided a drastic change was the only way past it. His motivating factor...the creditors. It was time to pay off the credit cards and change his life.

The plan was quite obvious: For one month he would simply spend less money. What could be easier? Hello to an extra job. Good-bye to beer. Good-bye to food. Sam was changing his life by changing his diet! For just $8 dollars a week he was able to fill his, soon to be, shrinking belly with lentils and canned tuna. That's it. Nothing more. But he weighs at least 300lbs and it's only for a month, so why not?

In The Urban Hermit, Sam MacDonald chronicles this extreme time of his life. Working as a journalist at a weekly newspaper, every penny that he "saves" through his new budgeting plan is sent to his creditors. Unfortunately, this leaves nothing put aside for life's little twists and turns:

A trip to Bosnia.

A trip to Montana to hang out with Hippies.

A dead car.

Everybody knows or has known a guy like Sam MacDonald. He's a young man with many personal failings and an optimistic outlook on life. He accepts who he is and is an easy-going, affable man. Sure, he has stresses in his life, but he's not going to let that get in the way of his weekends!

The Urban Hermit is a book that can be recommended to just about anybody. I can't imagine who wouldn't enjoy it. MacDonald portrays himself as such a likable and real character with his sheer honesty, the good, the bad and the "what were you thinking...".

This is a ridiculously funny book, seemingly, without setting out to be funny. The humor is just the natural result of living within ones means and still living in the real world. And, of course, the result of a personality like Sam MacDonald's.

Title: The Urban Hermit
Author: Sam MacDonald
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 978-0-312-37699-4

American Lightning by Howard Blum

The Players:

William "Billy" Burns: destined to be the first director of the FBI.

Clarence Darrow: destined to be known as, possibly, the greatest trial lawyer in American history.

D.W. Griffith: destined to direct the first true motion picture epic.

In American Lightning, author Howard Blum interweaves two years in the lives of these three men, brought together by an all but forgotten moment in history. The 1910, early morning bombing of the L.A. Times office building, that killed an estimated 21 men.

Mr. Blum is able to bring this story together in a way that reads almost as a fictional story. He uses his extensive research of newspaper articles and autobiographies of the men involved and those involved in their lives to access actual dialogue during what at the time was "The Crime of the Century".

But, lest you think Burns, Darrow and Griffith are the only players, there is a deeper story in these pages.

We know the What? When? Where? and How? of this crime. The unanswered questions are Who? and Why?

Who?: J.J. McNamara and his very loyal brother Jim McNamara, among others.

Why?: Socialists vs. Capitalists

Unions were at their height. Men working for and fighting against the business owners in order to feed their families and own a bit of the American dream. It seemed a time when the rich were getting richer and the middle class was loosing ground.

And this takes us to an even deeper story in American Lightning. The parallels of this particular time period and this specific crime to America today. Blum doesn't hit the reader over the head with this apparent show of "history repeating itself", but it's a hard theme to miss. He does go into complete detail in his final entry, "A Note On Sources". The author explains this far more eloquently than I could ever hope, so I'll not try.

All that said, this is also a very entertaining book.

Detective William Burns is a character, in the truest sense of the word. He is a man who has no compunction when it comes to the blurring of legal lines if it means the difference between getting or not getting his man, or his money, or his fame.

Attorney Clarence Darrow is an unusually depressed man, seemingly always on the side of the underdog and fighting to exhaustion even if he doesn't entirely agree with the circumstances.

Film-maker D.W. Griffith, having resentfully fallen into moving pictures, is a lecherous man, to but it kindly, who spared no time in making the absolute most of what he believed was a terrible situation.

In the end, American Lightning is a book well worth the read for the purpose of both entertainment and education.

Title: American Lightning
Author: Howard Blum
Publisher: Crown Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-307-34694-0

The Tsar's Dwarf by Peter H. Fogtdal

Sorine Bentsdatter is a Danish dwarf in the court of King Frederik IV. When the king is visited by Russia's tsar Peter Alexeyevich (Peter the Great), Sorine is pleased to be given to the tsar as a gift for his "collection".

But Sorine is a difficult character. She does not like dwarves. Sorine does not even consider dwarves to be human. Her self-loathing manifests itself in a caustic, sarcastic wit and a lack of fear from either physical danger or simply speaking her mind, which she does proudly with no self-editing. She is a character who believes when things are going well they will only get worse, and she makes it so. And when things are going badly she is relieved and contented. Even with all of this, she has an overwhelming affection for Peter Alexeyevich, whom she rarely sees. Much like a child for a neglectful parent.

Peter H. Fogtdal's, The Tsar's Dwarf was originally written and published in Danish and has now been translated into English by Tiina Nunnally. Although Mr. Fogtdal has written a dozen novels, this is the first of his books to be translated into English.

While, overall, an enjoyable tale, the reader is often taken out of the story when Sorine "speaks" of scenes happening out of her presence and refers to her "Dwarf vision". This had the unfortunate effect of taking a story that the reader could believe as a slice of life and making it a fantasy. Also, at times, there are words or turns of phrase ("...I can play you like a violin.") that cause pause as being too modern. Whether this is due to the novelist or the translator is not known. Although I found it a bit distracting I can't pretend to know better than Mr. Fogtdal and Ms. Nunnally as to whether or not these are accurate to the time period.

In the end, through The Tsar's Dwarf, Peter H. Fogtdal takes us on a rather incredible journey of a unique character's life beginning just before Sorine Bentsdatter's life with King Frederik IV, through her time with Peter Alexeyevich, where she not only spent time as one of his favorite dwarves, but was also kept in a cloister due to her lack of belief in God and some possible need for exorcism, and then on to a time spent in the tsar's Curiosity Cabinet to be studied by a scientist while on display to "The Good Folk". But her destiny doesn't end there...

Title: The Tsar's Dwarf
Author: Peter H. Fogtdal
Translator: Tiina Nunnally
Publisher: Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts
ISBN: 0-9790188-0-3

Customer Service by Benoit Duteurtre

Oh, the dreaded call to customer service! You begin with a simple question in mind and the highest hopes of a quick resolve. When the operator picks up you discover, not an operator but an automated system. You patiently listen to all of your options and hit the proper number on your phone. After waiting through some lovely looped music and a periodic voice interrupting to remind you of how important your call is you finally hear a new voice. This voice, too, is automated and offers you more options!

In his satirical novella Customer Service, Benoit Duteurte explores one mans journey through this modern day labyrinth.

When the narrator looses his phone he finds himself cut off from family and friends whose phone numbers are now lost to him. When he can't remember his computer password, he looses his ability to do his work. And when he can't remember his code to the lock on his apartment building, he find himself in danger of loosing his home. After finding no resolution in the phone maze he decides to head straight to the top, the owner of the signature that appears on all of his bills, the mysterious customer service agent Leslie Delmare.

Duteurte's writing throughout this novella, as translated by Bruce Benderson, is very straight forward. It's a bit like reading a newspaper column series. The reader easily relates to the aggravation of the hours of phone calls trying to get services or billing information corrected.

The final chapter, however, takes a bit of an odd turn. Putting one in the mind of having read a Twilight Zone episode.

The Enigma Woman by Kathleen A. Cairns

On Friday, June 22, 1934, at the age of 39, Nellie May Madison was convicted of “murder in the first degree” in the shooting death of her husband of less than one year, Eric Madison. On Tuesday, June 26, 1934 she was sentenced to hang at the gallows of San Quentin. That year of marriage, that crime of murder, the ensuing trial and her incarceration at the Women’s Institution at Tehachapi would come to define her life.

In reality Nellie Madison was a bit of a tomboy who grew up with a large family on a ranch in Montana. She was a crack shot with a rifle and had an independent spirit that gave her the courage to travel to the big city of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, as often happens with human beings, who she was on her own and who she was in a relationship were a bit at odds. Starting with her choice of partners. Eric Madison, by far, being her worst choice.

It took another independent spirit, Herald and Express reporter Agness Underwood to bring the public the true story behind Nellie’s crime. Hers was a story that would stir friends, strangers, activists and even every member of the jury that sentenced her to death, to implore not one but three California governors to not only spare her life, but reduce her time in prison.

With a reporter’s style, Kathleen A. Cairns takes us through Nellie Madison’s depression era trial and the Los Angeles media coverage which dubbed her “The Enigma Woman” due to her apparent lack of emotion in the courtroom and throughout her appearances in front of the news cameras.

This is a clearly well researched, straight-forward account of The People of California v. Nellie May Madison and Ms. Madison’s consequent time in prison. Unfortunately, no doubt due to the passage of time, The Enigma Woman is sorely lacking in much personal detail of it’s subject beyond this short period. The book does, however, include a section of Bibliographic Essays that help in establishing more over all background for each chapter. I would suggest reading each of these essays both before and after their respective chapters.

Title: The Enigma Woman
Author: Kathleen A. Cairns
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 978-0-8032-1141-4

Funny Boys by Warren Adler

In the 1930's and '40's "Murder Inc." was running New York city and the "Borscht Belt" of the Catskills area where it's members spent their weekends in the summer seasons enjoying the accommodations of the resorts and the comedians who doubled as hotel entertainment directors there.

In Funny Boys, Warren Adler imagines one of those seasons in the life of known gangster Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" "Pep" Strauss as seen through the eyes of his fictional girlfriend, Miriam "Mutzie" Feder and tumler Mickey Fine.

Mickey has wanted nothing more in his young life than to make people laugh. When he accepts a tumler position with Gorlick's Greenhouse he discovers that a very important, regular guest of the hotel is "Pep" Strauss, a man who years earlier had beaten his father for a being late in repaying a debt.

Mutzie wanted nothing more from life than to look like Jean Harlow and live in a movie. So, after ending things with the boy she was supposed to marry, she bleached her hair, bought new clothes and began her new life. She had her first dream realized and with the help of her brother, who introduced her to the dapper gentleman who hung out at the corner candy store, she was about to realize the second.

Warren Adler shows us a side of organized crime that is usually only depicted as a side story, the Jewish gangsters who worked side by side with the Italians whose names we all know so well.

This book does not glamorize the gangster life. It's the story of how easily someone can be taken in by veneers and what lies beneath. It's the story of a young man who finds shame in people of his own background who live lives of destruction with no regard for any other lives. Not even the lives of their "friends".

Mostly, this book is fun escapism. With the speech patterns of thugs and wannabe thugs, and jokes from a rather inexperienced hero at inappropriate moments, Funny Boys actually reads a bit like a 1930's gangster movie.

Title: Funny Boys

Author: Warren Adler

Publisher: The Overlook Press

ISBN: 978-1-59020-034-6

Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him and the Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock

"Dr Brinkley is the foremost money-making surgeon in the world, because he had sense enough to know the weaknesses of human nature and gall enough to make a million dollars a year out of it." This quote is a summation from the last attorney to try Dr. J.R. Brinkley in a court of law.

In Charlatan, Pope Brock takes us through the, frankly, amazing career of Dr. Brinkley who had a successful 20 year career spanning the 1920's and 1930's which started with the transplantation of goat testicles into humans. He started, of course, with men but then discovered that women, too, would pay handsomely for the promise of "rejuvenation". All of this without a medical degree and after loosing medical licenses that he had purchased. How did he do it?

Infomercials!

That's right. In the early 1900's Brinkley built an AM radio station just inside of Mexico (call letters XERA), to avoid US broadcasting standards, and reached through much of the country hyping his cure-alls from morning to night. But, he was no fool. He also broadcast "hillbilly" music, giving The Carter Family, among others, national exposure.

He also eventually stopped performing surgeries. Was it the loss of lives, the threat of lawsuits, the constant pursuit of Morris Fishbein of the AMA that caused him to stop? No. It was the discovery that if he answered listeners letters through his program Medical Question Box. All the good doctor had to do was sit back, answer the letters on air and send everyone to their local pharmacists to buy drugs that had no names, only numbers. Of course, these were his own brews and mostly alcohol.

Never one to sit on his laurels, Brinkley also twice ran for governor of Kansas and added evangelism to his radio programming, with himself as orator.

Pope Brock has uncovered a fascinating story. And, although I sometimes found his writing style to be slightly confusing, he has told the story in a very compelling fashion with many characters and "cameos" of the days writers, politicians and musicians.

This is a nonfiction book with a story that reads like fiction. And it would be quite easy to sit back and scoff at the gullibility of the, mostly, small town folk of the time until you look at current events and the number of people who make a living selling books with bogus diets or randomly calling people and actually getting money from them with threats of law suits for debts they don't even owe. When was the last time someone knocked on your door claiming to be from the cable or power company?

To quote an "anonymous geezer" from the book, "I knowed he was bilking me, but...I liked him anyway."

Title: Charlatan

Author: Pope Brock

Publisher: Crown

ISBN: 9780307339881

The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes by the Editors of McSweeney's

With a wonderfully entertaining introduction by John Hodgman, The McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes is an interesting mix of hilarious and “huh?” collected from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

As with any compilation using a number of different authors, McSweeney’s… is hit or miss. The hits are hysterical.

In my opinion, the best, “Words and Expressions Commonly Misused by Insipid Brothers-In-Law” by Dennis DiClaudio. If you have any pet peeves you will completely relate to the growing intensity of this three page diatribe (I sure hope I'm using that word correctly). This is the one that made me laugh out loud.

Also, well worth a mention, “Yesterday’s Book Reports from Today’s Notables” by Wayne Gladstone. Here you’ll find Matthew McConaughey reporting on Alice in Wonderland, Ralph Nader on The Jungle, Matt Damon on A Separate Peace and Chris Hansen of Dateline‘s “To Catch a Predator” series, reporting on The Trial.

OK. A few more on the hit list. In no particular order:

“Shakespeare’s Interrogatories, or Why He Wanted to Kill All the Lawyers” by Mike Warner and Michael Pardo
“Unpublished Coda to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird” by Tim Carvell
“Postcards from James Joyce to His Brother Stan" by Martin Bihl
“Submission Guidelines for Our Refrigerator Door” by Christopher Monk
“Social Security Denies Gregor Samsa’s Disability Claim” by Alex St. Andrews

and, last, but by no means, least (although it is the last entry in the book)

“A Series of Letters to Homer from Thimines, Odysseus’s College Roommate” by William Hughes

Your humor may vary.

Because these are short entries, the really good news is that the bad don’t last too long. And, they make the good look that much better.

Title: The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes

Author: The Editors of McSweeney's

Publisher: Vintage Books

ISBN: 978-0-307-38733-2