Spike It!

This I Believe edited by Jay Allison and Dan Griedman

A great book that came at just the right time, "This I Believe" was sent to me right before Christmas by Dan T, who works for author Jay Allison at Island Public Radio in Massachusettes. It's autographed by Allison with the quick reminder "Keep Listening," which is always the idea.

It's a terrific collection--a sort of "Chicken Soup for the Soul," except written by real people...not publishers. So the essays are speciific, more pointed. Here is a list of links to some of my favorite essays from the volume. I was going to write out highlights, but it's better to lead you to the essays in full...and you have the advantage (in most cases) of being able to hear the authors read their essays. Enjoy:
William O. Douglas:
Martha Graham:
Victor Hanson:
Robert Heinlein:
Penn Jillette:
Errol Morris:
Thomas Mann:
Colleen Shaddox:
Deirdre Sullivan:

But my favorite essay is Andrew Sullivan's examination of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Next: I take a break by reading what a college room-mate called "a popsicle: there's nothing there but you might learn something useful from it." My popsicles are John D. MacDonald's "Travis McGee" mysteries. The current color being "The Deep Blue Good-By," written in 1964, which makes it the first McGee book. Not sure how I'd missed it before, but then I've missed reading a bunch of colors in the series (Once I settled down to a volume and around page 10 encountered a phrase that told me I'd read that book before....)

Why MacDonald? Why McGee? Because he's smart and tough and never less than entertaining. Plus, he's the man from whom I read one of my favorite sayings, from his book co-written by Dan Rowan, "A Friendship:" The opposite of love is not hate--they're just different sides of the same coin. The opposite of love is indifference." And wiser words were never spoken.

Then , I'll tackle the sequel to one of my favorite books of all time: "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame." The one I'm tackling is Volume IIA: Novellas, Edited by Ben Bova.