BobHarris.com - NYC: Nicest city I've apparently never been to before

Books! Actual books!

"A rollicking ride of intellectual discovery and emotional growth... his comic timing never fails"

-- The Wall Street Journal

"Pulls you in like a good sports story"

-- The New York Times Book Review

"Endearingly frank... jubilant... lighthearted and fast-paced"

-- New York Newsday

"A surprisingly touching memoir"

-- Entertainment Weekly

"Snappy and informative"

-- Associated Press

"Effortlessly funny and informative... tender, human, and very wise... A must for anyone who loves Jeopardy!, or has ever seen it, or is breathing."

-- Joss Whedon, creator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"I haven't seen Jeopardy! since I was a kid, and yet I was charmed and amused by Bob Harris's fascinating and surprisingly suspenseful book. Through sheer force of personality, he takes this brainy TV show and makes it funny and easy to relate to."

-- Ira Glass, creator and host, This American Life

"A surprisingly intimate, entertaining book."

-- Orson Scott Card, 4-time Hugo Award winner, author of Ender's Game

"Funny, enlightening -- and just might help you win a million bucks on Jeopardy!"

-- A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All

"A masterful job of describing the feel of Jeopardy! in the heat of battle... I knew Bob was a great guy and a fantastic Jeopardy! player. Now I've found that he's also a wonderful writer. I think I'm starting to hate him."

-- Brad Rutter, top money-winner in Jeopardy! history

Books I'm Getting

Who Hates Whom:
Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts,
and Various Things Blowing Up —
A Woefully Incomplete Guide™

“Revelatory... Harris's sly wit and infectious curiosity make understanding world chaos fascinating... witty, horrific, and necessary.”

— Boston Globe

"Brave... irreverent... charges into the thick of the globe's myriad simmering wars... hilariously relaxed."

— New York Observer

"Only Bob could make a user’s guide to our increasingly hostile world this absorbing, this breezy, and—ultimately—this hopeful.”

— Ken Jennings, author of Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs

“Fascinating, enlightening, and surprisingly: NOT TOTALLY DEPRESSING. A gimlet-eyed look at the world we endure that’s also suitable for enjoying with a gimlet.”

— John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise
and correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

"All three [presidential] candidates should read all three of these [recommended] books, but McCain gets first crack at Bob Harris's "Who Hates Whom“... a lighthearted overview of the insurrections and civil wars in the world today."

— Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought, in the New York Times Book Review

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Juan Cole

NYC: Nicest city I've apparently never been to before

Tag it now -

Friday, 13 October 2006

Here's something I really didn't expect to write: I've been in New York for just under two weeks now, the longest stretch of time I've had here since I moved out of Brooklyn in 1992. And I've been noticing something has felt very different about this place since I was here last.

People have been so... nice.

That's so not what I'd expect, or what you figure on in New York. But every single day, I'm seeing small kindnesses almost everywhere.

This morning on the subway, as I was exiting at Court St. in downtown Brooklyn, a woman with a baby in a stroller was facing a long uphill climb up a stairwell, where three teenagers in hoodies, standing with the bored and listless posture which is usually portrayed as implying menace, were blocking her path. Then one of them noticed, and without being asked, simply hopped up grabbed the front of the carriage, and carried it carefully up the steps, while the other two walked alongside as spotters. They smiled and waved and went back down the stairs, where I assume they then resumed listlessly killing time.

This is the sort of thing I've seen almost constantly on this trip -- people being acutely aware of the presence of others, unasked, and making room and holding doors and generally doing the small things to help everyone get along.

I'm not sure if the city has changed, possibly still in some post-9/11 way, or if I'm just older and I see and appreciate these things more, or if it's a combination of both. Or maybe there's magic fairy dust in the air, not that the Bush EPA would admit it if there were.

I realize there's still an enormous amount of conflict and hardship here. Somewhere on this island tonight, there will be murder. People will be robbed. There will be much of not playing nice, I know.

But dang if I'm not seeing a much friendlier city than the one I used to see here. Assuming I'm even in the right place.