BobHarris.com - Gathering Momentum

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

Main

Gathering Momentum

Tag it now -

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Tides, a nonprofit organization that promotes social justice and a saner world, is about to start a big shindig called Momentum up in San Francisco. Buncha people sharing ideas on how to do good.

The guest list includes former VP candidate John Edwards; Alex Gibney, the documentary filmmaker behind Taxi to the Dark Side and No End in Sight; Emory University psychology professor Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain: the Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation; Premal Shah, president of cool microlender Kiva, a group I've been meaning to pimp here for some time; and tons of other people who do neat stuff.

It's described in the literature as "where some of the most creative minds in the progressive movement come together to challenge, inspire, and rejuvenate each other."

I'm not one of those creative minds, and my sciatica defies rejuvenating, but I'll be attending as media. Any really nifty challenging, inspiring and rejuvenating going on, I'll mention it here.

Particularly hoping to snag a chat with the Kiva dude. (Seriously, check out Kiva. You lend a teeny amount of money — not donate; lend, like $25 or something, and with a repayment delinquency rate near zero, so you get it back — and people in the developing world get lives that suck less. Possibly a lot less. The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize went to one of the idea's pioneers. It works. So Kiva up if you're in the mood.)

More good ideas to come shortly, I hope.