BobHarris.com - Friday pudu blogging: Down Under edition

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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Friday pudu blogging: Down Under edition

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Friday, 07 January 2005

There's a particular island off Tasmania where the wildlife is frankly beyond belief -- giant golden possums, fairy penguins by the hundreds, and a dozen or so creatures you simply aren't likely to see anywhere else.

When you drive around after dark, in fact, so many nocturnal creatures suddenly emerge that you really can't go more than fifty or a hundred yards without slowing down so as not to hit one of the many quolls, brushtail possums, or pademelons bouncing almost constantly across your path.

Pademelons, incidentally, are a lot like wallabies... only about one-fourth as tall. It's like somebody designed a bonsai kangaroo.

And this, dear friends, is a white wallaby:

This picture wasn't taken in a zoo. This gorgeous wild animal was quietly chomping on the plant matter in a small clearing not far from a fairly busy campground.

Earlier in the day, my friend Tonia had pointed out what she considered a good spot for seeing white wallabies at dusk... and sure enough, come twilight, it took about two minutes to stumble across one.

The red eyeshine, incidentally, is either a) a result of my accidentally using a flash in the rush to get this picture, or b) a revelation of the creature's true inner nature.

Gentle four-foot macropod? Or Giant Demon Bunny from Hell? You decide.

My favorite moment on the island may have been when a large Bennett's wallaby suddenly bounced in front of our crawling vehicle, then panicked in the headlights, jumped wildly to one side, and almost landed directly on top of a passing brushtail.

Wallaby's apparent internal dialogue: "boing, boing, boing... GAH!"
Possum's apparent internal dialogue: "waddlewaddlewaddlewaddleGEEZ... whatthef*ckwasTHAT?"

I never thought I'd see wildlife so dense that it occasionally collides into a pileup.

One last note: yes, I know this isn't a direct relative of the pudu in any way. However, wallabies actually occupy almost exactly the same niche in the Australian ecosystem. So in a sense, this really is the Aussie version of this site's mascot and patron animal.

Consider it a Rudu, if you will.