BobHarris.com - Why actually, I have plutonium in my carry-on, right under this Robert Ludlum novel and a Twinkie

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

Juan Cole

Why actually, I have plutonium in my carry-on, right under this Robert Ludlum novel and a Twinkie

Tag it now -

Tuesday, 03 May 2005

Apologies for the slowdown in posting. Life jumps up. Will resume shortly.

Did you know that Russian visa applications ask you to describe any experiences you have handling nuclear or biological weapons? I didn't. Right there on the form.

Apparently this comes up a lot, or at least enough that it's worth having its own space.

This is like being asked whether you packed your own bags. Obviously not going to do a damned thing for security, but deeply satisfying to the Vogon sense of order.

Meanwhile, for your reading pleasure, two blogs I've stumbled into which you might like: Empire Burlesque and GreatScat. This latter seems to be spelled with an exclamation point, but that looked weird to type just now, like I was urgently demanding you click over immediately! Although you could do worse.

Still, there's only one site that automatically gets an exclamation point around these parts. Not that I'm over the whole brillig thing, which I anticipate will haunt me like Nixon and the "whole Bay of Pigs thing." Oh hell no.

PS -- Colin did a cool trick to make the URLs on this site a lot shorter and easier to email, link to, or recite under torture in Uzbekistan. Enjoy.