BobHarris.com - Robot Monster!

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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Robot Monster!

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Monday, 16 May 2005

I'm in the process of moving, which is to say I'm sorting through about a decade of crap, diving it into keep, toss, donate, and eBay piles. I'm enough of a pack-rat that this has taken on the feel of archaeology, exploring layer after layer of long-forgotten scraps and then theorizing as to their origins.

I actually own Barry Goldwater cocktail napkins, for example. How or why that's possible, I have no idea. But there they are.

Going through the different strata brings back memories of various failures, mistakes, and what-was-I-thinkings. It's both fun and sad all at the same time. I'm using letters from people I've lost touch with to date surrounding objects the way different styles of pottery shards are used to put a timeline on ancient bone fragments.

The back of one closet even has a Ralph Nader for President yard sign from 2000, which is particularly interesting, given that I do not have a yard. What possessed me to possess this I have no idea, but it's an odd enough item that I thought I'd see if anything similar was available on eBay.

Nope. Instead, when you search under "nader 2000," you get this.

Can't say I'm surprised. Two wars and two questionable elections later... America in 2000 seems like another world entirely. And a terrific bad science fiction movie seems a good fit for where we've gone since.