BobHarris.com - You like music? You like doing good? You'll love this

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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Antiwar.com

You like music? You like doing good? You'll love this

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Wednesday, 21 December 2005

David Ruttenberg is one of my oldest and dearest friends. I have no brothers by birth, but if I could choose, he'd be one.

We met about 20 years ago in Chicago, where we were both working for a company that designed and built custom audio mixing consoles. Our boss was a well-meaning jerk whom we both liked very much and quite loathed, depending on the day. So we bonded while walking in 14-degree weather, eating Vietnamese food, comparing the latest outrages, and trying to figure out how to escape being 23 years old.

I moved out here, quit the music business, and started doing whatever the hell it is I do. David moved to Florida and has become an accomplished and sought-after producer, engineer, and composer, working with people like Stevie Wonder and Peter Gabriel. He's pretty brilliant, frankly.

After entirely too long, David has finally just released his own first CD, and -- this is very much what kind of person he is -- every dime of profit will go to Margaux's Miracle, a foundation in South Florida devoted to fighting various childhood cancers.

Sounds like a deal to me. I'm proud as hell of the guy, and I want to say so in public.

Great music that saves lives. If that isn't a cool holiday gift, I don't know what it.