BobHarris.com - Where Bill O'Reilly is famous as a world-class spinner: further travels in Oz

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

Where Bill O'Reilly is famous as a world-class spinner: further travels in Oz

Tag it now -

Friday, 06 January 2006

Please forgive the lack of bloggity goodness of late. Been splitting my time evenly between too much work and too much fun.

Took a notebook out to the Sydney Cricket Ground today -- imagine Wrigley Field, but older and rounder -- working all day while looking up every 25 seconds or so to watch a magnificent Day 5 of the third test against South Africa. What I was lucky to see was only the greatest run-scoring chase performance in the 130-year history of the building. And the captain, Ricky Ponting, made the damn thing look easy, batting for 3 hours and 20 minutes and scoring 143 runs not out, including the game-winning shot, almost single-handedly turning the match. And if that's not climactic enough, his last swing also made him the greatest individual run-scorer in the history of the SCG as well.

Lots of screaming and cheering. And in between, lots of scribbling. I wish I had more time to share it all, but eventually it will all be in books and stuff, I hope.

I met an American here today who married an Australian and has lived in Sydney for 5 years. She was the single fattest person I've seen in my two weeks here. I'm serious. That's the honest truth. And get this -- she really doesn't like Australia that much. Guess why. Go ahead, guess. OK. Ready?

Because these poor backward people don't have Wal-Marts.

She noted this with a mixture of disdain and pitiful condescension.

Speaking of these so-unfortunate locals and their primitive ways, the broadcast here of a documentary questioning the official version of 9-11 on a major network in prime time, strangely enough, did not destroy the fabric of the civilization. Curious, this.

In fact, Warren Beatty's "Bulworth" was the Seven network tonight, broadcast, major, prime time, same deal. I'm not sure it has ever been broadcast in the U.S. in prime time on one of the big three. I certainly don't remember it; there probably would have been significant fooferah. (I'm also sure somebody will send an email in the next six minutes with the exact data, yes or no. You guys rule.)

Oh -- and here in Australia, the film went into living rooms unedited, complete with every last S-word, F-word, 10-letter C-word, and 12-letter M-word.

Hmm. And yet Oz has lower crime, poverty, and divorce rates than the U.S. How is this even possible? I thought those words had magical powers to destroy minds. Hmm. The very fact that one of Australia's major broadcast networks has no compunction about this, and yet I'm expected even by many people who are open-minded by the standards back home to bowdlerize my use of these words to the level of baby talk, tells me that tomorrow Australia will be destroyed by America's powerful Republican god.

If not, then obviously all this decency shit is fucked.

So, basically, I am crazy about this country almost the way I used to be crazy about girls in high school. I'm almost surprised I haven't tried to put my hand on Adelaide.

Oh -- and down here, the important Bill O'Reilly is the one who played cricket.

His speciality? Spinning. Honest.