BobHarris.com - A long, long way from home

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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Dennis Perrin

A long, long way from home

Tag it now -

Monday, 16 January 2006

I never thought 14-hour plane rides would start to feel almost normal. But there are a lot of things I never thought would happen.

I am back in Los Angeles.

Yesterday, to help my own mental transition, I went to an Aussie Rules footy exhibition held at UCLA. This is an actual conversation (probably not quite verbatim; I didn't have a notebook) I overheard between two of my countrymen:

Does Australia have a national anthem?
I think so. I'm not sure.
I don't think it does. I've never heard it.
Well, I haven't either, come to think of it. Maybe it doesn't.

Ah. So it's agreed, then: if you haven't personally heard "Advance Australia Fair," logically, it does not exist.

Don't get me wrong; ignorance about the rest of the world (much less the basics of logic) isn't an American thing. I met one woman in Queensland who proudly told me she has no interest in the rest of Australia, much less any other country. It simply wasn't important to her, and she couldn't see why it would be. If I spoke the local languages better, I could probably find people like that in all 30-odd countries I've visited so far, if I looked.

But America is in the unique position of greater military and economic influence over (even when not trying actively to control) the rest of the world. And so you'd think we'd realize we have a much greater obligation to try to understand the planet and base our opinions on actual facts, examined closely.

Instead, we can't seem to bother to understand our own constitution. I'm hearing even people I like, mind you, people I care about and respect, repeating things that are disreputable dangerous rubbish, convinced that their words are the height of patriotism. Yes, of course, the president has the power to interpret law. Yes, of course, the president has the power to spy on anyone, anytime. Yes, of course, the president has the right to kidnap and torture and imprison people without trial.

I am back in Los Angeles. But I -- and all of us -- are a long, long way from home.

UPDATE: Read this MLK day speech by Al Gore. I never liked the guy much when he was in office, but ever since his political future ended, he has gone Bulworth on us and said a lot of stuff that needed to be said.