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Weekly Words about BooksOCTOBER 6, 2013
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Two Great New Additions to Nonfiction Shelves
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DAVID AND GOLIATH: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell. You all know Galdwell, the author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw. He loves looking at cultural trends, accepted business practices, scientific research and  the like, then searching for a counter intuitive take on them. With David and Goliath, Gladwell again puts the reader off balance, challenging how we think about obstacles and disadvantages and arguing that the underdogs can often beat top dogs.
Beginning with the "real" story of what happened between the giant and slinging shepherd boy those many years ago. Gladwell goes on to examine Northern Ireland's troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high costs of revenge, and the dynamics of both successful and unsuccessful classrooms - all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity.
I heard Gladwell speak a few months back, and one story I remember from the book concerned a novice basketball coach with little knowledge of the game and a team of undersized and largely unskilled girls. This group of Davids had no chance to compete 'traditionally' with other teams, so the coach installed a defense based on a continual full-court press, got his team in top physical shape, and began toppling Goliaths. More interestingly, Galdwell also discussed the response to this unorthodox, David-like approach to the game, which I'll let you read about - suffice to say, it did not always bring out the best in other coaches and parents.
| ONE SUMMER: AMERICA, 1927 by Bill Bryson. One of our most entertaining nonfiction writers, Bryson has written many popular books on a range of topics, including travel, language, science, and history. My favorite is
A Walk in the Woods, a hilarious account of his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, while several friends loved A Short History of Nearly Everything, in which Bryson seeks to explain some of science's oldest and  biggest questions about the universe and ourselves.
Now, with his new book, he brings to life an extraordinary summer in a singular year in American history. It kicked off on May 21, when Charles Lindbergh became the first man to cross the Atlantic nonstop by plane and culminated on September 30 with Babe Ruth hitting his historic 60th home run. In between, The American South was clobbered by unprecedented rain that led to flooding of the Mississippi basin; the first talking motion picture, Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer, was filmed; and the four most powerful central bankers on earth met in secret session on a Long Island estate and made a fateful decision that virtually guaranteed a future crash and depression. Want more? Bryson has more from that landmark summer, and he shares it with his trademark humor and attention to detail.
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New Good Reads in Paperback
| | CONSIDER THE FORK: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson. Author Wilson, who writes a weekly food column for London's Sunday Telegraph, offers up a lively history of  kitchen implements and utensils in her tour of the evolution of cooking around the world. In revealing the story behind everyday objects we often take for granted, she provides an entertaining look at how cultures and living conditions throughout history have affected what people eat and how they prepare and serve it.
MR. PENUMBRA'S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE by Robin Sloan. A high-tech tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, data visualization - mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore. Suddenly jobless in the current  recession, web designer Clay Jannon starts working at the store, which is filled with obscure titles and an odd mix of customers whose behavior attracts his attention and pique his curiosity. Calling on tech friends for help, Clay does some research and analysis of the establishment's clientele, only to stumble upon secrets that reach beyond the walls of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.
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WHERE TO
FIND AN INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE
Many of you already have a favorite local bookstore, but for those of you without such a relationship, this link will take you to a list of Northern California indie bookstores by region.
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A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
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My name is Hut Landon. I'm a former bookstore owner who now runs the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) in San Francisco.
My goal with this newsletter is to keep readers up to date about new books hitting the shelves, share what booksellers are recommending in their stores, and pass on occasional news about the book world.
I'm not into long, wordy reviews or literary criticism; I'd like HUT'S PLACE to be a quick, fun read for book buyers. If you have any friends who you think might like receiving this column each week, simply click on "Forward this email" below and enter their email address. There is also a box in which to add a short message.
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