I Complete My Assignment . . . Will You Complete Yours?

Saturday, Rob and I met for our annual mini-mini summit at the Triumph Brew Pub in Princeton. The Triumph always makes me angry, because their beer is so delicious. I think to myself: why can't Harvest Moon make beer like this? Harvest Moon is a brew pub in New Brunswick-- a stone's throw from my house-- and I go there once a year, simply to confirm the fact that their beer still tastes like crap. The place has been in business for nearly twenty years, and they still haven't figured out how to brew a decent beer. If the brew-master from Harvest Moon is reading this, I have some advice for you: go ask the brew-master at Triumph for his recipe!

While we were drinking the delicious beers at Triumph, Rob gave me an assignment . . . and when you get an assignment from Rob, you get right to it. Since one of my hobbies is reading books, he thought I should give the G:TB readers a recommended reading list. I have decided to do him one better. I am going to give the writers of G:TB a personalized reading list. While each book is recommended for a particular person, these are all great books-- you can certainly go ahead and read someone else's recommendation. In accord with the subject matter, I should warn you that this post contains no pictures.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

This one is for Rob. It's about a married couple that run a carnival, but when business starts to fail, they decide to create their own freak show. Every time the wife gets pregnant, she takes various psychedelic drugs, and ends up bearing a brood of freaks. The novel recounts the bizarre interactions between the grotesque siblings. Why is it for Rob? The story is told by Olympia, one of the siblings, a hunch-backed albino midget. Rob=midget. Get it?

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

A fantastic graphic novel that tackles aesthetics, architecture, and the duality of consciousness. I think TR will enjoy this one, because of this post.

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

An incredibly smart book about time and the music industry. It also has a science-fiction element, and-- reminiscent of War With The Newts-- it dabbles in various forms and genres. This book has Zman written all over it . . . for a lot of nerdy reasons I won't go into, but also because, like the Zman at his finest, this book achieves something very difficult: it explains the way music sounds.

Everything Bad is Good For You by Steven Johnson

Steven Johnson is one of my favorite authors, and he is a very smart man, but in this short book he dumbs it down and tackles TV and video games. His thesis is that because of the advances of technology and the digital revolution, TV and video games have gotten progressively more complex, to the point where they are viable forms of mental exercise, and should be considered on par with great works of literature. I recommend this one for TJ, so he can feel good about himself, but I also recommend Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death . . . so he doesn't feel too good about himself.

How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer

Foer uses soccer to explain the vast forces of globalization, but this book has just as much travel and anecdote as it does economic theory. This one is for Mark, who knows a hell of a lot about basketball and football, but needs to brush up on the idea that sometimes soccer explains the world, and sometimes the world explains soccer.

Henry IV by William Shakespeare 
  
Perhaps Shakespeare's best play, it introduces us to two great men: Falstaff and Hal (who will someday become Henry V). Falstaff is great because of his size, his wit, his drinking prowess, and his loyalty to his friends. Hal is great because of his ability to get along with everyone: the folks from the tavern, the rebels, and the royalty in the court. This one has Igor written all over it; he is our resident Falstaff but he also has some Hal in him.

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison 

For Dennis, of course.