Category Archives: book
The Impending Zombie Apocalypse, Reviewed
I’ve been meaning to write a blog post on all of the zombie apocalypse literature I’ve been reading for the past year, but I just haven’t been able to do it. This Times article is decent start. My theory is … Continue reading
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Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped
“Ticket Masters” by Dean Budnick and Josh Baron covers everything you thought you ever wanted to know about ticketing in the concert industry – from Bill Graham to Live Nation. It’s a bit long and bogs down somewhat in the … Continue reading
Married to the Mouse
In Married to the Mouse (2001), Richard Foglesong tells the fascinating story of Disney’s relationship with the local governments of central Florida. Not the city of Orlando, actually, but Orange and Osceola counties. And the Reedy Creek Improvement District, basically … Continue reading
Posted in book, history, public policy, review
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The Man in the Rockefeller Suit
Vanity Fair writer Mark Seal tells the absolutely awesome story of Christian K. Gerhartsreiter, a 17-year old German immigrant who transformed himself into “Clark Rockefeller.” I first read about it here, when he went on trial. Read book reviews in … Continue reading
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The Shadow Factory
I remember reading the front page New York Times story from December 2005 that the Bush Administration had authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to engage in domestic wiretapping to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the warrants federal … Continue reading
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Scorecasting
Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won (2011) by Tobias Moskowitz and Jon Wertheim can be best described as “Sports Illustrated meets Freakonomics.” The authors crunch the data and challenge the conventional wisdom. In … Continue reading
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The Real All Americans
Sally Jenkins tells the interesting, but ultimately sad, story of the Carlisle Indian School in The Real All Americans (2007). Thoroughly researched and told well, the book tells of how a small school for young Indians played against — and … Continue reading
Bad Sports
Dave Zirin’s Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love is 188 pages of trashing egotistical and wealthy sports franchise owners. What’s not to like? (Other than the sad reality of what professional sports has become in the … Continue reading
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Big Leagues
I first heard of Big Leagues: Professional Baseball, Football & Basketball in National Memory by Stephen Fox when I was reading this New York Times story about the development of the jump shot in basketball. Figuring that this was right in … Continue reading
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Playing with the Enemy
Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, World War II, and the Long Journey Home by Gary Moore is a bookend to something I read last fall, A Measureless Peril. Written by his son, it tells the story of small-town … Continue reading
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