Books Reviews - Page 13

With more than 100 photos, this fascinating look at baseball fever in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and other south-of-the-border countries creates a new appreciation of the ongoing legacy of Miguel Tejada, David Ortiz, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez and dozens of others who traveled far to chase down an all-American dream.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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Get the scoop on the biggest stars and most promising new hotshots with this inside look at the game and its top fielders, heaviest hitters and standout pitchers. With updates from last year’s season, playoffs and World Series, and including more than 70 player profiles and 150 color photos, it’ll make you the smartest kid on the sandlot.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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Wallace, a baseball obsessive whose love for the sport has been chronicled in five previous books, pored through the rich photo archives of Major League Baseball for this collection of images—one for each day of the year—depicting the game, players, fans and magical moments over the decades. And while a picture’s worth a thousand words, Wallace adds a few of his own for every image, providing essential background that makes each photo even more meaningful. It’s an overflowing, batter’s-up buffet stocked with goodies for fans of all ages.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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One of America’s most acclaimed literary voices fell silent last year, but this collection of 12 previously unpublished writings and speeches—released on the one-year anniversary of his death—keeps Vonnegut’s memory vibrantly alive. Mixing fact and fiction, the recurring themes of war, peace and the onward, often muddled march of humanity stretch back to his own experiences as a World War II P.O.W. and resonate as strongly today as ever.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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This collection of 250 images from across the country, all captured during one week last year in an unprecedented collaborative sweep by thousands of professional and amateur photographers, is a beautiful snapshot of how America lives—and the many diverse meanings of the concept of “home.” It truly is, as the old saying goes, where the heart is—and you can practically hear it beating in these portraits of people in the many different places that someone, somewhere, calls home.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Are you a “Passionate Maverick”? An “Invincible Optimist?” Perhaps you’re a “Rebellious Lover,” “Loyal Warrior,” “Determined Survivor” or another one of the 16 personality categories Cinescopes determines by dissecting your choice in movies. Combining psychology, cinema theory, astrology and mythology, it’s a fun way to find out if you’re more Ferris Bueller, Princess Leia, Rambo or Scarlett O’Hara.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Try to sort the truth from the lies in this collection of 400 cards, each printed on both sides with a pair of statements—one is factually correct, the other is a flagrant fib. Sorted into categories to cover almost any trivia taste (Science & Technology, Arts & Entertainment, Business & Law, Sports & Games, History & Geography, and Wild Card!), it’s entertaining, mentally edifying fun for the whole family—and harder than you might think!
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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From an embracing Neolithic skeleton couple buried 5,000 years ago to a family snapshot left behind by an astronaut on the moon, these 150 large-format color and black-and-white images, all gleaned from the archives of National Geographic, reveal the many moods, faces and textures of the universal, timeless emotion that “makes the world go round.” Each photo offers an irresistible invitation to enter the private, personal and often poignant moments captured, over the decades and often continents apart, by the camera’s eye.

—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Martin’s unflinchingly personal memoir of his troubled childhood, early career and eventual trajectory to stand-up-comedy superstardom is a riveting, revealing read. It’ll make you see the “Wild and Crazy Guy” in a totally new light—one that gives fresh illumination to his act and engagingly unpacks the family tensions, anxiety attacks, career uncertainty, hypochondria, perfectionist streak and other baggage that trailed him to the top.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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What you see on television at music’s biggest night (this year’s telecast is set for Feb. 10) can be riveting. But what you don’t see is even better. Author Ehrlich, the executive producer for each year’s Grammy Awards since 1980, unwraps a bonanza of behind-the-scene details and first-person stories about the groundbreaking performances (Melissa Etheridge bravely facing the spotlight after her cancer, her bald head shining), nerve-wracking backstage decisions (pull the plug on Frank Sinatra, or let him babble?) and high-powered star wrangling (why Garth Brooks only made one appearance on the show, and has stayed away since) that go into making the Grammys the most talked-about awards show on TV.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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