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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
BGP has commented on (11) products
Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth the Book A Visitors Guide to the Human Race
by
Jon Stewart
BGP
, January 01, 2011
Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race falls halfway between America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction and Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition in terms of both content and nature (i.e., uneven, broad-reaching social satire presented via faux textbook). Those who are somehow new to Stewart (aliens, perhaps?) and/or those who have never read America (The Book) should know that Earth (The Book) fails to capture Stewart and The Daily Show writing staff at their best. Of course, to expect otherwise would be absurd; as with Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher and even the likes of the late, great George Carlin, Stewart is at his best when he is working off the cuff (i.e., riffing on and/or eviscerating the statements, arguments and political activities of others live in person or on TV). Consequently, fans of the show--particularly those who are familiar with the two aforementioned works--should know what to expect, and will not be disappointed. Others are encouraged to give it a shot, and take it at face value.
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Globalistan: An Antidote to THE WORLD IS FLAT
by
Pepe Escobar
BGP
, October 20, 2009
Pepe Escobar's Globalistan is, in the author's words, "a warped geopolitical travel book" that aims to transform and politicize the reader's understanding of the interrelated processes which facilitate and perpetuate "globalization, energy wars and the Pentagon's Long War." The text, as much a work of abstract political theory as it is reportage, is a brief but overly complicated polemic that ultimately fails to present a practical alternative to the world views and socio-economic practices which the author clearly set out to challenge. The literary and theoretical references and allusions which riddle the text are sure to interest some (myself included), but Escobar's awkward phraseology and penchant for abstraction for the sake of abstraction can at times be distracting. Ultimately, the book may be of value to students of sociology, political science and heterodox economics, but it is almost certain to tire and/or bore the average and relatively apolitical reader.
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Guerrilla Warfare
by
Che Guevara
BGP
, October 20, 2009
Guerrilla Warfare is sure to be a very handy primer for rural (as opposed to urban) guerrillas, but, for the rest of us, it is nothing more than a highly readable primary source on rural revolutionary tactics and strategy. Readers who are interested in Che's personal take on the Cuban Revolution should instead look for a copy of Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, and those who are interested in the life of Che himself should pick up one of Che's more reputable biographies, be it Jon Lee Anderson's epic Che Guevara, Paco Ignacio Taibo II's sizable Guevara, also known as Che or Jorge Castañeda's mid-length, but quite captivating, Compañero.
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Ape & Essence
by
Aldous Huxley
BGP
, October 20, 2009
Ape and Essence is a brief, bizarre, and ludicrously overwritten work of dystopian fiction. The book follows the discovery and full recital of a mysterious play; a play which was almost certainly written by Huxley while under the influence of a particularly foul hallucinogenic substance. Serious fans of Huxley and the dystopian sub-genre of science fiction may find the book worth pursuing, but I cannot honestly say that I would recommend it to any man, woman or child...
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Jazz The First 100 Years 2nd Edition
by
Henry Martin
BGP
, October 20, 2009
Jazz: The First 100 Years is an introductory textbook best suited for budding jazz aficionados with minimal to no personal music experience. At its worst, the book can be both pedantic and dull, but then... It is a textbook.
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Little Book of Conspiracies 50 Reasons to Be Paranoid
by
Joel Levy
BGP
, October 20, 2009
Conspiracies. They're everywhere! As a good skeptic, I naturally take great pleasure in plumbing the depths of the each and every semi-popular tinfoiler conspiracy to make its way across both web and town. Consequently, when I saw this little volume on remainder for less than a cup of coffee, I simply couldn't keep myself from buying it. In retrospect, I should have just saved my loose change for another drink. While the book is, in and of itself, mostly enjoyable, Levy's primary source is Wikipedia (he even admits as much), making his work a pointless repository of unsubstantiated half-truths, at its best.
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In Praise Of Commercial Culture
by
Tyler Cowen
BGP
, October 10, 2009
Love thy market.
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Threepenny Opera
by
Bertolt Brecht
BGP
, October 10, 2009
Bawdy, facetious, and unapologetically bleeding hearted, The Threepenny Opera is Bertolt Brecht's most playful and accessible critique of Western society.
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The Catcher in the Rye
by
J. D. Salinger
BGP
, October 10, 2009
This is, without question, the most overrated book that I have had the grave misfortune to encounter. I will grant that, in its day, the book was probably read as a refreshing challenge to the generally accepted understanding of what it means to be a youth, but, by today's standards, Holden is a seventeen year old kid struggling through a sixth grade existential crisis. This book has not aged well.
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Revolt In The Desert
by
T E Lawrence
BGP
, October 10, 2009
This text is an unnecessary abridgment of one of the most compelling and beautifully written non-fiction works of the 20th century, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. While fans and collectors of Lawrence's work may find the book of interest, new readers should disregard this text and direct their attention to Seven Pillars of Wisdom post-haste.
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Iliad
by
Homer, Robert Fagles
BGP
, October 10, 2009
The Iliad is a genuine classic, sure to please aficionados and students of: poetry; mythology; ancient history; military literature; rhetoric; and epic fiction in general. Be that as it may, I must state that I wasn't entirely pleased with the most recent adaptation, in which: Menelaus was portrayed by Cheney; Agamemnon by Bush; Achilles by Rumsfeld; Ajax by Powell; Priam by Saddam; Paris by the rather abstract, but quite real, blowback from America's (specifically, the Reagan Administration's) foreign policy; Helen by Saddam's delusory and dramatically overstated weapons program, and so on and so forth...
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