On the state of writing Sep 18, 2008
Well, among the other names is Jonathan Franzen, who wrote "The Corrections," Jeffrey Eugenides, Nicholson Baker, Rick Moody. These are all people who are experimental novelists; they are taking on serious cultural themes. (GW Hatchet, Washington DC)
Was World War II a bad war? Jun 8, 2008
On the left, the novelist Nicholson Baker in a book of nonfiction, "Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization," builds the case that the Allied bombing of German cities was tantamount to a war crime ... Had Nicholson Baker been alive in 1942, I doubt he would have had better ideas of how to stop the Nazi and Japanese juggernauts that had ruined Eastern Europe, Russia and large parts of China and southeast Asia other than using the same clumsy tools our grandfathers... (Fresno Bee -- Opinion)
The Bad War? Jun 5, 2008
On the left, the novelist Nicholson Baker in a book of nonfiction, "Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization," builds the case that the Allied bombing of German cities was tantamount to a war crime. Apparently there was no need to, in blanket fashion, attack German urban centers and the industry, transportation and communications concentrated inside them. (Townhall.com)
Letter from America May 22, 2008
The most visible proponent of the unnecessary war theory is the novelist Nicholson Baker, an accomplished, gentle and entirely civilized man, whose book "Human Smoke" has made him a darling of leftist critics of the American role in the world. Today in Americas. (International Herald Tribune)
At the Library May 11, 2008
Jesse Ventura Faith, Charles W. Colson Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner God s Problem, Bart D. Ehrman Great Awakening, Jim Wallis Greenspan s Bubbles, William A. Fleckenstein Gusher of Lies, Robert Bryce Happy for No Reason, Marci Shimoff Heart Like Water, Joshua Clark Hope s Boy, Andrew Bridge Human Smoke, Nicholson Baker Iceman, Chuck Liddell Ignition Letters to a Young Teacher, Jonathan Kozol Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg Losing It, Valerie Bertinelli Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, Lucette... (Montana Standard, MT)
In praise of pacifism May 3, 2008
Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke presents a singular portrait of the world's slide into war, says Piers Brendon ... Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker 566pp, Simon ter, 20 ... Nicholson Baker's snippets come from a variety of printed sources, including diaries, letters, historical accounts and contemporary newspapers, especially the New York Times. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Don't know much about history Apr 20, 2008
Nicholson Baker is both a novelist and a pacifist. In "Human Smoke," he challenges the conventional assumption that World War II was "the good war," with its heroes -- the United States and Britain -- and villains -- Germany and Japan. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Human Smoke: The Beginnings Of World War II, The End OfCivilization Apr 12, 2008
As a novelist, Nicholson Baker has always been a miniaturist, teasing every thread of detail from small and often random scraps of fabric ... History Nicholson Baker Simon & Schuster 2008 566 34. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Bestsellers list Apr 9, 2008
Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization - Debut Nicholson Baker, S&S, $30, 9781416567844 A pacifist's view of WWII.. 1. (Scranton Times, PA)
Obama Is No King Apr 8, 2008
On the very same weekend, as it happened, I was reading Nicholson Baker's much-discussed book , and I came across the following passage ... On the same weekend as I was reading Nicholson Baker, I also absorbed a news item about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the recently retired pastor of Barack Obama's church in Chicago. (Slate)
Was It 'The Good War'? Apr 4, 2008
"Yes, it was a good war," writes Richard Cohen in his column challenging the thesis of pacifist Nicholson Baker in his new book, "Human Smoke," that World War II produced more evil than good ... "Yes, it was a good war," writes Richard Cohen in his column challenging the thesis of pacifist Nicholson Baker in his new book, "Human Smoke," that World War II produced more evil than good. (Townhall.com)
A. J. Liebling goes to war Mar 23, 2008
" Nicholson Baker hoped to answer that question and whether "waging it help[ed] anyone who needed help" when he set out to write "Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization" (Simon and Schuster, $30). The answer to both questions from his point of view is clearly no, which has, not surprisingly, infuriated most reviewers. The book is an assemblage of passages taken from newspapers, diaries, memoirs, memos, and statements, all publicly available in English. This is not a... (Boston Globe)
A darker view of World War II Mar 18, 2008
Nicholson Baker uses historical vignettes to suggest that there is no such thing as a 'good war. . (Christian Science Monitor)
Means and ends Mar 9, 2008
Weighing the evidence, Nicholson Baker contends that WWII was hardly a 'good war ... Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of CivilizationBy Nicholson BakerSimon & Schuster, 566 pp ... With this decision, and many others like it, Nicholson Baker claims, England and the United States lost the moral high ground. (Boston Globe)
Nicholson Baker: Making sense of World War II, one day at a time Mar 8, 2008
Nicholson Baker outside his Maine home ... Nicholson Baker no longer collects old newspapers ... An early draft of "Human Smoke" was a sort of quest narrative, he said - a book about a Nicholson Baker-like figure trying to learn the truth about World War II - until his wife talked him out of it. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
RiverRun Bookstore to celebrate 6th anniversary Feb 26, 2008
"The more dollars that are spent locally means more money going back directly into the community. During the course of this year alone, RiverRun will donate $5,000 and many hours to Seacoast Local's organization.RiverRun has always provided great author events for the enjoyment of the community, and that effort has increased significantly. A partnership with South Church and Seacoast Slow Food will bring best-selling author Frances Moore Lappe to Portsmouth.The stellar Writers on a New England... (Seacoast New Hampshire)
Works like a charm Apr 14, 2007
Nicholson Baker: earplugs. Some years ago I bought an industrial dispenser pack of 200 pairs of Mack's earplugs from earplugstore. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Confessions of a guy who bet on Beta Max Apr 8, 2007
I first became fascinated by the technology of the nail clipper after reading an essay about it by the novelist and miniaturist Nicholson Baker, who pointed out that since a man named Chapel Carter invented the device (1896), all attempts to improve upon the basic design have failed to win converts. It's a perfect tool that does one thing perfectly (though I confess to having used it corruptly as a wire clipper). (Bismarck Tribune, ND)
The currency of our realm Feb 26, 2007
Not surprisingly, I am suspicious of such efforts and will let Nicholson Baker do the talking, whose "Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper" is a characteristic tour-de-force. I could go on for pages about the problems with scanned documents and mention here only that scanning gets maybe 98 percent of "normal" characters right, a figure that should make any serious scholar shudder; furthermore, no one with a historical perspective could possibly be sanguine about the longterm prospects... (The Daily Princetonian, NJ)
Whitney Balliett Feb 5, 2007
He wrote for this magazine for almost fifty years, mostly about jazz, and what he wrote was so good that Philip Larkin, not an easy man to please about either jazz or poetry, called him a master of language, while, years later, the young Nicholson Baker still referred to him, in a wondering aside, as a tireless prodigy. Whitney was about as pure a stylist as anyone who has written American English, yet his sentences were almost always about someone else s art; that s what gave his writing its... (New Yorker)
Publish And Perish Jan 21, 2007
But Nicholson Baker, in his book Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, says the medium is at least as iffy as paper: Some early acetate films shrink, buckle, bubble or stick together in a solid illegible lump, he writes. In the '80s libraries switched to polyester-based films. (Forbes)
