Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A New Book

I keep forgetting that I joined the "book club" sponsored by one of my local public radio stations (KPCC in Pasadena--a great station). I really can't afford it, but I spent a bunch of cash sponsoring the station so that I could receive the books that they select several times a year.

The last book they chose, Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire, by Rafe Esquith, is my first Non-Fiction Five choice. I've finished it (just in the nick of time, I realize, since tomorrow is the last day of May) but I still have to write something about it.

It is so nice to have a book arrive out of the blue. Due to what my husband deems a mental block, I never remember that I belong to this "book club". But today I received a package containing the newest KPCC Book club selection, Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.

Now this is not something I would have chosen to read, probably, but that is the great thing about this kind of program. And you have to love the picture of Einstein on the cover, with a truly happy smile and all that great, crazy hair.

Apparently this book has been very well reviewed, and the page at Amazon has a lot of extras--an interview with the author, a podcast preview of the audiobook, and you can read the first chapter of the book. (Feels a little like the hard-sell).

I might not have chosen this book, but it does look good. My husband probably would have picked this book, so maybe I'll hand it over to him. If he's lucky.

By the way, he also says I have a mental block about running the dishwasher. I'm good at loading the dishwasher, but I always forget to turn it on. Thus, the mental block. He may be right.

I couldn't get the image from the cover, so I'm putting in this link, so you can see Einstein's smile:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've also heard good things about this book. I'm not a big fan of biographies but I know people have been enjoying it.

Receiving a book is always fun, but getting a book that you didn't know (or forgot) was coming is great.

Gentle Reader said...

matt-it's like finding a $20 bill in your pocket--it's a bonus and it brightens your day!

Dewey said...

Wow, coincidences! I JUST read a review of the teaching book in Teacher magazine, and I'm reading the Einstein biography right now! It's VERY good.

Gentle Reader said...

dewey--coincidences, indeed! I just noticed that you are reading the Einstein biography--I hope you can concentrate better soon :) I just posted a review of the teaching book, too.