"Endgame" by Frank Brady

Recently finished the compelling Frank Brady book Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness.



In terms of an actual review of Endgame, Janet Maslin published "Odd, Odd Case of Bobby Fisher" for the New York Times and my take on the book is that it was definitely worth the read. Even if the thought of Fisher and his story doesn't interest a potential reader, there's something interesting about people who live a remarkable life of extremes. To this point, the Robert Lipsyte (whose book I recently reviewed here) book jacket quote seems spot on:

"Weird and fascinating... Bravo, Brady."

Fisher is portrayed by Brady as brilliant (and I suppose pretty much any biographer of Fisher would agree), but also someone prone to obsessiveness. He was exposed to chess at a young age and then spent enormous time during his formative years playing the game... with two mentions by Brady relating to the impact of this time spent:

- A Robert Frost quote about having a successful education - "just hanging around until you have caught on"

- The Malcolm Gladwell "10,000 hours to master something" concept from his book Outliers (which I reviewed here)

Fisher combined a high intellect with putting the time in to master the game and an over the top focus on winning... with these things leading to his becoming a World Champion, but also likely to his paranoia and eventual retreat from the game of chess.

Again, a fascinating (and troubled) individual that Brady provides a very readable look at.

"Life After High School" Annie Murphy Paul Piece - and other life lessons

Latest issue of Time Magazine featured an interesting story with connections to pieces by a few other authors.

"Life After High School" was written by Annie Murphy Paul and looks at the idea of how important high school is (or is not) in shaping who someone turns out to be. The piece is only sort of linked to here in that Time has decided not to post it online, but I was struck by Paul's high school graduation speech notions (which she had just been asked to deliver at the commencement for her old high school). In short - be all you can be, don't be limited, dream big.

All the stuff of Successories posters to be sure, but... perhaps nuggets (or even big piles) of truth there for those of us trying to figure out what to be upon growing up. To this end, Paul's writing led me thinking on a few different concepts written on by various authors linked to on this blog...

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From the linked to here on a recurring basis writer, John Gardner...

"If we are conscious of the danger of going to seed, we can resort to countervailing measures. At almost any age. You don't need to run down like an unwound clock. And if your clock is unwound, you can wind it up again. You can stay alive in every sense of the word until you fail physically. I know some pretty successful people who feel that that just isn't possible for them, that life has trapped them. But they don't really know that. Life takes unexpected turns."

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From the posted on here Robert Lipsyte book An Accidental Sportswriter...

"Don't quit. Gut it out. Try to hold on till the final buzzer. It will work out, somehow."

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From the Joe Posnanski blog post "My Kansas City Goodbye"...

"And who am I now? I still love Springsteen and chocolate and reading in bed. I still have a soft spot in my heart for Winona Ryder, even after the whole shoplifting thing. But those are not who I am, not like it was then. I'm a father. A husband. A writer. Most of the things that mattered then don't matter at all to me now. Most of the things that matter to me know would have been unimaginable to me then. I am not floating. I am anchored.

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My take away gist from the Paul piece along with the words from Gardner, Posnanski and Lipsyte... should move foward towards a goal while still appreciating the present. Good things both.

"An Accidental Sportswriter" by Robert Lipsyte

Recently finished reading the Robert Lipsyte memoir "An Accidental Sportswriter".



I first heard about the book from this Sports Illustrated review and enjoyed the description of his life and experience in writing. Lipsyte's choice of title of title was fitting given both his writing outside of sports (both general-life type column and Young Adult books) and non-traditional subjects when working as a Sportswriter.

This idea of topics on the fringe of sports comes out as Lipsyte writes of the Lodge Brother (in italics to note as Lipsyte's term) approach to sportswriting practiced by many through the years. Rather than celebrating the Jock Culture atmosphere, Lipsyte often sought out the story that revealed a greater slice of life than simply someone who could play great ball and whose exploits generated the type of prose readers wanted. Nowhere in recent memory is this concept more in evidence than the Mark McGuire-Sammy Sosa home run race... celebrated at the time as a magnificent (and non-steroid pumped) achievement.

Later in the book there was an interesting mention of ESPN writer Bill Simmons, who wrote of steroids as only being a negative in how it caused him to look at achievements. It's representative of an interesting viewpoint by Simmons... rather than focusing on the game or athletes themselves, the thing that matters is one's reaction to and thoughts of sporting events. Makes sense if one believes that big time sports isn't life for a fan, it's about being entertained.
Additionally, Lipsyte wrote of this Jock Culture mentality towards sports (and associated Lodge Brother mentality of sportswriting) with his prose around the seemingly lack of interest that people have in looking at or writing about gay athlete's coming out.

Finally, I also found of note Lipsyte's mention of his early years as a New York Times writer. From that period he references working with Gay Talese, writer of the Esquire piece "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold"... often credited as being the example of New Journalism or compelling narrative non-fiction.

Closing out the book was Lipsyte's chapter on his relationship with his father (who lived past 100). Solid read, especially for someone interested in writing.