Waiting on Writing: Good Authors - Good Books

While reading the just released In the Garden of Beasts from Erik Larson, it got me thinking about how long it takes to write good non-fiction... and when some of my favorite non-fiction authors might have new work.

A good starting off point for this inquiry is my Nov 2009 post Blog Topics List: Redux Part Duex... Stuff of Interest & Authors Enjoyed, with focus on the people noted as book authors (and a few more added)...

Erik Larson - writes historical fiction (least that's how I'll describe his work) with lots of detail and narrative around events in time. Published Thunderstruck Sept 2007 and then In the Garden of Beasts May 2011 - 3 1/2 years apart.

Jeff Jarvis - writes on business topics and published What Would Google Do? Jan 2009. New book Public Parts scheduled for Sept 2011 release some 2 1/2 years later.

Susan Casey - writes sports-related with a bent towards adventure prose. Penned The Devil's Teeth May 2006 (which I felt like put me in an elite club for having read) and then published 4 1/2 years later in May 2010 her bestselling The Wave.

Michael Lewis - writes books that sell lots and lots of copies on a variety of topics... from High Finance to Parenthood to Major League Baseball. Last published The Big Short in Mar 2010 and has Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World scheduled for Oct 2011 release. While this does sound to be a follow up to The Big Short, it is interesting to see that release would be only a year and a half after it.

Eric Weiner - travel writer who released The Geography of Bliss Jan 2008. Not sure when his next book will be out, but looking forward to it after 3 plus years now...

J.R. Moehringer - someone I've come across more recently and just last year read his 2006 memoir The Tender Bar. Last book was the co-written with Andre Agassi biography Open, published Dec 2009.

Bill Bryson - prolific travel writer who last did At Home in Oct 2010.

Other authors who I look forward to seeing their next books (hyperlinks to past work) include S.L. Price, Chris Jones, Austin Murphy, John Grogan and David Von Drehle.

The point of all this... there's great non-fiction work out there, but it can take a while to write a new book. As evidence of this, the excellent Laura Hillenbrand book Unbroken, released in Nov 2010 eight years after she published Seabiscuit.

Joe Posnanski Blog Posts: Daughters & Roller Skating / Honesty

It's been a few months since I last posted something from Joe Posnanski, but it's certainly not for a lack of quality words published by him... either for Sports Illustrated or on his blog.

Really, I'm perpetually amazed at the volume of work he publishes and frequently find writing that strike a cord. Two blog posts that stood out to me lately were Honesty and then Daughters and Roller Skating a few weeks later.

Whereas one piece centered around a Vietnam Vet and the other Posnanski's 6 year old daughter, both pieces traffic in what can be generically called the Human Element. Being true to yourself and others, finding your way as a kid and parent... each thing important and written about very eloquently by Posnanski.

Time Magazine - David Von Drehle on the death of Bin Laden

May not be incredibly timely at this point, but two good Time Magazine pieces from David Von Drehle on the death of Bin Laden.



The cover story was Killing bin Laden: How the U.S. Finally Got Its Man and from the Time website came After Bin Laden: A Stronger America. Von Drehle is an excellent writer and both pieces feature thorough and insightful prose on the conclusion to a long pursuit.

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Additional note to make, though, is how annoying it is that the cover story link doesn't actually go to the entire text of the Von Drehle story, but rather an abridged version that tells readers to go buy a hard copy issue or utilize the Time iPad app.

Question on this topic would be what exactly the Time staffers making this decision to abridge think they'll accomplish? Perhaps said decision-makers wouldn't agree, but I think it more likely for someone to read an entire piece online and be interested in subscribing than they are to read an abridged piece on the web and then go somewhere to purchase a hard copy issue.

As to the notion of driving people to the Time iPad app... ok, that works for the people who have an iPad, but as great as the device may be, it's not something everyone's got.

Words, Writing & Wildmill Tilting...

I've written about it a few times here, but lots of great stuff on of the Chris Jones blog Son of a Bold Venture.

Content ranges from the tactical with writers answering questions on their craft to profound with missives on aspiring writers (or really aspiring anyones) tilting at windmills as they try to realize career goals.

The last two posts at Son of a Bold Venture trafficked more towards windmill tilting with "Lydia Could" about pursuing a Journalism degree in spite of the profession's career arc (much less arcy these days) and then "The Chattanooga Fix" about the small chance of success in writing a book measured against required time and effort.

Rather than leaning towards the doom and gloom, though, me thinks these posts both inspire based on what I take as the directive that... you try, you may or may not succeed, but you try. If you know what you want, great... you try to do that. If you don't know, but have an idea... you try around your idea and see where that takes you. If you have no idea, you scattershot about at different things... and hopefully find something of import to you. Either way... yep, you try.

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If these two most recent Son of a Bold Venture posts were about... duh, trying, there were a few prior to that on a different topic I feel strongly about, words. "A Parting Glass" featured a Charles P. Pierce written eulogy on fellow writer Clif Garboden. It was simply very cool reading about how someone loved what they did, and that thing being the writing of words on a page.

One other Jones missive from the past month that struck me around this topic, but it really wasn't his writing in the post that hit me, but who he wrote about... and then a reader posted blog comment.

"Opening Acts" begins with a reprinting of a J.R. Moehringer magazine piece, which I found of note as Moehringer's memoir The Tender Bar seems a close relative (if not ancestor) of what Son of a Bold Venture is all about. Both on writers, writing, words... all things I feel of import.

In relation to this specific post, though, what I keep thinking about is actually a comment from another reader of it.

Valerie said...
I have let the busy-ness of life crowd out the time and love I once had for reading. As a bureaucrat my own writing is dry and dull (but sometimes artful in its own way). Your posts are drawing me back. I must go out and buy something other than a newspaper to read right away. I need to find time again to slowly savor and enjoy someone else' art of telling a story.

I love it. While I enjoy the blog from Jones in part because it's about writers and writing as an act, it was great to see someone make mention of writing and words as a something to consume.

Whether I'm writing them or simply reading them from someone else... I love words organized on page in a meaningful way (note the heading of this blog) and it's cool to read other people say much the same thing.

"Branch Rickey" by Jimmy Breslin

Just finished reading Jimmy Breslin's short book Branch Rickey on the man who brought Jackie Robinson to Major League Baseball.

I heard about the biography from the Sports Illustrated piece "The Great Integrator" and generally agree with the SI assessment of it being a solid read.

Rickey is a well-known author and newspaper columnist and the book definitely features quite a bit of the lyrical phrasing that Rickey is apparently known for. At times, it got to be a bit much for me with language used actually muddling up the story or point being made, but I do give credit to an author making an effort with his or her choice of words.

All in all, I found it to be a pretty good book that shouldn't take more than a few hours from start to finish.

John Hyduk Essay from Esquire

Interesting piece of writing from the May 2011 issue of Esquire Magazine.



Written by John Hyduk, "The Loading Dock Manifesto" is an account of the author's job for a beverage distributor along with past work experiences. It's solid writing that relates what's it's like to have something far removed from a white collar career and life.

With myself as a reader having said white collar circumstances, it's interested reading about someone in a completely different orbit (which is of course is what can happen through reading).

In addition to the story, I also found myself ruminating on the author himself. Here's a guy who can definitely write, is published in Esquire (with a byline note made of occasional publishing in Ohio and Cleveland magazines), but works on a loading dock. I'm interested in this idea of a guy with writing talent who doesn't actually write as his full time job.

Does he want to write for a living, but can't catch a break? Is his stuff simply not good enough (though, this piece certainly is solid)? Is he not able to write as compelling prose if not about his life? Or, is he simply satisfied with his life and work (including both the loading dock and writing) and doesn't want to change?

I certainly can't say, but (without knowing there is any sad tale there) you gotta allow for the possibility that this is someone with a job that meets his needs and a writing interest that he's able to do well on the side... and he's good with that. If that's the case, then kudos to Hyduk for carving out something that works for him.

All conjecture here of course, but me thinks interesting things to ruminate on, and an interesting essay to read.

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Two additional pieces of writing from this issue of Esquire that while they didn't strike me as much as that from Hyduk, I found of note.

Financial writer Ken Kurson did "Let Them Eat iPads" on his prediction of coming inflation... and ways to have the possibility guide one's investing. Definitely seems like there's something to his premise as higher prices on a variety of goods and services appears to be more and more widespread.

"Walking the Border" is a feature from Luke Dittrich that chronicles the first part of his solo journey from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The writing wasn't bad by any means, but what stood out to me was this idea of taking on a challenge. The endeavour of course doesn't have to be walking the US-Mexico border, but that's something to be said for taking on a task whose outcome isn't certain.

Businessweek Pieces: Groupon / Innovation / FIELDf/x

Couple of interesting features from BusinessWeek lately that almost serve as point-counter point articles.

From the Mar 17 issue was "Are Four Words Worth $25 Billion for Groupon?" about the Chicago company that turned down a $6B purchase offer from Google. The Brad Stone and Douglas MacMillan article chronicles the history behind the site... and delves quite a bit into the coming development from Groupon that may help make their refusal to sell a great business move.

To whit... what Groupon is looking to do is move beyond coupons and to point in time and point in location deals. Concept is that consumers would use a Groupon app on their phone and select either "I'm hungry" or "I'm bored" and then receive targeted local offers. A time window would likely be associated with each offer... making it more valuable for companies looking to immediately reduce inventory or have non-prime table times utilized.

It's an interesting piece on an interesting company, but as noted at the top... there's a second BusinessWeek story that serves as a counter-point of sorts. It's not that the prospects of Groupon are marginalized, but rather that the business impact is questioned. From the Apr 14 issue of BW was "This Tech Bubble Is Different" by Ashlee Vance.

As a piece of writing, it's probably not the greatest in the world as it seems to wander a bit, but does have a compelling idea put forth and examined. What Vance and the experts she quotes look at is the true innovation (or lack thereof) from companies like Groupon, Facebook, or Zynga that don't really create anything new... other than perhaps a new experience to spend time or money on.

It's not to be overly critical of a business with this model or intent (companies exist to make money after all), but perhaps there is something to the words put by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Perlman...

"Facebook is not the kind of technology that will stop us from having dropped cell phone calls, and neither is Groupon or any of these advertising things," he says. "We need them. O.K., great. But they are building on top of old technology, and at some point you exhaust the fuel of the underpinnings."

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Another piece from BusinessWeek lately that was interesting enough to bear linking to was "Baseball: Running the New Numbers". Written by Ira Boudway, it looks at the company Sportvision and it's FIELDf/x system of cameras and data analysis designed to truly quantify the performance of a fielder.

Similar to the companies noted above, it's not curing cancer... but is something that could impact baseball and the business around the game.

Charles Fishman on Water - from Fast Company Magazine

Excellent piece from the April 2011 issue of Fast Company, which brought to mind some other interesting writing on the same topic of... water.

The recent article was "Why GE, Coca-Cola, and IBM Are Getting Into the Water Business" by Charles Fishman. Adapted from Fishman's book The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water, it's an interesting look at how cheap and easy water is becoming more scarce... and what that means for both society and business.

It's really interesting reading and I imagine the book came out of Fishman's 2007 Fast Company article "Message in a Bottle".... with this original piece linked to and written on in this post also about bottled water and the found in plastic bottles industrial chemical BPA.

Solid writing on an important topic.

Time Magazine Cover Stories: David Von Drehle on the Civil War & Jon Meacham on Pastor Rob Bell

Each of the past two Time Magazine issues featured cover stories which stood out as having really interesting content.

From the Apr 18 issue, David Von Drehle penned "150 Years After Fort Sumter: Why We're Still Fighting the Civil War".



Von Drehle is an excellent writer who I've linked to a number of times on this blog and in this story he investigates what caused the conflict leaving 625,000 Americans dead. Specifically, what he looks at and debunks is the notion (which I've heard before) that the Civil War was about something other than slavery.

It's a fascinating read for anyone interested in history... specifically the actually happened kind of history rather than revisionist looking view subscribed to by some (in this case for the purpose of aggrandizement of the Southern states who were fighting for the perpetuation of slavery).

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From this week's (Apr 25) edition of Time came the cover piece "Is Hell Dead?" by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jon Meacham.



Basis for the story is Evangelical Pastor Rob Bell and his recently written Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived (a heavy-sounding title to be sure).

Bell blends solid evangelical credentials (in the form of a 7,000 person congregation at Mars Hill Bible Church about 3 hours outside both Chicago and Detroit) with strong youth following (in part because he's just 40 and started Mars Hill at 28).

What inspired the Time cover story, though, is the idea put forth in Bell's book. In short, he questions the existence of Hell as a place long described in Christianity and wonders instead if the intent of God isn't instead to bring everyone into a place in Heaven. It's a bold idea that for those who take stock in it, changes much current dogma about what it means to become a Christian.

A really interesting idea... and one being put forth by someone deeply within the Christian community that's having a principle tenant of it's belief questioned.

"Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer

After reading half of "Under the Banner of Heaven", I decided that was enough for me.



It's not that Jon Krakauer a hack author... to the contrary, I enjoyed from him the books "Into Thin Air", "Into the Wild" and "Where Men Win Glory" (reviewed here).

The issue I had with "Under the Banner of Heaven" is how distasteful is was to read about true wackos who do something horrible and at the same time pervert religion (in this case the Mormon religion) by using it as the basis for their twisted actions.

I understand Krakauer's intent to explore the basis behind a heinous crime, but for myself as a reader, it's both not worth it and the connection isn't there. Not worth it from the perspective of there being little redeeming in reading about said crime (yes, I know the world not a shiny, happy place). As to the connection... while the actions perpetrated did come from people who were at one time devout Mormons, they were also kicked out of the church before committing their crime.

I did find interesting reading about where the Mormon religion came from and can see how it's views could be peculiar to someone not in the Faith, but it would seem patently unfair to hang the blame for this deranged behavior on the Church. Kakauer didn't seem to have this goal, but for me as a reader... if they're just wackos, then the background of the Church has to stand by itself apart from what turned these guys into said wackos.

Definitely not a poorly written book... just one about people I didn't care to read about.

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To the subject of the author himself... pretty fascinating recent 60 Minutes piece (featuring commentary by Krakauer) on "Three Cups of Tea" author and Central Asia Institute charity founder, Greg Mortenson.

Gary Smith SI Profile on Dick & Rick Hoyt

Really remarkable feature written by Gary Smith for the latest issue of Sports Illustrated.

Titled "The Wheels of Life", it profiles Massachusetts native Dick Hoyt and his athletic endeavours with 49 year-old son, Rick Hoyt.

Rick was born a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and since the 1970's, he's participated in over a thousand 10Ks, marathons and triathlons... while either in a trailer pushed, bike pedaled or raft towed by his father. The story is a powerful one and traffics in important themes ranging from the love of a family to import of not discounting the handicapped.

In terms of the telling of their journey, challenges and achievements, Smith seems well suited to the task as his stuff is nothing if not solid on sentiment. I suppose much of this is going to stem from the topic being written about, but find that invariably if there's a story with the author's byline, it's going to be be an emotion-inducing read. Seems a tough proposition for a writer to sign him or herself up for this type of work, but not get lost in flowery hyperbole when telling the story. I'd say Smith, however, does it well.

To the topic of Dick Hoyt and his son Rick... the Team Hoyt website can be found here and below is a story from the The Today Show on the duo.

"The Investment Answer" by Daniel Goldie & Gordon Murray

Recently finished reading "The Investment Answer" and found it a solid book. Written by Daniel Goldie and Gordon Murray, it's a basic (about an hour to read) primer on investing co-written by a Financial Advisor (Goldie) along with a Wall Street guy (Murray).



I heard about it through the Mike Cassidy piece Gordon Murray dedicated his final days to giving us 'The Investment Answer' from the San Jose Mercury News. As could be gathered from the Cassidy title, Murray has since passed away and Cassidy's story behind the book and the authors is an interesting one.

To the book itself, here's the basics of the recommendations provided around making investment decisions:

- Don't get caught up in past performance as an indicator of future success.

- Don't go it alone... use a Financial Advisor, but a Fee-Only Advisor, not a Retail Broker.

- Asset allocation decisions are more important than choices around individual stocks... and play heavily in the area of risk/reward decisions around an investment strategy.

- Diversification (multiple asset classes) and passive investing following a strategy trumps going all-in on a stock or asset class and frequently changing courses.

Simple stuff to be sure, but probably not simple to people who might have been burned by polar opposite approaches towards investing.

Profound Thoughts on Writing - from Chris Jones Blog

I've written on it previously, but some really interesting stuff on writing (and the process of) at the Son of a Bold Venture blog from Esquire writer Chris Jones. Since the above mentioned last post I wrote, what's really resonated with me from the blog has been the content written around something I'll call "becoming a writer, and then a great one".

First Jones posted HOW I GOT MY JOB (PART I) about... well, that. This was followed up immediately by his post FEAR... on his perspective around the struggle to get the right words on the page.

Really interesting stuff from both of these posts (and I'd say most of the posts and subsequent comments on this blog). Where me thinks the ante was upped was with a still ongoing discussion that started with the Son of a Bold Venture post LOSING'S REWARD... about the author's disappointment at not getting award recognition for an Esquire feature on Roger Ebert.

This launched a slew of interesting post comments both for and against said disappointment. People's commentary delved into subjects ranging from motivation to validation and took the various forms of concurrence, honest disagreement and snarkiness (it is the Internet, after all). In the "disagreement with writing about disappointment" category... Esquire writer Scott Raab posted a note which linked to his interesting and well written Try Selling Shoes blog post. Gist of both his post comment and blog post was that if you're doing the work you want to for a living, you shouldn't complain... at least not to people outside of your sphere who may actually aspire to your relative level.

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Jones wrote I felt reasoned comment responses (including to Raab) and followed up with the post THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH. This missive contained more of his thoughts on validation of writing, but also had something else. While not to discount the original (and still important) topic of what makes a writer feel recognized, it seems to me infinitely more valuable in a discussion of writing to look at what makes a writer great.

On this producing of great work subject, Jones wrote of desperately wanting something and desperately working towards it. This concept of going all in is me thinks what makes someone great at a chosen profession. Howard Stern talked about it as recently as last week in relation to radio and now Jones references it in relation to writing... it's a dedication approaching manic level need for success.

Granted, this whole discussion started around the topic of what signifies success, and the role award winning plays in that, but to me... this thing of what it takes to reach whatever level might have the shiny baubles of "success" (whether they be jobs, awards, or simply great prose), that's the big rock there.

Thomas Lake on the Death of Darrent Williams

Really good long form piece from the latest Sports Illustrated.

Written by Thomas Lake, "Bad Nights In The NFL" is a narrative report (yes, I just made up the description, but me thinks it fits) on the circumstances surrounding the New Years Eve 2007 death of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Wiliams.

It features some pretty lyrical and interesting prose from Lake, but also a ton of detail around his killing and what led up to it. With this, one thing that stood out in the piece was the telling of secondary story arcs to contribute to the whole. Best example of this was the focus around teammate and friend Javon Walker. As someone who had lived the star athlete life for a few years longer than Williams, Walker's tale was an excellent one to tell around this "celebrity with new money to show off" lifestyle.

The one qualm I have about the story is I found myself getting lost as Lake recounted the minute by minute events immediately before Williams was shot. It could well be that I should have paid better attention, but that's the thing about great writing... it's great writing for the individual person reading it. While someone else may have had the same level of interest and appreciation of the story as I did, but not had the same issue around following the details... I did and so, there you go.

All in all, an excellent piece on a tragic event that hopefully (but, not likely) serves as a cautionary tale for someone else in the public eye with money and acclaim.

Assembling New David Foster Wallace Book - From Time Magazine

Interesting piece from the latest issue of Time Magazine in "Unfinished Business" by Lev Grossman... about "The Pale King", David Foster Wallace's posthumously published novel.

What struck me wasn't necessarily writing about the book itself, but rather the compilation of the work. As I've been reading about (and posting on) the process of writing lately, one thing that's come out repeatedly is the import of editing in the process.

This (presumably) final work from Wallace presents a remarkable example of that import with Grossman's description of how the book came together. After Wallace's passing, reams of pages were found with scattered chapters, notes, vignettes and story fragments... and out of this, the book was assembled. Over the course of two years, longtime Wallace editor Michael Pietsch pored over the work and through an exercise in "extreme editing", made what he felt were the best decisions possible about how it should all fit together into a narrative.

This endeavour by Pietsch (and him winding up with the finished product as described by Grossman) is remarkable to me from the perspective of how both incredibly creative and highly process oriented it must have been. Now, this of course wasn't editing under normal circumstances, but maybe it is a statement on what editing as an activity can be.

Frequent Blog Tag: "Writing"

After early last month doing a post about blog tags used, I a few weeks back posted "Frequent Blog Tags: "Customer Service", "Social Media" & "Work" to highlight the more "about or pertaining to business" topics often written about and tagged here. Looking further at this concept of things frequently posted on... another process/topic tag oft used here is "Writing".

Out of these 15 posts I've done with this a tag, three different categories seem to emerge as "the point of what I've getting at" with this tag (categorization of these not a scientific process, but little on this blog is):

Posts about the writing process - Included is this category is both my own ramblings and those of some of my favorite writers (i.e. Chris Jones, Joe Posnanski, Eric Weiner, Roger Ebert, J.R. Moehringer). Not coincidentally, many of these guys have blogs or twitter accounts that give them an avenue to "write about writing".

Posts about words and how great they can be - This is after all the point of this blog (see: blog heading just below the title) and often times the aforementioned writers get into words and their import at the same time they write about putting them down on a page. Also included are my own ruminations (it is my blog, after all) on what words placed together into meaningful order can do.

Posts about writing as an end in itself / career - A two part concept... with one being the act of writing getting accomplished and the other actually getting paid for it. Wisdom I've gathered (and linked to) is that to become a writer as an end in itself, you just... you know, write. This act done and then repeatedly done again more than anything else is a writer someone makes.

Now, if only things were as clear cut around how to then go from being a writer putting words on page for it's own sake to one doing it for a living. That said, those people putting in the effort to write, but who haven't yet made it a career should take heart. Without first "writing for the sake of writing", the making it a career part wouldn't stand a chance (not to mention you wouldn't have the writing for writing's sake thing).

Small victories... one at a time.

Gary Smith & Jeff Greenfield SI Baseball Pieces

Two pretty compelling stories from the Sports Illustrated 2011 Baseball Preview issue.

Cover story is written by Gary Smith and on the Philadelphia Phillies fabulous four (plus solid fifth) starting pitchers. The collection of talent makes for an interesting topic, but Smith's "The Legion Of Arms" takes a unique approach to the storytelling. Each of the pitchers is labeled as a particular superhero and the piece is written in an over the top comic book style.

It's an entertaining approach and one very befitting the remarkable and somewhat unbelievable rotation talent. Smith is also well-suited to write this type of story as his writing can be somewhat over the top. In short, he tries to pull something new and creative off and... it works. Any author deserves kudos for that.

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In same vein of "departure from straight reporting" was another baseball feature from this issue. "It Was All Just A Bad Dream" is penned by Jeff Greenfield and chronicles the fictional events after Steve Bartman didn't interfere with Moises Alou catching that ball in the 2003 NLCS.

Pretty rollicking and entertaining stuff based on the premise that something which happened (the interference which precipitated the Cubs collapse), didn't. Similar to the Smith profile on the Phillies rotation... very original and entertaining writing.

Esquire Writing - on "New Biologist" Eric Schadt & Extreme Health

There's piece of writing in the latest Esquire that both has solid content and makes me think about words and what writers think about when they pen them...

The profile by Tom Junod is "Adventures in Extreme Science" and looks at brainiac Eric Schadt and his "emperor has no clothes" approach to conventional wisdom in the field of molecular biology.

Schadt makes for an interesting topic with his proselytizing about the vast networks and cause-effect relationships within the body... and how that runs counter to the previous belief that things within ran independently enough that successful mapping of human DNA would start us on the road to disease cure. In terms of this new viewpoint, the book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" is cited as being both the source of the term "paradigm shift" and one of Schadt's early influences around the idea of necessary breaking away from conventional belief.

Junod details not just the intelligence and contrarian viewpoint of Schadt, but also his propensity to get out in front of his ideas and advocate loudly for him. Lest that statement make him appear a simple self-promoter, also noted in the profile is Schadt's collaborative approach to solving problems and curing disease... regardless of whether it's he or his company getting the credit and subsequent revenue. Really interesting reading on the guy.

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Above is about the content of the piece... which by itself is me thinks worth a read. What struck me within it though was a specific anecdote written about the subject. Schadt early on is described as being a breaking from convention kind of guy and torch bearer for "New Biology"... in short, a whole new approach. After this was established about Schadt, Junod related how he "likes to do his supercomputing on planes." The further description of this was how Schadt would figure out what data he needs run and then simply hop onto a plane's WiFi network and order that data run via Amazon servers.

It's a remarkable detail that carries both a "whadda know? that's interesting" feel to it and shot across the bow backing for the "New" advocated for by Schadt. Maybe it's just because I'm a sucker for funky (and yet important) detail, but this anecdote made it much easier for me as a reader to embrace a paradigm shift idea (or someone extolling the virtues of one), simply because the tools available are also a paradigm shift from previously capabilities.

It was a really cool inclusion by Junod and as a interested reader type guy, I really wonder whether he put as much gravitas behind the anecdote about server time via Amazon as I took from it.

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Also of interest from this issue was the concept of Extreme Heath as written about in multiple short pieces. Featured were a number of otherwise common folk who decided to push themselves to do uncommon things... including surfer Laird Hamilton, subject of a "What I've Learned" piece.

Not that I necessarily want to go all crazy with it at this point, but I think there a lot to be said for the idea of pushing to see what you can accomplish.

Frequent Blog Tags: "Customer Service", "Social Media" & "Work"

On the heels of an earlier this month post on blog tags used, this missive takes a look at a few of the topics frequently tagged... Customer Service, Social Media & Work.

Looking at the first two, after Customer Service (tag search hyperlinked to) is provided either well or poorly, Social Media (tag search also linked) then comes into play. It's a fairly obvious point, but there's just so many avenues for either happy or dissatisfied customers to make their voices heard.

Work as a third tag topic is referenced in different ways on this blog. I write about it as something which can potentially be: fulfilling, important, or (perhaps even better) calling to mind a Patrick Swayze Roadhouse clip.

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Back to the first two topics noted, my favorite theory around Customer Service (is it weird to have one?) relates to work... the theory that outstanding Customer Service is provided by employees who feel well treated and like where they work. I've done a few posts with Workplace Culture as a blog tag and feel pretty strongly that there's something to this idea of where one works contributing a great deal to how one works.

I've had enough bad experiences at various Noah's Bagels to suspect that it may not be a great job. Flip side of that is based on the typically outstanding service I've gotten at multiple Jamba Juice locations... I'm guessing it's a good place to be employed. I can't imagine the money is that different for similar jobs at the two chains so me thinks there's something from Corporate causing the difference in employee behavior.

Interesting... Work linked to Customer Service, on the heels of Customer Service linked to Social Media. Now, we just need to have employees blogging, tweeting and doing Facebook posts on their jobs.

Oh, yeah... that already happens.

Japan Disaster & New Ideas Feature - from Time Magazine

Some pretty compelling writing and interesting content from the latest issue of Time Magazine.

The Special Report on the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami featured pieces that captured well both the scope of the devastation and resilience of the people impacted.

To this end, the cover story essay was "The Day the Earth Moved" by Nancy Gibbs and Hanna Beech provided "Aftermath: How Japan Will Recover from the Quake" highlighting actions taken by individual citizens after the disaster. Really solid writing in both stories.

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In the much less important, but still interesting from this issue category was some of the things mentioned in Time's "10 Ideas That Will Change the World" section. Two I found of note were about the concepts of airport communities as well as that of sharing rather than owning:

- "Think of Your Airport As a City — but Nicer" makes reference to the ideas put forth in a book I've heard about several different times lately... "Aerotropolis" by John Kasarda.

- "Today's Smart Choice: Don't Own. Share" is about the idea of item rental as championed by well known companies like Netflix. Also mentioned are less well known businesses such as SnapGoods (borrowing and renting of stuff), Zipcar (car rentals) and Airbnb (vacation rentals).

Joe Posnanski Crystal Ball Piece on the Kansas City Royals

Really cool piece of writing by Joe Posnanski in the latest Sports Illustrated. It's titled "Royals, Flush" and features one of my more favorite writing techniques (if done well)... the "written in the future" backwards look).

The story is about the Kansas City Royals future predicted success (but, with the writing actually looking back on it) and how the absolutely stocked farm system under GM Dayton Moore made that possible. I have to confess to also liking the story from the perspective of it being about a small-market team (with a beautiful looking stadium) making it big, but the solid writing from Posnanski was what really made the piece for me.

Not to make this post about something other than the writing itself (or imply I can write as well as Posnanksi), but his technique reminded me of of a favorite piece of writing from college... my story on a Native Alaskan tribe which was basically a copy of of an encyclopedia story (you know, like Wikipedia, but without the Internet) that I told through the eyes of a tribe member.

Was enjoyable writing the piece... and enjoyable reading this one from Posnanski.

Businessweek Pieces: USA Inc. / Cloud Computing / Hubris & Hacking

Three different feature stories from Businessweek lately that stood out to me as particularly interesting.

Cover story from the Feb 24 issue was "USA Inc.: Red, White, and Very Blue", a report on the financial health of the country as if it were a corporation. Written by Mary Meeker, it's reading that trends a bit towards the heavy for someone not financially minded, but is nothing if not in-depth (has an accompanying 460 page presentation).

Beyond the sheer weight of it, though, the story struck me as important and featured specific recommendations of what steps could be taken to improve the financial health of the country.

As Meeker writes in the beginning of her examination...

I reached three conclusions. First, USA Inc. has serious financial challenges. Second, its problems are fixable. Third, clear communication with citizen-shareholders is essential. If the American people embrace the need for bold action, their political leaders should find the courage to do what's right.

Perhaps her statement could be met with a hearty "yea, if only...", but this type of response wouldn't necessarily mean she's wrong.

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The Businessweek cover story from a week later was "The Cloud: Battle of the Tech Titans". Perhaps not as big a nut as the financial health of the U.S., but really... in terms of the Tech Business, there's not many more important topics. In June 2009 I wrote on another BW Cloud Computing feature and in the close to two years since then, the growth in Cloud Computing has been tremendous.

This latest story featured interesting compare and contrast material looking at industry establishments like Hewlett-Packard and IBM (with significant hardware and consulting services) as well as more "true cloud" providers like Amazon.

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Last (and most recent) Businessweek story I found of interest lately was "Hacker vs. Hacker" about the shenanigans at and against a top exec of Computing Security firm HBGary Federal. The hubris of this guy Aaron Barr is pretty remarkable... and almost (but, not quite) equalled in zeal on the part of the hackers taking him down piece by piece.

Quite the entertaining read.

"The Fighter" & John Gardner Writing

Some of my favorite posts to this blog have been on disparate subjects twined together... a good lead in to this missive on a boxing movie & a former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.

As to the boxing movie... watched The Fighter last night and found it to be an excellent movie. It was based on the true-life story of Micky Ward and his boxing career, but struck me as being more about the idea of fighting through adversity and trying to do what you feel right. To this end, Ward came from a fairly unbelievable (for someone who never lived it) background and had to constantly reconcile the choice between going his own way without family or sticking with them through a lot of hardship.

It was pretty heady stuff and not to just write in lofty platitudes, for me showed the import of not giving up and trying to push through to see where you'll land. Someone might not always know what the right thing is, but they just keep trying to figure it out and go after said right thing.

And... Christian Bale was really, really good in the film.

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On to the perhaps not so different subject of John Gardner... former Cabinet member under President Lyndon Johnson.

I wrote some two years a blog post on Gardner linking to his writing and found him to be (along with Coach John Wooden, who I wrote about in these blog posts) a champion of this same "doing your best" idea that I took from the movie. Additionally, the quote below from a Gardner speech (and the two years past blog post) traffics in the topic of family and priorities...

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account."

Yea, perhaps it's a bit of a stretch, but I'd say the Micky Ward as shown in the movie and hypothetical person who takes Gardner's advice... not so different from one another.

Sports Illustrated Pieces: John Calipari & the Denver Nuggets

Two stories from the latest Sport Illustrated that struck me both for the level of the writing and thoughts about fandom they elicited in me.

The larger of the two pieces was "Too Slick, Too Loud, Too Successful Why John Calipari Can't Catch A Break" by S.L. Price. It's a profile of the University of Kentucky Men's Basketball Coach and features the same type of interesting and in-depth writing I usually see from the author.

One thing I did find, though (and maybe Price either did this intentionally or at least knew of it), was a difficulty in telling whether Calipari was a good guy or not. Not to say that every piece of entertainment I consume has to be black and white in terms of it's good guy/bad guy depiction, but me thinks it raises the bar on the quality needed from the story if this ambiguity exists. Fortunately, Price handles the task with aplomb and it's a really solid read.

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The second piece from this March 14 issue that I found noteworthy was "Defiant In Denver" on the post-Carmelo Anthony Nuggets. Written by Lee Jenkins, the story gets heavily into the comparison of a basketball team with a number of solid, but not spectacular pieces working together (the current team) against a superstar-led one (that with Carmelo).

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This idea of a team and the sum of it's parts rather than the efforts of it's star is interesting to me, but probably even more interesting is the idea of rooting for such team. Fandom is a concept I've thought of quite a bit lately and there's a number of different ways to look at it. Some people become a fan of a particular star and that's where their rooting interest is tied up (Michael Jordan as a good example). Really, though, I'd say that Seinfeld had it pegged for many when he said "we're just rooting for laundry." Wherever we live (or wherever we once lived and formed a team attachment)... that's who we root for.

This concept comes up for examination based on the contents of these pieces from Jenkins and Price respectively. In the Nuggets story, you've got the idea that a team could become easier (or in fact, more likely) to root for based on the makeup of it's parts. The Calipari profile is interesting in that the idea of it being easier to cheer for non-superstar players is actually turned on it's head.

Calipari as a coach has made his name by unapologetically seeking out the one and done type of high school who will star for a year in college and then move on to the NBA. Now, I'm as much of a "follow a team for my entertainment value / root for laundry" type of guy as anyone, but... Calipari's approach might be a bit much for me were I a fan of a team he came in to coach.

Now that I think about it, maybe that's where the aforementioned ambiguity about the character from the Price story came from. Interesting concepts to chew on...

Blog Post Tags/Labels Used

As I've used this blog as a place to link to and pontificate on writing I find of note, I've also been interested to see what exactly I'm writing about (pardon the "I'm interested to see something I do" reference).

To this end, I find the blog tags/labels used for each given post to be an indicator of what's contained (as I last wrote about in Feb 2010). Since it's now been over a year, may as well have another go at it...

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Within the 400 plus blog posts over the last few years are a lot of different tags... some 1,300 to be (sort of) precise. It's an inexact science to be sure since I probably on many a post have missed a relevant tag and on others prattled on with too many, but there's still value me thinks in looking at the tags used most frequently (with ~60 of those shown in the tag cloud on the blog right hand side).

As I write in the aforementioned post from a year ago, the tags fall into a few main categories:

- Where I'm linking from... what magazine, website, etc.

- Who wrote the piece linked to

- Who (or what company in many a case) the story is about

- Process or topic stuff... with most, but not all of the labels noted below (each hyperlinked to the tag/label search):
- Blogging: 17 posts... now 18 with this one
- Work: 11 posts
- Writing: 15 posts
- Customer Service: 4 posts
- Social Media: 8 posts

Yea... it's a lot of posts on a lot of different topics, but I like writing 'em and find the topics interesting and writing linked to solid.

Gotta do something to keep off the street...

Time Magazine Stories: America Not in Decline & Anthony Bourdain Travel Show

Two solid pieces from the latest issue of Time Magazine.

As part of the cover feature, "Don't Bet Against the United States" was penned by the excellent David Von Drehle and later in the issue, James Poniewozik wrote "Guilty Pleasure" on the Anthony Bourdain travel show No Reservations.

I've noted this previously about Von Drehle, but his work almost always strikes me as solidly researched and well written (with this piece no exception). In the view of "if you like this, you'll love...", I'd recommend the Von Drehle book "Triangle: The Fire that Changed America" (which I reviewed here) to anyone a fan of his Time writing.

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The Poniewozik story examines the phenomenon of Bourdain's television show in a state of self-examination. Perhaps not as big picture as Von Drehle's piece about America's place in the world, but an interesting read nonetheless.

Joe Posnanski Writing... and Blogging

Since my last blog post included a missive about how great it is to read and link to a new to me author, it's only fitting that this post feature one of my favorite writers, Joe Posnanski.

Additionally, this post started as being a chance to link to some solid writing from the guy, but writing it got me thinking more about the concept of writers blogging.

Earlier this week, Posnanski posted on his blog a piece on the life and recent passing of Kansas City sports announcer Bill Grigsby. The story title of "Beautiful" is referenced as being a nod to Grigsby's "favorite word, the word that doesn't just describe his life but how he felt about life."

It's writing like this on a region-centric figure that struck me (perhaps incorrectly) as why Posnanski writes a blog in addition to his writing for Sports Illustrated. The great thing about the blog is the national audience requirement falls by the wayside, leaving just a forum to write something of interest for the author. The fact that there's readers out there like myself seeking out and enjoying the work is simply bonus.

In addition to this idea of a writer's blog being a place to publish something of personal interest, said writer's blog can also elaborate and provide background to a published piece. The latest issue of Sports Illustrated featured a short piece by Posnanski on boxing commentator Nick Charles. While I subscribe to SI, I haven't even gotten this issue yet, but heard about the story from Posnanski's blog through his post "Behind the Back Page". The SI story about Charles and his life (including his terminal cancer) was poignant reading, but made all the better by the additional story details in the blog post.

So... a writer blogging can both provide them place to write freely and be a way to add details to a work published elsewhere. Both good reasons to write a blog... with the additional benefit of blogging quite possibly being that one will improve their writing by simply doing more of it.

I've written before (and about Posnanski) of how it's impressive when a writer publishes frequently in a variety of different mediums, but perhaps they're doing it for good reason.

Iraq Terrorist Hunter Piece from Esquire

Really solid piece by Daniel Voll in the latest issue of Esquire.


About an Iraqi citizen who works with American operatives to capture terrorists, "The Hunter Becomes the Hunted" is a story that would seem a Hollywood fabrication were it not real. To that end, it combines plot lines that could have been taken from a movie with well rounded reporting... like that provided by a David Von Drehle from Time.

I enjoy reading stuff from authors I know and like, but also like quite a bit coming across a solid piece like this from someone I haven't heard of.

"The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean

After following for some time the Susan Orlean twitter feed, I decided to read her bestselling "The Orchid Thief" from 2000.



It's subtitled "A true story of beauty and obsession" and a work of non-fiction about the Orchid industry and one of the more maniacal players in it (at least for most of the time Orleans was writing), John Laroche.

While I had no connection to the subject of the book (and found my interest waning at times as a result), I did find interesting the level of aforementioned obsession. A guy like Laroche may be a bit of a loon, but does provide good fodder for writing. Basic concept is a someone living to the extreme in life. Any project undertaken is going to be enormous, any failure the result of a grand conspiracy... and any moving away from something a complete abandonment.

It's reading about this extreme approach to life that made the book mostly worthwhile for me. I say mostly because if I had an interest in Orchids, I would have been more into the read... as it was, I liked it, but probably would have been good with simply reading her excellent New Yorker piece on Laroche the book came out of.

J.R. Moehringer Writing

As this blog is all about great writing... the reading of it, the linking to and commenting on it, I find myself constantly seeking out information on and new work from the writers I like the most.

Picking up a Sport Illustrated and seeing that Susan Casey (who I first wrote on here) has a new book excerpted there (which I then posted about), reading a Roger Ebert blog post which gives an e-mail address for Esquire writer Chris Jones, finding out Erik Larson has a book coming out in May... to me, that stuff is just golden.

To this whole writing crush concept, I'm kind of amazed that it's not terribly easy to find much about the excellent writer J.R. Moehringer (author of "The Tender Bar" ... one of my two favorite books read last year, with the aforementioned Casey book as the other). Yea, he's got a Wikipedia page, but in today's hyper connected twitter-using world, I expected to find more about him and what he's working on. Fairly incredibly to me, a google search for the term "who does J.R. Moehringer write for?" provided my "Tender Bar" review as the fourth result.

With this as the impetus, I set out to find and read me some more Moehringer... and glad I did.

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First thing I found was a Sept 2010 piece for GQ titled "Three Weeks in Crazyville". About the author's time spent with LeBron James prior to his "The Decision" ESPN event, it's great writing about both a guy (James) and a process. It reminded me of his "Tender Bar" memoir in that Moehringer injects himself into the story and as a result reveals more about James by revealing the process of writing about him. Not to overstate things, but it struck me as a pretty audacious approach... that worked very well.

While reading this piece, I saw mention on the GQ site of another Moehringer athlete profile from earlier in 2010. "In It To Win It" looks at the life and drive of Kobe Bryant and while the story was written in a more conventional manner than that on James, it's still solid work on a pretty fascinating guy.

Two other features from Moehringer I found (and enjoyed) whilst browsing on the worldly wide interwide net...

Written on the town of Gees Bend, Alabama, "Crossing Over" looks at a pocket of the country unknown to many and seemingly caught in a tug of war between staying that way and becoming "modernized". While I wasn't as captivated by this as I was the GQ pieces (primarily due to interest in the subject), it's excellent writing from Moehringer... as evidenced by his 2000 Pulitzer Prize for the story.

Also from the L.A. Times (and later made into a movie), "Resurrecting the Champ" is about Moehringer's relationship with and search for the truth about an ex heavyweight boxing contender. It's pretty riveting stuff and though written some 13 years before the story on James, features (very effectively) the same narrative device of writing about writing. Reading about the author's intereactions with the subject provides a piercing view into him.

So, anyhoo... Moehringer... really solid writer and I look forward to reading more stuff by him in the future.

Now, if only he would get a twitter account and/or blog to make said stuff easier to find...

Thomas Hoenig & Inflation Piece by David Von Drehle

Really solid and compelling piece of writing from the Feb 14 issue of Time by one of my favorite current writers.

Good writing is such a fascinating thing to me... it has to be grammatically and structurally clear and correct (the aforementioned solid), but also compelling. That type of compelling may well have an emotional bent (but, as I write about here, shouldn't fall too far into sentiment).

Compelling as an attribute oft times relates to the topic... but, what's really impressive is writing on a subject that someone might not think they'd be interested in, but become so through the story.

This is what Time writer David Von Drehle pulls off in his piece on Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President, Thomas Hoenig. The Fed's Dissenter: Saying No to Easy Money is about one guy (though, an influential one) and his fears of inflation. Von Drehle's writing is excellent from the perspective that it explains fully and in an interesting manner... perhaps more interesting than I would have expected on the subject.

The guy is just a really good writer... as shown through both his work for Time (with writing on the Tucson tragedy posted on and linked to here) and his book (with "Triangle" reviewed here).

Son of a Bold Venture Blog

This isn't the first post I've done on it, but big fan am I of the blog Son of a Bold Venture from Esquire writer Chris Jones.

In my aforementioned first missive, I wrote of my excitement about a blog on the subject of words and writing and have found it's thus far completely met my expectations. It may be odd that a blog heavily about journalism could resonate with me so much, but when you get down to it... print journalism is about words and their meaning (and I like words and their meaning a lot).

Two posts in particular resonated with me thus far... both on the topic of writing as a passion/career choice. Lester's Dilemma addressed the heartache and struggle faced by many writers and Lara Logan's Math the actual physical danger journalism can pose... as horrifically endured by a female CBS correspondent in Egypt.

Also, one series of postings I'm completely drawn to as a concept is Five for Writing... Jones e-mail interviews with other writers take on their craft.

Last thing to mention that I've found of note, the idea of a community interested in writing. The posts usually have 10 t0 30 different comments... with many featuring insightful takes from people both known (Charles P. Pierce) and new to me (Brandon Sneed). I've had the thought and made mention on this blog previously of wanting my writing to become more part of a community, and perhaps this is jumping off point.

In summary... I like words, like to write stuff and love the idea of a blog about (well, close enough about) this same words and their arranging in a meaningful order.

"Restrepo" & "The Tillman Story" Documentaries

Watched two documentaries lately that had a lot in common with one another.

Both about the people in the military, both closely related to books that I've read and both excellent... with that excellence leading me to a sense of disgust about the military leadership featured in one of the films.

First movie was "Restrepo" from filmmaker Tim Hetherington and writer Sebastian Junger on their time spent embedded with a US military unit in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. The movie is the companion piece to Junger's written account "War" and shows a portrait of just how chaotic and messed up combat can be.

I wrote of this in my review, but I was struck by the idea of someone doing a tour in such extreme and violent conditions and then (hopefully) returning home to live a normal life. I'd say my thought was that it takes a special person to be able to do transition back seamlessly, but really... I don't know how anyone could compartmentalize the type of combat written of and then return home without issue.

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Second movie (and the one featuring the military leadership) was "The Tillman Story" by Amir Bar-Lev. It's about former NFL player Pat Tillman, killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan and covers much of the same territory as the Jon Krakauer book on Tillman, "Where Men Win Glory" (which I reviewed here). Both the movie and book portrayed Tillman as someone shamelessly exploited by his military chain of command after his death.

The books and movies referenced here depict the death as well as emotional scars that can come from combat. What's so troubling is how someone (like Tillman) could sign up for that, and then have the circumstances of his life and death manipulated for a political goal... in this case, support of a given war.

Really good books and movies all four... just not the happy and fluffy kind of really good.

Twitter as a Social Media Tool

The impact of both Twitter and Facebook really is remarkable. While they're of course different platforms operating in different ways, each works in Social Media (posted on here) and each is a remarkable enabler of Social Media.

Facebook started first and has a wider usage (primarily for personal connections, but also with a business application (as detailed in this post on personal recommendations), but Twitter in no way should be discounted as a tool towards the Social Media idea of information dissemination.

Thing that amazes me about Twitter as an application is how it can work with such widely varied groups of people towards widely varied purposes...

If someone wants it as political vehicle... easy, get a Twitter account and follow what political figures say. If someone wants it as a tool to keep in touch with friends... great, follow them. Related to all this and in terms of Twitter as a tool for business... the audience is there, it's just a matter of being compelling enough to get people paying attention and following (or the influencers following and retweeting your message to their followers).

There's been a lot written about Twitter as a business (with this post about a Fast Company cover story), but what strikes me is my usage of Twitter as a way to learn of information held elsewhere. Basic concept is that it's all about the links. Someone you follow on Twitter links to a blog, a video, and news story... you're now taken somewhere and exposed to something that without Twitter might have gone completely under the radar.

The topic could be virtually anything (and as detailed above, it's self-selecting based on followers chosen), but the impact is remarkable... and will continue to grow in both width and depth as more people use the tool.

Sports Illustrated Profiles: Jake Plummer & the Brothers Harbaugh

Two really good Sports Illustrated profiles that bear posting on together.

From the most recent issue, Chris Ballard wrote "What Was He Thinking?" about former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer and an October 2010 SI piece was "Beat, Play, Love" by Michael Rosenberg on now NFL coaches Jim & John Harbaugh.

Both were detailed and well written looks at the respective men, but what struck me as the common thread was how the three of them appear to be doing what they want in life.

The Harbaughs were raised in a football family, but the path each followed really points to the goal of being a head football coach. There's a fair amount of interesting back story from Rosenberg as to what brought John to the head job in Baltimore and Jim more recently to that with San Francisco, but it's impressive reading about someone knowing what they want and working over time to get there.

Ballard's story on Jake Plummer differs from that on the Harbaughs as rather than being about people in marquee NFL roles, it's about someone who walked away from a position in the spotlight. After starring in college and then earning accolades and wealth with first the Cardinals and then Broncos, Plummer left his role as an NFL quarterback (and $5M upcoming season salary) and retired to his home in Sand Point, ID. Instead of pining away for the past, Plummer comes across as completely at ease with his life... including his passion for competitive handball (and associated comradeship).

Excellent stories both with solid writing from Rosenberg and Ballard respectively, but what really struck me was the subjects themselves. Yea, maybe not everyone has made the type of money Plummer has to be able to walk away from a profession, but he still left a lot behind to follow his desires. The Harbaughs path may be more traditional in that theirs doesn't so blatantly diverge from the traditional, but it's nonetheless impressive to read about the work they've put in to now have their aspired to positions.

Close to Best 2010 Writing Linked To - Business

Last post (well, most likely) in the Best and Close to Best Writing Linked To In 2010 series with two particularly interesting pieces around business that I linked to last year...

The Nov issue of Fast Company featured "The Siberian Energy Rush" on Russian claim staking in the Arctic (posted on and linked to here) and the May 17-23 issue of Businessweek "South Africa: A Big Bounce from the World Cup"... written about at this post.

Both well written pieces about business, but specifically business as it relates to a particular country and development efforts. Interesting stuff...

Feature Writing from New Businessweek - on Glock, Apple, Google & Ford

After having my Businessweek subscription expired for the past six months, I decided recently to start reading again... and find the new Bloomberg Businessweek pretty solid.

Each issue is larger than those from the previous format and while a goodly amount of the vignette pieces I'm not into, I find the feature writing excellent. Thus far I've seen four issues and there's been at least one excellent lengthy piece in every issue.

The Jan 13 issue cover story was Glock: America's Gun and a thorough look at the company that for better or worse, has provided arms for American streets (cops and robbers both) over the past 25 years.



Cover stories from the next two issues of BW followed with looks at top companies going through changes (both intended as temporary and permanent) in leadership.

The Jan 19 issue featured Apple, With or Without Steve Jobs and Jan 26 issue Larry Page's Google 3.0. Each story provides a well written and in-depth look at the companies in question.





Finally (at least for the purpose of this blog post) was the Feb 3 issue which featured (but, not as it's cover story) The Happiest Man in Detroit about Ford Motor Company and it's CEO Alan Mulally. I've written about and linked to stories on Ford previously and am pretty well fascinated by the company and it's current (and future) product offerings.

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Nothing that would be considered lyrical in any of these pieces, but solid writing on interesting topics.

New Blog About Writing & Words from Chris Jones

Since I do a goodly amount of blathering on about words and what they mean, I was very very (did I mention very?) interested to learn of a new blog from Chris Jones (one of my favorite writers) that he describes as being "about writing and words."

On the Blogger network (ok, since I've now seen this blog and the one from Joe Posnanski on blogger, I'll remain on and not move to TypePad), Son of a Bold Venture features a hodgepodge of writing from Jones... with almost if not all of the posts thus far on the subject of Writing.

His first post provides both some short back story around becoming a writer (which frankly, made me want to hear the long back story) and impetus behind the blog. With the second post a day later being on another of my favorite writers, the aforementioned Joe Posnanski, I was sold as a reader. Well, I would have been into it anyways, but you get the point.

I posted a comment to this second blog entry with a portion of it being the following:

Joe Posnanski for me hits on multiple elements of good writing. It's thorough, conveys a message and is emotional... but without dropping into the realm of sentimental just for the sake of sentiment (if that makes sense as an accolade).

Now, I'm not going to follow the traditional path that my blog has taken of reposting or linking to good writing and saying why it's good since that would be, you know... My commenting on My writing and saying why I like it. What I will do though, is say that I love this idea of what makes good writing good.

Me thinks it's especially a trick to come up with good writing of the more heartfelt variety (which I tend to lean towards rather than away from) because if not done well, it just becomes ooshy-gushy. The writers I most enjoy and seek out stuff from (Posnanski, Jones, S.L. Price, David Von Drehle, Austin Murphy when he's not doing straight game reporting) all seem to accomplish this feat of solid and thorough writing that also has heart.

So, back to the point (and title) of this post... a blog on writing by a guy who writes in a fashion that I admire, it's Word Gold to me.

Barack Obama Tucson Speech & Patti Davis on Ronald Reagan

There's a great number of topics posted on and linked to on this blog... including those from the worlds of sports, business, family and politics. Two pieces I've come across lately fall loosely into the Political category, but squarely into the category of great writing.

The first was President Barack Obama's address to the nation following the shooting in Tucson. The writing in his speech had the same elements as other outstanding writing posted on and linked to about the tragedy. It covered the topic (if that's not too crass of a term to use in this case), did so in a clear voice, and conveyed a message well.

One could either disagree or agree with policies from the man, but this particular speech was just... solid.

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The second piece of writing sort of about politics (but, not really) that I found excellent lately was by Patti Davis on her late father Ronald Reagan. From Time Magazine, "Grace Under Fire" is a commentary about time spent with the former President as he suffered from Alzheimer's.

Reminded me of family writing from memoirs by Gary Dell' Abate and John Grogan... which I reviewed here and here respectively. Very moving stuff...