The way the world works : essays / Nicholson Baker.
Material type:
TextPublication details: New York : Simon & Schuster, c2012.Edition: 1st Simon & Schuster hardcover edDescription: x, 317 p. ; 22 cmISBN: - 1416572473 (hbk.)
- 9781416572473 (hbk.)
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Dr. James Carlson Library | NonFiction | 814.6 B168 | Available | 33111006890681 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
New York Times bestselling author Nicholson Baker, "who writes like no one else in America" ( Newsweek ), has assembled his best nonfiction writing over the last fifteen years, a trove of original and provocative pieces.
Nicholson Baker, who "writes like no one else in America" ( Newsweek ), here assembles his best short pieces from the last fifteen years.
The Way the World Works , Baker's second nonfiction collection, ranges over the map of life to examine what troubles us, what eases our pain, and what brings us joy. Baker moves from political controversy to the intimacy of his own life, from forgotten heroes of pacifism to airplane wings, telephones, paper mills, David Remnick, Joseph Pulitzer, the OED , and the manufacture of the Venetian gondola. He writes about kite string and about the moment he met his wife, and he surveys our fascination with video games while attempting to beat his teenage son at Modern Warfare 2 . In a celebrated essay on Wikipedia, Baker describes his efforts to stem the tide of encyclopedic deletionism; in another, he charts the rise of e-readers; in a third he chronicles his Freedom of Information lawsuit against the San Francisco Public Library.
Through all these pieces, many written for The New Yorker , Harper's , and The American Scholar , Baker shines the light of an inexpugnable curiosity. The Way the World Works is a keen-minded, generous-spirited compendium by a modern American master.
Life: String -- Coins -- How I met my wife -- La mer -- Why I like the telephone -- What happened on April 29, 1994 -- Sunday at the dump -- Writing wearing earplugs -- One summer. Reading: Thorin son of Thráin -- Narrow ruled -- Inky burden -- No step -- I said to myself -- Defoe, truthteller -- From A to Zyxt -- The nod -- David Remnick. Libraries and newspapers: Truckin' for the future -- If libraries don't do it, who will? -- Reading the paper -- The Times in 1951 -- Take a look at this airship! -- Sex and the city, circa 1840. Technology: Grab me a gondola -- The charms of Wikipedia -- Kindle 2 -- Papermakers -- Google's earth -- Steve Jobs. War: Why I'm a pacifist -- We don't know the language we don't know -- Painkiller deathstreak. Last essay: Mowing.
"Baker's second nonfiction collection, ranges over the map of life to examine what troubles us, what eases our pain, and what brings us joy. Baker moves from political controversy to the intimacy of his own life, from forgotten heroes of pacifism to airplane wings, telephones, paper mills, David Remnick, Joseph Pulitzer, the "OED," and the manufacture of the Venetian gondola. He writes about kite string and about the moment he met his wife, and he surveys our fascination with video games while attempting to beat his teenage son at "Modern Warfare 2." In a celebrated essay on Wikipedia, Baker describes his efforts to stem the tide of encyclopedic deletionism; in another, he charts the rise of e-readers; in a third he chronicles his Freedom of Information lawsuit against the San Francisco Public Library."--Provided by publisher.