Los Angeles just got a little less interesting. The landmark bookstore on Melrose has closed. According to the story, it may or may not reopen as a bricks-and-mortar operation. God forbid it only tries to keep virtually afloat. I've never... Continue reading

The passing of Steve Jobs understandably prompted a chorus of grief and eulogy among his fans, along with refrains of the usual hyperboles voiced during his lifetime in praise of his genius and technological vision. Although I admire the evident... Continue reading

Stanley Fish's latest book has not surprisingly generated a large number of reviews. Etc. It is How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One, and it aims apparently to help the reader to write and read sentences. I... Continue reading

By accident--this is, after all, the Accidental Blogger--two stories from major news outlets came my way, both in relevant part pertaining to domestic amenities, kitchen conveniences in particular. I don't often read the real estate or dining pages. Now I'm... Continue reading

A long time ago, in a coffee shop far, far away (a now defunct Diedrich's in Brea, CA), I had the good fortune of befriending one of the baristas, a young Chapman University film student and musician. Steve had taken... Continue reading

Set aside the fact that a recent story about the privatization of public libraries isn't really news. Library Journal was reporting on the company featured in the Business section of the NYT, LSSI, in a series of stories back in... Continue reading

San Francisco has at least one "writer, editor, and dad" too many. The Bay Area is famous for its assortment of self-centered, self-righteous, self-pitying, well-educated, enlightened boorish parents, but Simon is special. Evidently he is having a difficult time confronting... Continue reading

Having read (just) a few of her reviews over the years, I don't believe Michiko Kakutani knows much about books or literature. But I am quite confident that she knows even less about network technologies and even less than that... Continue reading

In her guest contribution to the NYT Opinionator column, Barbara Herrnstein Smith does a better job than even Stanley Fish of teasing out the dynamics of the needless quarrel between SCIENCE (writ large, if vaguely) and RELIGION (ditto), and given... Continue reading

Stanley Fish is a national treasure. He has managed seemingly effortlessly to review favorably—quite favorably!—Sarah Palin's book, and with only the slightest hint of irony. My assessment of the book has nothing to do with the accuracy of its accounts.... Continue reading

What's going on here? It's a bittersweet human interest tale with some facts and figures mixed in, not too cloying. Blacks and whites have encountered one another in increasing numbers recently in the crowded waiting rooms of the welfare office... Continue reading