This is the fourth in a series of books expressing my observations about humankind, society, and the universe. The content of the books in the series is laid out in chronological sequence. The tidbits of wisdom, called "blurbs," (or vignettes, if you prefer) are headed with four items: a sequence number; the date on which the blurb was made; and a slashed number which indicates the blurb sequence for the day and the number of blurbs made on that day, for example 1/1 or 3/5. On most dates t...

Fighter pilots see the world differently from other people. This series of books is a philosophical memoir of how I sense humanity, society, and the universe I live in. I began these writings when I was 33 years old. For several decades it never occurred to me that I might want to publish them. In the sunset of my years — I am three-score and twelve, now — it began to dawn on me that it would be important, though I'm not sure to whom, for my progeny to know how I sensed the universe in whi...

Fighter pilots see the world differently from other people. This series of books is a philosophical memoir of how I sense humanity, society, and the universe I live in. I began these writings when I was 33 years old. For several decades it never occurred to me that I might want to publish them. In the sunset of my years - I am three-score and twelve, now - it began to dawn on me that it would be important, though I'm not sure to whom, for my progeny to know how I sensed the universe in whi...

'In a very real sense, Whatever is my life's work; it's fifteen years (so far) of me thinking about what's going on in my life and in my world.'--John ScalziWhat sort of idiot spends fifteen years writing a blog? New York Times Bestselling author John Scalzi is that sort of idiot. And in those fifteen years the blog he's written, called Whatever, has won awards, had its entries republished in newspapers, magazines and books, and has seen millions of readers each year come by...

Who is this guy and why are people listening?Forget Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity—Glenn Beck is the Right’s new media darling and the unofficial leader of the conservative grassroots. Lampooned by the Left and Lionized by the far Right, his bluster-and-tears brand of political commentary has commandeered attention on both sides of the aisle.Glenn Beck has emerged over the last decade as a unique and bizarre conservative icon for the new cen...

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned red-baiting? The #1 New York Times–bestselling humorist rails against the silly people in our midst . . .In the midst of the Clinton years, political satirist P. J. O'Rourke, in conjunction with the conservative magazine The American Spectator, launched into a gleeful project: carrying on the grand tradition of McCarthyism by compiling a New Enemies List. Their goal: to reveal the utter silliness of politici...

Hunter S. Thompson was so outside the box, a new word was invented just to define him: Gonzo. He was a journalist who mocked all the rules, a hell-bent fellow who loved to stomp on his own accelerator, the writer every other writer tried to imitate. In these brutally candid and very funny interviews that range across his fabled career, Thompson reveals himself as mad for politics, which he thought was both the source of the country’s despair and, just maybe, the answer to it. At a moment w...

In The Backlash, Liberal columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winning political reporter Will Bunch goes behind the scenes of America's new extreme right-wing minority to explore how their campaign of misinformation, their distortion of President Obama, and their collective fear of the future combine to pose a very real threat to our democratic system. From health care reform to immigration policies, The Backlash is a gripping investigation into the emerging voice of the dangerou...

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank takes a fair and balanced look at the unsettling rise of the silly Fox News host Glenn Beck.Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that “the tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” In America in 2010, Glenn Beck provides the very refreshment Jefferson had in mind: Whether he’s the patriot or the tyrant, he’s definitely full of manure.The w...

"A gift . . . One wonders how the world might be different if works in The Best American Nonrequired Reading were indeed required." — USA TodaySarah Vowell, author of Lafayette in the Somewhat United States and other best-selling titles "gilded with snark, buoyant on charm" (NPR), worked with the students of the 826 Valencia writing lab to edit this year's anthology. They compiled new fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and the category-d...

**#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA collection of Rush Limbaugh’s greatest on-air moments, with special commentary and personal stories from his beloved widow, Kathryn Limbaugh, and brother, David Limbaugh.**For more than thirty years, millions of listeners tuned in to hear Rush Limbaugh’s voice. At its peak, The Rush Limbaugh Show aired on more than 650 radio stations nationwide, and his inimitable commentary and distinctive sense of humor garnered a devoted ...

Glenn Beck (born February 10, 1964, Mount Vernon, Washington, U.S.) is an American conservative political commentator and television and radio personality, perhaps best known for hosting the talk show Glenn Beck (2009–11) on the Fox News Channel. He is the current host of a talk-radio show, “The Glenn Beck Program”, which is now on four hundred stations across the country. He is also the author of numerous bestselling books. Beck has created one of the most controversial and lucrative medi...