“After America” is the sequel to “Without Warning“. In it, the few remaining Americans try to recover their decimated and nearly empty country, facing internal struggles and external threats. It’s a typical “middle of the trilogy” book, building on the first, setting up the last, but not quite able to stand on its own. The momentum of the very good first book carried me through this one, but I hope the story picks up speed in the subsequent volumes.
“Make” magazine’s Mark Frauenfelder writes about doing it yourself as a way to connect with… something. He tries to make some funny stories about gardening and fixing things into a meditation on meaning. The stories are pleasant enough, but they don’t carry the weight he wants to load them with. The book does have a nice profile of “Mister Jalopy“, though.
Michael O’Keeffe, Teri Thompson
The “Card” of this book’s title is the T206 Honus Wagner card, specifically the “Gretzky” card, the most famous, most valuable (it sold for $2.8 million in 2007) baseball card in history. But where did it come from and is it too perfect?
O’Keefe and Thompson imply, without proving, that the card isn’t what it seems to be. They suggest that it’s either restored or cut from a proof sheet. Classic cars and old masters paintings can be restored, but baseball card collectors insist that the smallest repair ruins a cards value.
This book takes the reader on an interesting journey into baseball history, the mind of the collector, and the darker corners of the sports memorabilia business.
Saylor uses one fictional family to tell the story of Rome from its founding through the end of the Republic. I read it because I have an ongoing interest in Roman history, but Saylor is no Michener (he’s not even a Rutherfurd) and his exposition, consisting of long-winded speeches in which two-dimensional characters tell other characters things they would already know for the reader’s benefit is awkward.
The author – a presenter on the original BBC “Antiques Roadshow” – makes his living by finding, buying, and selling lost and misidentified art. The book is a series of interesting anecdotes about his experiences, most of which feed the fantasy that there are undiscovered riches “out there” for those clever enough to find them. I was surprised at how much of his business is done on the Internet and how often he purchases works without a first-hand inspection.
I should have an “other people’s hobbies” category for books like this. For some reason I’m fascinated by stories of people who are interested in things that I’m not particularly interested in. There was a time, though, when cards were a penny and came with a stick of gum, that I would stop at the dairy store on the way home from school… Anyway, this is an interesting book about the history of baseball cards and the people who collect them.
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