Podcasts about Nicholson Baker

In response to several requests from our (wonderful) Patreon subscribers, we're unlocking this episode from behind the paywall. Consider subscribing at Patreon.com/KnowYourEnemy to never miss an episode. March 2025 marked five years since the formal start of the pandemic in the United States, when the federal government declared the arrival and spread of the novel coronavirus to be a national emergency. The official Covid death toll in the United States now stands at over 1.2 million; globally it surpasses 20 million people. Tens of millions of others were hospitalized, and many who survived infection are facing long Covid or related health complications. Our lives were upended, whether by sheltering-in-place, working from home, and barely leaving our home or apartment, or, for others, by endangering themselves by continuing to show up to work in hospitals, making deliveries, or staffing essential businesses. And yet, as David Wallace-Wells recently argued in the New York Times, "We tell ourselves we've moved on and hardly talk about the disease or all the people who died or the way the trauma and tumult have transformed us. But Covid changed everything around us."We wanted to have a conversation with David about that reality: why, collectively, we resist acknowledging what Covid really cost us, and the ways it continues to shape our lives. The discussion begins by revisiting the first weeks and months of the pandemic, the fear we felt, and the remarkable displays of solidarity that occurred in blue states as well as red states. From there we explore the different "phases" of the pandemic, how public-health measures became culture-war fodder, the impact of the vaccine on how both the public and elected officials perceived the risks of Covid, the pandemic's profound influence on our politics, the fallout from school closures, the Lab Leak Theory, and more.Listen again: "How to Survive a Pandemic" (w/ Peter Staley), Feb 21, 2021Sources:David Wallace-Wells, "How Covid Remade America," New York Times, Mar 4, 2025— "The Covid Alarmists Were Closer to the Truth Than Anyone Else," New York Times, Feb 26, 2025— "We've Been Talking About the Lab-Leak Hypothesis All Wrong," New York Times, Feb 28, 2023— "Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong'," New York Times, April 24, 2023David Wallace-Wells, The Uninhabitable Earth (2019)Nicholson Baker, "The Lab-Leak Hypothesis," New York Magazine, Jan 4, 2021Zeynep Tufekci, "We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives," NYTimes, Mar 16, 2025.Sam Adler-Bell, "Doctor Do-Little​: The Case Against Anthony Fauci," The Drift, Jan 24, 2021— "David Leonhardt: The Pandemic Interpreter," NYMag, Feb 24, 2022.Jacqueline Rose, "To Die One's Own Death," LRB, Nov 19, 2020.

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemyThis month marked five years since the formal start of the pandemic in the United States in March 2020, when the federal government declared the arrival and spread of the novel coronavirus to be a national emergency. The official Covid death toll in the United States now stands at over 1.2 million; globally it surpasses 20 million people. Tens of millions of others were hospitalized, and many who survived infection are facing long Covid or related health complications. Our lives were upended, whether by sheltering-in-place, working from home, and barely leaving our home or apartment, or, for others, by endangering themselves by continuing to show up to work in hospitals, making deliveries, or staffing essential businesses. And yet, as David Wallace-Wells recently argued in the New York Times, "We tell ourselves we've moved on and hardly talk about the disease or all the people who died or the way the trauma and tumult have transformed us. But Covid changed everything around us."We wanted to have a conversation with David about that reality: why, collectively, we resist acknowledging what Covid really cost us, and the ways it continues to shape our lives. The discussion begins by revisiting the first weeks and months of the pandemic, the fear we felt, and the remarkable displays of solidarity that occurred in blue states as well as red states. From there we explore the different "phases" of the pandemic, how public-health measures became culture-war fodder, the impact of the vaccine on how both the public and elected officials perceived the risks of Covid, the pandemic's profound influence on our politics, the fallout from school closures, the Lab Leak Theory, and more.Listen again: "How to Survive a Pandemic" (w/ Peter Staley), Feb 21, 2021Sources:David Wallace-Wells, "How Covid Remade America," New York Times, Mar 4, 2025— "The Covid Alarmists Were Closer to the Truth Than Anyone Else," New York Times, Feb 26, 2025— "We've Been Talking About the Lab-Leak Hypothesis All Wrong," New York Times, Feb 28, 2023— "Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong'," New York Times, April 24, 2023David Wallace-Wells, The Uninhabitable Earth (2019)Nicholson Baker, "The Lab-Leak Hypothesis," New York Magazine, Jan 4, 2021Zeynep Tufekci, "We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives," NYTimes, Mar 16, 2025.Sam Adler-Bell, "Doctor Do-Little​: The Case Against Anthony Fauci," The Drift, Jan 24, 2021— "David Leonhardt: The Pandemic Interpreter," NYMag, Feb 24, 2022.Jacqueline Rose, "To Die One's Own Death," LRB, Nov 19, 2020.

Helena and Nicholson Baker on drawing your loved ones, the horrors of the world, and finding your way back to beauty.

In this week's episode, Rachael Tillman and I break some standards of academia as we discuss the poetry insights of Paul Chowder, the narrator of Nicholson Baker's 2009 comic novel, The Anthologist.

What a treat! First, Jacke talks to Nicholson Baker, an author he's been reading for the past three decades, about Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art, Baker's deeply personal account of his journey learning how to paint for the first time, and a meditation on the power of art in times of crisis. Then Vera Kutizinski and Anthony Reed, editors of Langston Hughes in Context, stop by to discuss their choices for the last books they will ever read. Enjoy! Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kimberly does not love poetry. Which she considers a personal failure. But it turns out that she LOVES hearing Paul Chowder, narrator of this novel, teach her all about poetry. If you need a lift, and love hilarious, smart books--listen in!

We’re taking a drawing lesson with Nicholson Baker—yes, the multifarious writers’ writer Nick Baker; the COVID lab leak detective; the pacifist historian of World War II in his book Human Smoke; he’s also the cherubic ...

Beth Golay recently spoke with Nicholson Baker about his new novel, "Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art."

Baker's hilarious, inventive prose melds with incredibly well curated images to produce something only Baker could produce. Kimberly LOVED diving in to the many ways in which the guy is creating literary (and visual) magic.

In this week's show, John talks with Nicholson Baker about the potential sorrows of writing, the drive to discover joy, and the need to explore other creative endeavors besides writing.

A new 'Craftwork' episode, about how to get (somewhat) better at art. My guest is Nicholson Baker, author of Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art, available from Penguin Press. Nicholson Baker has written seventeen books, including The Mezzanine, Vox, Human Smoke, The Anthologist, and Baseless--also an art book, The World on Sunday, in collaboration with his wife, Margaret Brentano. Several of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, and he has won a National Book Critics Circle Award, a James Madison Freedom of Information Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, and the Hermann Hesse Prize. Baker has two grown children; he and his wife live on the Penobscot River in Maine. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch Twitter Instagram  TikTok Bluesky Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy publication day to Finding a Likeness by Nicholson Baker! Listen to editor Ann Godoff share backstory on the book, and stay tuned for a reading from the book.About the book: From the acclaimed and bestselling writer Nicholson Baker, a deeply personal account of his journey learning how to paint for the first time, and a meditation on the power of art in times of crisis.Read more: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/635820/finding-a-likeness-by-nicholson-baker/Follow us online—Website: https://www.penguin.com/penguin-press-overview/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/penguinpress/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/penguinpress TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thepenguinpress Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PenguinPress/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/10489701/admin/feed/posts/

Author and UFO debunker Nicholson Baker published an opinion piece in the New York Magazine Intelligencer Wednesday that, among other things, suggested that all flying saucer reports can be attributed to balloons and that monkeys killed in flight experiments are responsible for dead alien body reports. Links/Sources: How UFO Sightings and Alien Autopsies Became Serious News (nymag.com) WITNESS TO ROSWELL by Thomas Carey and Donald Schmitt: https://amzn.to/3ufE1NG Check out my YouTube channel: Quirk Zone - YouTube Extraterrestrial Reality book recommendations: Link to ROSWELL: THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE: CLOSED: https://amzn.to/3O2loSI Link to COMMUNION by Whitley Strieber: https://amzn.to/3xuPGqi Link to THE THREAT by David M. Jacobs: https://amzn.to/3Lk52nj Link to TOP SECRET/MAJIC by Stanton Friedman: https://amzn.to/3xvidfv Link to NEED TO KNOW by Timothy Good:  https://amzn.to/3BNftfT Link to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 1:  https://amzn.to/3xxJvlv Link to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 2: https://amzn.to/3UhdQ1l Link to THE ALLAGASH ABDUCTIONS: https://amzn.to/3qNkLSg Link to UFO CRASH RETRIEVALS by Leonard Stringfield: https://amzn.to/3RGEZKs FLYING SAUCERS FROM OUTER SPACE by Major Donald Keyhoe: https://amzn.to/3S7Wkxv CAPTURED: THE BETTY AND BARNEY HILL UFO EXPERIENCE by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden: https://amzn.to/3tKNVXn --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-quirk/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-quirk/support

Author and UFO debunker Nicholson Baker published an opinion piece in the New York Magazine Intelligencer Wednesday that, among other things, suggested that all flying saucer reports can be attributed to balloons and that monkeys killed in flight experiments are responsible for dead alien body reports. Links/Sources: How UFO Sightings and Alien Autopsies Became Serious News (nymag.com) WITNESS TO ROSWELL by Thomas Carey and Donald Schmitt: https://amzn.to/3ufE1NG Check out my YouTube channel: Quirk Zone - YouTube Extraterrestrial Reality book recommendations: Link to ROSWELL: THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE: CLOSED: https://amzn.to/3O2loSI Link to COMMUNION by Whitley Strieber: https://amzn.to/3xuPGqi Link to THE THREAT by David M. Jacobs: https://amzn.to/3Lk52nj Link to TOP SECRET/MAJIC by Stanton Friedman: https://amzn.to/3xvidfv Link to NEED TO KNOW by Timothy Good:  https://amzn.to/3BNftfT Link to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 1:  https://amzn.to/3xxJvlv Link to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 2: https://amzn.to/3UhdQ1l Link to THE ALLAGASH ABDUCTIONS: https://amzn.to/3qNkLSg Link to UFO CRASH RETRIEVALS by Leonard Stringfield: https://amzn.to/3RGEZKs FLYING SAUCERS FROM OUTER SPACE by Major Donald Keyhoe: https://amzn.to/3S7Wkxv CAPTURED: THE BETTY AND BARNEY HILL UFO EXPERIENCE by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden: https://amzn.to/3tKNVXn --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-quirk/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/james-quirk/support

In this episode, the Spine Crackers discuss American author and literary one-of-a-kind Nicholson Baker's Vox (1992), an erotic study of character, technology, human connection, and fantasy. Full episode on Patreon below: https://www.patreon.com/spinecrackers

Énorme événement littéraire à sa sortie en 1992 et classique reconnu de l'érotisme, Vox a redessiné le territoire littéraire du sexe - solitaire et technologique, drôle et baroque, lyrique et profane. Écrit sous la forme d'une conversation téléphonique entre deux étrangers, Vox a contribué à placer son auteur, Nicholson Baker, au premier rang des grands écrivains contemporains.

NO READING NECESSARY! This introduction to Baker's hilarious and ultra-smart The Mezzanine will convince you how easy--and beneficial--it is to slooooow doooown. In this day and age, we ALL need a fat dose of Nicholson Baker.

Today, we're pulling one of our best episodes from the vaults, featuring the brilliant Madeleine Dore.  Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages I still remember reading my first Nicholson Baker book, The Mezzanine. This extraordinary book slows down the pace of life to one where all the details are able to be noticed. For someone like me–a little bit in my head and moving too fast–reading the book resembles bullet time from The Matrix movies, only with the detritus of everyday living zipping past, instead.  Madeleine Dore reminds me of myself; both a great author and a great asker of questions, though they differ a bit from mine. She's made a career out of asking obvious questions to important people, with all of the answers she's received ending up in her best-selling book I Didn't Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt.  Get‌ ‌book‌ ‌links‌ ‌and‌ ‌resources‌ ‌at‌ https://www.mbs.works/2-pages-podcast/  Madeleine reads two pages from ‘Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life,' by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. [reading begins at 12:12]  Hear us discuss:  Making more generous assumptions. [16:24] | The relationship between playfulness and routine. [17:15] | Knowing what's essential vs transitory about yourself: “It takes a long time to become who you are.” [20:12] | “Things are just experiments and projects—we're not tied to anything forever.” [25:28] | The complexity of awaiting your next project. [26:35]

Sad news for all of us: producer Rachael Cusick— who brought us soul-stirring stories rethinking grief (https://zpr.io/GZ6xEvpzsbHU) and solitude (https://zpr.io/eT5tAX6JtYra), as well as colorful musings on airplane farts (https://zpr.io/CNpgUijZiuZ4) and belly flops (https://zpr.io/uZrEz27z63CB) and Blueberry Earths (https://zpr.io/EzxgtdTRGVzz)— is leaving the show. So we thought it perfect timing to sit down with her and revisit another brainchild of hers, The Cataclysm Sentence, a collection of advice for The End. To explain: one day in 1961, the famous physicist Richard Feynman stepped in front of a Caltech lecture hall and posed this question to a group of undergraduate students: “If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence was passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?” Now, Feynman had an answer to his own question—a good one. But his question got the entire team at Radiolab wondering, what did his sentence leave out? So we posed Feynman's cataclysm question to some of our favorite writers, artists, historians, futurists—all kinds of great thinkers. We asked them “What's the one sentence you would want to pass on to the next generation that would contain the most information in the fewest words?” What came back was an explosive collage of what it means to be alive right here and now, and what we want to say before we go. Featuring: Richard Feynman, physicist - The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (https://zpr.io/5KngTGibPVDw) Caitlin Doughty, mortician - Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs (https://zpr.io/Wn4bQgHzDRDB) Esperanza Spalding, musician - 12 Little Spells (https://zpr.io/KMjYrkwrz9dy)  Cord Jefferson, writer - Watchmen (https://zpr.io/ruqKDQGy5Rv8)  Merrill Garbus, musician - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life (https://zpr.io/HmrqFX8RKuFq) Jenny Odell, writer - How to do Nothing (https://zpr.io/JrUHu8dviFqc) Maria Popova, writer - Brainpickings (https://zpr.io/vsHXphrqbHiN) Alison Gopnik, developmental psychologist - The Gardener and the Carpenter (https://zpr.io/ewtJpUYxpYqh) Rebecca Sugar, animator - Steven Universe (https://zpr.io/KTtSrdsBtXB7) Nicholson Baker, writer - Substitute (https://zpr.io/QAh2d7J9QJf2) James Gleick, writer - Time Travel (https://zpr.io/9CWX9q3KmZj8) Lady Pink, artist - too many amazing works to pick just one (https://zpr.io/FkJh6edDBgRL) Jenny Hollwell, writer - Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe (https://zpr.io/MjP5UJb3mMYP) Jaron Lanier, futurist - Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now (https://zpr.io/bxWiHLhPyuEK) Missy Mazzoli, composer - Proving Up (https://zpr.io/hTwGcHGk93Ty)   Special Thanks to: Ella Frances Sanders, and her book, "Eating the Sun" (https://zpr.io/KSX6DruwRaYL), for inspiring this whole episode. Caltech for letting us use original audio of The Feynman Lectures on Physics. The entirety of the lectures are available to read for free online at www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu.All the musicians who helped make the Primordial Chord, including: Siavash Kamkar (https://zpr.io/2ZT46XsMRdhg), from Iran  Koosha Pashangpour (https://zpr.io/etWDXuCctrzE), from Iran Curtis MacDonald (https://zpr.io/HQ8uskA44BUh), from Canada Meade Bernard (https://zpr.io/gbxDPPzHFvme), from US Barnaby Rea (https://zpr.io/9ULsQh5iGUPa), from UK Liav Kerbel (https://zpr.io/BA4DBwMhwZDU), from Belgium Sam Crittenden (https://zpr.io/EtQZmAk2XrCQ), from US Saskia Lankhoorn (https://zpr.io/YiH6QWJreR7p), from Netherlands Bryan Harris (https://zpr.io/HMiyy2TGcuwE), from US Amelia Watkins (https://zpr.io/6pWEw3y754me), from Canada Claire James (https://zpr.io/HFpHTUwkQ2ss), from US Ilario Morciano (https://zpr.io/zXvM7cvnLHW6), from Italy Matthias Kowalczyk, from Germany (https://zpr.io/ANkRQMp6NtHR) Solmaz Badri (https://zpr.io/MQ5VAaKieuyN), from IranAll the wonderful people we interviewed for sentences but weren't able to fit in this episode, including: Daniel Abrahm, Julia Alvarez, Aimee Bender, Sandra Cisneros, Stanley Chen, Lewis Dartnell, Ann Druyan, Rose Eveleth, Ty Frank, Julia Galef, Ross Gay, Gary Green, Cesar Harada, Dolores Huerta, Robin Hunicke, Brittany Kamai, Priya Krishna, Ken Liu, Carmen Maria Machado, James Martin, Judith Matloff, Ryan McMahon, Hasan Minhaj, Lorrie Moore, Priya Natarajan, Larry Owens, Sunni Patterson, Amy Pearl, Alison Roman, Domee Shi, Will Shortz, Sam Stein, Sohaib Sultan, Kara Swisher, Jill Tarter, Olive Watkins, Reggie Watts, Deborah Waxman, Alex Wellerstein, Caveh Zahedi.EPISODE CREDITS Reported by - Rachael Cusick (https://www.rachaelcusick.com/)Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org Leadership support for Radiolab's science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This week's guest is Andy Hunter, founder and CEO of Bookshop.org, an online bookstore with an explicit mission to help promote and financially support the brick-and-mortar independent bookselling community. It is a platform that provides independent bookstores with an easy way to promote their stock and book lovers an alternative to purchase the books they love online without driving sales to Amazon. Books We Talk About: The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker, When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut, and The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin.Finally! A Book Club You'll LoveLIT Society is the hilarious weekly show that'll make you fall in love again with reading!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify The Legacy Wealth Code PodcastThe secrets of real estate investing, tax strategies, and building a legacy!Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Libraries are historically the greatest transmitters of knowledge and culture for any civilization. From the appearance of the very first collection of manuscripts to the building of the greatest temples of books, libraries have risen – and invariably fallen – through the ages and throughout time, they've played many different roles and fulfilled a variety of functions, and continue to evolve as we speak.  What is the history of libraries, what is their role and how has that been changing? This is what my two guests today have written about. Professor Andrew Pettegree is a historian at Saint Andrews University where he specializes in the history of the book and media transformations, and Dr. Arthur der Weduwen is a Postdoctoral Fellow also at Saint Andrews University in Scotland. They co-wrote in 2021 an engaging and deeply researched book called “The Library: A Fragile History” where they investigate this institution throughout different eras and countries to reveal that libraries didn't always look like the ones we think about today, and also that they're a lot more fragile than we think. Here is a quick recap of the books mentioned throughout the episode: The Book At War, by Andrew Pettegree, published in 2023, which explores the role that books have played in conflicts. What is their favourite book that I've never heard of? Andrew: “Thurn und Taxis”, by Wolfgang Behringer (1990) Arthur: “The Forgotten Soldier”, by Guy Sajer (1965) What is the best book that they've read in the last 12 months? Andrew: “State Communications and Public Politics in the Dutch Golden Age” by Arthur der Weduwen (2023) and “The Bookseller of Inverness” by SG Maclean (2022) Arthur: “The Gates of Europe, a history of Ukraine”, by Serhii Plokhy (2015) What book disappointed them in the last 12 months? Arthur: “To Have and Have Not”, by Ernest Hemingway (1937) What book would they take to a desert island? Andrew: War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy (1867) Arthur: Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh (1938) What book changed their mind? Andrew: “Thurn und Taxis” by Wolfgang Behringer (1990) Arthur: “Double Fold” by Nicholson Baker (2001) Find Andrew: Twitter: https://twitter.com/apettegree?lang=en Follow me ⁠@litwithcharles⁠ for more book reviews and recommendations!

Helen talks to writer Nicholson Baker about how history is written, and the continued relevance of his World War II book Human Smoke (2008). Baker is the author of numerous books, including Vox (1992) and The Mezzanine (1988) and was the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2001.

Recommend this show by sharing the link: pod.link/2Pages I still remember reading my first Nicholson Baker book, The Mezzanine. This extraordinary book slows down the pace of life to one where all the details are able to be noticed. For someone like me–a little bit in my head and moving too fast–reading the book resembles bullet time from The Matrix movies, only with the detritus of everyday living zipping past, instead.  Madeleine Dore reminds me of myself; both a great author and a great asker of questions, though they differ a bit from mine. She's made a career out of asking obvious questions to important people, with all of the answers she's received ending up in her best-selling book I Didn't Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt.  Get‌ ‌book‌ ‌links‌ ‌and‌ ‌resources‌ ‌at‌ https://www.mbs.works/2-pages-podcast/  Madeleine reads two pages from ‘Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life,' by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. [reading begins at 12:12]  Hear us discuss:  Making more generous assumptions. [16:24] | The relationship between playfulness and routine. [17:15] | Knowing what's essential vs transitory about yourself: “It takes a long time to become who you are.” [20:12] | “Things are just experiments and projects—we're not tied to anything forever.” [25:28] | The complexity of awaiting your next project. [26:35]

Nicholson Baker is the author of 18 books of fiction and nonfiction. He has written for The New Yorker, Harper's, and many other publications. His latest book is Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act. "In the end, I don't care how famous you get, how widely read you are during your lifetime. You're going to be forgotten. And you're going to have five or six fans in the end. It's going to be your grandchildren or your great-grandchildren are going to say, Oh, yeah, he was big. … So I think the key is, write what you actually care about. Because in the end, you're only doing this for yourself. … So maybe do your best stuff for yourself and for the three, four, five people who know in the coming century that you ever existed. That's all you need to do." Show notes: @nicholsonbaker8 nicholsonbaker.com The Mezzanine (Grove Press • 1988) Baseless (Penguin Press • 2020) 10:00 Human Smoke (Simon & Schuster • 2009) 10:00 "Wrong Answer" (Harper's • Sept 2013) 11:00 Room Temperature (Grove Press • 2010) 11:00 U and I (Random House • 2000) 11:00 Vox (Publisher • 2000) 11:00 The Fermata (Author if different from Writer • Publisher • 2000) 12:00 "The Projector" (New Yorker • Mar 1994) 12:00 The Size of Thoughts (Vintage Contemporaries • 1996) 13:00 "The Author vs. the Library" (New Yorker • Oct 1996) 19:00 Double Fold (Vintage • 2002) 30:00 Lab 257 (Michael Carroll • Willam Morrow Paperbacks • 2005) 33:00 Longform Podcast #192: Seymour Hersh 33:00 The Killing of Osama Bin Laden (Seymour Hersh • Verso • 2017) 33:00 Longform Podcast #321: Nicholas Schmidle 33:00 "Getting Bin Laden" (Nicholas Schmidle • New Yorker • Aug 2011) 46:00 Baker's New Yorker archive Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jordan Castro is the author of two poetry books and the former editor of New York Tyrant Magazine. He is from Cleveland, Ohio. The Novelist is his first novel. Get the book: https://softskull.com/dd-product/the-novelist/ The act of making coffee prompts a reflection on the limits of self-knowledge; an editor's embarrassing tweet sparks rage at the literary establishment; a meditation on first person versus third examines choice and action; an Instagram post about the ethics of having children triggers mimetic rivalry; the act of doing the dishes is at once ordinary and profound: one of the many small commitments that make up a life of stability. The Novelist: A Novel pays tribute to Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine and Thomas Bernhard's Woodcutters, but in the end is a wholly original novel about language and consciousness, the internet and social media, and addiction and recovery.

Pages 107 - 116 │Hades, part I│Read by Nicholson BakerNicholson Baker is the author of seventeen books, among them The Mezzanine, Human Smoke, and The Anthologist. His latest book, Baseless: My Search for Secrets Among the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act, was published in 2020. He has received a National Book Critics Circle award, a James Madison Freedom of Information Award, and the Herman Hesse Prize. Baker and his wife Margaret Brentano have two children; they live on the Penobscot River in Maine.Buy Baseless here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/I/9780735215764/baseless-my-search-for-secrets-in-the-ruins-of-the-freedom-of-information-acthttps://linktr.ee/nicholsonbakerFollow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicholsonbaker8Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicholsonbaker*Looking for our author interview podcast? Listen here: https://podfollow.com/shakespeare-and-companySUBSCRIBE NOW FOR EARLY EPISODES AND BONUS FEATURESAll episodes of our Ulysses podcast are free and available to everyone. However, if you want to be the first to hear the recordings, by subscribing, you can now get early access to recordings of complete sections.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/channel/shakespeare-and-company/id6442697026Subscribe on Spotify here: https://anchor.fm/sandcoSubscribe on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/sandcoIn addition a subscription gets you access to regular bonus episodes of our author interview podcast. All money raised goes to supporting “Friends of Shakespeare and Company” the bookshop's non-profit.*Discover more about Shakespeare and Company here: https://shakespeareandcompany.comBuy the Penguin Classics official partner edition of Ulysses here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/d/9780241552636/ulyssesFind out more about Hay Festival here: https://www.hayfestival.com/homeAdam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. Find out more about him here: https://www.adambiles.netBuy a signed copy of his novel FEEDING TIME here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/S/9781910296684/feeding-timeDr. Lex Paulson is Executive Director of the School of Collective Intelligence at Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique in Morocco.Original music & sound design by Alex Freiman.Hear more from Alex Freiman here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1Follow Alex Freiman on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/alex.guitarfreiman/Featuring Flora Hibberd on vocals.Hear more of Flora Hibberd here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5EFG7rqfVfdyaXiRZbRkpSVisit Flora Hibberd's website: This is my website:florahibberd.com and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/florahibberd/ Music production by Adrien Chicot.Hear more from Adrien Chicot here: https://bbact.lnk.to/utco90/Follow Adrien Chicot on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/adrienchicot/Photo of Nicholson Baker by Elias Baker See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz discuss voting rights, Russia's recent moves, with guest Nina Jankowicz; and the increasing politicization of cable news. Here are some notes and references from this week's show: Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute: Electoral Count Act of 1887 David Becker on Face the Nation: “Elections Expert David Becker Denounces ‘Efforts to Sow Confusion and Chaos' ” Emily Bazelon for the New York Times: “Democracy Worked This Year. but It Is Under Threat.” Christina A. Cassidy for AP News: “Far Too Little Vote Fraud to Tip Election to Trump, AP Finds” How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict, by Nina Jankowicz Anne Applebaum for the Atlantic: “The Science of Making Americans Hurt Their Own Country” Here's this week's chatter: Emily: Jan Ransom for the New York Times: “A Look Inside Rikers: ‘Fight Night' and Gang Rule, Captured on Video” David: Nathanael Johnson thread on Twitter and We Are Lady Parts TV show John: The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker and “On Keeping a Notebook,” by Joan Didion Listener chatter from Bea Scott: The History of Democracy Has Yet to Be Written by Thomas Geoghegan For this week's Slate Plus bonus segment John, Emily, and David discuss rule-breaking and Novak Djokovic's moves in Australia. Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research and show notes by Shayna Elliot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson and David Plotz discuss voting rights, Russia's recent moves, with guest Nina Jankowicz; and the increasing politicization of cable news. Here are some notes and references from this week's show: Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute: Electoral Count Act of 1887 David Becker on Face the Nation: “Elections Expert David Becker Denounces ‘Efforts to Sow Confusion and Chaos' ” Emily Bazelon for the New York Times: “Democracy Worked This Year. but It Is Under Threat.” Christina A. Cassidy for AP News: “Far Too Little Vote Fraud to Tip Election to Trump, AP Finds” How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict, by Nina Jankowicz Anne Applebaum for the Atlantic: “The Science of Making Americans Hurt Their Own Country” Here's this week's chatter: Emily: Jan Ransom for the New York Times: “A Look Inside Rikers: ‘Fight Night' and Gang Rule, Captured on Video” David: Nathanael Johnson thread on Twitter and We Are Lady Parts TV show John: The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker and “On Keeping a Notebook,” by Joan Didion Listener chatter from Bea Scott: The History of Democracy Has Yet to Be Written by Thomas Geoghegan For this week's Slate Plus bonus segment John, Emily, and David discuss rule-breaking and Novak Djokovic's moves in Australia. Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research and show notes by Shayna Elliot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's an audio problem for Dimes in the first bit but it fixes itself before long. Dimes and Judas discuss the history of Germ/Biological Warfare done globally throughout the 20th century, but primarily by the United States and often on its own people, using the books Baseless by Nicholson Baker and Lab 257 by Michael Carroll as primary references. This draws direct parallels to the origins and reactions to Covid 19. They also review the movie Don't Breathe 2, discuss being raised by memes, the recent Digital identity project being pursued by the Canadian government, and a gay cover of Mr. Brightside which might have been performed before but whatever. They don't talk about 9/11 so don't get your hopes up.

There's an audio problem for Dimes in the first bit but it fixes itself before long. Dimes and Judas discuss the history of Germ/Biological Warfare done globally throughout the 20th century, but primarily by the United States and often on its own people, using the books Baseless by Nicholson Baker and Lab 257 by Michael Carroll as primary references. This draws direct parallels to the origins and reactions to Covid 19. They also review the movie Don't Breathe 2, discuss being raised by memes, the recent Digital identity project being pursued by the Canadian government, and a gay cover of Mr. Brightside which might have been performed before but whatever. They don't talk about 9/11 so don't get your hopes up.

In this episode, the Spine Crackers read Nicholson Baker's 1988 short novel detailing one man's mental life during a ride up an escalator. Prefiguring some of the stylistic and thematic interests of more recent postmodern, encyclopedic novels, Baker's hyper-detailed "microhistory" is powerful and hilarious.

https://youtu.be/9wHMK1BrWug In war, State power is pushed to its ultimate, and, under the slogans of “defense” and “emergency,” it can impose a tyranny upon the public such as might be openly resisted in time of peace. War thus provides many benefits to a State, and indeed every modern war has brought to the warring peoples a permanent legacy of increased State burdens upon society. Murray N. Rothbard Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature, pp. 80–81 Citations: 1. Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker (2009) 2. The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill (1948) 3. Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War by Pat Buchanan (2008) LBRY / Odysee: https://odysee.com/@KeithKnightDontTreadOnAnyone:b/Churchill-Move:c BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/video/b9qIm594dPWz/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/46fF5gsCpqD0Yh9qmZOPjM Minds: https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1271850967708471300?referrer=KeithKnightDontTreadOnAnyone Archive: https://archive.org/details/churchills-machiavellian-move-that-made-him-prime-minister

Citations: 1. Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker (2009) 2. The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill (1948) 3. Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War by Pat Buchanan (2008) ----------------------------------------------------- If you find value in the content, please consider donating to my PayPal KeithKnight590@gmail.com LBRY: https://lbry.tv/@KeithKnightDontTreadOnAnyone:b BitChute: KeithKnightDontTreadOnAnyone https://www.bitchute.com/channel/keithknightdonttreadonanyone/ Minds: https://www.minds.com/KeithKnightDontTreadOnAnyone/ MeWe: mewe.com/i/keithknight25 Flote: https://flote.app/VoluntaryistKeith Gab: https://gab.com/Voluntarykeith Twitter: @an_capitalist The Libertarian Institute: https://libertarianinstitute.org/dont-tread-on-anyone/ One Great Work Network: https://www.onegreatworknetwork.com/keith-knight

Los títulos de la entrega de hoy de La ContraPortada, el especial de libros de La ContraCrónica son: - "Humo humano" de Nicholson Baker - https://amzn.to/3fdN6M6 - "La primera guerra mundial contada para escépticos" de Juan Eslava Galán - https://amzn.to/3xfRq3V - "La segunda guerra mundial contada para escépticos" de Juan Eslava Galán - https://amzn.to/3ifYqJT - "Érase una vez en Francia" de Fabien Nury - https://amzn.to/3j4vgN1 - "Los días de Birmania" de George Orwell - https://amzn.to/2WCDy7c Consulta los mejores libros de la semana en La ContraBiblioteca: https://diazvillanueva.com/la-contrabiblioteca/ Apoya La Contra en: · Patreon... https://www.patreon.com/diazvillanueva · iVoox... https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contracronica_sq_f1267769_1.html · Paypal... https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva Sígueme en: · Web... https://diazvillanueva.com · Twitter... @diazvillanueva · Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/fernandodiazvillanueva1/ · Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/diazvillanueva · Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/147276463@N05/?/ · Pinterest... https://www.pinterest.com/fernandodiazvillanueva Encuentra mis libros en: · Amazon... https://www.amazon.es/Fernando-Diaz-Villanueva/e/B00J2ASBXM Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Author Nicholson Baker reads an excerpt of The Anthologist, and songwriter Rod Picott performs a song written in response called "Losing Faith." The two friends also discuss cross-arts explorations, self-doubt, and the importance of a good sandwich.

Emma Becker est autrice. Pour écrire son dernier livre La Maison, elle s'est prostituée pendant deux ans dans des bordels de Berlin. Dans cet épisode du Book Club, elle recommande le livre qui lui a donné accès à la lecture pour la première fois, qu'elle a découvert très jeune et surtout en cachette. Il s'agit du roman érotique Le point d'orgue signé par Nicholson Baker : “Depuis que j'ai 8 ans, j'ai du livre ce livre une bonne cinquantaine de fois”.Le point d'orgue raconte l'histoire d'un homme qui décide de se servir de son pouvoir d'arrêter le temps pour assouvir ses fantasmes sexuels : “Pour moi le charme de ce livre est bien au-delà de son résumé”. Nicholson Baker offre ainsi une vision des femmes qui a inspiré Emma Becker dans ses choix de carrière : “Je me suis dit que j'avais envie d'écrire et de faire ressentir aux gens qui me lisent ce que je ressens en lisant Nicholson Baker”. En plus d'avoir ouvert les portes du désir à Emma Becker, ce livre l'a aussi amusée à travers ses scènes de sexe burlesques : “J'ai toujours pensé que le sexe pouvait être quelque chose qui vous transfigure, mais ce n'est pas obligé que ce soit décevant ou triste. Ça peut toujours devenir une histoire drôle”. Le Book Club est un podcast présenté par Agathe Le Taillandier. Emma Becker répond aux questions de la journaliste Raphaële Kranjcevic . Soukaïna Qabbal est à l'édition et à la coordination du Book Club. Capucine Rouault a fait le montage de cet épisode et Jean-Baptiste Aubonnet a réalisé le mixage. Le Book Club est une création Louie Media aussi rendue possible grâce à Maureen Wilson, responsable éditoriale, Marion Girard, responsable de production, Charlotte Pudlowski, directrice éditoriale et Mélissa Bounoua, directrice des productions.Pour que les podcasts de Louie soient accessibles à toutes et tous, des retranscriptions écrites des épisodes sont disponibles sur notre site internet. Si celle de l'épisode que vous cherchez n'est pas encore disponible, vous pouvez nous écrire à hello@louiemedia.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tonight on the Last Word: The Biden administration pushes Republicans to move forward on the infrastructure bill. Also, Texas Democrats stop Republican voting restrictions, including banning early voting on Sunday mornings. Plus, the U.S. reports the lowest number of Covid-19 cases in over a year. New York prosecutors are criminally investigating Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to pressure him to flip. President Biden plans to confront Vladimir Putin on Russia’s human rights abuses when they meet on June 16th. And Biden orders U.S. intelligence agencies to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. Shannon Pettypiece, Maria Teresa Kumar, Jonathan Alter, Ali Vitali, Elizabeth Drew, Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, Texas state Rep. Jessica González, LaTosha Brown, Barbara McQuade, Paul Butler, Rick Stengel and Nicholson Baker join Lawrence O’Donnell.

"The Lab-Leak Hypothesis" author Nicholson Baker discusses whether high-risk experimental research might have created the global COVID-19 catastrophe.

Cartoonist and consultant Robin Parrish drops by to chat with the P.U.L.C.H. pals about Nicholson Baker's brief stream-of-consciousness novel The Mezzanine, but they derail the conversation to discuss working from home, David Cronenberg, and David Foster Wallace's linguistic/mathematical deficiencies. Check out Robin's work at her website: https://reparrishcomics.com/ and follow her on Twitter @reparrish --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pulch/support

What a week! Here's what I decided to talk about:1. Marvis toothpaste2. The Georgia Senate runoffs3. Siege of Capitol Building4. MF Doom's Operation: Doomsday5. Washing the walls6. Caring for a goldfish7. Axe to Grind8. Disposing of old X-mas trees9. Basil Hayden's Dark Rye10. Noom11. Posting stuff for free12. Underrated/overrated/properly rated: the US Capitol, White House, and Lincoln Memorial13. Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Keyboard Fantasies14. The best veggies for chopping15. Co-Op Sauce's Chi-Racha16. Frank Asch's children's books17. Patagonia Nanopuff 18. Schoolhouse clocks19. Good Neighbor Studios candles20. Nicholson Baker's "The Lab Leak Hypothesis"

Topics! Topics!1. Matt Pond PA's Several Arrows Later2. Biking around Chicago in the fall3. Nicholson Baker's Baseless4. Naked & Famous Denim5. Tim Heidecker's "Nothing"6. Illinois's Fair Tax7. Dongles!8. The Thai noodle dish Khao Soy9. Rugby shirts10. Taylor Swift's "Illicit Affairs"11. Donald Trump getting Covid!12. Crocs13. John Williams's Stoner14. North Carolina15. Molly of Denali16. Pot Valiant's Transaudio17. Unlimited data18. The 2020 Chicago White Sox19. Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail20. The summer-to-fall clothing swap

Nicholson Baker's important new book "Baseless" is about the US military and CIA's past secret experiments with biological warfare, and about the author and historian's attempts to get the information about these disturbing secrets that he is legally entitled to. Part one of Marc Eliot Stein's in-depth two-part conversation with antiwar activist, novelist and historian Nicholson Baker ranges over topics including permasecrets, cultural archives, Joseph Pulitzer, the Korean War, bat vector bombs, psychological warfare, gaslighting and police brutality videos. We also check in with World BEYOND War's president Leah Bolger and new social media manager Alessandra Granelli about the organization's latest activities. (Music removed.)

The title of the John Horgan's book, The Mind-Body Problems, with the addition of the “s”articulates the core of the mind-body problem – that it is plural. John Horgan is not content with one story that solves for the myriad problems we humans encounter when we explore reality and hunt to discover who we are and what matters most. John has been a scientific journalist for over 35 years and as someone who is paid to be curious he has commented on, written about, queried, and learned about some of the most ubiquitous and obscure scientific theories and discoveries science and human thought have brought to the foreground. Bio: John Horgan is a science journalist and Director of the Center for Science Writings at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey. A former senior writer at Scientific American (1986-1997), he has also written for The New York Times, National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Slate and other publications. He writes the "Cross-check" blog for Scientific American and produces "Mind-Body Problems" for the online talk show Bloggingheads.tv. He tweets as @horganism. Horgan's most recent book, Mind-Body Problems: Science, Subjectivity and Who We Really Are, takes a radical new approach to the deepest and oldest of all mysteries, the mind-body problem. Published in September 2018, it is available for free online at mindbodyproblems.com, for $5 as an Amazon e-book and for $15 as a paperback. Horgan's first book was The End of Science: Facing the Limits of Science in the Twilight of the Scientific Age, which was republished with a new preface in 2015 by Basic Books. Originally published in 1996, it became a U.S. bestseller and was translated into 13 languages. Horgan's other books include The Undiscovered Mind: How the Human Brain Defies Replication, Medication, and Explanation, 1999, translated into eight languages; Rational Mysticism: Spirituality Meets Science in the Search for Enlightenment, 2003, which The New York Times called "marvelous" (see outtakes from the book posted on this site); and The End of War, published in paperback in 2014, which novelist Nicholson Baker described as "thoughtful, unflappable, closely argued." Horgan's publications have received international coverage. He has been interviewed hundreds of times for print, radio, and television media, including The Lehrer News Hour, Charlie Rose, and National Public Radio's Science Friday. He has lectured at dozens of institutions in North America and Europe, including MIT, Caltech, Princeton, Dartmouth, McGill, the University of Amsterdam, and England's National Physical Laboratory. His awards include the 2005 Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowship in Science and Religion; the American Psychiatric Association Certificate of Commendation for Outstanding Reporting on Psychiatric Issues (1997); the Science Journalism Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1992 and 1994); and the National Association of Science Writers Science-in-Society Award (1993). His articles have been selected for the anthologies The Best American Science and Nature Writing and The Best American Science Writing. Horgan was an associate editor at IEEE Spectrum, the journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, from 1983 to 1986. He received a B.A. in English from Columbia University's School of General Studies in 1982 and an M.S. from Columbia's School of Journalism in 1983. http://www.johnhorgan.org https://meaningoflife.tv/programs/current/mind-body-problems https://mindbodyproblems.com Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: The Deathray Davies Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-deathray-davies/6557498 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesacredspeaks/

Nicholson Baker once spent a portion of his retirement savings to rescue first edition newspapers from being destroyed. He also fought to save card catalogues and to prevent library managers from sending thousands of books to landfills in their rush to microfilm. He fought on behalf of all of us who think about what is lost when the specifics of a particular moment are worn away or forgotten or altered in the subsequent retellings of the original observations. It's kind of like a childhood game of telephone where the original message is passed from child to child until the last person relays a message with little resemblance to the original. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicholson Baker's Substitute: Going to School with a Thousand Kids was born of a desire to write a book articulating his theories about education – theories based on having had kids in school. Realizing his premise was weak, as he'd never been a teacher, he embarked on the adventure of a lifetime by becoming a substitute teacher. 

Nicholson Baker is a novelist, humorist, and social critic. His most recent release is The Paul Chowder Chronicles, which brings together two novels about Paul Chowder: The Anthologist and Traveling Sprinkler. Baker received a National Book Critics Circle Award in … Continue reading → The post Nicholson Baker: The next writer of James Bond? first appeared on Craft: Exploring Creativity.

Traveling Sprinkler (Blue Rider Press) We're very excited to host acclaimed and best-selling novelist Nicholson Baker (The Mezzanine, The Anthologist, House of Holes) at Skylight for his new novel, Traveling Sprinkler!  Baker will be in conversation with Los Angeles Times book critic (and author himself) David Ulin. As with all Skylight Books events, this discussion is free and open to the public (first come, first served).  But, because we're expecting a large crowd at this event, we'll be giving out numbered tickets to the signing line to keep things organized.  To get a ticket, you must purchase a copy of Traveling Sprinkler here at Skylight Books.  The tickets will be available starting Tuesday, September 17, when the book goes on sale.  They will be available in-store, or you can order on our website and leave a note in the "Order Comments" field.  We will also hold a ticket for you if you order and pay for a book over the phone.  There's no limit on the number of copies of Traveling Sprinker you can get signed, but we are limiting the number of backlist titles to three per ticket holder.  Thank you for your cooperation! Paul Chowder, the poet protagonist of Nicholson Baker's widely acclaimed novel The Anthologist, is turning fifty-five and missing his ex-girlfriend Roz rather desperately. As he approaches the dreaded birthday, Paul is uninspired by his usual artistic outlet (although he's pleased that his poetry anthology, Only Rhyme, is selling “fairly well in a steady sort of way”).  Putting aside poetry in favor of music, and drawing on his classical bassoon training, Paul turns instead to his new acoustic guitar with one goal in mind: to learn songwriting. As he struggles to come to terms with the horror of America's drone wars and Roz's recent relationship with a doctor whose voice can often be heard on a local NPR station, Paul fills his days with Quaker meetings, Planet Fitness workouts, and some experiments with tobacco.  Written in Baker's beautifully unconventional prose, and scored with musical influences from Debussy to Tracy Chapman to Paul himself, Traveling Sprinkler is an enchanting, hilarious—and very necessary—novel by one of the most beloved and influential writers today. The author has recorded an album of songs in the style of his protagonist.  Check one out here!   Nicholson Baker was born in New York City in 1957 and grew up in Rochester, where he played bassoon in high school and spent a year at the Eastman School of Music before transferring to Haverford College. His first novel, The Mezzanine, was about a man riding an escalator.  His second novel, Room Temperature, was about a man feeding a bottle to his baby.  In his many other works of fiction and nonfiction, he has written about John Updike, about getting up early in the morning, about the inner life of a nine-year-old girl, about the beginnings of the Second World War, and about sex. His book Double Fold, about libraries shedding their paper holdings, won a National Book Critics Circle Award.  His poet protagonist Paul Chowder, who first appeared in The Anthologist, is reintroduced in the forthcoming Traveling Sprinkler, his tenth novel, and fifteenth book overall.  He lives in Maine with his family.

Nicholson Baker, poet of small accuracies, shows us how if you assemble enough of these small accuracies, you've got a novel.

The Anthologist (Simon & Schuster)The polymath Nicholson Baker has been able to create a version of himself in the figure of accomplished poet Paul Chowder...