Books

A book arrived in the mail, sent by Public Affairs, one of the publishers that Culture Kitchen and Daily Gotham has dealt with before. Based on what I had done with them in the past, they wanted me to reveiw the book. At the time I was excessively busy and had little intention of getting around to it. But, just to be fair, and since I didn't have another book going at that moment, I picked it up for my subway ride to work. Well, I have to admit that it was inevitable that it would grab me. So here I am reviewing it.

The book is The Political Brain, by Drew Westen. It is no surprise that it grabbed me since it combines two of my obsessions: politics (particularly liberal politics) with science (psychology and neurosciences). More to the point, it takes the concept of "framing" and explains why framing is so necessary, and takes it one step further. The Political Mind is a must read for each and every Democratic campaign out there and it explains in no uncertain terms why Democrats, despite having a voter registration advantage, being better at governing, having better ideas, and, in general, better sharing the values of the average American, lose elections to Republicans whose ideas are atrocious and whose values consist of blind greed, corruption and cronyism.

Sometimes the best person for the job is not the best candidate. In fact very often the best person for the job is NOT the winning candidate. This is a flaw in any democratic system that is probably unavoidable. People win because they are considered appealing by voters, not because they are qualified. If all it took to win was the best resume and skills, Gore would have won by a landslide and Bill Richardson would be a shoe in.

My college-loving book and culture nut daughter blogs, too. Writes rings around me already, to be honest, and certainly around the unhoned writer and thinker I was at her age!

She gave me permission to crosspost her latest work here. It's true I thought Liza, Lorraine, moiv and CaLiberal (who I keep wanting to call Callie!) would especially like it, but also I want her POV accessible here at Culture Kitchen, because I hope it will speak to a larger progressive audience in the too-often-unheard voice of young feminism, from the direct line of fire in the culture wars.

RUMINATIONS ON OLIVE OIL
Standing in line at a fancy grocery store, I spotted a display among many :
EXTRA EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL! It proclaimed.

Excuse me? I thought. Extra extra? Isn’t that a little unnecessary?

That is to say, I never really understood the concept of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to begin with. Is it made from olives that aren’t allowed to touch other olives? Are they modestly shielded from life’s elements by tarps?

And Extra Extra Virgin Olives - what on earth does that entail?

Or does the “virgin” refer to the oil itself? Has it never been mixed with another oil, commingling and developing new, brassy flavors? I certainly hope not, one takes for granted when one buys olive oil that it is, in fact, olive oil, and not some other hybrid. But then it seems that they shouldn’t have to bellow about its virginity so explicitly.

I have mentioned it before, that when I travel for panels or conferences, it takes me a few days to get back into blogging.

Day trips actually get to me more than transatlantic or transcontinental trips. At least I can sleep if the trips are more than 4 hours long. On short trips, I rarely get to rest --even at the hotel. I guess I am a creature of habit that is sensitive to change.

Which explains my kids comment from the other day.

When I travel I get "penalized" for my absence. I don't think The Kids mind my absences so much as their father who then ... ahem ... disappears during the evenings for the next few days after one of my business trips.

This changes the dynamics of evening reading since, due to his work schedule, that's become his one job in the evenings. And it's one job he usually does as I prepare for my second shift of work in my usual 10-12 hour work days.

Convetional writers want to think of bloggers as amateurs or wanna-bes but nothing is farther from the truth.

First wave bloggers went to the net to publish what conventional media outlets would not allow them to make public. Publishing books is seen as a logical extension of their already professional vocation. Writing is writing, whether on a blog or a book and these bloggers prove the point; though writing a blog is not the same as writing a book.

I think it was Markos of DailyKos (and co-author of "Crashing The Gates") who told me once that writing a book was far harder than blogging on a daily basis. Both practices are not interchangeable.

The varied quality of the bloggers books on this list prove the point. Which is why "Crashing" will prove to most a better read than "Washingtonniene". Just saying.

So take a peek at some of the best books published by bloggers in the past years. Grab a couple or three as gifts and spread the blogospheric cheer.

I am writing this post if only because Roxanne Cooper pinged me this morning about the woman who gives a face to the expression media whore.

Rox was brainstorming with Amanda Marcotte and they came up with the idea of having a Dear Judith national campaign, urging her to donate ALL NET PROCEEDS from the sale of OJ Simpson's book to organizations that help women escape from living in abusive relationships.

Jill at Feministe is on the case as well.

Why it's taken me this long to write about the recycled OJ Simpson scandal? Well, words failed me. As Michael over at The Daily Gotham : Michael wrote, it seemed so much like a hoax that when I found out it was true, well, I was feklempt.

He finds the words that escaped me:

When one of my students is “stuck” for something to write, I have them do a “top ten” list—they pick the topic. The rules are, you select the ten items on your list, with a reason why it’s loved.

For example, one of my students wrote a “top ten favourite breakup songs” list that was fabulous—and included the poignant reasons why each of the songs had, in some way, been part of her own breakups.

Having said that, I wanted to take a crack at this with my ten favourite historical fiction novels. BUT, I refuse to rank them, because at the time, each of them were important to me.

So in no particular order: