Still more lazy thoughts from this one…

Posts from the ‘books’ category

Reprise – Friday Forgotten Book/Film: FAIL-SAFE

… though Red Alert came out first (and was later the source material for Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant black comedy, Dr. Strangelove), I daresay FAIL-SAFE’s story has held up better in the decades since either book’s initial release. In spite of the fact both were locked into the specific post-WWII military tension, the later novel was more relatable to latter times because of its version in the nightmare scenario. Its basis of a technical glitch I believe rang more true then, and certainly more understandable with folks today, regardless of the passage of time.

Just for Reference

Arguably the best statistical graphic ever, this chart was created by the French engineer Charles Joseph Minard (1781-1870). It shows the terrible fate that befell the French army in the Patriotic War of 1812 in a combination of data map and time series (originally drawn in 1861).

Reblogged » Don Winslow’s Top 5 Crime Novels

Last week, Publishers Weekly got Don Winslow, who as they say has “… had a busy summer. His prequel to Savages, The Kings of Cool, published last month, and the Oliver Stone-directed film based on Savages just hit theaters…”, to share his top 5 favorite crime novels with them.

Robert Crais: To Write in L.A.

“The Los Angeles Times determined we have 114 separate and distinct neighborhoods here in Los Angeles. The city has posted several hundred blue signs naming far more. L.A. is a mash-up of uncountable, diverse neighborhoods spread over 465 square miles; hard and soft, painted in colors from concrete gray and security bar black to putting lawn green and jacaranda snowfall purple; beautiful, mysterious, dangerous, welcoming neighborhoods, soundtracked by the music of more languages than you or I or even the Los Angeles Times can count.”

Novelist Robert Crais draws from perspectives both near and far to uncover a city rich in mystery and opportunities in his recent piece for the L.A. Times, A Story to Find on Every Street.