How to Be Inappropriateby Daniel Nester
A TMI compendia of inappropriate and humorous nonfiction.
"Too much information” should be the tagline for this debut collection of humorous nonfiction pieces from Daniel Nester. Based on Nester’s former life as a 20-something hipster, How to Be Inappropriate chronicles his various inappropriate misadventures through a series of what he calls “memoirettes,” from trying to begin a relationship with a Brooklyn painter who pays people to lick her feet, to teaching curse words to Chinese ESL students. Told through a series of essays, lists, rants, play scripts, and profiles, this part-memoir, part-random collection of nonsense is an entertaining look at defying the conventions of appropriate behavior. “Nester treats every one of his varied subject matters with the appropriate (or should I say, inappropriate?) level of tongue-in-cheek humor,” writes The Saint Rose Chronicle.
Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter Whatby Lee Eisenberg
A research-based journey through the hearts and brain waves of American consumers.
Americans will never stop shopping, or so says Lee Eisenberg, whose exploration of the machinery of consumerism provides new insights into Americans’ relationship with consumption. Based on three years of research in what he calls the “Buy” world, Eisenberg’s “ engaging read” provides a tour of American malls, mega-stores, and online shopping, supplemented by interviews with shoppers, industry experts, neuroscientists, and his own experiences as a senior exec at Lands’ End, a creative consultant in women’s fashion, and a Target floor walker—during the holiday season. In spite of the recession, Eisenberg notes that Americans are still shopping, and he tries to answer why in this thoroughly researched and multi-faceted account. Writes Publishers Weekly: “Dividing the retail landscape into Buy and Sell, Eisenberg provides a cornucopia of consumption trends, brain scans indicating beer preferences, ZIP Code-based lifestyle data, psychographic information, blogs and buzz measurement.”
Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolutionby Joel Richard Paul
A compelling look at three unlikely heroes of the American Revolution.
In this unorthodox reassessment of history, Paul tells the story of how a surprising network of spies, diplomats, and aristocrats steered the American Revolution from behind the scenes. Silas Deane is a Connecticut merchant and congressional delegate. Beaumarchais is a successful playwright and inventor, and Chevalier d’Eon is a mysterious, transgendered secret agent. In what the Library Journal calls “a rip-roaring account of the American Revolution, told from a fresh, and undeniably offbeat, perspective,” these three “unlikely allies” join forces to orchestrate missions for the French, British, and American governments, from securing financial aid from the French to smuggling weapons to New England for the Battle of Saratoga. “Paul’s fast-paced, engaging narrative fills a gap in the historiography of the American Revolution and is essential reading for students of revolutionary diplomacy as well as general devotees of the age,” offers Kirkus Reviews.
How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by John Cassidy
How “rational irrationality” and a misunderstanding of the marketplace led to economic disaster.
In his new book, New Yorker writer John Cassidy sounds a dire warning about elegant and classic economic theories that gloss over the glaring realities of failed markets. Cassidy turns to the burgeoning field of behavioral economics to explain how we arrived at the global economic crisis. Behavioral economics rejects decision-making based on rational self-interest for human vices, such as hubris, selfishness, and shortsightedness. Such behaviors are what lead to spikes in oil prices, CEO greed, and the boom-and-bust cycle of the real-estate market, Cassidy writes. Publishers Weekly says, “Both a narrative and a call to arms, the book provides an intellectual and historical context for the string of denial and bad decisions that led to the disastrous ‘illusion of harmony,’ the lure of real estate, and the Great Crunch of 2008.” The notion of a self-correction marketplace is a false one, Cassidy argues, and it may just be time for Wall Street to get real.
Ten Storey Love Songby Richard Milward
The story of a struggling artist who is discovered and corrupted, all in one paragraph.
British novelist Richard Milward follows up his successful debut, Apples, with Ten Storey Love Song, a whirlwind of a third-person narrative told in just one paragraph. Set in Milward’s hometown of Middlesbrough, the novel follows protagonist Bobby the Artist’s ascension to fame. Discovered by a London gallery owner named Bent Lewis as he is painting in his bedroom, Bobby brings his unlikely muses—Johnnie, a petty thief and drug peddler; Georgie, Bobby’s girlfriend; and their friend Alan Blunt, a 40-year-old truck driver who is disturbingly obsessed with an 8-year-old-girl—along for the ride. It’s a rags-to-riches story, complete with plenty of drugs, booze, and sex, but the archetype has a refreshing twist here. As soon as it starts to seem as if Bobby’s story is too good to be true, Milward yanks him back to where he belongs: in Middlesbrough with his friends. Author Irvine Welsh writes in The Guardian, “Milward is a major talent…When writers are being churned out of creative-fiction courses like salmon from fish farms, he possesses that scarcest quality: a highly original and engaging voice.”
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