Archive
Friends,
below are some great events coming up at the Book Smith at 1644 Haight St. between Clayton & Cole (863-8688)
Wednesday, July 27
7:30 PM
JOEL PRIMACK
NANCY ABRAMS
THE NEW UNIVERSE AND THE HUMAN FUTURE
How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World
“When science reveal to us an opportunity of profound hope – a potential bond among all humans – we must grasp it and celebrate it. Abrams and Primack show us how the strange and newly discovered nature of our universe can empower us to meet the gravest challenges of our time.” – Archbishop Demond Tutu
In their new book, two cutting-edge thinkers—Nancy Abrams, a cultural philosopher and Joel Primack, a leading astrophysicist—combine their abilities to present a new picture of the universe with critical relevance for our time.
After a four-century rupture between science and the questions of value and meaning, this groundbreaking book presents an explosive and potentially life-altering idea: if the world could agree on a shared creation story based on modern cosmology and biology—a story that has just become available—it would redefine our relationship with Planet Earth and benefit all of humanity, now and into the distant future.
In previous generations everyone was able to refer with confidence to a belief system which explained our role in the world. In this new scientific age there is no consensus as to our origins or our place in the universe—a situation which leaves us with no believable, shared context for the problems that we face together. And yet, as the first species that has evolved with the capability to destroy our planet, it is up to us to find common ground to work together--or face the devastating consequences.
Illustrated with images from innovative simulations of the evolving universe to bring the new scientific picture of the universe to life, Primack’s and Abram’s new book interprets what our human place in the cosmos may mean for us and our descendants. It also offers unique insights into the potential use of this newfound knowledge to find solutions to seemingly intractable global problems such as climate change and unsustainable growth. Most importantly, it explains why we need to “think cosmically, act globally” if we’re going to have a long-term, prosperous future on Earth.
Nancy Ellen Abrams, an attorney, cultural philosopher, and lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has worked for the Ford Foundation and the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress. Joel R. Primack, Distinguished Professor of Physics at the UC Santa Cruz, is one of the principal creators of the modern theory of the universe on the grand scale. Together they have authored several books, including The View From the Center of the Universe. They live in Santa Cruz.
Thursday, July 28
7:30 PM
EMMA STRAUB
OTHER PEOPLE WE MARRIED
“These quiet epiphanies in Straub’s stories place her in the company of Beattie and Moore, and the voices she creates are contemporary. When I finished reading this exquisite collection, I flipped back to the beginning of the book and stared at the table of contents. The book was suddenly heavier in my hands—suddenly filled with the weight of all these character’s silent fantasies, side-thoughts and careful revelations. Other People We Married is a captivating first collection of short stories for this writer; I look forward to her future work.” –Bracha Goykadosh, The Rumpus
“…Emma Straub crafts characters so compelling that they linger quietly on the periphery of one’s consciousness days after reading, waiting patiently for the reader to consider and then understand them. Trendier writers may grab a reader’s attention with outrageous spectacle, but it’s the strong, silent types like Straub who are the true writers to watch.” –Yennie Cheung, for The Hipster Book Club
In Emma Straub’s witty debut story collection, Other People We Married, New Yorkers venture outside their home city to see what the rest of America has to offer, and these trips force the realities of their relationships into stark relief.
In “A Map of Modern Palm Springs,” two sisters meet in California for a vacation together. They head to Joshua Tree National Park, about which the local they scored drugs from warned them, “It’s the desert. It’s only exciting if you’ve never been there before.” It also can be exciting if you take hallucinogenic mushrooms, which the older, more settled and successful sister does, prompting the younger sister to consider ditching her.
In the touching “Hot Springs Eternal,” Richard and Teddy, a gay couple from New York, visit Glenwood Springs in Colorado, and Teddy, the younger man, gets a kick out of the rampant bad taste on display, enjoying hotels “that looked on the verge of destruction, with words spelled incorrectly, or ones that looked like cottages where Snow White or the Swiss Miss might work at the front desk.” Their relationship appears doomed at the outset, with Richard feeling older and crankier, and no longer amused with Teddy’s antics, but the story ends with an old-fashioned gesture of chivalry: Richard takes off his T-shirt to reveal the “pale expanse” of belly about which he’s sensitive, and offers it to Teddy, who lacks a shirt.
In the quirky “Fly-Over State,” a New York woman named Susan finds herself sentenced to Wisconsin, where her husband has taken an academic job, and she has little to do but study the habits of the locals, in particular the grown son of her neighbors, who introduces himself as “Mud” and lives in his parents’ basement. Although she fears Mud is a “serial killer,” Susan takes to him, as he displays “the first sign of unfriendliness” she’s encountered since moving to Wisconsin. Mud asks whether living New York is like it is in the movies, and she thinks, “nothing was as much like the movies as the last month of my life, when strange women brought me lemonade and baked goods, which I then consumed without worry that I was being poisoned for the lease to my Co-Op.”
A good sense of humor is a great place to start as a writer, and Emma Straub is off to a promising beginning with these funny, sensitive stories.” – The Dallas Morning News
Emma Straub’s forthcoming novel is Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Cousin Corinne's Reminder, and many other journals. She works as a bookseller at Brooklyn's BookCourt, has read recently with her father, horror master Peter Straub, and tweets @emmastraub.
Friday, July 29
7:30 PM
A Conversation with
CHRISTOPHER MOORE and IAN CORSON
THE GRIFF
From outrageously funny New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore and award-winning screenwriter and director Ian Corson, THE GRIFF: A Graphic Novel is about an alien invasion of Earth and the motley crew of humans who save the world—sort of . . .
How do you conquer the world in 4 easy steps?
First, activate an ancient alien beacon that summons a behemoth spaceship from the far reaches of the galaxy. Second, release a stream of pods that unfold into minivan-size griffin-like dragons into Earth’s atmosphere. Third, destroy all human defensive and emergency infrastructures. Finally, systematically kill everyone on the planet.Too bad a pesky trio of survivors aren’t about to roll out the red carpet to these alien invaders. Mo, a snarky, sexy, Goth-y leader of a computer game-design team; Steve, a skateboard-punk who has made a career out of distributing swag at pro skating events; and Curt, the obligatory buff commando type (who seems to know just a little too much about makeup and hair color), are going to take it to the marauding Griff, battling their way from New York to Orlando, where the alien mother ship is the most awesome new attraction.
And in Florida, another motley band of survivors await, including Liz, a killer whale trainer at Ocean World, and Oscar, a chain-smoking professional squirrel (seriously—he’s paid to wear that squirrel costume).
Once united, the intrepid warriors will attempt to infiltrate the alien spacecraft and save the world…
Christopher Moore is the author of twelve previous novels: Practical Demonkeeping, Coyote Blue, Bloodsucking Fiends, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Lamb, Fluke, The Stupidest Angel, A Dirty Job, You Suck, Fool, and Bite Me.
Ian Corson is an award-winning screenwriter and director whose credits includeBloodline for Castle Rock Entertainment and Starting Five for Paramount Pictures. He has also directed Monster Garage for the Discovery Channel and the feature filmMalicious (starring Molly Ringwald). He teaches screenwriting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He lives in Los Angeles,
Wednesday, August 10
7:30 PM
CHRISTOPHER BOUCHER
HOW TO KEEP YOUR VOLKSWAGON ALIVE
A Novel
"Christopher Boucher joins a now-forgotten handbook with Steven Wright's old joke* about mistakenly sticking a car key in a house door and builds a new, exuberant novel-world. Goofiness and grief are in perfect harmony in this impressive, moving debut." -- Sam Lipsyte"How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive is definitely the next book you should read. It’ll be the most fun you’ll ever have getting sad." – Adam Levin
*"The other night I came home late, and tried to unlock my house with my car keys. I started the house up. So, I drove it around for a while. I was speeding, and a cop pulled me over. He asked where I lived. I said, 'Right here, officer.'" – Steven Wright
Driving a classic 1971 VW Beetle across country on tour, Christopher Boucher makes a pit stop in San Francisco this evening.
If you think raising a kid in today’s world is hard, imagine how tough it would be if your child also happened to be a Volkswagen Beetle. And not a modern Beetle at that, but a 1960's era Bug who tended to forget himself racing joyously and heedlessly down the highway, only to break down on the side of the road, puking oil. It’s enough to help a man cope with the recent death of his father, and focus on the dizzying, beautiful here and now of his fragile child.
Welcome to Christopher Boucher’s zany and brilliant literary universe, a place where metaphors shift beneath your feet, familiar words suddenly assume new meaning, tools talk, trees walk, and where time is actually money.
Modeled on the bestselling 1969 hippie handbook of the same title, this wildly inventive tale is both a stunning tour-de-force and a wise and charming consideration of the stuff of great fiction: death, love, loss, responsibility, and road trips.
With the hyperkinetic spark of George Saunders and the surrealist humanism of Aimee Bender, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive marks the arrival of a fiction-making Mozart.
Christopher Boucher received his MFA in Fiction from Syracuse University, where he studied with George Saunders and Junot Díaz. Before moving to Syracuse, he worked as the Arts and Entertainment Writer for The Daily Hampshire Gazette, and drove (when it started) a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle. He currently teaches writing and literature at Boston College, and is the managing editor of Post Road Magazine. In his free time, he plays banjo in a bluegrass band.