Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville by S. J. Gould

[Craig S.]

Looks like they've collected many of his essays in this one:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393057550/qid%3D1031783619/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-7593364-7087811

I know there are a lot of Gould fans on Netshrine, and I think this should be an interesting compilation. I'm sure some of the material will sound familiar, but his writing is good enough to survive a repeated reading.

[KCBOOMER]

I have always enjoyed Gould despite his misguided association with a certain team.

[Doc Pontoon]

This book's a collection of all of the baseball essays of Stephen Jay Gould, the noted paleontologist and baseball fan who left this mortal plane and became one with eternity about three months ago. The guy's a good writer, and a good scientist, so it's to be assumed that the book is good as well. Has anyone read it yet?

[Craig S.]

I haven't read them yet, but I'm sure I will. I've probably read many of them already, but they're worth reading again. He's just a great writer.

[GGC]

This is one of the ones that I'm currently reading. I was expecting more stuff in the vein of the Ted Williams .400 piece. But alot of the essays had more of a humanities bent. I haven't read the piece on DiMaggio's streak yet, but I look forward to it.

[GGC]

Oh, BTW, the jacket art for this book is worth the price of admission. Probably the most handsome baseball book that I ever saw.

[Wolf Hopper]

FWIW - I just read the chapter on Dummy Hoy in this book - one of the best short bio pieces that I Have ever rad.

[GGC]

It's a good book, isn't it?

[Wolf Hopper]

It's a good book, isn't it?

Still working on it, but, yes, so far, it's fun. He writes extremely intelligently and yet speaks with the heart of the everyday fan. What is good about the book for me - it's one of those books, because of the short essay nature of it, that you can take to the doctor's waiting room, use on the throne, read on a bus/train/plane ride, etc. - - meaning you can pick it up at any time and even if you only have 15 minutes, it's a good read and you won't be ticked because you're half way through a chapter or something when it's time to put it down. Plus, because the essays are stand alone, you could put the book down for 2 weeks and come back to it later and not have to try and remember what you read before.