Book review: “Chimera” by John Barth
I suspect that anyone writing a review of a John Barth book is tempted to Barth Barth. Which is to say, to try to be as inventive and witty and [...]
The Last Four Miles: Completing Chicago’s Lakefront Parks
Virtually my first freelance job after being laid off by the Chicago Tribune in April, 2009, was to edit (and write portions of) a report for the Friends of the [...]
The departure of a feisty think tank
As of Saturday, May 31, Metropolis Strategies, formerly Metropolis 2020, closes its doors. I’m sorry to see the feisty think tank depart although, when it was founded in 1999 by [...]
The prayer of writing
This essay originally appeared in the May issue of Reality, a Catholic magazine in Ireland. Norman Mailer called writing “the spooky art.” And anyone who’s been a writer, amateur [...]
Advice for new graduates: Believe. Jump. Leap. Trust.
If you’re one of the millions of young people who are graduating from high school or college this season, I have one word of advice for you: Believe. Believe in [...]
Book review: The Foundation Trilogy: “Foundation,” “Foundation and Empire,” and “Second Foundation” by Isaac Asimov
Some of the enthusiasms of youth travel well. Others don’t. When it comes to books, I can point to some I read in my teens and early twenties that still [...]
My lay-off and the golden age of journalism
Five years ago today, I was laid off by the Chicago Tribune. I had company. More than 50 other editorial employees were let go the same week I was shown [...]
Book review: “Raising Steam” by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett’s 40th Discworld novel Raising Steam, a wonderfully witty and thoughtful book, seems to have been a very personal novel for him to write. For one thing, Pratchett seems [...]
Book review: “On Ugliness” by Umberto Eco
No question, the guy on the cover of Umberto Eco’s 2007 book On Ugliness is truly ugly. And, in this sixteenth-century painting by Quentin Matsys, Ill-Matched Lovers, his ugliness is [...]
book Review: “Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire — A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival” by Peter Stark
This review initially appeared in the Printers Row section of the Chicago Tribune. on March 8, 2014. Storms at sea play a key role in the tale of John Jacob [...]