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International MPH online Updated: For week ending 27th March 2011 Displaying 1-20 of 20 products 1 A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad Author : Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad In his twenty-two years as Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad transformed his country from an agricultural backwater into an industrial powerhouse that would become the seventeenth-largest trading nation in the world. This remarkable... List price : RM 100.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 2 Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Author : Gilbert, Elizabeth It's 3 a.m. and Elizabeth Gilbert is... List price : RM 37.50 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 3 Wonders of the World Author : Igloo Hidden in every corner of our planet is a secret treasure waiting to be discovered. This book provides a guide to the most spectacular natural and man-made wonders that our unique world has to offer. Complete with beautiful photography and... List price : RM 28.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 4 Have a Little Faith (International Edition) Author : Albom, Mitch A third wonderfully moving novel from internationally bestselling author Mitch Albom, whose books have touched the hearts of millions around the world. A compelling exploration of faith and spirituality - always moving, often profound - is the... List price : RM 32.95 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 5 Conversations with Mahathir Mohamad (Giants of Asia series) Dr M: Operation Malaysia Author : Plate, Tom He began his professional career as a family physician but wound up prescribing innovative political medicines for the entire nation that remain controversial even today. Was he exactly the bold and fearless policy doctor that the troubled body... List price : RM 79.90 Online price : RM 63.92 You save : RM 15.98 (20%) Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 6 Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother Author : Amy Chua An awe-inspiring, often hilarious, and unerringly honest story of one mother's exercise in extreme parenting, revealing the rewards-and the costs-of raising her children the Chinese way. All decent parents want to do what's best for their children.... List price : RM 68.50 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 7 Committed: A Love Story Author : Gilbert, Elizabeth At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazillian living in Indonesia. The couple swore enternal love, but also swore (as skittish divorce survivors) to never marry. However, when Felipe... List price : RM 35.50 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 8 127 Hours Between a Rock and a Hard Place Author : Ralston, Aron Aron Ralston, an experienced twenty-seven-year-old out-doorsman, was on a day's solitary hike through a remote and narrow Utah canyon when he dislodged and eight-hundred-pound boulder that crushed his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall.... List price : RM 33.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 9 It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be Author : Arden, Paul It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be is a handbook of how to succeed in the world a pocket bible for the talented and timid to help make the unthinkable and the impossible possible. The worlds top advertising guru, Paul... List price : RM 36.15 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 10 Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life Author : Spencer, Johnson 'Who Moved My Cheese?' is a simple parable that reveals profound truths. It is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to... List price : RM 29.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 11 The Power of Your Subconscious Mind: Unlock the Secrets within Through (Includes How to Attract Money) Author : Murphy, Joseph This book one of the most beloved and bestselling inspirational guides of all time, shows how changing your thought patterns can produce dramatic improvements and turnarounds in your life. Now the fully intact, original text is as an... List price : RM 37.50 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 12 The Secret Author : Byrne, Rhonda Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of... List price : RM 79.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 13 For the Love of a Son: One Afghan Woman's Quest for Her Stolen Child Author : Sasson,Jean From the time she was a little girl, Maryam rebelled against the terrible second-class existence that was her destiny as an Afghan woman. She had witnessed the miserable fate of her grandmother and three aunts, and wished she had been born a boy. As... List price : RM 36.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 14 Follow Your Heart: Finding Purpose in Your Life and Work Author : Matthews, Andrew It's about how happy people think, why rich people make money by accident, and what losers do, and how not to be... List price : RM 48.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 15 Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman's Guide to Winning Her Man's Heart Author : Argov, Sherry Make him chase you...Until you catch him. Never shy and always laugh-out-loud funny, Sherry Argov's Why Men Marry Bitches is a sharp-witted manifesto that shows women how to transform a casual relationship into a... List price : RM 59.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 16 Life's a Pitch: How to Sell Yourself and Your Brillian Ideas Author : Mavity, Roger; Bayley, Stephen The Pitch is the absolute essence of modern business. Ideas are the most valuable commodity in the modern economy and it is human skill that develops them. In pitching for new business, it is ideas and emotional intelligence that dominate.... List price : RM 49.90 Online price : RM 34.93 You save : RM 14.97 (30%) Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 17 Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want Author : Gray John Once upon a time Martians and Venusians met, fell in love, and had happy relationships together because they respected and accepted their differences. Then they came to Earth and amnesia set in: they forgot they were from different planets. ... List price : RM 36.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 18 Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock Author : Shadrake, Alan Over the past few decades, investigative journalism has come to mean the kind... List price : RM 38.00 Online price : RM 26.60 You save : RM 11.40 (30%) Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 19 Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking Author : Gladwell, Malcolm In his landmark bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the... List price : RM 32.95 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days 20 1000 Years of Annoying the French Author : Clarke, Stephen Was the Battle of Hastings a French victory?Non! William the Conqueror was Norman and hated the French.Were the Brits really responsible for the death of Joan of Arc?Non! The French sentenced her to death for wearing trousers.Was the guillotine a... List price : RM 39.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

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Local Displaying 1-20 of 20 products

1 A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad Author : Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad In his twenty-two years as Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad transformed his country from an agricultural backwater into an industrial powerhouse that would become the seventeenth-largest trading nation in the world. This remarkable... List price : RM 100.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

2 Di Mana Dia Di Hatiku? ALLAH itu Hampir Tapi, Kenapa Aku Masih Meminggir? Akalku Alpa Berfikir, Hatiku Lupa Berzikir... Author : Pahrol Mohd Juoi Di Mana Dia di Hatiku adalah suara kalbu yang mengungkapkan segala rintih pedih, ratap harap serta suka duka seorang hamba yang sentiasa mengharap redha-Nya. Sesungguhnya ALLAH itu dekat, pintu keampunan-Nya lebih... List price : RM 15.00 Usual Local Delivery: (Currently Unavailable)

3 101 Rekreasi Hati: Buat Diri Ku yang Mudah Lupa Author : Dr Zahazan Mohamed; Nik Wafdi Nik Jaafar Di petik daripada buku 300 Hadis Bimbingan karya Dr Zahazan Mohamed dan Ustaz Ahmad Hassan Mohd Nazam dan dipersembahkan semula dengan begitu menarik oleh Nik Wafdi Nik Jaafar (Kartunis NIk) Keistimewaan buku... List price : RM 17.00 Usual Local Delivery: (Currently Unavailable)

4 The Right to Differ: A Biographical Sketch of Lim Kit Siang (includes the New Documentary DVD 'Life and Times of Lim Kit Siang') Author : Ooi Kee Beng This book covers the full biographical sketch of Lim Kit Siang starting from his younger days through the route of his life-long political career, the good and bad days, and including his times in prisons to stand up to defend the rights of the... List price : RM 30.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

5 Teohlogy: The word according to Patrick Teoh Author : Teoh, Patrick If there's one truly authentic Malaysian voice expounding on all that he loves and hates in this multicultural, maddening country, it's Patrick Teoh. With his trademark razor-sharp wit, Teoh, in his aptly-named Teohlogy articles (previously published... List price : RM 38.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

6 Ikhtiar Penyembuhan Penyakit dengan Ayat-Ayat dan Doa-Doa Mustajab Author : Tuan Guru Dato Dr Haron Din Buku ini disusun dengan sebegini rupa bagi memudahkan orang ramai untuk merujuk dan menghafal doa-doa dan ayat-ayat al-Quran yang menjadi asas dalam ikhtiar rawatan penyakit kepada masyarakat. Buku ini dilengkapkan dengan Surah Yaasin,... List price : RM 15.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

7 Paspot Muhammad Rasulullah Author : Mohd Khalil Haji Nordin Paspot mengenai asal usul Nabi Muhammad s.a.w.... List price : RM 29.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

8 Indahnya Hidup Bersyariat (Panduan Fardu Ain Lengkap Bergambar) Author : Dato Ismail Kamus & Mohd Azrul Azlen Isi buku Indahnya Hidup Bersyariat ini merupakan panduan untuk diri sendiri (fardu ain), seisi keluarga, masyarakat dan umat sejagat (fardu kifayah). Ia merangkumi syariat ketika kelahiran, fardu ain kanak-kanak, penekaan pendidikan remaja,... List price : RM 55.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

9 Interlock (Interlok) Author : Abdullah Hussain Interlock covers the period from the early 20th century to Malaya's independence from British rule. The main theme in this novel is the integration of the various majority races of Malaya and how the Malays, Chinese and Indians, represented by three... List price : RM 30.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

10 Bercinta Sampai ke Syurga (Aku Terima Nikahnya # 2)(Kemudi Rumah Tangga) Author : Hasrizal Abdul Jamil Tidakkah pelik jika ada pasangan hangat bercinta tetapi tidak terfikir untuk bersama selama-lamanya? "Sebaik-baik kamu adalah kamu yang terbaik kepada keluarganya,... List price : RM 25.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

11 The Malay Dilemma (With a New Preface) Author : Mahathir bin Mohamad The Malay Dilemma was first published in 1970 to much controversy. Dr Mahathir's interpretation of events caused him to be called upon to defend his statements and claims. This is not an objective book. Nevertheless, it is published... List price : RM 44.40 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

12 Untukmu Wanita: Soal Jawab Isu-Isu Kontemporari Kaum Wanita yang Harus Diketahui Oleh Semua Wanita, Isteri dan Ibu Author : Zaharuddin Abd Rahman Untukmu Wanita - hadiah istimewa buat insan bernama wanita. Menggarap pelbagai permasalahan wanita yang merangkumi isu aurat, maruah, munakahat dan juga rumah... List price : RM 21.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

13 Nota Jutawan Nota Perniagaan Author : Irfan Khairi Dalam buku ini, Irfan Khairi berkongsi berbagai-bagai tip dengan para usahawan dan juga bakal usahawan dalam mencapai kejayaan yang cemerlang dalam bidang perniagaan. Buku penuh warna-warni ini memberi senarai panduan dalam bentuk yang paling... List price : RM 30.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

14 Laughter, the Best Malaysian Author : David Tong An anthology of Malaysian jokes, anecdotes, narratives, quirky comments, and yarns which both locals and foreigners can enjoy over a cup of tea.... List price : RM 22.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

15 Fuel Author : Jeremy Chin Timothy Malcolm Smith, a young Creative Director at a cosy ad agency in East Central London, has warmed the hearts of an entire nation with his creativity and charisma, and is being hailed as one of London's best creative minds ever. Having arrived... List price : RM 35.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

16 Diari Hamil: Menanti Detik Keindahan Bersamamu (Panduan Lengkap Kehamilan) Author : Khairun Nisa' Zakaria; et al. Diari hamil  ini disusun untuk kegunaan dan rujukan ibu dan bakal ibu sepanjang tempoh mengandung orang baru yang bakal lahir. Semua orang mengimpikan cahaya mata yang sempurna dan soleh atau solehah. Sebagaimana Allah... List price : RM 26.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

17 Iskandar Malaysia: A Story of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur Author : Ho Chin Soon A story of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur is based on the past historical land ownership and current negotiations between both Governments on the piece of KTM land belonging to Malaysia in Singapore.... List price : RM 49.90 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

18 Menuju Pas Baru: Krisis, Peluang dan Dinamisme (Edisi Kedua) Author : Mujahid Yusof "Kemunculan Lekuk ketiga boleh berlaku dengan sendirinya, namun kemunculannya tanpa diurus dengan baik akan menimbulkan pelbagai kekeliruan kepada ahli dan orang ramai, apatah lagi masalah dalaman yang berpontensi menimbulkan konflik tiada... List price : RM 20.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

19 Hadiah Buat Muslimah: Panduan Asas Fiqah Wanita Author : Siti Nor Bahyah Mahamood HADIAH BUAT MUSLIMAH - Panduan Asas... List price : RM 30.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

20 Kembara Ke Angkasa Author : Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor List price : RM 25.00 Usual Local Delivery: 3 to 5 business days

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The Top 50 Essential Non-Fiction Books for WeirdosPosted by Cheryl Botchick on February 9, 2011
http://geezpete.com/2011/02/09/the-top-50-essential-non-fiction-books-for-weirdos/

Knowing that I’ve been a voracious reader since I was a kid, someone recently asked me if I’d read all of the Modern Library’s top 100 list. Hm, never checked. So I took a look. Surprisingly, I’ve done pretty well. Not so surprisingly, that is one fusty, moldy list! Three DH Lawrence titles? Really?

Even worse had to be the “Reader’s List” that the site compiled in reaction to their editor’s list. Any time you have Ayn Rand and L. Ron Hubbard gobbling up the top of both the fiction and non-fiction lists (and I won’t even mention the inclusion of Howard Stern’s Private Parts), skepticism is the best policy.
Then I started to dig around. There’s gotta be a list of essential cool/strange books, right? Wrong. There are lists for just about everything — sci-fi, romance, female authors, young adults, top sellers — but not a list for “us.” Who’s “us”? Well, I’m not sure. I figure if you’re part of “us,” you probably already know.

Aside from the fact that making a top 100 or 50 or 10 of any kind of art is a fool’s errand, I have nominated myself to this task.

I’ve come up with 50 non-fiction and 50 fiction titles I think are keystones to understanding subculture. Or counterculture. Or alternative thinking. Or something. In large part, I went with the Supreme Court Justice Stewart method: I know it when I see it.
It’s just a list — my own personal list, pretty heavily centered on 20th century titles, rather American — but I hope that it can serve as a primer for some, a refresher for others, a discussion for veterans, maybe even a window into another way of thinking for still others. All I know is, if a post I did on Russian prison tattoos can garner 6,000 reads and (rapidly) counting, then this one can certainly get the good word out about some great reading.

Enjoy the quickie slideshow, or hit the jump for the list in text form along with comments about each. And please, leave your own suggestions in the comments! Community effort!

Now Live: 50 fiction titles.

A note before we begin: I’ve hyperlinked each title to its listing at the online store for Powell’s Books in Portland, OR. While every community has great indie bookstores, Powell’s may well be the nation’s best, and it’s certainly the best indie bookstore on the web. If you don’t have a great indie store in your ‘hood, look to Powell’s if you’re so inclined.


A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn: Winston Churchill may want you to believe that history is written by the victors, but Howard Zinn defies that theory in this essential review of American history. Look at our past from the viewpoint of those without power, but with the guts to stand up in the face of all manner of adversity. Crucial reading. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace: I’ve never been on a cruise, but David Foster Wallace’s bewildered, exhaustively detailed retelling of a 7-night Caribbean cruise slayed me. If you ever find yourself in Big America and feel like you’re on another planet, this is for you. Also: state fairs, TV, David Lynch.

American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center by William Langewiesche: Years before September 11 became a jingoistic way to rile up “patriots,” it was a horrific crime scene and victim recovery effort that had to be handled with utmost care, item by item, by volunteers who agreed to commit themselves to the task. Langewiesche used his 24/7 access to make an ugly but necessary record of the truth.

Columbine by Dave Cullen: There’s a lot you “know” about Columbine — the “Trench Coat Mafia,” the girl who professed her love for God and was executed — but in reality, it’s nearly all incorrect. This exhaustive look at the 1999 attack covers a lot of individual issues (gun violence, troubled adolescence, mental illness), but on a macro level, it’s about the emergence of the 24-hour news cycle, the scramble for “if it bleeds it leads” information, and what the commercialization of news has done to public awareness. | UPDATE April 3, 2011: I keep hearing the Columbine incident mentioned as what can happen when “bullying” (about which much hand-wringing is all the rage these days) gets out of control. Here’s the thing: The perpetrators weren’t the victims of bullies. So the mythology lives on 12 years later.

Commodify Your Dissent by Thomas Frank and Matt Weiland, Editors: This collection of essays from lefty periodical The Baffler is an ideal intro to the modern-day echo chamber of questions around culture, marketing, selling out, being co-opted, and the increasingly impossible task of trying to figure out which is which.

Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll by Nick Tosches: I allowed myself several books by Tosches on this list because no one has shed more light on the incredible hidden grit and seedy underbelly of the history of music like he has. Or maybe he just writes about what I’m interested in. Here, you meet the wild and wooly hillbillies that predate Elvis’ polished Southern boy charm.

Critical Path by Buckminster Fuller: He was born at the end of the 19th century, but Buckminster Fuller was a futurist inventor of the highest order, bringing to life everything from geodesic domes to the totally dope looking

Dymaxion car. In this sweeping 1981 book, Bucky covers the evolution of human civilization, his own economic ideology, and argues his conclusions about the “critical path” we should take to survive in a world of finite resources.

Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams by Nick Tosches: You could line millions of bird cages with all the books written about Sinatra, but this biography of Dean Martin will not only give you a closer look at the world of the Rat Pack, warts and all, but it will reveal that Dean was cooler and more detached from the whole fuss than image-obsessed Frank could ever hope to have been.

Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists by Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Jeff Mao, Gabriel Alvarez and Brent Rollins: I haven’t found a book on hip-hop that, taken in total, is any more revealing, informative, or flat out brilliant than Ego Trip magazine’s book of lists.

England’s Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock and Beyond by Jon Savage: When considering this book, I asked a friend, “Essential read? Or head-in-sand version of the emergence of punk that considers the Ramones and the Dolls to be footnotes to the people standing around in a clothing store owned by Vivienne Westwood?” He answered, “Both.”

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser: This one’s hardly a secret, being that it stands at the start of the anti-industrial food complex wave and spawned a (really strange) film version, but you need to have this one under your belt, so to speak. Just eat your last peaceful fast food meal before you crack it open. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson: Looking over my list, my husband asked, “Isn’t that almost fiction?” Good point! But reporting on events through the filter of copious drugging and a sizable helping of paranoia is still technically reporting in my book. Hunter’s world view is one of the backbones of modern counter-cultural thought. Start here, and maybe try his vicious lone wolf  takedown obit of Nixon, too.

From the Velvets to the Voidoids: The Birth of American Punk Rock by Clinton Heylin: Further to the comments about England’s Dreaming, allow me to whole-heartedly recommend the American side of the story of punk. Heylin completely dissects the birth of the genre in America focusing on New York, and very justly giving my beloved hometown of Cleveland its due!

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen: While the very famous film version seems to be about something else (Winona Ryder being drowned by Angelina Jolie’s scenery-chewing, you could argue), my take on this ’60s memoir is much like Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. If the world’s a mess and so are you, which one of you is crazy? Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis: The legendary story of Led Zeppelin. The events that spawned a million bands struggling to come up with dangerous, destructive behavior to seem cool (cough Motley Crue cough). The difference is, Led Zeppelin was not trying. This was just day in and day out life in the world’s most awesome rock band. And it’s a life that is long, long, long gone. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi: Baby boomers would have you believe that the ’60s were the pinnacle of human civilization’s ability to join together in an effort to break from a repressive culture and corrupt politics. In reality, it was a shitstorm of trendy hangers-on and costumed grifters taking them to the cleaners. And then, one day, Charles Manson got wind of the whole hippie thing, and it got really kungfued up.

Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War by TJ Stiles: Jesse James enjoys a place in our imagination as a “friendly outlaw,” a non-political Robin Hood of his time. This vivid, compulsively readable study sets him in a far more accurate light, as a Confederate hardass from adolescence on who used his infamy to push forward the cause long into the Reconstruction. As Stiles argues, he was perhaps even a predecessor to modern-day terrorists.

Just Kids by Patti Smith: Yet another book about a world long lost to our modern times. Smith tells the story of coming to New York, meeting her lifelong friend Robert Mapplethorpe, and living the happy-but-skint life of artists in the big city. While reading, be sure to consider that today you can get a $50 cheeseburger in Manhattan without looking very hard. Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence by Paul Feig: I’ve read an embarrassing number of embarrassing teenage memoirs, but none killed me with hilarious realism like Paul Feig’s. Feig is best known as one of the creators of Freaks and Geeks. Here he details the mortifying nerd moments that gave him the wit and wisdom to create such a fantastic series.

Life by Keith Richards: Our third entry in “this does not exist anymore.” Sure, he called it “Life,” but does your life involve driving your Bentley to the South of France and taking a ferry to Tangiers, where you wiled away weeks in an opium den? Or hanging out at your estate on Turks & Caicos and having neighbor Paul McCartney come down the beach looking for you? That sort of thing? No? Read this.

Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century by Greil Marcus: Marcus tackles what should be an impossible task — taking anarchic artistic and social movements throughout roughly a century of history, and tying them together into a narrative thread that leads straight through punk rock and pop culture — and pulls it off. And it’s entertaining to boot.

Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York by Luc Sante: Scorsese’s mostly horrendous Gangs of New York dabbled in the nefarious history of lower Manhattan, but Sante goes for the full narrative, from the Civil War straight through the first couple decades of the 1900s. Learn what the crooks, prostitutes, swindlers, junkies, grifters and their various known associates were doing for “fun.” No Logo by Naomi Klein: A predecessor to Commodify Your Dissent, Klein digs deep into multi-national corporations and pervasive branding, while coming just short of explicitly writing an anti-globalization tome. That book came next for Klein, but No Logo stands alone as a dissection of ruthless commodification.

Nobrow by John Seabrook: While there are plenty of books that discuss how low and high culture have become indistinguishable from one another, none spoke to me directly as much as Seabrook’s Nobrow. I certainly feel a parallelism to his experience at the New Yorker, watching it go from bastion of serious journalism to the buzzy celebrity energy of new editor Tina Brown (I worked at an alternative music magazine that went from clarity of purpose to pop apologism). But in my library, no book better explains why these days, everyone is cool, and yet no one is cool, and how that happened.

Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad: The amount of tireless fact-gathering and timelining here of the events of underground music in the ’80s is just staggering, but it’s an awesome trip for anyone who was a participant or fan. What happened to the American indie underground after 1991, you ask? Oh, you don’t want to know. Permanent Midnight by Jerry Stahl: As someone who’s never taken a single drug in her life, it’s pretty amazing how many junkie memoirs I’ve devoured. Maybe I have a junkie memoir problem? Jerry Stahl’s is one of the best, because he’s a writer first and foremost. Follow him as he goes from Hustler to writing scripts for Moonlighting, while death spiraling through a narcotic cautionary tale that will make your hair fall out. Added bonus: He was the head writer on the cult classic Alf, so next time you see a clip, remember that all that dialogue was written by a man strung out into near-psychosis. It makes so much more sense! Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain: I don’t care how historic or high-minded any artistic movement is, it’s going to be full of sniping and backstabbing and petty jealousies. We’re all human, and that’s just part of the fun. Kudos to McNeil for getting all these stories about hairy nights hanging out in front of CBGBs on paper, before many of the principals were lost.

Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson: If that book cover isn’t enough to convince you to check this out, what is? Robert Anton Wilson (RAW to his fans and followers) was an icon of brain-altering philosophies, and his writing has lost zero of its power over time. The headline here is that Prometheus Rising is about meta-programming your own mind. The subheads are many. You’ll feel altered.

Psychotic Reactions and Carpekpekor Dung by Lester Bangs: When it comes to the kind of rock criticism we should all want to read — no bullshit, wisecracking, on the money, take no prisoners — Lester is ground zero. This compilation of his work for Creem, Rolling Stone, NME and more is utterly crucial. It’s like the weirdo’s version of the Bible in the hotel nightstand drawer. Raging Bull: My Story by Jake LaMotta: When Robert DeNiro read Raging Bull on the set of The Godfather Part II, it affected him so much he nagged Martin Scorsese for years before convincing him to adapt it to film. DeNiro’s assessment of it was dead-on: While the writing is simplistic, LaMotta’s raw humanity and violent intensity are unforgettable. You can get books galore on boxing technique, the business, the interference of organized crime, but LaMotta’s book is about the life and mind of a man who brawls like an animal for the entertainment of others. Rock and the Pop Narcotic by Joe Carducci: There are small gripes to be had with Carducci’s rock manifesto, not least of which is his assertion that women can neither rock nor properly appreciate rock. OK, that’s a pretty big gripe, but Carducci expertly lays down the battlefield between the guts-and-glory of rock ‘n’ roll and the evil, namby-pamby influence of saccharine pop.

Role Models by John Waters: Put simply, John Waters is an American treasure. His appreciation for American trash (and subsequent “war on good taste”) is his alone, and it is glorious. In this recent set of essays, Waters interviews and/or discusses his extremely broad range of idols, from angry, brutish strippers to Little Richard to specialty pornographers to reformed Manson girl Leslie Van Houten. Soak in as much of Waters as you can, because we shan’t see the likes of him again.

Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe by Chuck Eddy: A very rockist entry, I’ll admit, but I love Chuck Eddy’s writing, and this is a fantastic primer for anyone looking to expand their guitar/bass/drums outlook. Within these 500 titles, Eddy covers it all, sometimes reverently, sometimes dismissively, sometimes hilariously, but always with the perverse affection of a guy who loves a riff.

Subculture: The Meaning of Style by Dick Hebdige: Considering it was published in 1979, this brief-but-dense book recognizes and defines modern subcultures and their appropriation with incredible accuracy. The subsequent never-ending process of mass market swiping of underground styles — from clothes to music to politics to, let’s face it, hair — has only gotten faster and more fierce since. Hebdige recognized a once-subtle process that today is like a snake devouring its own tail.

Tales of Times Square by JA Friedman: Our final entry in the “disappearing worlds” category is a collection of essays about all those things that made Times Square famous. None of these things, of course, are The Lion King, the New Year’s Eve ball or, God forbid, the ESPN Zone. Think along the lines of peep shows, porn shops, runaways, streetwalkers, and the wacky clergymen bravely trying to stem the tide of sin.

The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll: Though it’s the diary of a teenager growing up in New York, I don’t think anyone would classify this as a Young Adult title. Carroll was dabbling in all sorts of things that would make a decent parent blanch, but the magic of this memoir is being able to relive the unique mindset of a teenager via the pen of a gifted poet.

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan: Though there was a (somewhat long-winded) documentary version of this book, the print version is a better organized and therefore more alarming argument around the idea that corporations as they are defined today are fundamentally dangerous entities to humanity. Sound drastic? Well, what is a corporation’s sole purpose? To make a profit. Notice that there’s no “but” there. Environment? Fairness? Human rights? Community? Nope, not in there. To make a profit. Take that one to heart.

The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner: Have you ever noticed that you can drive through the sleepiest, safest suburb and every house is tricked out with an elaborate security system? Why is that? Glassner explains this and other weird phenomena by laying down the hard, irrefutable facts: We do not live in more dangerous times by any measure. It only seems that we do, thanks to a whole crew of industries that make money from stoking our nerves. The Dark Stuff by Nick Kent: There’s plenty of music on this book list, but this collection of Nick Kent’s essays is essential simply because of its impeccable list of subjects. Kent profiles everyone from Miles Davis to Jerry Lee Lewis to Iggy Pop to Roy Orbison to Brian Jones and more. And not least, Kent is an unusual writer in that he was living the life of a rock star himself. In many regards, he meets his subjects on common ground.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs: Do you ever think to yourself, “Why is it so easy to get around in the city and I feel surrounded by people who know me and there’s a real sense of community, but when I’m in the suburbs, it seems really detached and lonely?” Jane Jacobs explains quite beautifully.

The Essential Chomsky by Noam Chomsky: A great primer to the work of linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky who, at the tender age of 82 (yikes!) has been one of America’s most prominent dissidents since the ’60s. His writings range from anti-war arguments to social criticism, and it’s not by accident that he’s noted as the 8th most cited source of all time. OF ALL TIME! (Throwing in some Kanye there.)

The Ralph Nader Reader by Ralph Nader: He’s made a rather controversial name for himself by running for President on the Green Party ticket, but his life’s work is basically unimpeachable. Nader single-handedly invented consumer activism, chasing down cheap and/or rotten corporations with dangerous or lousy products with religious zeal. If anyone on this list is in it for the little guy, it’s Nader. This is a skinny guy in a rumpled suit that can make a CEO shake like a chihuahua just by walking into a room. Gotta love that.

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil: Hm, this one is a little hard to blurb. Let’s say this: Kurzweil is the world’s most optimistic mad scientist. In this expansive book, he argues that humankind, with its massive advances in nanotechnology, genetics, robotics and more, is reaching a kind of maximum knowledge — a “singularity” — at which point we can merge our biology with our science to completely transform the human race. This isn’t blurbing well, is it?

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell: This colorful, surprisingly readable book about the colonization of Massachusetts by a couple different strains of English Puritans may not end up on the bookshelves of the nation’s top historians, but it’s hard not to get caught up in Vowell’s love of the eccentricities and intellectual/religious battles of these pretty zealous pilgrims. I found it fascinating as a possible theory on why the Northeast part of the country values intellectualism, while the South mistrusts it. A stretch, perhaps, but an interesting idea.

Unsung Heroes Of Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Birth Of Rock In The Wild Years Before Elvis by Nick Tosches: Though this book came earlier than Tosches’ Country book, listed above, the two are companion pieces. Dig into the blues shouters and R&B shakers that paved the way for the rock music that cribbed from them so copiously.

Visions of Jazz: The First Century by Gary Giddins: You try and come up with just one or two essential books that serve as primers on jazz! Go ahead, smarty-pants! Giddins has created a great reference manual for the sort of person I am, which is someone who stands looking at tons of jazz records, knowing they’re intensely cool and packed with intoxicating, liberating sounds, and not knowing what in sam heck to buy.

Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History by David Aaronovitch: Have you ever been stuck at a party, cornered by a self-described “9/11 Truther” as they describe the detailed opinions of unnamed “demolition experts” who swear the Towers were detonated? Pick this up and find out the origins of the most impossible to kill conspiracy theories, how they’ve thrived, and why seemingly logical people sometimes grab onto far-flung diabolical plots as though they’re gospel.

What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank: A critical read for anyone who’s yelled at their TV during election results or political commentary because you cannot understand for the life of you why the American middle class votes again and again and again to elect politicians that will do nothing but further destroy their shot at a decent, simple life in favor of padding the coffers of the rich.

Within the Context of No Context by George W.S. Trow: Though first published in 1980 as an entire issue of the New Yorker, this slim book (which should now be required reading for any students of culture and sociology) only makes more and more sense with the passage of time. Is the disease of media, TV and celebrity in America highly degenerative on the few specific things it touches, or is it simply getting more and more contagious? Either way, Trow nails it.

You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths by Russ Kick: You know, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you. As the balance and possibly an antidote to Voodoo Histories, above, the Disinformation team makes sure to expose every last Big American Scam. This is merely the first of many of their books that send the cockroaches scrambling.

seribulan

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/
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