2011 reading list: January - March

Larry Dierker, This Ain't Brain Surgery: Bison Books, 2005. Long-time Houston Astros player, broadcaster and manager tells his story

Dirk Hayhurst, The Bullpen Gospels. See full review here

Eric Schlosser, Reefer Madness: Mariner Books, 2004. Fast Food Nation muck-racker looks at the underground economy

Richard Russo, Straight Man: Vintage, 1998. Academic potty humor from a Pulitzer Prize winner compares well to Smiley's Moo and DeLillo's White Noise

John H Briant, Adirondack Detective: Chalet Publishing, 2006. Prose as closely observant and stiff ans the title's retired policeman makes a good story hard to read

Jonah Keri, The Extra 2%: ESPN, 2011. See full review here

Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr Rosewater: Dial Press, 1988. The most profound piece of moral philosophy in Twentith-Century American literature: damnit, you've got to be kind

David Czuchlewski, The Muse Asylum: Penguin, 2002. Undergraduate love triangle reunites in search of a reclusive author, from which no good can come

Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner, Teaching as a Subversive Activity: Delta, 1971. A new educator must be centrally concerned with the hearts and minds of learners: teach them how to ask, and answer, questions they find important

Seth Grahame-Smith, Abraham Lincoln-Vampire Hunter: Grand Central, 2011. While lacking the scope of Sandburg, Grahame-Smith exposes a previously unknown side of the President

Lawrence D Hogan, Shades of Glory: National Geographic, 2007. The Hall of Fame undertook the first comprehensive accounting of Negro Leagues statistics for this history of apartheid baseball, and should now make them public