Gear Patrol

Good writers (if we should say so ourselves) respect good writing. Grantland, one of our favorite publications, certainly in sports and culture if not in general, catches our eyes with intuition, integrity and irreverence. Print may be in bad shape, but it still feels right to hold good journalism between your fingers (your keyboard doesn’t…

While the nickname never really made much sense, the simple fact that Neil Young was called the “godfather of grunge” in the 1990s proved the influential and staying power of an artist who first came on the scene in 1966. In the upcoming Waging Heavy Peace ($17), a 66 year-old Young talks about his early…

Professional cycling has been brought in to the limelight lately, and what’s being exposed isn’t pretty. With no shortage of content, Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton and New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle co-authored The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs ($17)….

While handling success with grace and humility is a rare trait, the truer measure of a man is how he deals with adversity. In facing the ultimate travail, one’s certain death, Christopher Hitchens displays a stoicism worthy of Marcus Aurelius in Mortality ($14). A collection of his last essays for Vanity Fair before his death…

We bandy the title “hero” about to describe entertainers, sports figures, politicians, anyone who excels or surmounts significant adversity. The true definition, however, fits a much smaller number. No Easy Day ($16), the first-person account of the SEAL Team 6 raid on an Abbottabad compound that killed Osama bin Laden, breaks the traditional silence of…

We hope savvy travelers have finished trekking their way through 150 Weekends in the USA & Canada ($25), because more trips are on the way with The New York Times, 36 Hours: 125 Weekends in Europe ($26). As you’d suspect, this follow-up compiles the same excellent “36 Hour Departure” travel articles as its predecessor —…

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” Nietzsche said that. “Chillin’ by the fire while we eatin’ fondue.” Bieber said that. But no matter what you think of the current auditory scene, it’s impossible to argue with the power of music. In How Music Works ($21), David Byrne — the former Talking Heads front man…

Oh, the Brits. They’re funny, they like tea, they just finished hosting the Olympics — and if you’ve sunk your teeth into Brit Lit, then you know they write decent books. Craig Brown’s Hello Goodbye Hello is [in our best accent] bloody well clever. The book is, simply, 101 daisy-chained true encounters between the rich,…

While there are endless options for flexing your culinary muscles, making your own dry cured meats is one of the best ways of calling out those hacks on Iron Chef that we can think of. Using the secret ingredient? Try making it b$^&*$#s. Authors Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn know a thing or two about…

It’s estimated that — on average — a person tells a lie anywhere from one to ten times per day. That’s hard for us to believe, since we always speak the truth. In Spy the Lie ($16), former CIA officers Philip Houston, Michael Floyd and Susan Carnicero explain how to spot the difference between truth…

The best handymen acquire their skills over a lifetime of tinkering, but if you’re all thumbs 365 days of the year consider The Art of Fixing Things ($11) by Lawrence E. Pierce a crash course in honey-do-list competence. Its 168 pages provide easy-to-follow tips supplemented by helpful photos in areas like automotive, appliances, household and…

Traditional Japanese cooking can be incredibly daunting if you’re not, well, Japanese. Moé Takemura helps confused Westerners and Japanese expats alike in her Guide to the Foreign Japanese Kitchen ($49), which thoroughly and simply details the necessities of Japanese cuisine from ingredients to silverware. Each of the 30 meals in the book is laid out…

1492 is a year that most Americans can immediately identify with. It was, of course, the year that North America was discovered by the beautifully misguided explorer Christopher Columbus. But what came after that? Sure, in the five hundred years-plus that have passed since the Italian landed on our shores, we’ve done alright setting things…

Pathos — that’s relevant experience and credibility for you non-rhetorically adroit folk — is everything when it comes to how-to books. That’s why The Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned From Patagonia’s First 40 Years ($20) gets two green thumbs up from us. Written by Patagonia’s founder and owner Yvon Chouinard and the co-editor of the…

Ever felt the urgent need for an extended change of scenery? It can be done. If you are looking to drop off the grid but aren’t Bruce Wayne rich, you’ll need to figure out how to eat along the way. That’s where Work Your Way Around the World ($17) can help. Already in its 15th…

We’ve already spoiled you for choice with summer reading choices, but we’re generous when it comes to quality literature. A Labyrinth of Kingdoms: 10,000 Miles Through Islamic Africa ($20) by Steve Kemper catalogues the real-life epic of Heinrich Barth, a 19th century explorer who ranks among Stanley and Livingstone but is virtually unknown outside of…

Historical fiction, especially “re-imagined” historical writing, runs the risk of coming off pretty damn awful. “What if Hitler had survived the war and opened a coffee and donuts shop?” all writers have asked themselves, and the lucky ones have been slapped by their peers and continued their cup of coffee, careers still intact. Stephen L….

Remember the tedium of English Comp 101? Outline, rough draft, working draft, final draft, and final copy—all for a lousy B-. Now, imagine 47 rewrites. Papa admitted to revising the ending of A Farewell to Arms 39 times. His grandson, Sean Hemingway uncovered nine more attempts while perusing the Ernest Hemingway Collection at the John…

Looking for a way to celebrate Merica’ year round? The American Cocktail: 50 Recipes That Celebrate the Craft of Mixing Drinks from Coast to Coast ($13) should do the trick. This helpful bartender companion, written by the trustworthy purveyors of liquid culture over at Imbibe Magazine, covers a unique selection of 50 favourites from master…

Five years ago, Mexicans who sold tacos out of the back of a van were targets of the health department. Now, kids from suburbs buy trucks, sell mashup tacos, and get their own TV shows. How did they do it? The inspiration they received from TED. Building on the millions who have absorbed the ideas…

We’re all materialistic to some degree. Let’s face it, that’s why you come to this site (besides the bombastic and articulate writers, of course). We would never advocate loving objects more than our loved ones or even the act of living itself — then again, did you see that 90-inch Sharp behemoth?. Examining the things…

Ah, the summer heat. Take it or leave it, the dog days are anigh. Time for frenzied vacation logistics, thanking (and re-thanking) the good men who invented air conditioning, and of course a damn good book. From a collection of short stories by one of our favorite childhood authors to an emotionally exhausting murder mystery…

Excited for this year’s upcoming election? Neither are we. Or we weren’t, that is, until we checked out Presidential Campaign Posters: 200 Years of Election Art ($27), an illustrated history of our country’s presidential election campaign propaganda. The Library of Congress-published tome features 100 removable, ready-to-frame campaign posters, each with a brief description of the…

Writer and Entrepreneur Seth Godin’s new book, The Icarus Deception: Why Make Art? sounds positively inspired. Sounds? Yup, that’s because the book has yet to be published — Godin is raising funds via Kickstarter for publishing. Evidently, plenty of others agree because as of opening this morning, with more than 1,500 backers pledging in excess…

There are men, and then there are men. As one of most prominent statesmen of the 20th century, Winston Churchill easily defines the second category. Churchill is well known for his contributions to British (and world) history as the Prime Minister who willed the Limeys through WWII. His life and contributions have been accordingly documented…

Have a date this weekend you want to impress and can’t get a reservation at Alinea? If you have some cooking chops, or a partner that’s attracted to unproven culinary hubris, we suggest making a romantic dinner for two with the help of Modernist Cuisine at Home ($140). The take home version of the James…

Writing a half-decent book on watches is no small feat, but authoring a history of time? That requires a level of prowess and dedication beyond the reach of most, but Dominique Fléchon, historian and expert in fine watches has done just that. His book, The Mastery of Time: A History of Timekeeping ($63) casts much…

The vast majority of us are guilty of taking better care of the various gadgets around us than we do our most personal hardware: our body. Bruce Perry’s book focuses on the only thing that really matters: making you the healthiest person you can be, not transforming you into a hulking tower of meat and…

The relentless pursuit of sartorial, intellectual, philosophical, and physical excellence is all codified in The Gentry Man: A Guide for the Civilized Male. Inside this manly bible, readers will find highlights from all 22 issues of Gentry Magazine published from 1951-1957 that some of our older readership might remember as the spiritual predecessor to GQ…

Tailgating the Oscar-nominated film noir Drive; inspired by James Sallis’s dark novel of the same name; comes the sequel Driven. Sallis’s new novel picks up with the lead character, the enigmatic “Driver”, seven years later as he attempts to transform himself from part-time stunt driver and full-time getaway driver to upstanding citizen, Paul West. In…