Books Everyone Should Read, Really

The Shining by Stephen King

Disclaimer: I have watched the movie The Shining starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall.

Okay, so this book veers from the list of books compiled by members of the College Media Advisers listserv, but I’ve never read The Shining and a girl needs some entertainment every now and then.

And entertaining this book is. A hotel that basically comes to life, including blood, guts on the wall and murdered gangsters and their girlfriends (and sometimes boyfriends too). Hedge animals that move, bite, tear and grab, but ultimately fall prey to gasoline and fire. But scariest of all, the tightly-wound father who comes unraveled based on imaginary liquor and over-inflated sense of self.

Of course in the movie, the tightly-wound father is the character to watch, so aptly played by Nicholson, but the true focus of this book is The Shining, those people with the ability to read minds and see the future. In this case, Jack’s son and namesake, who sees and hears much scarier things in the book than he does in the film. I’ve found this to be the case with all Stephen King book’s I’ve read: They’re much scarier than the movies.

I’m not a big scary movie, scary book person, but Stephen King is one of the best writers of our time. He’s also one of the most prolific, delving into the psyche and plumbing the depths of what makes each of us get the skin-crawling sensation that gives us bad dreams, or keeps us up at night.

As usual, King’s writing is something to be emulated by all good communicators. Direct and descriptive, King cuts to the heart of the matter.

The story, while creepy, is a bit out there as believability goes. However, it still induced a couple of wide-eyed nights as I read some of the most supernatural and unbelievable parts.

Recently, I told several students at Texas A&M University, that the best way to improve as a writer is to read. Well here’s a chance for students to read something that may be of more interest than their textbooks. While you’re reading, enjoy the entertainment, but pay attention to the writing. It’s so good, you’ll forget to pay attention. Now that’s what I call a great writer.

Books Everyone Should Read, Really

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin


Okay, so this book isn’t on College Media Adviser’s list of books journalists should read, but this is definitely a book everyone should read—journalists, communications professionals, educators, athletes, musicians, you name it. Everyone will find the tools needed to be the best in this book. And as the title indicates, it isn’t talent.

So what is it that separates the so-so performer from the good to the truly excellent world-class performer? Deliberate practice.

Yes I know. We’ve all heard the axiom, “Practice makes perfect.” But that’s not what Colvin means. What Colvin means is deliberate, meaningful, planned, systematic and difficult practice that allows you, the performer to practice a skill over-and-over-and-over.

It’s doing as Benjamin Franklin did to practice his writing…It’s finding prose superior to anything he had seen. In this case, the Spectator by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. He read an article. Took brief notes on the meaning of each sentence. A few days later, he would look at the notes and try to express the meaning in his own words. He would then compare his words to the original to discover his faults. His discovery: a poor vocabulary.

Franklin discovered that he could improve his vocabulary by writing poetry, which required a large stock of words with extensive knowledge of meaning and hue. So he rewrote the essays from the Spectator into verse. Then, he would rewrite the verse into prose after he had forgotten the meanings.

Not content to just work on vocabulary, he discovered a method to improve his organizational skills. He would write notes on each sentence in the essay on separate pieces of paper. After a week, he would put all of the pieces together to form the essay and compare to the original. Each time, Franklin would review his work for faults and start all over again. Sounds like a lot of work.

This is precisely why most of us don’t make it to expert. It’s a lot of work. Work isn’t fun.

Deliberate practice isn’t fun, but it does produce the truly world-class performer, with or without talent.

Another such example of deliberate practice at work was one of the most prolific professional football players of all-time, Jerry Rice, who played until age 42. His personal training regime was one that the 49ers’ trainer wouldn’t release for fear that others might hurt themselves.

Here were the hallmarks of Rice’s training regime, as analyzed by Colvin:
• He spent very little time playing football.
• He designed his practice to work on his specific needs.
• It wasn’t fun.
• He defied the conventional limits of age.

So according to Colvin, deliberate practice changes people in fundamental ways, turning people into experts who exhibit these qualities:
• They understand the significance of indicators that average performers don’t even notice.
• They look further ahead.
• They know more from seeing less.
• They make finer discriminations than average performers.
• And they remember more.

What does this mean for all of us? Well we can be superstars without talent.

All it takes is several hours (read about 8 hours per day if you haven’t started in your youth) to become prodigies. Good to know I can still become a world-class concert pianist.

Well, maybe I’ll just learn to play cool music…Maybe that won’t take as much practice time. So pull up a bench. Where’s my metronome?

Books Journalists Should Read, Not Really

Never Let Them See You Cry: More from Miami, America's Hottest Beat by Edna Buchanan


This book is a continuation of Buchanan's life as a police beat reporter with the Miami Herald and all of the strange tales she experienced in America's Hottest Beat. A reminder: I am an Edna Buchanan fan.

Buchanan wrote this book after the publication of her first novel, so this book is likely designed to play on the popularity of The Corpse Had a Familiar Face, her first nonfiction book about life as a police beat reporter in Miami.

And Buchanan doesn't disappoint, providing some of the trademark razor-sharp writing and observations that keep her the reigning queen of the police beat despite more than two decades of absence from her domain.

In describing a victim of crime:
"Ethel Lottman, a no-nonsense Miami Beach widow, seventy-two, handled her heart condition, her arthritis and a homicidal maniac with the same aplomb."

A description of the new South Beach:
"Sleepy South Beach, once famous for its senior citizens, now throbs through the soft nights with a healthy and and youthful energy, more lusty and alive than it has ever been."

While this book covers familiar ground in stories of murder and mayhem in Miami, it does break new ground. The last chapter also goes into Buchanan's struggle to embrace her new life as a novelist and drop her old journalistic habits.

This book marks the end of Buchanan's nonfiction, journalistic writing as she becomes what she had always dreamed of--a writer. A great loss for journalism.

The Corpse Had a Familiar Face was vintage Edna Buchanan at her journalistic best. Never Let Them See You Cry doesn't reach that level of journalistic technique in writing, analysis and reporting. It does foreshadow the crime novel career of Buchanan, one that is still going.

Never Let Them See You Cry is a must read if you are an Edna Buchanan fan. Otherwise, stick with The Corpse Had a Familiar Face. It provides more journalistic juice from the world's best police beat reporter, which is a crying shame.

Books Journalists Should Read, Definitely

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis


Disclaimer: I have not watched the movie Moneyball, but I did pick up this book because of the movie. Let me explain.

I was reading books that had been made into movies just for pleasure-reading, when I saw this book in my local library. It was near Friday Night Lights, which is a brilliant book. I saw the cover for Moneyball, so I picked it up. What a great idea, because this book is a wonderful example of great reporting. Another plus--it's a great example of good reporting, and it's about sports, tapping into a student journalist audience that often needs some push to read books.

But this book is about more than just baseball--this book is about how different views, new ideas and a move from the "tried-and-true" to the "cutting edge" can provide surprisingly effective results (stereotypical sports cliches aside now.)

Michael Lewis, a journalist of Blind Side fame, which I did watch, Lewis tells the story of the Oakland As and their management Billy Beane-style. Yes, he tells the story, which is one reason why this book is so compelling--it's great storytelling, often at its best.

We see Beane stalking around the locker room, wheeling and dealing for undervalued players from his office, talking with and dismissing the wisdom of old-school scouts, and relying on the new wizardry of computer analysis and massive amounts of statistical data to maximize the little bit of salary monies the As have.

At heart, this is an economics book, no different than many of Lewis' other economics books, just don't tell the sports nuts. But in practice, Moneyball is a great story, brilliantly told, with colorful and vibrant characters. It's clear that exhaustive reporting and hours of research went into this book, including much detail about the history of baseball statistics. It's also clear from the critical reviews by sports junkies that this book hit a nerve.

I read this book after reading Geoff Colvin's Talent is Overrated, which I will review next week. So I read Moneyball through that filter, a filter that had me thinking about talent quite differently. Maybe that's why I found Moneyball so powerful--because it chronicles the new way that Billy Beane viewed baseball. It reminds me of how other industries need some new thinking, in particular two of interest to me: journalism and higher education.

While this book wasn't on the CMA list of books journalists should read, I think it should be added. Lewis tells a compelling story, using great reporting and clear analysis. If that isn't a great example of good communication, especially for young journalists, I don't know what is.

Books Communicators, Not Just Journalists, Should Read, Absolutely

The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway


On the College Media Advisers list of books journalists should read, this book falls under the category, "Anything by Earnest Hemingway."

A short tale of bad luck, good luck and love, this story is too long to be a short story, but too short to be a true novel, yet it is perfectly told. Young and not so young journalists will see the importance of good storytelling, tight writing and clear direction when they read this novella.

Critics and literature professors have picked this story apart, much like the sharks pick the meat off the Old Man's monstrously large catch. One theory is that the story of the Old Man and his wondrous catch is about Jesus Christ, a parable of sorts written by Hemingway. An interpretation easy to see as Hemingway alludes to crucifiction in the tale as the old man's hands become torn and bloody as if hammered with nails.

Another theory is that in the story, Hemingway is the fish, being torn apart by critics, who were literally picking apart every piece of writing he produced.

There may be other theories as well, but Hemingway himself said the story was about an old Cuban fisherman and the giant fish he caught then lost to scavengers as he was adrift at sea.

No matter what the true intent, The Old Man and the Sea is a wonderful story, in and of itself. This little book sealed Hemingway's fame as a master storyteller and writer. I would agree even though I have never been a real Hemingway fan.

The Old Man and the Sea is a must-read book for aspiring communicators, not just journalists. It shows how clarity of thought, focus, tight writing and superb storytelling can be accomplished with limited adornment. And how a story, well told, stands the test of time. The Old Man and the Sea is as fresh today as it was the day Hemingway finished it.

Next up, a veer from the CMA list as I review Michael Lewis' Moneyball on Friday.

Books Journalists Should Read, Yes

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

So I'll make a confession: This is the first Joan Didion book I've read. Ever.

I know, I know. Hard to believe for someone who teaches journalism courses, but there it is. I've said it.

Now on to more important things. Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking is a literary memoir following Didion for the year after her husband's death. As a good journalist, she copes with the grief by searching for knowledge and then writing about that knowledge and analyzing what happens.

This book plumbs the depths of grief and mourning. In this case, the grief and mourning for a spouse of many years, 40 to be exact. You see the true partnership through Didion's eyes, and how great love and great friendship can cause the greatest pain when a partner dies.

As Didion goes through the year researching grief and mourning, she also lives it, giving this book the raw emotion and insightful deductions that oftentimes clarify and confuse as you see things through Didion's confused mind. But through the year, the clarity with which Didion illuminates the acts of death and grief touches anyone who has experienced the death of someone close.

An example of some of Didion's magical thinking:

"We do not expect this shock to be obliterative, dislocating to both body and mind...we do not expect to be literally crazy, cool customers who believe that their husband is about to return and need his shoes."

While the book provides a thorough investigation of the literature on grief and death, it also explores the more personal nature of the subject, coming to some startling, yet inevitable conclusions:

"Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it."

And in the final chapter and final pages of the book:

"I know why we try to keep the dead alive: we try to keep them alive in order to keep them with us. I also know that if we are to live ourselves there comes a point at which we must relinquish the dead, let them go, keep them dead."

As a must read book for journalists, this book tackles a difficult subject, uses beautiful language and style, clear description, strong reporting, and insightful analysis that demonstrates the kind of critical thinking we all want our students to understand and practice. For this, The Year of Magical Thinking won the National Book Award.

As a must read book overall, I'd recommend this book for it's thoughtful, brutal, sensitive and frank portrayal of grief and mourning. 

We may not truly know grief until we get there on our own, but The Year of Magical Thinking can certainly help us understand the passage a little bit better and not feel so alone as we take the journey.

Books Journalists Should Read, Yes Indeed

The Corpse Had a Familiar Face by Edna Buchanan

Another one of the books recommended by the CMA listserv members as it falls under the category any book by Edna Buchanan.

Again, a reminder, I’m an Edna Buchanan fan. I've used parts of her stories in my classes as examples of thorough reporting. I've used her philosophy as what makes a great journalist, and I’ve read this book before.

With all of that said, I was again floored by Buchanan’s thorough review of her crime reporting. This book is a page-turner with lots of great examples and pithy one-liners. That’s what I really enjoy about Buchanan’s journalism—the thoroughly distilled yet crisp writing that makes you think: “Where did she ever come up with that line?”

Some examples:
When referring to the an editor's insistence that Buchanan report only 'major murders':
"Every murder is major to the victim."
Why she gets the urge to empty out her purse, glove box and dresser periodically:
"It is not because I am basically neat--I am not--but I am reminded from time to time that if I am hit by a bus or gunned down by some irate reader, the cops will routinely inventory the contents of my handbag. I don't want them to find the aging granola bar at the bottom..."

Of course there are others, but I don't want to ruin the entire book for you.

I must say, however, I was a bit distressed by a few comments regarding gays and lesbians. While Buchanan’s sympathetic mantra for families seems to be genuine, her view of gays and lesbians seems to be a bit dated and stereotypical. While Buchanan was a practicing journalist during less enlightened times, she was a practicing journalist in Miami, a veritable haven of homosexuality. I expected more.

While this book is clever and readable, I would never recommend it as a textbook. I know some universities have used it as a text; however, it doesn’t really give you the practical tips needed to use as a text.

It is a great read and a great example of how one reporter, probably the best at what she did, actually did her job. For that, I’d say The Corpse Had a Familiar Face is a must-read journalism book. So go out and read it my journalism friends. You won’t be disappointed.

See also Never Let Them See You Cry, the second installment of Edna Buchanan’s reporting books, and see my previous review on Legally Dead, also by Edna Buchanan.