We Interrupt This Broadcast: Roach!

Not completely addicted to television.

Mary Roach, author of personal favorite Stiff, has a new book out, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. From what I've read so far, Roach continues in her easy, casual, yet entertaining and informative style and uses plenty of footnotes. Roach shoves so much info and whimsy into footnotes - you can tell that she simply can not leave this stuff out - she can only be called the Footnote Queen. And I love it.

Fiona Apple's oft-delayed and shelved album Extraordinary Machine has finally been released. Much of the album was leaked to the internet months ago, but the album has been almost completely re-produced, and it shows. Apple has an excellent grasp of the pounding beat - her piano playing sometimes acts as a rhythm section - and her lyrical sense has matured since When the Pawn ...

If you're in the Washington, DC area, Michael Crichton will be speaking live at GW Lisner Auditorium on November 6th. Don't go because he's sold millions of books. Don't go because he's co-creator of E.R. Don't go because he wrote Jurassic Park and the Andromeda Strain and don't go because he's got a new book out. Go because he's so damn good looking.