Grizzly Man, a new documentary film by Werner Herzog, is an astounding study of humanity and nature. It was pasted together from videotape left behind by Timothy Treadwell, a somewhat goofy and hippy-dippy outdoorsman who spent thirteen summers in a row communing with grizzly bears in Alaska.

Treadwell was not trained or licensed to interact with these dangerous animals, and he freely admitted that he would not be able to defend himself if a bear decided to kill him for food. He …

The New York Times Book Review totally calls postmodern whiz-kid William Vollmann on his bluff today, assigning somebody who actually understands science to review his new impressionistic book about Copernicus and heliocentrism, Uncentering The Earth. The critic in the Times corner is Dava Sobel, who wrote a well-recieved book about the relationship between Galileo and his daughter, then followed it up with The Planets, a substantial but popular study of astronomy.

As much as I like Vollmann (which is, precisely, enough to …

1. Whoa. Enigmatic novelist Don DeLillo has written the screenplay for a movie that’s opening on March 10, Game Six, which apparently involves Michael Keaton, Robert Downey, Jr. and the most exciting baseball game of all time, 1986’s sixth World Series game between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox. This is big news in and of itself — DeLillo is always worth paying attention to — but is especially so because of the subject matter. Perhaps Don DeLillo …

For decades, I’ve been wanting to read John O’Hara’s original “Pal Joey” series from the New Yorker in the late 30’s. These short humor pieces by the celebrated novelist became the basis for a classic jazz-age Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical, Pal Joey, which opened in 1940 with a then-unknown Gene Kelly in the title role. It wasn’t a huge hit, perhaps because its storyline was too gritty. Joey is a charming but selfish young singer and nightclub habitue, …

Julian Barnes does a magic trick in his historical novel Arthur & George. He makes the index cards disappear. He scoops up what must have undeniably been copious notes and footnotes, shuffles those note cards, deftly blends them, and fans the deck into a colorful moving picture of the sites, sounds, intrigues, and essentials of a true turn-of-the-century London adventure.

Sometimes one reads a good book and thinks, “I could do that,” but Arthur & George leaves one thinking, “How did he do that?” …

I’m always up for a good philosophical smackdown, and when I saw that Vanity Fair staffer Leon Wieseltier was challenging atheistic philosopher Daniel Dennett in today’s New York Times Book Review I knew some good punches would get thrown.

Daniel Dennett, a grizzled middle-aged professor at Tufts University who’s lately been firing volleys at the intelligent design movement and standing up for the intensely skeptical philosophical tradition of David Hume and William James, has put together an intentionally controversial book about the balance between spirituality and …

I just came back from Cuba, where I saw Che Guevera’s face plastered everywhere, even in the most unlikely places: in the middle of the countryside with nothing around for miles, a piece of cardboard, or planks, anywhere that could be drawn or painted on, basically. All I knew about him is that he was a revered man, so you can imagine my thrill after stumbling onto the new biographical film Motorcycle Diaries by chance last night.

When we hear the word …

When I review self-published or small press books, I always try them not only on literary merits but also on street smarts. Does the book have what it takes to get noticed out there in this big lonely world? Is the design appealing and powerful? Does the back cover text offer me a compelling reason to want to read the book? Does the author have a good website?

I’m not going to champion a book that doesn’t know how to …

Despite official protest from one of my LitKicks compadres about having Heart of Darkness in my queue of classics, I’ve gone ahead and read it anyway. Because that’s what I do. And now that I’ve read it, I’m not really sure what the deal is with this book. Heart of Darkness? Really? Okay, People Who Decide What Goes In The Literary Canon, if you say so, but, um, really?

See, it’s like this. Once upon a …

U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser is writing a series of columns that highlights poetry and its importance in everyday life. From time to time we’ll share the reprinted columns here, and provide you a chance to add your comments. The latest offering from Colorado poet Bob King examines the geology of love. Sometimes metaphor in poetry can become so cliched and abstract that it takes away from the intended effect, but a simple comparison fleshed out with careful words can extract a new understanding …