This passage by James Baldwin is more eloquent than anything I can come up with. So I’ll just footnote Baldwin by adding that the risks of reading are that you may be faced with a realization requiring more of you, one that challenges or enlarges the borders of the self, Read more…
Literary Risk Why did I work on Watch Me Go for twenty years? That’s not an easy question for me, if for no other reason than sometimes the book sat, rejected by yet another agent whose response had been full of praise and no substantive reason for turning it down. Read more…
I just read a nasty, catty review of one of my books. And here’s the thing: The book isn’t even out yet. So it goes. If you’re going to risk putting your work out there, you may be rewarded with someone telling you exactly what they think of it. I Read more…
As a child growing up in a Pennsylvania steel town that was close but also worlds away from both Philadelphia and New York, reading was totally central to my life and the way that I connected to the world. Like many lifelong readers, the world of books was often more Read more…
Philosophy is a risky business. Ask Socrates. Well, nowadays we don’t have to be worried about being sentenced to death. But even if charges of denying the gods and corrupting the youth don’t lead to execution these days, a good Socratic gadfly still has a few things to worry about. Read more…
I hope that my book, Strength for the Struggle, will reward readers with a clearer vision of their own life and where it’s going, a clearer vision of our nation’s history and how significant changes for the good of the nation come about, a clearer vision of how religiously motivated Read more…
Risky Behavior Writing, reading, and publishing are inherently risky behaviors. They won’t give you STDs, but other unfortunate consequences abound. First of all, being reviewed is a nightmare. You can decline to read your reviews, but reviews drive sales figures,, and if you don’t sell enough copies you are likely Read more…