Nonfiction

Winning Fixes Everything by Evan Drellich ‘04

This book is about baseball, but don’t expect a romance about the boys of summer or the field of dreams.  Baseball, it turns out, is a business and a rather cut-throat one at that. The front office, where every trick imaginable is dreamed up to bring a team to the World Series, is not motivated by the love of the sport.  In some cases the powers in the office don’t know anything about the sport. 

Evan, along with Ken Rosenthal, broke the story about cheating going on at the Houston Astros. This story acquainted the public of the shenanigans designed to skew the results of the game.  First the team deciphered the signals catchers on opposing teams used to communicate with pitchers, and then they alerted batters by banging on garbage cans.  Apparently, knowing what sort of pitch was coming his way was…

America on Two Wheels, Biking Coast to Coast in Search of Human Stories by David King ’96.  Human stories are actually what David King finds as he bikes across the country from San Diego to Miami.  What he seeks takes a number of forms during his introspective musings as he pedals along: adventure, achievement, God, a path to love and family, human contact, solitude,  and plenty of material to write about.  What he finds is the surprising generosity, kindness, and curiosity of random people of all ages, walks of life, and ethnicity.  Perhaps this discovery is modest in comparison to the kind of blinding light road-to-Damascus moment he seems to have envisioned, but it is real and for me, and I think in the end for him, it is enough.  

Among the fascinating characters he encounters is the awesome Kim Denmark, a Black lady clad in orange whom he…

More Light, Collected Masonic Writings 2017-2021 by Austin Shifrin. These thoughtful essays originally appeared in a Masonic periodical and touch on matters important not just to Masons but to the general reader curious about this oldest of fraternities. They reflect on issues of concern to everyone such as patriotism in these divided times, mortality, and tolerance.

Having put down roots in the Pittsburgh area, Austin accepted an invitation and found a home, friendship and purpose in the Masonic community. While some of the themes are particular to Masons, others show a man using reason and heart to find connections between his newfound fraternity and the Judaism he was brought up in and still practices.

The original masons who banded together centuries ago were actual brick layers, stone cutters and builders. This heritage still plays a role. In an essay on integrity, Austin notes how words from construction – words li…

Conversations with People who Hate Me by Dylan Marron ’06. The internet came along too late for me. I use it, of course, to get information and to contact people, but when I encounter a book that is steeped in this alternate universe I begin to see the possibilities it offers. Dylan does podcasts (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a podcast) and because he takes a progressive stand, anonymous viewers say outlandish things – suggest that he kill himself or decapitate himself and suggest (strongly) that being gay is a sin. Dylan puts these comments in a Hate Folder. This book chronicles his attempts (often successful) to reach out to his detractors and to find ways to breach the great divide.

This quest is riveting, funny, scary, gutsy, surprising, and illuminating. It goes through phases where he makes important discoveries. He learns from mistakes. He rebounds from setbacks. (Al…