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I’ve realized during my few months of video-making, along with my previous couple of years making podcasts, that I tend to break apart my speech with ums, uhs, ers, ahhs, and every other sort of cerebral flatus out there. A desire to break away from so many speech errors is one of the reasons I picked up Michael Erard’s book Um: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders and What They Mean. My thinking was that if I could understand why I flub my words, then I could eventually eradicate those flubs. I’m likely beyond help, but at least this book did teach me that speech blunders are perhaps less something that needs to be cleaned away, and more something that we all need to approach differently. Speech errors aren’t, by themselves, errors at all. Instead, what’s important is measuring speech disfluency from a baseline. Think of reading ums and uhs as…

I anticipate some reactions to this video book review will be negative. Of those negative reviews, I anticipate 3 response types: Hatred from those that haven’t read the book, but simply want to defend Mark Z. Danielewski (I understand this feeling, believe me; and despite how I feel about The Fifty Year Sword, I will continue to defend Danielewski, even if only for his potential; House of Leaves remains one of my favorite novels of all time) Hatred from those who have read the book, and claim that I’m simply too dumb to “get it” (again, I understand this feeling and am willing to embrace this possibility) Hatred from those who have read it and claim to like it. It’s this last group that I’m most interested in. Those of you in this last group, please, please, please help me understand what I must have missed. I want to like…

New review of I Didn't Mean to be Kevin in Isssue 4 of Surreal Grotesque Magazine (pg. 43). Many, many thanks to Surreal Grotesque, and to the reviewer, Courtney Alsop, for taking the time.   "This novel is easily comparable in subject matter to Chuck Palahniuk and Kurt Vonnegut with satisfying results...Ross has crafted a splendid story of identity and validation when one has no roots or beginnings." Open publication - Free publishing - More bizarre

For some reason I tend to shy away from the BIG books, those being the books that rountinely make best of lists, fill the limited space in book review columns, and can generally be purchased at Wal-Mart (not that I have something against shopping at Wal-Mart...I went there just today, as a matter of fact...though, I only do so when hurting for money; see, I can't agree with the business ethics of the company, and oh crap, I'm rambling). I don't know if my aversion to widely-praised books can be simply diagnosed as hipsterism, or if there's something more sinister at play. But none of that matters, as I recently read one such department store paperback, Room by Emma Donoghue, and I really, really liked it. Click the image below to watch the video review (links to YouTube). What did I buy during my Wal-Mart trip today? The Bedwetter by…

First off, please forgive the video quality here. I was trying a new recording method, which obviously didn't work that well. Here is another Wordless Book Reviews episode. Here I review four books using only sound effects and facial expressions. The books: Ella Minnow Pea: a Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn, Emporium: Stories by Adam Johnson, In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy, and The Book of Lazarus by Richard Grossman.

First off, please forgive the video quality here. I was trying a new recording method, which obviously didn't work that well. With this episode, I've opted for brevity. Here I review four books using only sound effects and facial expressions. The books: The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay, Damned by Chuck Palahniuk, Seeing by Jose Saramago, and The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris.

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