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Recent Posts
- On Randall K. Wilson’s “A Place Called Yellowstone”: Award-Winning History of Yellowstone National Park
- On Candice Millard’s “River of Doubt” and “River of the Gods”: Bugs, Snakes, and Disease Aplenty
- More Alone than “Alone”: On Adam Shoalts’s “Vanished Beyond the Map: The Mystery of Lost Explorer Hubert Darrell” (2025)
- Rachel McAdams film “Send Help” (2026) Makes Comic Gold Out of “Survivor” and “Alone” Audition Videos
- “The Wiggle Room”: A Short Story
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Author Archives: williamjcobb
On the Documentary "Gasland": a Real-Life Horror Film
So I see plenty of movies that I don’t say a word about, either because they’re too familiar to bother commenting about (Bridesmaids maybe) or because they’re not worth a comment (The A-Team, anyone?), but for a while I’ve heard … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Film, Politics, The West
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Mitt Romney as The Feckless Male
So one thing fascinating about being a professor is that you notice over a span of years the changes in student behavior and trends. While I’m of the mind that human behavior doesn’t change all that much across the ages, … Continue reading
Posted in books, Education, Politics, writing
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On Mainstream Media's Head-in-Sand Approach to Climate Change, or The Atlantic Fiddling While Rome Burns
So the good people over at the Think Progress blog do an admirable job of fighting the good fight on the absolute idiocy unfolding before our very eyes otherwise known as mainstream media’s response to climate change. They’d rather write … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Politics, The West, Weird Science
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The Effect of Reading Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows" on E-Reading: Just Say No to Distractions
So here’s a little (naive) gem in the NY Times this morning, an article about the lure of online distractions while e-reading titled “Finding Your Book Interrupted … By the Tablet You Read It On,” which contains this quote: “Can you concentrate … Continue reading
Posted in books, Uncategorized, Weird Science, writing
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Did William Gay Really Write His Books? Meddlesome Neighbors Want to Know
So there’s an obituary of Southern Gothic master Wiliam Gay in last week’s daily NY Times (Feb 29th) that I almost missed, which has a few illuminating details and quotes, such as describing his novel Twilight (2006) as “textbook Southern … Continue reading
Posted in Art, books, books/film, writing
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Reading Noah Hawley's "The Good Father": Or What To Do When Your Son Assassinates a "Good" Presidential Candidate
So right now I’m reading (and reviewing for the Dallas Morning News) Noah Hawley’s new novel, The Good Father (appearing this month in bookstores) which is about a father whose son has assassinated a presidential candidate: The story so far is … Continue reading
Posted in books/film, Politics, The West
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R.I.P. for William Gay, Contemporary Southern Gothic Fiction Master: the Day the Banjo Music Died
So a friend sent me this notice this morning, and I’m sorry to hear it: William Gay, author of The Long Home (1999), which my editor, Greg Michalson, edited and published; I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down … Continue reading
Posted in books, books/film
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On Charles Murray's "Coming Apart": It Comes Apart at the End
So I have to say this about Charles Murray’s just-published, semi-controversial look at the state of White America, Coming Apart: The State of White America1960-2010: I read it all the way through to the end, rather quickly, too—in a few days. … Continue reading
Posted in books, Education, Politics, Uncategorized
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Review of Thomas Mallon's "Watergate" in the Dallas Morning News
So I’ve reviewed Thomas Mallon’s new novel Watergate in the Dallas Morning News today, and it can be found here: http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20120217-book-review-watergate-by-thomas-mallon.ece Janet Maslin reviewed the same book this week in the daily NY Times book reviews, and I thought her … Continue reading
Posted in books, Politics, writing
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The Year Without a Winter, and Just How Many Republican Voters Does It Take to Pick a Kook?
So as we slide down the (snow-free) hill that is the rest of February 2012—usually the coldest month here in central Pennsylvania, temperatures usually below freezing, and often in the single digits at night—I think we should (un)officially start dubbing … Continue reading
Posted in books, Climate Change, Education, The West
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