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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 Reading Charles Murray's "Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010": Changes in College Attendance and the Blue-Collar Work Ethic
So I’m reading Charles Murray’s much-talked-about analysis of the state of our States, Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010, and I have to say that so far it’s fascinating. I’m on the opposite end of the political spectrum … Continue reading
Posted in books, Education, Politics
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Facebook Will Make You Sad, and That's Funny, Kind of
So I love this, in the NY Times today: “A study published last month in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking found that the more time people spent on Facebook, the happier they perceived their friends to be and … Continue reading
Posted in Social Networking, writing
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On Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" & Thomas Mallon's new novel "Watergate"
So I’ve recently reviewed Thomas Mallon’s new novel titled Watergate, due out this week, I believe, and watched Terrence Malick’s acclaimed film The Tree of Life (2011). First off, Malick’s film is gorgeous if at times a bit pretentious and … Continue reading
Posted in books/film
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On Being a "Tiger Dad," With a Nod to Amy Chua's "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother"
So I’m having a little more sympathy for the famous “Tiger Mom” Amy Chua (author of The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother) of late, as I’m now trying to work every day on teaching my daughter to read. She attends … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Death of an MFA Program, an Insider's View
So as is becoming known throughout the university world and blogosphere, Penn State cut the funding for its MFA program, of which I’m the director, and we’ve chosen to cease admitting new students, rather than expect them to pay many … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Education, writing
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"Cave of Forgotten Dreams" Now on Netflix, as well as "Atrocious"
So although the (dubious, limited) charm of Netflix streaming wore off long ago, I do sometimes find something interesting there if I troll enough, and there are two new films I recommend: Werner Herzog’s remarkable documentary about 32,000 year-old-cave art, Cave … Continue reading
Posted in Film
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Update on "Contagion" Post and Fears of a Bird Flu Pandemic: Researchers Have Cooked Up Super Bird-Flu in a Lab!
So after mentioning that I had watched Contagion recently and posting some musings about pandemic/bird flu fears, which is in the background of my new novel, The Bird Saviors, I was slightly taken aback by the recent news that two … Continue reading
Posted in books, Climate Change, Weird Science
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News On the Cormac McCarthy Front: Baby Eater No. 2 Speaks! Plus a New, Original Screenplay by CM
So for all the Cormac McCarthy fans out there, of which I am a most enthusiastic one, here’s an odd bit of info that just fell into my lap about the film version of The Road (2009). Before I saw … Continue reading
Posted in books, books/film, Film, The West, writing
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On "Contagion": The World Is Ending Because Gwyneth Paltrow Cheated on Her Husband
So I finally got around to watching Contagion last night, which I’ve been mildly curious about since there’s a hardcore virus epidemic at the core of the story, and in my new novel there’s a flu epidemic angle as well. … Continue reading
Posted in books/film, Film, Weird Science
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A New and Suspiciously Warm Year
So after three weeks of offline holiday fun in the snowclad confines of southern Colorado, I’m back in Pennsylvania and noticing what a strange (don’t know about brave) new world it is—one without much of a winter. The excellent website … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, The West, Weird Science
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