- February 2026
- January 2026
- November 2025
- October 2023
- September 2023
- September 2021
- April 2020
- September 2019
- May 2019
- August 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- October 2017
- August 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- November 2016
- October 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- December 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- May 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
Recent Posts
- “Song Sung Blue” Makes Kate Hudson Oscar Worthy
- 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
Recent Comments
No comments to show.
Author Archives: williamjcobb
On Getting Skunked and the Disaster in the Arctic
My cat, Iris, got skunked this weekend, always fun. I woke in the middle of night to a horrible smell, wandered down the hall half-asleep into the living room, and—I’ve been dying to yank out this Weather Channel phrase—”It was … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Weird Science
Leave a comment
On Heidi Cullen's "The Weather of the Future": Forecast for 2050: Your car just melted and your hair is on fire.
Heidi Cullen, a climatologist perhaps most famous for being The Brainy One on The Weather Channel (as opposed to, say, Stephanie Abrams, The Smiling Babe), has a new book out titled The Weather of the Future: Heat Waves, Extreme Storms, … Continue reading
Posted in books, Climate Change
Leave a comment
"When Americans Believe in God, God Will Bless America"
From Huber Heights, Ohio: Today I passed a billboard on I-70 (in Indiana, I think it was) that read WHEN AMERICANS BELIEVE IN GOD, GOD WILL BLESS AMERICA. On the surface that’s innocuous, right? We all want God to bless … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
Leave a comment
Culture Wars in the Heartland: Guntoters Against Socialism, Or George Saunders Was Right
Live from St. Louis, Missouri: So I’m travelling across Kansas (after a night in Hays, Kansas, at the Candlewood Suites, which should be renamed the Candlewood Sucks) and pass a billboard proclaiming, “Obama Is a Fraud: Demand Resignation Now!” The … Continue reading
Posted in The West
Comments Off on Culture Wars in the Heartland: Guntoters Against Socialism, Or George Saunders Was Right
Andrew Ross Sorkin's "Too Big To Fail" = Too Big To Read?
All summer I’ve been trying to get through Andrew Ross Sorkin’s terrific book about the financial meltdown (or as I like to call it, The Big Fall) of 2007-8, Too Big To Fail, and I think I’m going to have … Continue reading
Posted in books
Leave a comment
Tea Party Politics at a Colorado Landfill
So this morning I load up a trailer and head to the Custer County landfill (how backwoods folk in the West dispose of their trash) and the laconic landfill dude notices my Obama-Biden sticker on the back of the car … Continue reading
Posted in The West
Leave a comment
Review of Rick Moody's "The Four Fingers of Death"
Here’s a url to my review of Rick Moody’s new novel, The Four Fingers of Death, which appears in today’s Dallas Morning News. TFFOD is awfully long, but I was sucked into the vortex of the middle of the book, … Continue reading
Posted in books
Leave a comment
Kent Haruf, One of Our Finest Writers, Close to Completing a New Novel
So I’m loathe to do any literary name-dropping but in this case I think it’s worthy: Yesterday I had lunch with Kent Haruf, author of Plainsong (1999, a finalist for and should have won the National Book Award), and Eventide (2004, … Continue reading
Posted in books
Leave a comment
Rare Photos of Famous People
A friend of mine sent me this link (Thanks, Paul!), and I thought it was pretty cool, so I’m sending it along: http://www.cracktwo.com/2010/01/rare-photos-of-famous-people-125-pics.html I don’t know anything about the site, but the Dylan/Sonny & Cher pic is worth it, plus … Continue reading
Posted in books/film
Leave a comment
117 Degrees in Phoenix
In the parking lot of my local supermarket, I overheard a woman talking on her cellphone, saying, “It was 117 degrees when we left Phoenix!” (It was, by the way, around 75 here in Custer County where we were, and … Continue reading
Posted in books/film
Leave a comment