Card #485. Breg Bear. This one promotes his 2002 sci-fi thriller, "Vitals."

Card #369. Bill Bryson from the Booksmith set. On the back the tedt promotes Bill Bryson's travelogue, "In a Sunburnt Country," published in the year 2000. However, the front photo shows the author from card #368 (Sonny Barger, longtime Hell's Angels president). A run of corrected cards (#373) was printed soon after and the one I have is signed.

I read "In a Sunburnt Country" last year. In it Bryson recalls his first few travels around and across Australia. He's a great writer so I like the book a lot. He's funny though he revealed a morbid fascination with crocodile attacks on humans.

As an additional note, #369 and #373 are actually the same size and I scanned them together so I'm a little surprised that they ended up looking like they are different sizes in the post above.

I'll say again, this is a relatively famous group of authors. Of the 10 you've posted so far, I know who 7 of them are, and have read 5 material from 5 of them.

If I pick out 10 random cards from the ones I have, I'd be surprised to know who 2 of them are, and wouldn't expect to have read any of them.

(i.e., Booksmith cards in general are mostly of unknown authors)

So far, of all the pictured authors shown so far I have heard of two and read none. Clearly my reading is more specialised in that it is mainly crime fiction and specialised books on military matters, card reference and collecting with the occasional biography sometimes thrown in. However I do have a book list for when I go the library but then I have not been since the Covid pandemic started. Most of my reading used to be when I travelled a lot but that has been drastically reduced again due to Covid.

regards

John

Yeah, when I look at Thomas' checklist, I see that I know one or two of the authors in the first 10 cards and the same number 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, and 51-60, but then I know four of them from 61 to 70. I think the number would be higher for all of us if we saw a list of what they've written. Then, we'd say "Oh, he/she wrote that. I know/have read that book or have seen the movie based on it."

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
I'll say again, this is a relatively famous group of authors. Of the 10 you've posted so far, I know who 7 of them are, and have read 5 material from 5 of them.

If I pick out 10 random cards from the ones I have, I'd be surprised to know who 2 of them are, and wouldn't expect to have read any of them.

(i.e., Booksmith cards in general are mostly of unknown authors)

Hi John,

I worked in a bookstore in the mid-late 80's and bought a lot of books (history, science, mystery, Tom Clancy), but like you, my reading has become more specialized these days. I read just one mystery series (the Spenser novels started by Robert B. Parker) now and focus on paleontology-related books otherwise. It's tough to find the time to read a lot of stuff with work everything going. It's unlikely I would have read Bryson's book if it hadn't been given to me and recommended by a friend who had been to various places in Australia as a graduate student. I didn't know of Bryson before that.

My screen name, "Catskilleagle," comes from the title of a Spenser novel I was re-reading (and that title comes from a passage in "Moby Dick") when I joined Card Talk. I was trying to think of a name and a lot of easy-to-think-of names were taken at the time.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
So far, of all the pictured authors shown so far I have heard of two and read none. Clearly my reading is more specialised in that it is mainly crime fiction and specialised books on military matters, card reference and collecting with the occasional biography sometimes thrown in. However I do have a book list for when I go the library but then I have not been since the Covid pandemic started. Most of my reading used to be when I travelled a lot but that has been drastically reduced again due to Covid.

regards

John

Okay, let's see if Bill and John know this author. He's on card 373 and he's Huston Smith who's well-known in comparative religion circles. He knew Timothy Leary in the 60's and even did psychodelic mushrooms with him. Although he did feel like he had personal experience with God the first time he tried it, it did not become part of his life. In fact, in the book being promoted by card 373, "Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Etheogenic Plants and Chemicals," (published in 2000) he talks about not wanting to experiment with anything like that again.

I'm not sure if the Bryson card (above) also numbered 373 was the error or this one but it's one of rare instances in the series with two cards having the same number.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

Never heard of him.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
Never heard of him.

Me neither.

John

Jess

Having just looked through the complete Booksmith listing I reckon there is a maximum of 25 names I am familiar with as some are musicians and from the acting world. Of their books it might be possible that I have read less than five especially if they were of the coffee table type.

John

Oh come on, Bill, he's like the Jim Steinmeyer of comparative religion. In all the five boroughs, he's known.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
Never heard of him.

Being a religious ignorant and not wanting to show any disrespect who is Jim Steinmeyer? Yet someone else I have never heard of.

regards

John

Jim Steinmeyer designs illusions for people like David Copperfield, and writes books about magic and magicians. He is famous within the world of magic. But, as another magician once said, being famous in magic is like being famous in your apartment building.

I'm just monitoring the conversation here, as I have nothing to offer about these cards, but not everyone believes in organized religion. Or the alternatives to organized religion, which are generally just smaller and more nuanced organizations. And everybody writes a book.

David Copperfield I have heard of (and I don't mean the literary one either). I don't think I have purposely watched any of his TV appearances and I know that I have never been to one of his shows and I am certainly not interested in any book of his so I will call it a day on this subject.

regards

John

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
I am certainly not interested in any book of [David Copperfield's]

DC has a couple of books, but no Booksmith cards.

He does have a Playbill card, from the 1996-1997 set:

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
I am certainly not interested in any book of [David Copperfield's]

DC has a couple of books, but no Booksmith cards.

He does have a Playbill card, from the 1996-1997 set:

Bill

Thank You

regards

John

Nine Booksmith authors I have never heard of:



And three I do recognize:

That other magician's line about those of limited fame reminds me of a review of a TV talk show I once read in which some of the guests were labeled as "internet microcelebrities." Oh yeah, that's a burn.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
Jim Steinmeyer designs illusions for people like David Copperfield, and writes books about magic and magicians. He is famous within the world of magic. But, as another magician once said, being famous in magic is like being famous in your apartment building.