Author Archives: Mike

Billion Dollar Ball

In Billion Dollar Ball: A Journey Through the Big-Money Culture of College Football, Gilbert Gaul shed slight on the $2.5 billion (and growing) entertainment business — a business that was once part of academia, but has now outgrown it. It’s … Continue reading

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Soccer in Sun and Shadow

Eduardo Galeano’s Soccer in Sun and Shadow is a must read for anyone who loves the beautiful game. Read reviews from the Staten Island Advance, Publisher’s Weekly and World Soccer Talk.  Listen to a story about the book at NPR.

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@War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex

In ‘@War,’ Shane Harris explains tells the emerging world of cyber warfare. It is a world of blurred lines – there are no national borders in cyberspace, and the roles of the military, law enforcement, and intelligence services are much … Continue reading

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The Soccer Diaries

The Soccer Diaries, by Michael Agovino, is a very readable personal soccer history by a passionate follower of the game. It begins in the Bronx when, as a child, Agovino finds himself captivated by ‘the beautiful game.’  (It’s a lso … Continue reading

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Kill Your Friends

‘Kill Your Friends’John Niven’s Kill Your Friends does for the music industry what The Player did for Hollywood. It’s chock full of duplicity and cynicism, with a healthy dollop of sex and drugs on top. A very funny read. Read … Continue reading

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The Hollywood Economist

Edward Jay Epstein’s the Hollywood Economist is a must-read for anyone who remembers the not-too-distant age when television was known as “the boob tube” and movies were more than a series of car crashes and shoot-outs. The author provides some … Continue reading

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The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death

I very much enjoyed Colson Whitehead’s Zone One when I read it a few years back. And since I enjoy reading about writers who travel to Las Vegas for poker tournaments (among other things), I figured I’d check this book … Continue reading

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Tomorrow-Land

With the recent 50th anniversary of the opening of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, this is obviously a timely work.  And growing up in the New York City area, and having been to Flushing Meadow-Corona Park many times, I … Continue reading

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The Expats

I haven’t read any “spy fiction” in quite some time, but I stumbled across of review of Chris Pavone’s “The Expats” which made it sound like an interesting read. The story takes a while to unfold — a former CIA … Continue reading

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The Wolf of Wall Street

I figured that I would see Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” at some point, and I like to read the book before I see the movie. So I took Jordan Belfort’s 2007 “memoir” out of the library.  A … Continue reading

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