Beautiful News

 Beautiful News: Positive Trends, Uplifting Stats, Creative Solutions by David McCandless, 256 pages.

This book is pretty much exactly what it says on the byline, a collection of statistics and graphs on things that are to gradual to be newsworthy, but which are trending in positive directions. There's a lot of emphasis on good ecological news and global health, but the full range of topics is really wide. Some of the graphs are not actually that good and conveying information, but it is a really great book to flip through a little at a time for a little good news to brighten your day. I'd definitely recommend taking a look at it.

The View from Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America

The View from Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America by Sarah Kendzior, 239 pages.

Kendzior, a St. Louis-based writer and journalist, has built this informative and incisive book from her blog-posts and then from her earlier ebook. These columns are from 2012-2014, with the first version of the book published in 2015. So the columns themselves, while well-researched, on-point, and deftly presented seem to come from a kinder and gentler dystopian America. Kendzior has been busy of late doing book-release related activities, but we can hope that sarahkendzior.com will soon be home to new work once again. A great writer for our troubled time.

The Daily Show (the book)

The Daily Show (the book): an oral history as told by Jon Stewart, the correspondents, staff and guests / Chris Smith, 492 pgs.

Patrick recommended this book if I was a fan of the show or Jon Stewart.  I am both but was a little worried about a book of an oral history...how weird it that?  Turns out not weird at all. The book is arranged chronologically and covers many of the big changes that took place starting with Jon Stewart taking over the show.  There are enough people interviewed that you get a real "360" view of events.  I especially liked the viewpoints from the "back room" staff.  Many people started out as interns and worked their way up in the organization.  The show isn't perfect but it was interesting to delve into some of the issues and get a better idea of what was happening.  Although he never intended it, Stewart became one of the most trusted news sources in the country as they became better at pointing out the absurdity of the real world.