For those who have read Bissinger’s outspoken column in The Daily Beast or follow him on Twitter, it might be hard to believe he could run out of words. This humbling confession is one of many honest moments Bissinger shares in Father’s Day: A Journey Into the Mind of My Extraordinary Son.

Titled appropriately after his son, Zach, the first chapter introduces his son as a lovable, simple 24-year-old man who will always be a grocery bagger. It is also the first of many times Bissinger will refer to the shame and subsequent guilt he feels for having a son born with brain damage.

Through a series of IQ and personality tests, doctors were unable to give Bissinger a one-word catchall for his son’s condition, though many tried: autism, Tourette’s syndrome, and mini-seizures were just a few suggested. Bissinger confesses he’s saved all these pieces of partial diagnoses, hoping to find a “cure” to make his son “normal.”

In an attempt to better understand his son, Bissinger decides he will take Zach on an unconventional westward journey. Unlike most family road trips fettered to national landmarks and museums, Father’s Day takes a chronological journey through Zach’s “literal landscape”: Chicago, Milwaukee, Odessa, and Los Angeles. The stops Bissinger has chosen hold personal significance for Zach; they are cities filled with people he knows.

Zach is the perfect navigator — he loves maps and was born with a memory that doesn’t forget. Routes, people, events, and dates are stored forever on his “hard drive.” As they travel into the cities of their past, Zach regales these concrete facts, “I remember David Jackson he worked with you as a reporter at the Chicago Tribune I remember his desk it was near yours…”

Bissinger’s memories in contrast are weighted with feelings of pain and guilt: the birth of his premature twins, struggles in his writing career, his divorce from Zach’s mother, and a lack of closure surrounding his parents’ deaths. These memories are woven into the plot as they venture further west, and Bissinger tries to gauge Zach’s feelings regarding all of them. In the end it is Zach’s action that brings Bissinger peace in an unlikely place: Los Angeles, the city where he experienced his most “personal and professional failure.”

Father’s Day: A Journey Into the Mind & Heart of My Extraordinary Son is available from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and from Amazon at a list price of $26.00.

Book Review: Father’s Day: A Journey Into the Mind & Heart of My Extraordinary Son The Saturday Evening Post

In the Middle East, a bayt, literally meaning “home,” is sacred. It is, as Anthony Shadid says, “the identity that does not fade.” With these words, a journey is born.

Pulitzer-prize winner Anthony Shadid was released from captivity in Libya and decided to return to his ancestral home in Lebanon. House of Stone, his last work before his untimely death earlier this year, chronicles his journey as he rebuilt the house and paints a vivid picture of his family’s flight to America.

The memoir is filled with descriptive passages that make the readers feel like they too are part of the struggle to restore Shadid’s bayt. He introduces his family, both still living and long gone, and he introduces his town, Marjayoun, located near the Lebanon-Israel border.

As Shadid works to return his house on the hill to its former grandeur, members of his family become a part of the story, as they work and live, play and escape.

These sections about his family are the true gems of the book. They show a journey of hardship that many of our ancestors -– or maybe we ourselves –- faced, fleeing to America. These scenes bring more meaning to the house than Shadid can explain just through his experiences restoring it.

Shadid spent years in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent for The Washington Post. His work covering the Iraq War earned him two Pulitzer Prizes, and he died of an asthma attack while covering the uprisings in Syria in February.

As House of Stone is Shadid’s final work, reading this very personal tale is all the more special. I highly recommend it for people who have ever tried to discover their family roots.

House of Stone is available from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing at a list price of $26.

Book Review: House of Stone The Saturday Evening Post

When Cecelia was 15, she accompanied Fanny on a trip to Niagara Falls. So close to freedom in Canada, she took a chance and escaped from captivity. In Canada, she created a life for herself as an independent woman while Fanny went back to her home in Kentucky, where she married and had children.

Years later, Fanny and Cecelia began a cordial correspondence through the mail. Over the years, they sent many letters back and forth, keeping each other updated on their lives. Cecelia also used their relationship to search for her mother, who had not escaped slavery with her.

Not all of the letters survived, but Fanny’s son collected as many as he could find and kept them safe. Through these letters—as well as birth certificates and other records—Asher follows the two women throughout their lives. The story moves back and forth between Cecelia and Fanny, but Asher’s meticulous research weaves the two tales together. His additional writing helps to brings the story alive as well; the little details about Fanny’s family and Cecelia’s independence make the book even more interesting.

The story of Cecelia and Fanny is fascinating. Asher gets credit for taking historical facts and using them to write a riveting book that gives us look at a surprising friendship that stands as a testament to both human compassion and the ability to overcome remarkable adversity.

Cecelia and Fanny: The Remarkable Friendship Between an Escaped Slave and Her Former Mistress is available now from The University Press of Kentucky at a list price of $30.

Cecelia and Fanny The Saturday Evening Post

In his most recent book, Alexander the Great, classics professor and author Philip Freeman explores the ancient ruler, whom he calls “fascinating.” Freeman begins his tale with Alexander’s father, King Philip, and continues all the way through Alexander’s life and conquests to his death and legend.

Alexander the Great could be a boring book, fit only for history majors and Plutarch fans. Fortunately, Freeman set out to write “a biography of Alexander that is first and foremost a story”—and, in this, he succeeded. The book is not full of historical mumbo-jumbo that only scholars can understand and enjoy; rather, Freeman tells us about Alexander’s life like a novel—a remarkably interesting novel, to boot. Freeman brings the characters to life, making them seem real and relevant rather than people whose bones have long since faded to dust.

We learn in the book that Alexander’s yearning for conquest began at an early age, as he followed in the footsteps of his mighty father, who felled the city-states of Greece. Freeman relates events from Alexander’s youth, including his parents’ divorce and his annihilation of the famous warriors of the Theban Sacred Band. My personal favorite anecdote, however, is the story of his acquisition of Bucephalas, the horse who would follow him “to the ends of the earth” on his quest to dominate.

Freeman details Alexander’s conquests right up until the king’s death, concluding with the redistribution of his empire and the effect of his legacy. Along the way, he explores what drove Alexander’s passions and the battles and conquests that earned him the title “the great.”

The greatest victory of the book, however, is Freeman’s storytelling. This biography stands out from others written about Alexander thanks to its smooth flow and interesting narrative. It is, as Freeman hopes, a history book for those readers who are not already experts on Alexander or his world.

Alexander the Great is available now from Simon & Schuster at a list price of $30.

Alexander the Great The Saturday Evening Post

There’s nothing quite like a teddy bear. At some point, every child has—and loves—a stuffed bear. But for one family, a teddy bear wasn’t just a childhood playmate; it was the key to millions of hearts all around the world.

That bear’s name, of course, was Winnie-the-Pooh.

In her new book Life and Times of the Real Winnie-the-Pooh, The: The Teddy Bear Who Inspired A. A. Milne, Shirley Harrison goes beyond the books, movies, and TV shows, delving into the bedroom of the real-life Christopher Robin where the stuffed bear and his friends once played.

Christopher Robin’s father, A. A. Milne, was enchanted by his son’s teddy bear, which was brought to life by Christopher Robin’s mother, Daphne. His wife and son’s imaginative games inspired Milne to pen stories about the bear and his friends—which were later adapted to the silver screen by Walt Disney.

In her book, Harrison shares intimate knowledge of the Milne family as well as stories collected from family and friends about the real Christopher Robin’s childhood and his famous stuffed companion. She recounts Pooh’s journey from London to the English countryside to New York—where he and some of his co-stars remain to this day. Harrison also shares the details of Pooh’s “life,” including his friendships with famous authors and his travels on both sides of the Atlantic as he was given the VIP treatment.

I loved Winnie-the-Pooh as a child, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about his creation in Harrison’s charming book. To me, Winnie-the-Pooh was always an animated bear in a red shirt who loved “hunny” and playing with his animal friends. Reading this well-researched account gave me the opportunity to discover the story of the real Pooh—from the moment Daphne Milne brought him home to his journeys in the U.S. to his philanthropic activities. This book is a must-read for anyone who has ever visited the Hundred-Acre Wood.

Life and Times of the Real Winnie-the-Pooh, The: The Teddy Bear Who Inspired A. A. Milne by Shirley Harrison will be available as a 192-page hardcover from Pelican Publishing on October 1 at a list price of $24.95.

The Life and Times of the REAL Winnie-the-Pooh The Saturday Evening Post

In her book Tea Culture: History, Traditions, Celebrations, Recipes & More, Beverly Dubrin covers many tea-related topics—from a brief history of the discovery of tea to information about different kinds of tea and their respective health benefits. Readers will discover a wealth of information about the drink and how people have consumed it over the centuries. Dubrin, a longtime tea fan, gives tips on how to steep different types of tea and how to get the best-tasting beverage.

In addition to fun informational snippets, Tea Culture includes dozens of full-page photographs with subjects ranging from 19th-century tea drinkers to tea plantation workers. Dubrin also includes recipes for different types of tea drinks as well as some sandwiches and snacks to make every tea party complete! For our own tea party here at the Post, we decided to try two recipes from the book—Spicy Apple Tea and Marion’s Dream Bars. They were both delicious! In fact, we liked them so much that we decided to include the recipes elsewhere on the site.

As someone who drinks tea in part to alleviate blinding headaches, I particularly appreciated the section of the book on the health benefits. Much is made of its miracle effects on such serious problems as heart disease and cancer, as well as its power in calming anxiety, aiding digestion, and lowering blood pressure; it’s good to get the true story and learn about which teas and tisanes help with specific ailments.

Tea Culture: History, Traditions, Celebrations, Recipes & More, a 144-page hardcover from Imagine Publishing, is available now at a list price of $18.95.

Tea Culture: History, Traditions, Celebrations, Recipes & More The Saturday Evening Post

In her latest autobiography, DeGeneres shares her thoughts on becoming a CoverGirl model, hosting a season of American Idol, and dealing with everyday life—including the best ways to meditate, why you should make a pro/con list, and how hard it is being royalty (she’s related to future Queen of England Kate Middleton!).

DeGeneres is as funny as she is genuine as she catches us up on what’s been going on in her life since her last book (published in 2003)—she got married, landed her own TV show, and was knighted by the Queen of England.* Although the book is a laugh-out-loud recounting of her journey, she clearly puts her heart into her writing, candidly sharing her story with her fans.

In addition to the biographical stories, DeGeneres also discusses how best to fall asleep (reading a math book), how to be polite (say “G’day, mate” a lot), and the secret to becoming a billionaire (“Make a lot of money. Don’t spend it”).

As a longtime Ellen fan, it was great to get the inside scoop with all of her usual humor. She’s as funny in her book as she is on the air (if not more so). Every page is better than the next; I raced through it, eager to see what else she had to say.

Seriously…I’m Kidding, a 256-page hardcover book, will be released on October 4 by Grand Central Publishing at a list price of $26.99.

*Unconfirmed at the time of publication. Something about her not being a British citizen disqualifying her from being knighted….

Seriously … I’m Kidding The Saturday Evening Post

Now, in his book, Pavement Chalk Artist: The Three-Dimensional Drawings of Julian Beever, the artist shares some of his most fascinating, eye-popping, and humorous pieces from across the globe. Here are a few examples of the kind of amazing images you’ll find in the book.

Philadelphia Eagle

In Pennsylvania, Beever created “Philadelphia Eagle,” a huge drawing featuring a bald eagle landing triumphantly on an American Flag.

Meeting Mr. Frog

“Meeting Mr. Frog” was created in Salamanca, Spain, and features a realistic-looking frog sitting on a lily pad.

Swimming Pool On High Street

My personal favorite is “Swimming Pool in the High Street” from Brussels, which portrays a woman relaxing in a swimming pool—a swimming pool sunk into the middle of the street, that is! (Considering the hot weather lately, I’d like to jump right in.)

Beever’s artwork is truly jaw dropping. You’re sure to spend ages flipping back and forth, astounded at how one man can create what looks like a three-dimensional design on a flat surface with just a bit of chalk. From animals to superheroes to famous buildings, the whimsical paintings are a wonder to behold.

Pavement Chalk Artist: The Three-Dimensional Drawings of Julian Beever is definitely worth a look. And another look. And another…. This 112-page hardcover book is available now from Firefly Books at a list price of $29.95.

Pavement Chalk Artist: The Three-Dimensional Drawings of Julian Beever The Saturday Evening Post

In their book Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them, the Graedons discuss potentially fatal medical errors that occur in hospitals, doctors’ offices, pharmacies, and elsewhere. The book includes ways that patients can be on the alert to make sure nothing happens to them—including what questions they should ask, how to ensure they’re getting the right medications, and so on. The authors also note that having a friend or family member come with you to the doctor to act as a note-taker and an advocate is always a good idea.

The Graedons have been involved with patient advocacy for more than 25 years, and this book is the culmination of their long experience. However, even though the statistics they quote are scary, there’s no reason to panic. The authors are quick to point out that if you have any questions or concerns about your treatment, you should speak to your doctor first. The book isn’t about making people distrust doctors; it’s about making sure patients are armed with the knowledge they need to significantly reduce the chance of mistakes. Remember: Although you need to be careful and alert, you should still trust the medical professionals who treat you.

In addition to their own experience, the Graedons consulted Dr. Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., who created a five-step checklist to increase safety at hospitals. For more on Dr. Pronovost’s work, check out his profile in the Post.

Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them is an easy-to-read book with an important message. As the Graedons point out, taking charge of your health and safety by asking questions and making sure you know what’s going on is one of the best way to reduce potential mistakes. If you or a relative is often in and out of the hospital or has a revolving carousel of medications, you should read the Graedons’ book. Forewarned is forearmed, and having this knowledge could stop a potentially fatal error.

Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them will be available from Crown Archetype on October 4, 2011, at a list price of $26.

Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them The Saturday Evening Post

History is full of bizarre people and events, and Joe Rhatigan chronicles them in his book Bizarre History: Strange Happenings, Stupid Misconceptions, Distorted Facts and Uncommon Events
. Rhatigan takes us through history, from ancient Egypt to the Middle Ages to the 20^th century, revealing everything from strange wars to crazy rulers.

This book is everything that you never learned in a history class: early campaign mudslinging (John Adams’s people said that Jefferson would burn Bibles and outlaw marriage while the Jefferson camp claimed that Adams planned to start a new royal line as King John I), embarrassing family members (Jimmy Carter’s brother judged a world belly flop competition and endorsed a beer), presidential pets (including some alligators), the history of high heels (not just for women!), and more.

They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and Rhatigan proves it with this laugh-out-loud history of the world. Even the biggest history buffs are sure to learn something as the book travels from the American heartland to the steppes of Asia and back with humorous and completely true anecdotes.

Bizarre History is a must-read for everyone who thought that high school history was lacking a little something. This hilarious collection of historical footnotes certainly kept me turning its pages!

Bizarre History: Strange Happenings, Stupid Misconceptions, Distorted Facts and Uncommon Events by Joe Rhatigan will be released as a 157-page paperback from Imagine Publishing on October 1, 2011 at a list price of $7.95.

Bizarre History The Saturday Evening Post

But pirates operated in other waters as well. In his latest book, Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Mediterranean, historian Adrian Tinniswood delves into the world of North African pirates under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

The Barbary corsairs wreaked havoc from Gibraltar to the Dardanelles for more than a century, earning the wrath of the great European nations and making names for themselves in history. They had their own heroes—John Ward, an English traitor who turned corsair and sailed the seas with his captured fleet; Simon Dansekar, the “Devil Captain of Algiers”; and the Barbarossa brothers, who are credited with the rise of Ottoman strongholds along the Barbary Coast.

But who were these men who ruled the Mediterranean and earned the enmity of European nations? Tinniswood recounts their exploits—from attacks on Spanish ships to raids on British-held Ireland. He also goes deeper, sharing the stories of their lives—their struggles, their loves, their victories, and their deaths.

Tinniswood tells the whole story, from the pirate Hizir’s conquest of North Africa to the death of Hamidou Rais, the “last of the great corsairs.” Pirates of Barbary is about the bloody conquest of the Mediterranean: land raids for captives that went as far north as Ireland; battles over the islands and the fight for the control of Crete; and the Ottoman takeover of North Africa. These corsairs battled and pillaged, fighting for money, empire, God, and control of the Mediterranean.

But this is not just a story about the Barbary corsairs; it is also the story of the European men who fought them, bargained with them, and—in some cases—came to respect them. These are the men who experienced firsthand life on the Barbary coast—Thomas Baker, an English consul in Tripoli who worked to keep peace between the nations; Edmund Cason, who tried to free European slaves held captive in Algiers; William Okeley, a former slave who led a successful escape attempt; and Sir Robert Mansell, who led an expedition against the Barbary Coast.

In Pirates of Barbary, Tinniswood gives readers a glimpse at real-life piracy that will thrill—and, at times, frighten—lovers of fantasy pirates like Captain Jack Sparrow. Given time, the heroes and villains of the Barbary Coast might just grow into legends to rival their Caribbean counterparts.

Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Mediterranean, a 343-page hardcover book from Riverhead Books, is available now at a list price of $26.95. It will be available in paperback on September 6 for $16.00.

Pirates of Barbary The Saturday Evening Post

If you follow the advice presented in the book The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time, you might just head out for a typo-fixing, cross-country roadtrip! That’s what Jeff Deck, a former associate editor for Rocks and Minerals magazine, and his co-author Benjamin D. Herson did, anyway.

In the book, the two friends set out to correct misspellings, but trouble quickly finds their newly formed Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL)—and more serious trouble than just how many Cs are in “broccoli.” From running into conflicting style guides to accidentally defacing Federal property to a lesson on the evolution of the English language, Deck and Herson have to figure out the best way to correct mistakes—and decide whether the errors should be corrected at all.

TEAL’s journey, chronicled in first person, is a look into the world of words that most of us don’t usually get to see. Deck and Herson have experience with and an obvious passion for language, but it’s their humorous anecdotes—including a typo hunt in an underground Atlanta mall and a historical conundrum in a church in Arizona dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi (or is that that St. Frances of Assissi?)—that really make this book fun.

Anyone who’s ever rolled his eyes at a typo on a shirt or in a museum will laugh out loud at the chronicles of TEAL’s adventure. Best of all, you don’t have to be a trained editor to appreciate this book; the authors explain every typo they correct, down to the difference between “it’s” and “its.”

More than that, Deck and Herson offer up some new insight about the people who comprise this country and the different styles and mannerisms that make up the patchwork whole. The story is also a lesson in when not to correct a typo—such as at a historical monument or when the creator is not a native English-speaker.

The Great Typo Hunt is a story about two men on a mission, but it’s also a story about America, the people who populate it, and the way they express themselves. Even those of us who haven’t memorized The Chicago Manual of Style can still appreciate the wacky adventures and the tour of the U.S. presented in the book.

The Great Typo Hunt, a 288-page, hardcover book from Crown Publishing, is available now at a list price of $23.99.

The Great Typo Hunt The Saturday Evening Post

Read “How Montgomery Smashed Rommel” by Alan Moorehead. [PDF download].

How Montgomery Smashes Rommel The Saturday Evening Post

Maybe reaching that milestone was enough. He barely ate anymore — a piece of toast or fruit was a meal — and if he walked up the driveway once or twice, it was major exercise. He still took rides to the temple with Teela, his Hindu health care friend. People there helped him from the car into a wheelchair, and inside he’d greet the kids in the after-school program. At the ShopRite, he used the cart like a walker, gripping it for balance. He chatted with the other shoppers. True to his Depression roots, he’d buy bread and cakes from the “50 percent off” section. When Teela rolled her eyes, he’d say, “It’s not that I need it — it’s that I got it!”

He was a joyous man, a marvelous piece of God’s machinery, and it was no fun watching him fall apart.In his office now, I helped him move boxes. He would try to give me books, saying it broke his heart to leave them behind. I watched him roll from pile to pile, looking and remembering, then putting stuff down and moving to another pile.

If you could pack for heaven, this was how you’d do it, touching everything, taking nothing.

“Is there anyone you need to forgive at this point?” I asked him.

“I’ve forgiven them already,” he said.

“Everyone?”

“Yes.”

“Have they forgiven you?”

“I hope. I have asked.” He looked away. “You know, we have a tradition. When you go to a funeral, you’re supposed to stand by the coffin and ask the deceased to forgive anything you’ve ever done.” He made a face. “Personally, I don’t want to wait that long.”

I remember when the Reb made his most public of apologies. It was his last High Holiday sermon as the senior rabbi of the temple.

He could have used the occasion to reflect on his accomplishments. Instead he asked forgiveness from this flock. He apologized for not being able to save more marriages, for not visiting the homebound more frequently, for not easing more pain of parents who had lost a child, for not having money to help widows or families in economic ruin. He apologized to teenagers with whom he didn’t spend enough teaching time. He apologized for no longer being able to come to workplaces for brown bag discussions. He even apologized for the sin of not studying every day, as illness and commitments had stolen precious hours.

“For all these, God of forgiveness,” he concluded, “forgive me, pardon me …”

Officially, that was his final “big” sermon.

“Grant me atonement” were his last three words.

And now the Reb was urging me not to wait.

“Mitch, it does no good to be angry or carry grudges.”

He made a fist. “It churns you up inside. It does you more harm than the object of your anger.”

“So let it go?” I asked.

“Or don’t let it get started in the first place,” he said. “You know what I found over the years? When I had a disagreement with someone, and they came to talk to me, I always began by saying, ‘I’ve thought about it. And in some ways maybe you’re right.’

“Now, I didn’t always believe that. But it made things easier. Right from the start, they relaxed. A negotiation could take place. I took a volatile situation and, what’s the word … ?”

“Defused it?”

“Defused it. We need to do that. Especially with family.”

“You know, in our tradition, we ask forgiveness from everyone — even casual acquaintances. But with those we are closest with — wives, children, parents — we too often let things linger. Don’t wait, Mitch. It’s such a waste.”

He told me a story. A man buried his wife. At the gravesite, he stood by the Reb, tears falling down his face.

“I loved her,” he whispered.

The Reb nodded.

“I mean  … I really loved her.”

The man broke down.

“And … I almost told her once.”

The Reb looked at me sadly.

“Nothing haunts like the things we don’t say.”

Later that day, I asked the Reb to forgive me for anything I might have ever said or done that hurt him. He smiled and said that while he couldn’t think of anything, he would “consider all such matters addressed.”

“Well,” I joked, “I’m glad we got that over with.”

“You’re in the clear.”

“Timing is everything.”

“That’s right. Which is why our sages tell us to repent exactly one day before we die.”

“Wait. How do you know it’s the day before you die?”

He raised his eyebrows.

“Exactly.”

Saying Sorry The Saturday Evening Post