May We Suggest?

Amazon.com Widgets

I don't know if you've ever noticed, but flashquake never advertises, and we pay all of our non-staff contributors in addition to maintaining a domain and a web site, buying the supplies to create contributors' discs, and paying for the postage to send them. Altogether, we need $161 each month in order to keep things going.

Ever wonder how that happens? A lot of our capital comes from those of us who believe in what flashquake does. But we also make some money from links to Amazon. It's simple — if you buy something we recommend, or if you use our general link to go to Amazon and make a purchase, we make a few cents.

Frankly, we need your help. If, like us, you think that the work that flashquake publishes deserves recognition and exposure, please help us make that happen.

David Shapiro

I was fascinated by Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success", an entertaining and insightful look at how exceptional people came to be.

He covers an interesting range of examples that include how the Beatles became great, how Bill Gates got rich, why so many Canadian hockey stars were born in January, why Asians are so good at math and why airline pilots from certain cultures have a disproportionate number of crashes.

More often than you'd think, success is about lucky advantages of timing and circumstance rather than innate genius.

Today's struggling creative types might be tomorrow's leaders if you believe Daniel H. Pink's A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

Pink basically argues that in our age of abundance and automation, the left-brain occupations that have made Americans so comfortable for so long are being exported to Asia, and we'll have to make our beans off of right-brained thinking that spawns creativity and innovation.

If you buy into the premise, he offers a number of ways you can develop the six right-brain aptitudes you'll need: design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning.

With all the hoopla over the 90th birthday of folk music legend and social activist Pete Seeger, I became nostalgic for a glimpse of Seeger in his prime.

I remembered he produced a regional TV show called Rainbow Quest back in the '60s when he was banned from the networks, and I wondered if any recordings were available.

It turns out there are six DVDs being sold, each with two of the hour-long shows. My favorite is the one with Sonny Terry &Brownie McGhee, Mississippi John Hurt, Hedy West and Paul Cadwell. There are others featuring Seeger with Judy Collins, Doc Watson, the Stanley Brothers, Libby Cotton, the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, Johnny Cash, Roscoe Holcombe and the New Lost City Ramblers.

Debi Orton

I've spent much of my summer with the two Steig Larsson books, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , and The Girl Who Played with Fire , the first two thirds of a trilogy he completed just before his untimely death. Both of these books are masterpiece mysteries, and the characters are phenomenal. I didn't know much about Sweden or Swedish literature before, but now I'm inclined to dig a little deeper. The third part of the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest , is due out in October. I don't know what I'm going to do when the trilogy ends and there's no more Steig Larsson to be had.

Didi Wood

My summer has been filled with books, both typical summertime "mind candy" and those of greater literary merit. Following are some recent favorites:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Moving story of women from different backgrounds coming together in Mississippi in the early years of the civil rights movement.

Pieces for the Left Hand: Stories by J. Robert Lennon. Wonderful collection of 100 flash anecdotes, written in a deceptively simple, conversational style. These stayed with me.

Field of Blood by Denise Mina. The first of Mina's "Paddy Meehan" thrillers, set in Scotland and featuring an engaging young heroine. I'm enjoying the second, The Dead Hour , right now.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. I loved Marcheta's Saving Francesca , and *Jellicoe Road* - which won The Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature - is just as good.

I know I've recommended George R.R. Martin's marvelous A Song of Ice and Fire series before, but since production starts in October for HBO's A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) , named for the first book in the series, I'm going to flag it again. With a cast that includes Sean Bean, Jennifer Ehle, Peter Dinklage, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, this is going to be amazing. Start reading now so you're ready when the series premieres on HBO next year.

Sean McKlusky

The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality by the Dalai Lama. In this work, the Dali Lama compares and contrasts Buddhist lines of inquiry and impressions of the universe with scientific research and quantum theories.

Far from dry reading, this book is written in an approachable and intriguing style. Buddhism and science are in many respects compatible and where they diverge is of no consequence to either. The Dali Lama approaches this work from an inquisitive and enlightened perspective seeks neither to prove, disprove or judge.

Mamba Presents Buchiage Trance, Vol. 2 . If you like Japanese trance mixes, these are great! I have Vol. 1- 4 but keep coming back to 1 and 2. I don't want to diss Amazon or cut the flashquake take on the referral (I think we made 20 bucks last year woohoo!) but shop around, it aint no $50.00 CD!

Sarah Black

God's Dogs: A Novel in Stories by Mitch Wieland — a beautiful and brutal novel in stories that really works as both novel and stories. I loved the landscape of western Idaho.