Today’s bullet point is borrowed from Groucho Marx in Animal Crackers (1930): “Hello, I must be going.”
Regular readers will recall that earlier this year, I announced a beer book.
I’m set to write a book about beer, or so this impending contract suggests
It seemed like a really good idea, since I’ve always wanted to write a book. Heaven knows, the words are there, somewhere. In fact, roughly 237,000 of them already have been expended in pursuit of forty forty-three years in beer.
The 40 Years in Beer Compendium: links, previews, and coming attractions
Today, an update. There will be no beer book, at least not the one for Bloomsbury Academic; not this one, in this format, at this time.
This was entirely my decision, and I withdrew from the beer book project just after we returned from Spain. Dating myself as a recent recipient of monthly social security checks, I may have waited too long to write a book. Conversely, seeing how well the late, great Bob Lane pegged me, maybe I haven’t waited long enough. This requires a short explanation.
I began coursework at Indiana University Southeast in the fall semester of 1978, having absolutely no idea what I intended to do with my life.
It should be obvious that I still don’t.
At IUS it was my good fortune to befriend Bob, who served as assistant basketball coach and intramural director. I found myself one day at the tender age of 19 spilling my guts to Bob about ongoing problems on the dating scene. He counseled me to be patient, offering a prescient observation that I’ve never forgotten, and might well adorn my tombstone.
I’m paraphrasing his words, though not by much.
“You’re a slow learner and a late bloomer, just like me. It might take you a few years, like it did with me. When everyone has gone around the circuit a few times, sampled some of the wares, and gotten wiser, you’ll start looking a lot better by comparison. Trust me. In the meantime, try to be a nice guy if you can manage it, and hang...Read more
