Reddit mentions: The best american fiction anthologies

You're very welcome! I learned most of what I know about New York City history by reading as much as I could about it. It started off as an interest, became a passion, and over the past few years I've been able to turn my love of city history into a career.

There are definitely some fabulous blogs and websites about NYC that are a good place to start if you're interested in learning more, such as Forgotten New York, Daytonian in Manhattan, Untapped Cities, Ephemeral New York, and The Bowery Boys, to name a few. The New-York Historical Society, The Museum of the City of New York, The Brooklyn Historical Society, and The New York Public Library are all great places to visit, and their respective blogs (here, here, here and here) have a ton of valuable information. Other organizations and groups have websites and social media feeds that are worth checking out. Here is a list with some amazing websites and resources to check out.

In terms of books, I recommend starting with Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace. It is comprehensive, informative, and incredibly well written. I have read it numerous times over the years, and I reference it constantly. Empire City: New York Through the Centuries by Kenneth T. Jackson and David S. Dunbar is also a good introductory book to get yourself up to speed. I have compiled a list of books for /r/nychistory, which you can view here, and it has plenty of other good choices to pick and includes different categories.

In the event that you enjoy what I do and want to learn more, feel free to check out my Twitter page (you don't need an account to view it), where I have shared over 7,000 unique historical images and photos from the city's history. I also have an Instagram account, where I am able to provide more in-depth stories about the events, buildings, views, and people that have helped make New York City the place that it is today.

Before the end of slavery i don't think they even thought in those terms. White people wouldn't think of competing fairly with black people, and they were totally okay with Black people performing well in competitions, because their white "owner" would get the credit anyway. All the jockeys were black during slavery because it was dangerous, and why not? As long as the athlete is an "animal" who performed for their entertainment, it didn't threaten them.

Make sure to include something about the dominance of black jockeys in the early Kentucky Derbys and how Jim Crow destroyed all that. And how Jim Crow arose specifically so they would never have to compete against us and risk losing. I don't really think there was ever a doubt that Black people could be good at sports. The image of the hulking, mindless, brute was a popular one. White America just consoled themselves by telling themselves that yeah, Black people may be stronger or faster, but they weren't smarter. A trope that still exists today when they tell people to shut up and play ball. They still insist that athleticism must come at a mental cost because their psyche can't handle otherwise.

https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/22/sport/black-jockeys-horse-racing-sports-stars/index.html

As for music, it's the same thing. They knew black people were great at music, but they didn't want their children looking up to black artists, and especially didn't want their white girls admiring black men. If they didn't think Black people could play and sing, they wouldn't have went around stealing as much black music as they could so they could give the credit and money to an acceptable white artist. There's documented cases going back to the 1920s.

https://www.salon.com/2014/05/17/elvis_wasnt_the_first/

https://www.vix.com/en/music/527353/these-black-artists-didnt-get-credit-some-your-favorite-songs

If you want to find some sources on something white people didn't think black people could do well, you're going to need to find specific examples of things white people claimed black people were too stupid to do, and then discriminated with to make sure it was true.

Like classical music: https://www.amazon.com/Classical-Music-Racism-Perceptions-African-American/dp/1592327613

Or the QB position: https://theundefeated.com/features/the-rise-and-fall-and-resurgence-of-marlin-briscoe/ and https://www.jstor.org/stable/40034343?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_issues_faced_by_black_quarterbacks

Or track and field: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_sport#Racism_in_international_sports

> This racism was not limited to Germans, as Americans observed racism as well. American Track and Field coach Dean Cromwell stated "It was not long ago that his [the black athlete's] ability to sprint and jump was a life-and-death matter to him in the jungle. His muscles are pliable, and his easy-going disposition is a valuable aid to the mental and physical relaxation that a runner and jumper must have."

Or golf: https://aaregistry.org/story/african-americans-and-golf-a-brief-history/

A couple other links on music:
https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199356157.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199356157-e-14

https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/eric-clapton-whitesplains-his-racism-he-even-had-a-bla-1822054554

https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/slavery/experience/education/feature.html

Alright, I'm done. Good luck with whatever your project is.

You might be interested in short stories. These are all fiction but really fun reads. Check out the Best Short Stories books, like this one, the 2014 edition. I also really liked Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut, also a book of short stories.

For nonfiction, there's this series, I find easy enough to read and each essay is fairly short. There's one for each year and they're great.

I used to be a TOEIC rater for the ETS and have taught TOEFL classes many times. The TOEIC does rate diction (pronunciation, stress, intonation, etc.) but the TOEFL only really cares if your diction interferes with your ability to be clearly understood.
There are books and methods. The absolutely best way would be to work with a Speech Pathologist who works on accent reduction. Working with a TESL teacher, such as myself, who has experience and training to this work is a second best.
If you want a book I would recommend this:
http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-American-Pronunciation-Handbooks-Language/dp/0194328155
It is the standard reference for TESL/TEFL teachers as myself for teaching students this type of thing.

I'm an extreme water nerd.

I agree with all of geocurious' recommendations. For textbooks, those are the main ones for groundwater, especially. Fetter is another mainstay. I'm sure you can find the textbooks easily enough.

As for less academic, Cadillac Desert is good and goes into the policy behind U.S. dam building (which is long but interesting). Water: The epic struggle... is a history of the world with some interesting connections to water (though doesn't get enough into the water, from my perspective).

As for beautiful writing about water, I can't recommend Loren Eiseley enough. The Immense Journey has some really great chapters about water (and then goes on and on about human evolution, but still ok). A really neat excerpt book about geologic themes is Bedrock and that is how I found my pal, Loren.

I have also been amassing a public Spotify playlist of songs that have a hydro-theme. Message me if you want it. Sitting at a couple hundred songs right now, but definitely biased towards my musical interests.

Other books:

• Unquenchable: I thought this was a rather haphazard, sensationalized, and doomsday perspective on water [I have a phd in hydro].
  
  A good list by someone else: Aguanomics
  
  Quotes
  

So I have a friend in jail that I regularly send books to. This doesn't cover every situation, but I assume the circumstances will be similar.

He says that the (meager) prison library is very skewed towards religious books, classics, GED materials, and low-difficulty grocery store novels. Anything other than that will be appreciated. The books most requested are thick fantasy books, activity books (sudoku, physics workbooks, etc), science non-fiction, and coffee-table books or magazines with lots of pictures. These will be swapped with other inmates so that anyone interested has a chance to read.

Some things to keep in mind:

• There is often a limit on how many items can be kept. 3-books-in-1/omnibus editions help get around this.
  
• There may be monetary limits on gifts. Shop for deals and choose the cheaper mass market paperbacks whenever possible.
  
• Mail a receipt ASAP! She might not be able to pick up any books until she has that.
  
• Mail books through a big company (e.g. Amazon, B&N) or they might be destroyed. No third-party Amazon sellers or used book stores in most cases.
  
  Books that have gone over well and can be found in cheap forms:
  
  
• Mistborn trilogy
  
• His Dark Materials trilogy
  
• The Name of the Wind
  
• The Best American Science Writing/The Best American Science and Nature Writing anthologies
  
• Sudoku
  
• Hyperbole and a Half
  
• A Song of Ice and Fire

We're listed as the most 'livable' city in the US. We're in the throws of heavy gentrification in the city proper, but there's huge opportunities here. We're also 12th in startup funding now.

The biggest thing of this city is that it's very neighborhood oriented. Each neighborhood has a very different vibe and culture, and in the last 5 years or so many are going through revitalization efforts. The university and healthcare systems are our two biggest industries, but we have quite a bit of tech and biomedical clout as well. The food is phenomenal here for the city size, any number of local joints to hit up.

Our biggest downside is a general lack of touristy spots (some would say that's a positive) and not as much art/culture/music as some larger cities (although it's growing yearly). I would also say we're kinda cut off from a lot of cities as we're not quite midwest, and we're not quite east coast (there's a great book on this). We're also not the craziest party town like say a Miami.


Great place to head to if you're looking to settle down though.

Mary Roach is fucking rad! Thanks for reminding me that she exists - I remembered her name from this excellent collection of science/nature articles that she curated/selected. (I really like the rest of the Best American series, especially the short stories one.)

Her introduction was very good, and now I feel compelled to look up more of her work...

He actually wrote about his perspective on religion in his book Ideas and Opinions. I haven't read it myself, but a friend told me he had some interesting insights on Judaism. Amazon also has a collection of his writings on Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms. Seems like the information is there if people are interested in his religious views.

There are several annual collections published as books. One of my favorites is the Best American series

• Magazine Writing http://www.barnesandnoble.com/mobile/w/the-best-american-magazine-writing-2016-sid-holt/1123830173?ean=9780231181556&st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Shopping+Books_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP62465
  
• Sports Writing (There's a lot to be learned about writing from these folks even if sports will not be your friend's focus.) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01912OYOU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
  
• Science and Nature Writing https://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Science-Nature-Writing/dp/B01L9AJKYG
  
• Travel writing https://www.hmhco.com/at-home/featured-shops/popular-series/best-american-series/ba-travel
  
• Crime reporting https://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Crime-Reporting-2009/dp/0061490849
  
• Infographics (This is a booming sector of journalism with some of the best job prospects and best pay. These skills also open up the door to stories others won't see) https://www.hmhco.com/at-home/featured-shops/popular-series/best-american-series/ba-infographics
  
  Other journalism-related books that you might consider:
  
• Boys on the Bus, a must-read first person account of journalists' lives on the presidential campaign trail https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D5BFDKI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
  
• The New York Review Abroad: 50 years of International reporting https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008LNDO2E/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
  -Journalism's Roving Eye, a history of foreign reporting https://www.amazon.com/Journalisms-Roving-Eye-American-Reporting/dp/0807143596
  
• The New New Journalism https://www.amazon.com/New-Journalism-Conversations-Americas-Nonfiction/dp/140003356X
  
• Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC0U30/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
  
• The Investigative Reporter's Handbook https://www.amazon.com/Investigative-Reporters-Handbook-Documents-Techniques/dp/031258997
  
• Precision Journalism https://www.amazon.com/Precision-Journalism-Reporters-Introduction-Science/dp/0742510883
  
• The Associated Press Guide to Newswriting http://www.barnesandnoble.com/mobile/p/the-associated-press-guide-to-news-writing-rene-j-cappon/1122972240/2675698122266?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Marketplace+Shopping+Textbooks_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP20449&k_clickid=3x20449

Know what's better than Encyclopedias? Great Books of the World collections.

I've got one myself, inherited from my family. Now sure, most of these books are available free and without any sort of copyright online.

But I love having the ability to go skipping my fingers across authors of history and deciding what I want to read. And these can be used as sources in a research paper, unlike 'pedias.

Rothbard was in cahoots with the New Left during the 60s on the war/corporatism issues. He wrote scholarly articles for New Left publications. He collaborated with a libertarian socialist to write A new History of Leviathan. (Tom Woods has also collaborated with an anti-war leftist). He actively tried to create an alliance with radical "freedom loving" students, many of whom were obviously economically illiterate.

What say you about that?

Anything by Simon Singh is worth reading. In addition to what others have recommended, these books are good:

[The man who loved only numbers](http://www.amazon.com/MAN-WHO-LOVED-ONLY-NUMBERS/dp/0786884061/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254333710&sr=8-1
)

Flatland

Prisoner's Dilemma

A mathematician reads the newspaper

A mathematician plays the stock market

Innumeracy: mathematical illiteracy and its consequences

Also, while not exactly about Maths:

Surely you are joking, Mr Feynman

What do you care what other people think?

The Art of Computer Programming

Every year the "Best American Series" released several titles including "The Best American Science and Nature Writing". A guest editor goes through hundred of articles culled from the best publications and compiles this volume. It would be a cheap text and include all the big names.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Science-Nature-Writing/dp/0547350635

The Best American Science and Nature Writing series is great. Each year they release a collection of science journalism. 2011's edition is edited by Mary Roach, and it is fantastic. There is a wide range of stories (though 2011 seems a bit heavy on biology and ecology—but there are also pieces about space debris and black holes and AI and more).

• Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt
  
  
• The Law, by Frederic Bastiat
  
  
• A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism, by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
  
  
• Human Action, by Ludwig von Mises
  
  
• The Ethics of Liberty, by Murray N. Rothbard
  
  
• The Free Market Reader: Essay in the Economics of Liberty, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, ed.
  
  
• Capitalism and Freedom, by Milton Friedman
  
  
• Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
  
  
• The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith
  
  
• The Constitution of Liberty, by F. A. Hayek
  
  
• Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy, by Thomas Sowell
  
  
• Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville
  
  
• Anthem, by Ayn Rand
  
  
• A Nation of Sheep, by Andrew P. Napolitano
  
  
• Meltdown, by Thomas E. Woods
  
  
• Liberalism, by Ludwig von Mises
  
  
• A Foreign Policy of Freedom, by Ron Paul
  
  
• Rules for Radicals, by Saul Salinsky
  
  
• Blowback, by Chalmers Johnson
  
  
• Liberty Defined, by Ron Paul
  
  
• With Liberty and Justice for Some, by Glenn Greenwald
  
  
• We Who Dared to Say No to War, by Murray Polner and Thomas E. Woods, Eds.

You could start with a book like this: E. D. Hirsch's Cultural Literacy or Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book or How to Think About the Great Ideas.

Or you can, like you've said, gather some info. about certain historical periods or cultural eras and decide to learn more about them. It's not easy, but you're living in a time where you can easily and freely access a lot of information.

The Best American Nonrequired Reading: 2011

I buy this anthology every year, and it's always worth it. I haven't gotten far, since I like to savor it and it won't be another year until we get another one. This one has a forward by Guillermo Del Toro, which is pretty snazzy.

OK, so I have a friend in jail serving a lot more time and the rules are probably even stricter (separate receipt needs to be sent in a different shipment or else even new books from Amazon will be destroyed).

Anyways, he says that prison libraries skew towards religious books, former crappy bestsellers (dime-a-dozen bestsellers, the crappy sort of chicklit, etc), and classics. Books that deviate from that are better.

Some general rules: books that cost less are better (at a certain point, you can receive 3x $10 books or 1x $30 book), 3-books-in-1 are better (you can have x many objects).

Books that have gone over well:

• Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (fantasy)
  
• The Best Science and Nature Writing anthology, any year (non-fiction)
  
• A Game of Thrones (fantasy)
  
• and various Sudoku books (puzzle)
  
  Mass appeal/tradeability is a big thing: Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, and Percy Jackson are popular.
  
  Books with lots of nature photography are also big.

Gumbo Ya-ya gets into the history of certain groups of New Orleans, such as the Creoles, the Cajuns, the Knickerbockers and the like. Has some good old folk tales from New Orleans, as well.
Probably my favorite book about New Orleans (after Confederacy, of course).

Dave Eggers does The Best non-required reading every year, and it's usually pretty good.

Key word is thorough. Prob and stat is actually very intuitive, the issue is that that intuition must be built from the ground up. Most university courses fail in this respect.

Let me recommend some good, useful, and fun to read books for you: Innumeracy, Beyond Numeracy, and probably most importantly A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper all by John Allen Paulos. He's sort of a pop-math author I would consider analogous to Carl Sagan for numbers.

If you wish to purchase the book, look here. Loved the 2008 essay's, so I am passing it on

We can read perfectly well here in The Paris of Appalachia

Some that I love:

• The World That Made New Orleans by Ned Sublette
  
• Gumbo Ya-Ya: A Collection of Louisiana Folk Tales by Robert Tallant, Lyle Saxon, Edward Dreyer
  
• New Orleans Then and Now by Richard and Marina Campanella
  
• Eat Dat New Orleans: A Guide to the Unique Food Culture of the Crescent City by Michael Murphy

Well there's this that's free. You may be able to find print copies on Amazon or Ebay.

There's also this.

In addition Becker’s and Kaboom, I’d suggest Abebooks.com if you are looking for a particular edition and don’t want to “dig.”

I was able to score a complete 2nd edition (1994) 60 vol set of “The Great Books of the Western World” for $500 on abebooks....many still in their shrink wrap!

I like to refer to us as the "Paris of Appalachia"

http://www.amazon.com/The-Paris-Appalachia-Pittsburgh-Twenty-First/dp/088748509X

Haha

The Best American Science Writing

While I haven't read any of his other books, I can definitely recommend A Mathematcian Reads the Newspaper by John Allen Paulos.

Gumbo Ya-Ya

Which is a collection of folk tales collected from 1930-1940 for the WPA Writers' Project and thoroughly entertaining. I will throw a caution out for the blatant racism/classism of Louisiana in the 1930's, but it's totally worth it.

Thanks for your comment.

You may or may not be aware that innumeracy is a bit of a problem in this country and journalists are no exception. John Allen Paulos wrote a whole book about it: A mathematician reads the newspaper. So my goal in posing that question was to learn whether this person could make sense of the available data independently or would need more "support." This is not "attacking" someone; it's "getting to know your audience."

I'm not sure which parts of my note struck you as "angry" or "slightly crazy," but that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. Having been burned before by the BS editors, I'm not eager to repeat the exercise.

You're absolutely right that $100 is not nearly enough to compensate someone for the work that this story will require. If my questions have prevented someone from doing a half-assed job, then that's probably a good thing.

Some useful links:

Amazon

Google books link

To be honest as much as we all hate to admit it, we are part of Appalachia. We're over 400 miles from the coast so we can't be East Coast, but we don't live near plains and farm land so calling us "Mid-west" is also wrong (plus I don't want to be in the same area as Ohio). Between the two is Appalachia which we are squarely inside of although probably the best part of. [Some even call Pittsburgh the 'Paris of Appalachia'] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Paris-Appalachia-Pittsburgh-Twenty-First/dp/088748509X) [relevent as well] (http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/brian-oneill/yes-we-and-yinz-are-part-of-appalachia-223324/)

Like I said, quotes out of context without the explanation of what he meant by "God" will be misconstrued as religion, something with a being not bound by the laws of physics. Einstein believed in no such entity.

Also did you send me a link to the sale of his bible as proof he was religious? I mean, I have a Quran, Bible, and Torah, what does that make me?

source

I would love a set of Great Books Of The Western World (The "new" cost is outrageous, but sets on ebay are usually <200).

Recommended reading

Technically, you're still in Appalachia.

At least one author has called Pittsburgh The Paris of Appalachia

Also: https://www.amazon.com/We-Who-Dared-Say-War/dp/1568583850

An article on the psychological after effects from similar situations (scroll down to the first article "The Kindest Cut").

Those statistics are bunk. Even taking them at face value without looking at the sources, if you are trying to minimize the risk of death you would not want to look at all accidents you would want to look at the ones that lead to a fatality while driving. An overwhelming majority of those rear end collisions are just fender benders or trunk benders with only minor injuries. The consequences of a direct side impact are much more dire.

Read something like this

or this if you are curious about lying with statistics.

reminds me of Stalin quote....

> one death is a tragedy, a million is statistic...

...this type of mass murder is sickening.... and on both sides of the isle most are quite on the warefare state.... many leftists even get ultra nationalist when it comes to war.... (well, when their guy is in anyway...)

I would recommend a collaborative effort written by people who are on opposite ends of the political spectrum who came together to document the history of anti-war movements in the US.

We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now