Agent Palmer

Do you know who Terry Fox is? If you live below the 49th Parallel there is a good chance you don’t. To the North, however, he’s not only an inspiration, he’s on the money.

Terry: Terry Fox and His Marathon of Hope by Douglas Coupland is so much more than another coffee table book. Yes, it’s the same size as the two previous Coupland coffee table books, Souvenir of Canada and Souvenir of Canada 2, but there is so much more.

This isn’t just a book about Terry Fox, even though he is the titular man.

Hunter S. Thompson is much more than just Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I knew that, but knowing that isn’t the same as knowing the wider breadth and depth of that statement. Alex Gibney’s 2008 documentary “Gonzo” filled in a few gaps for me, but for those uninitiated it may just enlighten you to just how much more than one book Hunter was.

Gibney does an amazing job throughout the documentary weaving Thompson’s words with his life. As a writer, even one like Hunter, not everything is relevant, yet it all could be usable depending on the story you want to tell.

I am a fan of the CFL and the Toronto Argonauts. But it wasn’t until I picked up The Year of the Rocket by Paul Woods that I had forgotten a previous connection to the league and the fandom.

This book has not only reminded me of that connection but told a greater story surrounding the history and circumstances around the 1991 CFL season. That season, “”The king of comedy, the king of hockey, and the guy who owns the Kings” bought the Toronto Argonauts…

I thought about being a rock star as an early teen as if it was that easy. I also thought about becoming a journalist for a period in my late teens, which seemed much more realistic. I even minored in journalism in college, so it was definitely in my wheelhouse.

Somehow, being a rock journalist never made the list, even temporarily, of things I want to do when I grow up.

I’ve never met Tom Adelman, but I feel as though we just had a wonderful conversation. Black and Blue: The Golden Arm, the Robinson Boys, and the 1966 World Series That Stunned America was the conversation we shared.

This book is fantastic, and that’s coming from an Orioles fan who has also enjoyed Dodger baseball for the past decade plus. Through telecasts I’ve absorbed the history of both clubs, but this book does something else.