NPR’s San Francisco outlet, KALW, broadcasts the terrific show “Your Call.” Today’s broadcast was all about books! Kevin Hunsanger (co-owner of Green Apple Books) and Christin Evans (Owner of Booksmith) talk about their favorite books of the year.

But what’s really exciting is when Mr Hunsanger praises StretchyHead at minute 47:52…

“They’re little vignettes that are a cross between Richard Brautigan [and] Raymond Carver… This is a beautiful little book.”

>> Listen <<

(or click here to link to KALW’s page)

The festival is concluded and the book is in the world and you can get your hands on a copy here:

Books are tightly wrought arguments borne of a single mind. When two people have read the same book, they have a touchstone. It is a shared experience. Few things compare to the touchstone power of a book.

It takes a single mind thousands of hours to produce a book.  The book is a compressed spring. It is potential energy. When it is read, the ideas are sprung, the energy is unleashed. This is the inherent power of a book.

What other touchstones do we have that contain so much power? What do we experience quickly that lasts, and lasts?

The Olympics. The moon landing. A presidential election. (Also: terrible events that stop a country cold – Katrina, 9-11, Oslo, the Haiti earthquake).

To reach olympic-level athleticism, a competitor must invest thousands of hours in personal training. The resulting performance packs that same punch. The storm cell, brewing. The sprinter, toning muscle. The madman, plotting. The author, writing. Thousands of hours, all compressed into a single experience. Some for good, some otherwise.

Books are vessels of compressed time.

The Submersible. On your kindle. Flabbergasting!

Click the picture to get it: