Ever since I read Guns, Germs, and Steel, and then more books like it, I started a mental category of “books that changed the way I see the world.” These books have a few things in common: they are non-fiction; they often span eras; they present grand theories based on solid evidence; they’re engagingly written for a relatively broad audience; in most cases, I couldn’t put them down, finishing them in a short amount of time, and then buttonholed all my friends telling them to read the...| Aaron Hertzmann’s blog
A few years ago, while walking home, I noticed a dry cleaners across the street from my house. “Was that always there?” I thought, surprised. I’d walked by that spot many, many times over the years, but I’d never noticed the cleaners. A little Googling revealed that it’s been on my street for longer than I have. Yet, if you’d asked me for the nearest dry cleaners near my house, I would have answered that I didn’t know of any.| Aaron Hertzmann’s blog