This was my first exposure to Afrobeat music, and was a good intro for me because it is a little more modern, with the house style remixes. That said, I prefer the original Shoki Shoki album is better – more interesting, more diverse, less redundant.

Really amazing music… it’ll get you moving. They just showed a live concert by Femi on Sundance last night and it got me a bit nostalgic for this album. Almost all classics.

Nick and Nora (the heroes of the Thin Man series) drink alcohol with such reckless abandon, and pure joy, that it’s just plain fun. Martini after martini, trays full of drinks, highballs in the middle of the night, another martini on Christmas morning. Talk about conspicuous CONSUMPTION!

Convergence: during the summer of 2001 I felt this odd urge to learn more about Central Asia. I’d just read “Meetings with Remarkable Men” and wanted to understand the georgraphy and region better – kind of following a thread. So I went to Barnes & Noble and picked this one off the shelf and proceeded to consume it. A couple of months later I walked into my office and looked out the window to see the World Trade Center on fire. A month later we were at war in Afghanistan, entering the same region that the book is centered on and, essentially, writing the next chapter of this book.

Best, most interesting, riveting history book I’ve ever read.