Name: The Devil and Sherlock Holmes
ISBN: 9780385517928

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes

Acclaimed New Yorker writer and author of the breakout debut bestseller The Lost City of Z, David Grann offers a collection of spellbinding narrative journalism. Whether he's reporting on the infiltration of the murderous Aryan Brotherhood into the U.S. prison system, tracking down a chameleon con artist in Europe, or riding in a cyclone- tossed skiff with a scientist hunting the elusive giant squid, David Grann revels in telling stories that explore the nature of obsession and that piece together true and unforgettable mysteries. Each of the dozen stories in this collection reveals a hidden and often dangerous world and, like Into Thin Air and The Orchid Thief, pivots around the gravitational pull of obsession and the captivating personalities of those caught in its grip. There is the world's foremost expert on Sherlock Holmes who is found dead in mysterious circumstances; an arson sleuth trying to prove that a man about to be executed is innocent; and sandhogs racing to complete the brutally dangerous job of building New York City's water tunnels before the old system collapses. Throughout, Grann's hypnotic accounts display the power--and often the willful perversity--of the human spirit. Compulsively readable, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant mosaic of ambition, madness, passion, and folly.From the Hardcover edition.

What Hacker News says

joekrillDec 2018

Much fewer than I would like to have! My "to read" list is infinitely longer. Some highlights:

Factfulness by Hans Rosling - amazing book, as recommended by Bill Gates, and I see why. Very timely and important given the current social climate. A must read for literally everyone.

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler - I've always been meaning to read some of the classic hardboiled detective novels, and what better place to start than with _the_ classic. Loved it. Very easy read. Looking forward to reading more of these.

Spanish Verb Tenses / Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions by Dorothy Richmond - I've been trying to learn Spanish and these are some of the best workbooks I've found.

Wool by Hugh Howey - A friend kept recommending this and it was so hard to put down once I started. It always kept me wanting more. It was a great journey, but at the very end things were becoming a little obvious, which is probably why I haven't gotten around to reading the other books in the series. But that definitely shouldn't keep anyone from reading it - it was a really great, fun read.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann - 12 amazing essays, each great in their own way. I didn't want to finish this only because I didn't want to no longer have a story to look forward to! I picked this up after reading his The Lost City of Z, which was also a great read if you like modern adventure stories.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking - I love to reread this every so often. Maybe it's nostalgia?

How Linux Works by Brian Ward - I know Linux well enough, but certain things I never really understood and never bothered to look into. This book helped clarify some of the ways Linux works under-the-hood, and why, among other things. And it wasn't super dense - very approachable. Highly recommended to anyone who uses Linux but doesn't really think of themselves as a "Power User" or even "Intermediate".

Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep by David K. Randall - We know so little about sleep, and the research is constantly changing. Randall does a great job of distilling things for the layperson, though. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami - I was surprised how much I enjoyed this! What an amazing read. I typically don't enjoy this sort of book where everything seems to have some deeper meaning and it's very "out there" (for lack of a better description). But I couldn't be happier that this was recommended to me. I loved every page.

And I'll thrown in a dud:

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck by Mark Manson - I don't understand why people like this book so much, and I was a little annoyed at myself for reading it all the way through when I should have figured out a few pages in that I was wasting my time. A typical fluffy self-help book with no real substance, I thought. "Do Cool Sht" is another book in a similar vein that I had the foresight to bail on. I guess throwing a curse word in the title is the thing to do these days?

thread

nikcubAug 2012

A must-read on the water tunnel project underneath NY is David Grann's article for the New Yorker 'City of Water'[1]. Mind-blowing engineering project, especially the two old tunnels and their inability to repair them. It is one of the most read and most requested stories in the recent history of the New Yorker.

The article was syndicated in his book, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, which is worth a read[2].

[1] http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/09/01/030901fa_fact_gr...

[2] http://www.amazon.com/The-Devil-Sherlock-Holmes-Obsession/dp...

thread