Michael Berger is a barely-published writer and book-seller living in San Francisco. He is one of the founding Corsairs of the Iron Garters Bike Club and is currently pursuing a degree in applied pataphysics. He sometimes eats oatmeal for dinner.
I’ve recently been in awe of the short stories of Paul Bowles, the American ex-pat novelist, composer, and translator who lived in Morocco and wrote The Sheltering Sky and who…
“The people we call intellectuals aren’t necessarily smarter or more knowledgeable than anyone else. But they happen to have a lot of privilege, and privilege confers responsibility. And so they…
“We are witnessing the collapse of financial capitalism. This was easily predictable. Even among economists, where one finds even more idiots than in the political sphere, a number had been…
There is not enough nice things you can say about the incredible varieties of sexual diversity in San Francisco. I think as Bay Area folk it’s easy to take it…
“Carol wants me to write a novel: ‘You’ve met so many interesting people,’ she tells me. Very good, there was a young man and he could never get his hands…
A long time ago, back when I was basking in over-priced Leftism in Santa Cruz, I gave a gift to my friend: Letters To A Yong Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens.…
“Living in Brooklyn (as 3/4 of the Akashic Staff does), discussions about Irony usually in end hipster-bashing sessions. Williamsburg is rendered as a mecca of self-posturing, detachment and apathy. It’s…
“Science fiction writers don’t predict the future (except accidentally), but if they’re very good, they may manage to predict the present. Mary Shelley wasn’t worried about reanimated corpses stalking Europe, but…
“The basic point — that liberal democracy is the final form of government — is still basically right. Obviously there are alternatives out there, like the Islamic Republic of Iran…
“Criticism and reviews are both meta-forms–if they don’t in some way amplify or complicate the subject of their focus, then they shouldn’t exist. So much of what passes for reviews…
The love of reading and the love of books, while almost always coinciding are still, in essence two different things. If I loved to read as much as I loved…