Nicholson Baker Books

From the author of the acclaimed Human Smoke comes a brilliantly funny and skillfully crafted new novel.

In a time when military aggression is often seen as a solution for international peace, Nicholson Baker's provocative narrative offers a critical examination of the political misjudgments and biases that contributed to the catastrophic events of the Second World War. Through meticulous research, Baker challenges established myths surrounding the war's origins and the atrocities of the Holocaust. He highlights how Churchill and England played a significant role in Mussolini's rise to power and points out that a young FDR, before leading the U.S. against Nazi Germany, advocated for limiting Jewish admissions to Harvard. The narrative also pays tribute to those who foresaw the impending violence and bravely opposed it, exemplified by Gandhi's symbolic march to the ocean, which led to his imprisonment by the British. Acclaimed for his eloquent writing and keen observational skills, Baker combines sweeping historical narratives with detailed vignettes of influential figures and pivotal moments, sparking fresh dialogue on these critical issues.

Our supreme fabulist of the ordinary now turns his attention on a 9-year-old American girl and produces a novel as enchantingly idiosyncratic as any he has written. Nory Winslow wants to be a dentist or a designer of pop-up books. She likes telling stories and inventing dolls. She has nightmares about teeth, which may explain her career choice. She is going to school in England, where she is mocked for her accent and her friendship with an unpopular girl, and she has made it through the year without crying.Nicholson Baker follows Nory as she interacts with her parents and peers, thinks about God and death-watch beetles, and dreams of cows with pointed teeth. In this precocious child he gives us a heroine as canny and as whimsical as Lewis Carroll's Alice and evokes childhood in all its luminous weirdness.

Delving into the often-overlooked realms of punctuation and the lexicography of adult content, the author combines sharp wit with a rich, elaborate writing style. This exploration serves as both a provocative and humorous tribute to the intricacies of language, highlighting how these neglected elements shape our communication and experiences. The book promises a unique perspective that intertwines curiosity with a celebration of linguistic quirks.

Exploring the craft of painting, the author embarks on a personal journey during the COVID-19 pandemic, learning through books, workshops, and tutorials. Along the way, he reflects on the influences of past artists he admires, intertwining his artistic growth with insightful observations about the creative process.

Ten years into researching the potential use of biological weapons by the United States during the Korean War, Nicholson Baker faced frustration and disillusionment, particularly with the FOIA process. He encountered long waits for responses, often receiving documents heavily redacted to the point of being illegible. Rather than remain stagnant, Baker decided to keep a personal journal of his obstructed research, documenting his correspondence with government officials who hindered his requests. This led to a unique and compelling narrative that delves into some of the darkest secrets of the CIA and US government, which are often concealed despite the Freedom of Information Act. In his clear and unpretentious style, Baker reveals disturbing stories of CIA programs involving weaponized insects and the intentional spread of Lyme disease, as well as dangerous military experiments on unsuspecting citizens and harmful chemical munitions used against innocent civilians abroad. Alongside these revelations, he shares poignant moments from his life in Maine, such as feeding his dogs and watching the dawn. The result is a powerful exploration of waiting, bureaucracy, the horrors of war, and the lethal secrets that the US government keeps hidden from its people.

Turns an ordinary ride up an office escalator into a meditation on our relations with familiar objects--shoelaces, straws, and more. Baker's debut novel, and a favorite amongst many of us here.

Paul Chowder is a poet, but he's fallen out of love with writing poems. He hasn't fallen out of love with his ex-girlfriend Roz, though. In fact he misses her desperately. As he struggles to come to terms with Roz's new relationship with a doctor, Paul turns to his acoustic guitar for comfort and inspiration, and fills his days writing protest songs, going to Quaker meetings, struggling through Planet Fitness workouts, wondering if he could become a techno DJ, and experimenting with becoming a cigar smoker.

Nicholson Baker's novels, The Mezzanine and Room Temperature, have been highly praised for their sparkling originality, deadpan humor, and eccentric style. Now, with U and I, Baker has written the most idiosyncratic and deftly illuminating essay on literary influence in recent memory, as he reveals his preoccupation with the work of John Updike.

Having turned phone sex into the subject of an astonishing national bestseller in Vox, Baker now outdoes himself with an outrageously arousing, acrobatically stylish "X-rated sci-fi fantasy that leaves Vox seeming more like mere fiber-optic foreplay" (Seattle Times). "Sparkling."--San Francisco Chronicle.