Entertainment Recommendations

Maybe you're always on the lookout for book, TV, movie, and/or comedy recommendations, or maybe you're in need of some extra diversions these days while engaging in "social distancing".

Here are a few books I've read lately and enjoyed (enough to suggest to others, anyway):

• The Fifth Risk, by Michael Lewis
• The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization, by Vince Beiser
• Salt: A World History, by Mark Kurlansky
• Into Thin Air, by Jon Karkauer
• The Attention Merchants, by Tim Wu   

I'm a fan of stand-up comedy.  Here are a couple of new specials on Netflix worth watching:

• Marc Maron's End Times Fun
• Tom Papa's Everything is Great

With TV, if you haven't watched The Expanse yet, now would be a good time.  Staying home to avoid the coronavirus still seems much preferable to hanging out in a spaceship while "on the float".  Better Call Saul is back for its fifth season and it's good.  Also, if you enjoy Marc Maron (and I do) he's fun to watch on GLOW and Maron.  

Finally, I'll throw in a curve ball of a movie rec: if you've never seen it, check out the cult classic Repo Man.  This 1984 sci-fi comedy stars Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez, plus it has a great soundtrack featuring 80's punk music.  I'm warning you now that Repo Man is a strange movie;  however, if you like at all you'll probably like it a lot.