Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (29 Jun 2010)

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and open their pocketbooks. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.

ON ABC'S THE VIEW (21 JUN 2010):
No Wonder My Parents Drank: Tales from a Stand-Up Dad, by Jay Mohr. Simon & Schuster. Print Length: 288 p. Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Jay Mohr is one of the funniest people in comedy today. Now, in this down and dirty tale of modern fatherhood, Mohr shares his stories as a first-time parent. No Wonder My Parents Drank reveals the details behind Mohr’s humiliating test-tube conception attempts and then recounts the trauma of not only having to keep this child alive, but having to spend time alone with him! He waxes poetic about dirty diapers; spins theories on spanking; and mulls over the more hidden advantages of parenthood, like carpool lane access, carte blanche to use the ladies restroom, and an alibi for missing family dinners. Mohr describes, in painfully funny detail, the bizarre situations that all parents inevitably face but can never prepare for..." - Amazon.

ON COMEDY CENTRAL'S THE DAILY SHOW (23 JUN 2010):
The White House Doctor: My Patients Were Presidents, by Connie Mariano. Thomas Dunne Books. Print Length: 320 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Dr. Connie Mariano served 9 years at the White House under Presidents George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. She participated in world headline-making news events and traveled all over the world. She cared for visiting dignitaries and was charged with caring for all the members of the First Family. From flirting with King Juan Carlos of Spain to spending the night on the Queen of England's yacht, Dr. Mariano glimpsed a glittering and powerful celebrity that few ever see...a fascinating look into what goes on behind closed doors at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." - Amazon.

ON THE CBS LATE SHOW (29 JUN 2010):
The Promise: President Obama, Year One, by Jonathan Alter. Simon & Schuster. Print Length: 480 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Alter...uses his unique access to the White House to produce the first inside look at Obama’s difficult debut. What happened in 2009 inside the Oval Office? What worked and what failed? What is the president really like on the job and off-hours, using what his best friend called 'a Rubik’s Cube in his brain'? These questions are answered here for the first time. We see how a surprisingly cunning Obama took effective charge in Washington several weeks before his election, made trillion-dollar decisions on the stimulus and budget before he was inaugurated, engineered colossally unpopular bailouts of the banking and auto sectors, and escalated a treacherous war not long after settling into office. In Alter’s telling, the real Obama is an authentic, demanding, unsentimental, and sometimes overconfident leader. We see the famously calm president cursing leaks, playfully trash-talking his advisors, and joking about even the most taboo subjects, still intent on redeeming more of his promise as the problems mount." - Amazon.
Alter is a senior editor at Newsweek.

ON NPR'S THE DIANE REHM SHOW (29 JUN 2010):
Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War, by Bruce Henderson. Harper Collins. Print Length:320 p. Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In February 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over 'neutral' Laos in territory controlled by Pathet Lao guerrillas and North Vietnamese regulars. After his capture, the German-born Dengler proved to be no ordinary prisoner. Already a legend in the navy for his unique escape skills, which he had demonstrated during survival training in the California desert, he found himself caught in a desperate situation, imprisoned by the enemy and by the jungle itself. Dengler's heroic impulse was to free not only himself but also other POWs -American, Thai, and Chinese - some of whom had been held for years. Bruce Henderson served with Dengler aboard USS Ranger. In this gripping book, he tells the complete story for the first time, drawing on personal interviews with the intrepid pilot, his squadron mates, and his friends and family, as well as military archival materials - some never before made public - and letters and journals. Henderson's riveting account demonstrates why Dengler's story of unending optimism, innate courage, loyalty, and survival against overwhelming odds remains for his fellow flyers and shipmates the best and brightest memory of their generation's war." - Amazon.
Dengler was masterfully portrayed by Christian Bale in the 2006 film Rescue Dawn.

ON FOXES' GLENN BECK SHOW (29 JUN 2010):
Foreign Influence, by Brad Thor. Atria. Print Length: 368 p. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Navy SEAL turned covert operative Scot Harvath is called to action once again in Brad Thor's hottest political thriller yet.
Buried within the black ops budget of the Department of Defense, a new spy agency has been created. Unfettered by the oversight of self-serving politicians, it reports only to a secret panel of insiders. Its job is to target America's enemies - both foreign and domestic - under a charter of three simple words: Find, Fix, and Finish. Recruited as a field operative, Scot Harvath has just returned from his first assignment abroad when a bombing in Rome kills a group of American college students. The evidence points to a dangerous colleague from Harvath's past, and Harvath is tasked with leveraging his relationship to lure the man out of hiding and destroy him. Simultaneously, a young woman is struck by a taxi in a hit-and-run in Chicago, and city police soon abandon their fruitless investigation. But when the family's attorney digs deeper, he uncovers a shocking connection to the Rome bombing and the perpetrators' plans for America..." - books.simonandschuster.com/

ON COMEDY CENTRAL'S THE COLBERT REPORT (30 JUN 2010):
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr. W. W. Norton & Company. Print Length: 276 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Is Google making us stupid? When Nicholas Carr posed that question in a celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the Net's bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? Now Carr expands his argument into the most compelling exploration of the Internet's intellectual and cultural consequences yet published. Weaving insights from philosophy, neuroscience, and history into a rich narrative, The Shallows explains how the Net is rerouting our neural pathways, replacing the subtle mind of the book reader with the distracted mind of the screen watcher." - Amazon.