Daniel Gross

Is it time yet to start pulling together books about last week’s catastrophe on Wall Street? Publishers are uneasy about making plans too soon, but the city’s finest financial journalists—and their literary agents—are eager to get moving.

“There are probably two dozen writers in search of a book, but if you don’t have an idea, you have to wait and watch and see how it unfolds,” said Tim Duggan, VP and executive editor at Harper who specializes in nonfiction. “Maybe there will be a story there in a couple months’ time, when the picture is clearer, but right now the financial climate has been changing dramatically every 24 hours, if not more, so what it will look like in three months’ time could be very, very different.  read more »

Pop! focuses on what happens after economic bubbles burst. And so upbeat is the author about the silver lining to economic disaster that it’s hard to resist crossing your fingers and hoping that the next bubble bursts while you’re still around to enjoy it.  read more »

The Eater: Daniel Gross The Bet: "John Snow will have a replacement, and he may very well come from the corporate world. But if it's an A-list Wall Street CEO, I'll buy a copy of Dow 36,000 and eat the first chapter." The Meal: Paper soaked in balsamic vinaigrette The Video: Daniel Gross Eats a Book, Slate, June 9, 2006. The Eater: Tucker Carlson The Bet: "Carlson, the conservative half of the political talk show, had repeatedly claimed on air that [Hillary Rodham] Clinton's book would never sell that many copies, vowing to eat his shoes if it did." The Meal: Shoe-shaped chocolate cake The Video: Hillary Clinton has sweet revenge, CNN.com, July 9, 2003. The Eater: Werner Herzog The Bet: "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe is a short documentary film directed by Les Blank in 1980 which depicts director Werner Herzog living up to his promise that he would eat his shoe if Errol Morris ever completed the film Gates of Heaven." [via] The Meal: Shoe boiled with vegetables The Video:Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, 1980.

A reader clips and forwards:

It's ironic that much of the expanded coverage of both the Times (Thursday Styles, House & Home, Real Estate) and the Journal (the Friday weekend section, the Saturday edition) is dedicated to the sort of high-end consumption that reporters can't really afford. As a result, there's a nose-pressed-to-the-glass quality to much of the coverage. --Daniel Gross, Slate, Dec. 19

I tried on a shearling coat in chocolate suede. Again, it was so unlike the shearling coat I owned that it does not even belong in the same category. There were no bulky pockets; the inside was cut so that I didn't look like a sack of potatoes. It was my birthday. I bought it. (It was $5,000, and all I can say is that I'm glad I spent the last year paying off my credit cards.) --Alex Kuczynski, New York Times Thursday Styles, Dec. 15

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