Posts by Brian Baer

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Welcome to the second week of July's Reader's Den. In keeping with this year's theme of Superheroes, we're taking on a different approach: seeing a 'hero' from multiple perspectives.

On the heels of the Fourth of July, we will be discussing Karen Abbott's book Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy.

Hello and welcome to the wrap up of Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It by David M. Ewalt. I hope you enjoy or are enjoying the book as much as I have. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to write below. For August the book is The Circle by David Eggers.

Welcome back to the Reader's Den for part three of Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It by David M. Ewalt. In Part two we discussed the chapters on Roleplaying. In this post we discuss the history of Dungeons & Dragons itself.

Of Dice and Men is essentially a history of Dungeons and Dragons, but it also seeks to explain gaming to the non-gamer or the curious.

In Of Dice and Men, David Ewalt recounts the development of Dungeons & Dragons from its roots in the games of the Ancient World and 19th Century Europe, through its many incarnations and editions and the hysteria that came with it, to its current incarnation in video games.

Welcome back to Week 4 of the Reader's Den for the book Watchmen. I hope that this book will make a comic book lover out of anyone who reads it or at least makes them appreciate the graphic novel for the literary form that it is. For August, the book is the Slaves of New York by

Welcome back to Part 3 of the Reader’s Den for the book Watchmen. Here are a few questions you may have thought about while reading this book. If you think of something I haven’t, please post a comment.

What can a graphic novel (or this graphic novel) do better than a traditional novel? What are its limitations? What do you think about the way Moore sandwiches traditional text and the comic book form? 

Welcome back to Part 2 of July’s Reader’s Den: we're reading Watchmen by Alan Moore. I had always heard about the graphic novel, but it wasn’t until the movie came out that I wanted to read it to see if it would be any different from the film. While the two 

Welcome to the Reader’s Den in July! For this month our selection will be the Graphic Novel, Watchmen, written by Alan Moore. 

This book was written in the late '80s, but its story still resonates today and helped to create the modern comic book industry with its graphic realism and focus on modern issues.

The main 

Welcome back to Week 4 of the Reader’s Den for the book Ready Player One. I would like to thank our NYPL readers for waiting for this last installment of the October Readers Den due to Hurricane Sandy and hope that everyone enjoyed this book as much as I did. For November, the book will be the Night Circus by Erin 

Welcome back to Week 3 of the Reader’s Den for the book Ready Player One. Here are a few questions you may have thought about while reading this book. If you think of something I haven’t, please post a comment. See you next week for the wrap-up of this book.

Do you feel the world of Ready Player One is one that could come to pass or has the author taken license with what’s currently going on 

If you haven't heard of Ernest Cline, you may have seen his 2009 movie Fanboys. Fanboys is about four Star Wars-obsessed friends who travel cross-country with their dying friend to sneak into Skywalker Ranch to see the movie Episode I: Phantom Menace before its official release. If you liked that movie you will love this book about '80s pop culture, but even if you haven't (see it! It's cute) you will still love this 

Welcome to October’s Reader's Den! This month’s selection will be Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place of economic and environmental disasters. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling 

I would like to thank all the followers and fans of the Reader’s Den. I hope you have enjoyed 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement just as much as I have. If you are interested in learning more about the people and cultures of the Lower East Side, the following NYPL resources can help you begin your search:

Welcome back to week three of December’s Reader’s Den. As I was reading 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement certain questions came to mind. While these may get you started they are by no means the only ones:

Are you surprised at how well the immigrants of the book ate and the wide variety of food available to them? What gastronomical, historical 

Welcome back to the second week of December’s Reader’s Den. For many Americans, New Yorkers included, the first images of the Lower East Side are that of the Late Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century. Many of these images of poverty, clotheslines, and pushcarts come from movies, television, literature, or family histories. In her book 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York 

Welcome to the December edition of the Reader’s Den! For the month of December, we will read 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman.

The main premise of the book centers on a tenement building located on 97 Orchard Street, which is located on Manhattan's