Sept author events @ Booksmith

SEPTEMBER AUTHOR EVENTS AT THE BOOKSMITH

Author events are free and are sponsored by The Booksmith (1644 Haight
St. in San Francisco). For further information, call 415-863-8688 or
visit www.booksmith.com

VINCENT LAM
reading & booksigning for Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
Tuesday, September 18 at 7 pm

Margaret Atwood, upon introducing Vincent Lam at the Giller Prize
ceremony, said "Direct in style, unsparing though compassionate in
observation, subtle in emotion, and occasionally gruesome in humor,
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures follows four medical students from
widely different backgrounds as their stories intertwine, as their
illusions shatter, and as the meanings of many lives expand around
them." Don't miss this author reading.

Dr. Vincent Lam studied medicine in Toronto and is an emergency
physician at Toronto East General Hospital. He is from the expatriate
Chinese community of Vietnam, and his first novel, a multigenerational
family saga set in Saigon during the Vietnam War, will be published in
2008.
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STEVE ALMOND
reading & booksigning for (Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and
Obsessions
Wednesday, September 19 at 7 pm

How does Steve Almond get himself into so much trouble? Could it be
his incessant moralizing? His generally poor posture? The fact that he
was raised by a pack of wolves? Frankly, we haven't got a clue. What
we do know is that Almond has a knack for converting his dustups into
essays that are both funny and furious. The result is (Not that You
Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions - a book you will feel foolish
for not having read.

Steve Almond is the author of the story collections My Life in Heavy
Metal and The Evil B.B. Chow, the nonfiction book Candyfreak, and the
novel Which Brings Me to You, co-written with Julianna Baggott. He
lives outside Boston, and a few years back sent the Booksmith a big
box of regional candy from around the United States. Find out more
about the author at www.stevenalmond.com.
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JACK KEROUAC CELEBRATION ***
panel discussion & booksigning
Saturday, September 22 at 7 pm

In September of 1957, Viking published On the Road. Fifty years later,
the world celebrates the legacy of Jack Kerouac with a panel
discussion composed of John Leland, author of the just released Why
Kerouac Matters (hardcover, $23.95); Joyce Johnson, Kerouac's one-time
companion and the author of the National Book Critic's Circle Award
winning Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir (softcover, $15.00); Michael
McClure, the acclaimed Beat poet and longtime Booksmith customer who
was fictionalized in Kerouac's novels; Barry Gifford, acclaimed
novelist, screenwriter and co-author of Jack's Book: An Oral Biography
Of Jack Kerouac (softcover, $15.95); and local writer Suzanne Kleid,
who will be reading from the just released City Light's publication
You'll Be Okay: My Life With Jack Kerouac (softcover, $15.95), by Edie
Kerouac-Parker.

This special San Francisco celebration will take place at the All
Saints Church (1350 Waller) in the San Francisc's Haight Ashbury
neighborhood. For further information, call 415-863-8688. This special
event is sponsored by The Booksmith, City Lights, and Viking Penguin.

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DANIEL PINCHBECK
talk & booksigning for 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl
Monday, September 24 at 7 pm

"Daniel Pinchbeck's 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl is a dazzling
kaleidoscopic journey through the quixotic hinterlands of
consciousness, crop circles, and ancient prophecy, as well as an
intriguing and deeply personal odyssey of transformation. 2012
presents a compelling and complex teleological argument, weaving
together the twilit realms of the human imagination and the harsh
realities of accelerated global catastrophe. Its conclusions are
surprisingly robust, original, and thankfully optimistic." - Sting

Daniel Pinchbeck is the author of Breaking Open the Head: A
Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. He has
also written for The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Wired, The
Village Voice, LA Weekly, ArtForum and many other publications.

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GRAHAM HANCOCK
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Supernatural: Meetings With the
Ancient Teachers of Mankind
Wednesday, September 26 at 7 pm

Less than fifty thousand years ago mankind had no art, no religion, no
sophisticated symbolism, no innovative thinking. Then, in a dramatic
and electrifying change described by scientists as "the greatest
riddle in human history," all the skills and qualities that we value
most highly appeared fully formed. In Supernatural, Graham Hancock
sets out to investigate this mysterious "before-and-after moment" and
to discover the truth about the influences that gave birth to the
modern human mind.

Graham Hancock's books have sold more than 5,000,000 copies and have
been translated into 27 languages. He is the author of the
international bestsellers The Sign and The Seal, Fingerprints of the
Gods, and Heaven's Mirror. His TV appearances and lectures have put
his ideas before audiences numbering in the tens of millions.
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STEPHEN MURDOCH
talk & booksigning for IQ: A Smart History of a Failed Idea
Thursday, September 27 at 7 pm

IQ scores have the power to determine the chance we have in life: the
people we meet, the schools we attend, the jobs we get, the lives we
live. Very few of us, however, understand what IQ tests and ratings
really mean. In his fascinating and provocative book, IQ: A Smart
History of a Failed Idea, journalist Stephen Murdoch explains the
turbulent history and controversial current uses of intelligence
testing.

Stephen Murdoch is a freelance journalist who has written for the
Washington Post, Boston Globe, Newsweek, The Christian Science Monitor
and many other publications. Before becoming a writer, Murdoch was a
human rights lawyer in Cambodia and practiced civil litigation in
Washington.