Michael Dirda

For years, I meant to read 'Arabian Sands', Wilfred Thesiger's account of two punishing camel journeys during the late 1940s across Southern…

— Michael Dirda

“The patient accretion of knowledge, the focusing of all one's energies on some problem in history or science, the dogged pursuit of…

— Michael Dirda

“As a teenager, I virtually memorized my paperback editions, greedy for insider tips about the literary life. Pound, Eliot, Hemingway, Faulkner, Colette,…

— Michael Dirda

Adventurous reading allows one to escape a little from the provincialities of one's home culture and the blinders of one's narrow self.

— Michael Dirda

The savagery and power of Edith Wharton's ghost stories surprised me.

— Michael Dirda

On any given day, I'm likely to be working at home, hunched over this keyboard, typing Great Thoughts and Beautiful Sentences -…

— Michael Dirda

While Napoleon believed his fortunes to be governed by destiny, his real genius lay in self-control and martial daring coupled with an…

— Michael Dirda

I am shocked that we seemed to have learned nothing, absolutely nothing, from Vietnam.

— Michael Dirda

“I like first editions, though I’ll sometimes settle for a later printing if it’s within a year or two of the book’s…

— Michael Dirda

Young people looking for adventure fiction now generally turn to fantasy, but for those of a certain age, the spy thriller has…

— Michael Dirda

What I enjoy about reviewing and writing for newspapers and periodicals is simply the chance to talk about all kinds of books…

— Michael Dirda

Like most people, I find watching the lazy and quiet underwater realm of a big aquarium exceptionally calming.

— Michael Dirda

I am something of an aficionado of thrift stores. In my youth, I regularly searched their shelves for old books.

— Michael Dirda

“While I love most, not to say all, of James Thurber’s cartoons, there are a handful that seem especially”

— Michael Dirda

Sad to say, multi-tasking is beyond me. I read one book at a time all the way through. If I'm reviewing the…

— Michael Dirda

In PLATO AT THE GOOGLEPLEX, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein set out to showcase, in sometimes startling ways, the continuing relevance of a classic…

— Michael Dirda

Carl Barks was born in Merrill, Oregon, in 1901, grew up in a farming family, and eventually held a number of blue-collar…

— Michael Dirda

Long ago, I realized that my only talent - aside from the rugged good looks, of course, and the strange power I…

— Michael Dirda

For those of us with an inward turn of mind, which is another name for melancholy introspection, the beginning of a new…

— Michael Dirda

The world is a library of strange and wonderful books, and sometimes we just need to go prowling through the stacks.

— Michael Dirda

People who've read my reviews know my tastes, know how I approach a book, know my background. I can write with believable…

— Michael Dirda

Late summer is perfect for classic mysteries - think of Raymond Chandler's hot Santa Anas and Agatha Christie's Mediterranean resorts - while…

— Michael Dirda

At any given moment, I've always assumed that nearly everyone around me was smarter than I was, more naturally gifted, quicker-witted, and…

— Michael Dirda

Нe [Kurt Vonnegut] felt that life was largely a crap shoot and that we simply need to muddle on as best we…

— Michael Dirda

With any luck, Heaven itself will resemble a vast used bookstore, with a really good cafe in one corner, serving dark beer…

— Michael Dirda