Just Three Minutes, Please: Thinking Out Loud on Public Radio - Softcover

Michael Blumenthal has had many professionslawyer, psychoanalyst, poet, professor, travel writer, novelistand somehow these different professional perspectives blend together perfectly in his latest incarnation as a commentator for NPR. He writes with prickly piquancy and gleeful eclecticism over a broad range of topicsbut is always, in the tradition of our best essayists, speaking from the baseline of his own humanity. Ross McElwee, Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University" Engaging, astute, and eloquent. Meenakshi Gigi Durham, author of"The Lolita Effect"and Professorand Collegiate Scholar at University of Iowa" "David Sedaris and Ira Glass have a brother from another mother, and his name is Michael Blumenthal. His soulful NPR essays are profound thought-clouds from one of America's finest poets." Dalton Delanis an Executive Producer of"In Performance at the White House"for PBS" The intellect of a scholar, the sensitivity of a poet, the objectivity of a professor of law: it hardly seems possible that so many virtues can be embodied in one book of short talks. C.K. Williams, American poet, critic and translator, and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry." "Michael Blumenthal has had many professions--lawyer, psychoanalyst, poet, professor, travel writer, novelist--and somehow these different professional perspectives blend together perfectly in his latest incarnation as a commentator for NPR. He writes with prickly piquancy and gleeful eclecticism over a broad range of topics--but is always, in the tradition of our best essayists, speaking from the baseline of his own humanity." Ross McElwee, Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University "Engaging, astute, and eloquent." Meenakshi Gigi Durham, author of "The Lolita Effect" and Professor and Collegiate Scholar at University of Iowa "The intellect of a scholar, the sensitivity of a poet, the objectivity of a professor of law: it hardly seems possible that so many virtues can be embodied in one book of short talks." C.K. Williams, American poet, critic and translator, and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

In these brief essays, Blumenthal provides unconventional insights into our contemporary political, educational, and social systems, challenging us to look beyond the headlines to the psychological and sociological realities that underlie our conventional thinking.