The Other Joe D'Agnese

Once upon a time another Joe D’Agnese sold commercial stationery in New York and environs. I have no idea who he was, or if he was a distant relation.

The above ad and announcement come from two different stationery trade publications dated 1915 to 1917. I will only note that Mr. D’Agnese’s place of employment, 75 Spring Street in New York City, is a block away from my former place of employment on Broadway in SoHo. I worked in that neighborhood for Scholastic Inc. for nearly eight years. Maybe I passed his ghost on the street?

He sold blank books. I tend to fill ‘em.

Pre-Order: Big Weed

I ghosted a business memoir this year that is already up for pre-order on Amazon, BN, iBookstore, and Kobo. Among other things, it’s story of a Colorado businessman who dreams of building a state-of-the-art tourist destination in the foothills of the Rockies devoted to the glory of (legal) marijuana—and makes that dream come true. He shares the story of how he got into this burgeoning field, his company’s ups and downs, and insights that can be applied to almost any other business.

I’ve written about a half dozen books for business guys, in their voices, but Mr. Hageseth is the first to permit me to share a byline with him. You can see the gorgeous plans of his upcoming “weedery”—which I’d describe as being like a brewery, winery, meadery, or cidery, only with marijuana—at this website. The $25 million-dollar facility is currently under construction.

Palgrave/Macmillan pubs the book April 20, 2015, a date that has special significance for cannabis lovers. What’s my special contribution to this project? Sneaking into the text this H.P. Lovecraft reference.

Please note: If you would prefer to pre-order through an independent bookstore, please hold off buying. I should have info about signed indie pre-orders soon. In any case, keep a receipt of your purchase. There is likely to be some type of intoxicating giveaway looming in the future.

I'm 50!

I’m 50!

I don’t know how this happened, but apparently I’ve aged. As I peer into the future (see above), I imagine it will be more of the same, but geez—fifty? I celebrated by having an early morning physical at the doctor’s office, where I was treated to, um, encroachments far more invasive than the mere passage of time.

Nobels, Scientists, and a New Paperback—Yay!

It’s Nobel Prize season. I spotted this article on Slate the other day that listed potential women candidates for the Nobel Prize in Physics. (No woman has won that award in fifty years, and surprise—one did not win on Tuesday.)

One of the women cited in the article is the American astronomer, Vera Rubin, now aged 86, who is known for her work on dark matter and galaxy rotation.

Ages ago, I interviewed Dr. Rubin briefly for an article I was doing on the three scientists—Gamow, Alpher, Herman—who worked on the Big Bang theory (the actual scientific theory, not, ahem, the TV show). Many in the community felt that they had been slighted because, although the trio won numerous awards in their lives, they never won the Nobel. An award was actually later given to the radio astronomers who confirmed the Big Bang.

The story I wrote was really about how one scientist in particular dealt with that snub and perceived others throughout his career. I’ll never forget my talk with Dr. Rubin because she was willing to speak frankly about something scientists rarely discuss: emotions. From the text:

Alpher and Herman’s story raises interesting issues about the personal side of science. Yes, all human beings have feelings. Yes, every person is allowed to reach their boiling point. Scientists just happen to belong to a profession where you are not allowed to show it.

“It was a horrible injustice but I don’t know what you do in such a circumstance,” says Vera Rubin, a friend to both the Alpher and Herman families, and an astronomer who received the National Medal of Science in 1993. “It would have been nice if they had had happier lives. They could have known that they did something very valuable, and they could have been happy with this. I think perhaps injustices are in the eye of the beholder, unfortunately.” And then she says, “There’s no doubt that they could have been and should have been treated nicer by the [Nobel] committee. They really do have a legitimate complaint, but they could have responded a little differently… They had not gotten the recognition they deserved, but if their personalities had been different, they could have been happy with the knowledge of this great thing they had figured out. And they perhaps could have even been treated better by the committee if they had not just been so obviously angry.”

You’ll find that article and others in my nonfiction book, The Scientist and the Sociopath, which is finally out this week in paperback.