Fail Better

Description

Taking seriously the idea that baseball is a study in failurea very successful batter manages a base hit in just three of every ten attemptsMark Kingwell argues that there is no better tutor of human failures enduring significance than this strange, crooked game of base, where geometry becomes poetry.Weaving elements of memoir, philosophical reflection, sports writing, and humour,Fail Betteris an intellectual love letter to baseball by one of North Americas most engaging philosophers. Kingwell illustrates complex concepts like theoretically infinite game-space, time out of time, and the rules of civility with accessible examples drawn from the game, its history, and his own halting efforts to hit em where they aint. Beyond a Beckett meets baseball study in failure, Kingwell crafts a thoughtful appreciation of why sports matter, and how they change our vision of the world.Never pretentious, always entertaining,Fail Betteris set to be the homerun non-fiction title of the season.PRAISE FOR MARK KINGWELLFail Better is a ballpark ramble of memoir, lore and nostalgia. Its north star is baseballs time-out-of-timelessness, its leisurely Zen gaps between actions.New York TimesIn this collection of previously published pieces and new essays, pitchers and catchers mingle with musicians and philosophers, and Kingwell mixes his thoughts about baseball with numerous other topics, including colonialism, justice, and The Simpsons.Publishers WeeklyMark Kingwell has written a delightful book about baseball that combines metaphysics, personal memoir and anecdotes, literary references, and a limitless appreciation for a pastime that has brightened his life [His] insights ring true.New York Journal of BooksKingwell is dauntingly well-read a gifted notice a lively writer [who] citesThe Simpsonsas often as Immanuel Kant. [Readers] are rewarded with neat, unexpected insights.The Globe & MailPhilosophy, literature, politics Mark Kingwell always finds a way to combine any of these with pop-cultural commentary. This time out its baseball that gets the Kingwell treatmentChapter titles like Beauty, Score, Pebble(?!) give you a sense of its range, but while philosophy figures prominently here, any baseball fan will feel the love.Now MagazineReadingFail Betteris not unlike the satisfying experience of watching a lazy baseball game on a summer afternoon. Lounging in the bleachers with friends, you easily and happily spend a few hours shooting the shit, oneupping each other with stats or trivia, occasionally stumbling on actual insights, and enjoying it all the while. In this sense, Kingwell makes for an excellent companion. As with the famously unhurried game of baseball, you sit back, settle in wait patiently for an outbreak of beauty and wonder, and are reliably rewarded.Literary Review of CanadaIn his usual chatty and discursive voice, Kingwell incorporates his lifelong love of the game with notions of contingencythoughts on how to live a beautiful life within the context of his own inabilities on the diamond.MacleansThe book works by accumulation and digression. It meanders through a series of ruminations prompted by baseball lore and Kingwells own personal reminiscences to draw out some serious philosophical distinctions that apply not only to baseball, but to everyday life.Winnipeg Free PressFail Betteris baseball considered personally, historically, poetically, formally, legally, critically, politically, linguistically, ethically, geographically, metaphysically, nostalgically, morally and aesthetically. Like the game itself, its fascinating all the way through. Stephen MarcheFor those of us who believe baseball matters, Kingwells attempt to explain why is worthwhile reading.The Gazette[Kingwell] has grown into a pretty clever jack-of-almost-everythingNational Post