TUESDAY
Book Launch: Rich Cohen’s The Sun and the Moon and the Rolling Stones
May 10 at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street
Rich Cohen seems to have his mind plugged into the tempos of the past–a co-creator of HBO’s Vinyl and a Vanity Fair contributor, his new book reconsiders the history and impact of one of the greatest bands to ever shake up the music scene. His telling of the ups and downs of the Rolling Stones benefits from his close relationship with the band since the 1990s. The story charts their course from their beginnings in 1961 to their golden run through the 70s, drawing readers into the defining moments that left a lasting imprint on music and our culture. No, the Rolling Stones themselves won’t be on hand at the launch–but luckily there will be music in the form of the dance band argonaut&wasp.
WEDNESDAY
Tom Vanderbilt’s You May Also Like
May 11 at 7 p.m. at BookCourt, 163 Court Street.
Ever wonder what magic Facebook employs to curate your feed or how Netflix calibrates your tastes? Tom Vanderbilt takes a deep dive into the science of modern personal preference in his new book, You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice. Using psychology, marketing and neuroscience research, he picks apart the science underlying the endless proliferations of “thumbs ups” and “likes” on the internet. Trying to untangle many of the cultural cues we take for granted –whether in the realm of food, art, music or fashion– he learns how tastes are shaped in the digital age, and what it says about our culture. Ben Ratliff, the jazz and pop critic for the New York Times, will join him.
THURSDAY
Simon Hanselmann’s Megg and Mogg in Amsterdam
May 12 at 7 p.m. at The Strand, 828 Broadway
Simon Hanselmann’s bleakly hilarious comics, with characters that look like Saturday morning cartoons gone awry, are a staple at Vice. His new book takes the regular motley crew of weirdos to Amsterdam. Megg (a witch) and Mogg (her cat partner) want to recharge their relationship–but things (duh) don’t go as planned. As usual, the pair and their friends will float through a world of bizarre sexual desires, feelings of hopelessness, and lack of ambition, only to swallow it all down with a healthy cocktail of drug use. Fellow cartoonist Katie Skelly will join.
Joint Book Launch: Aracelis Girmay presents The Black Maria Patrick Rosal presents Brooklyn Antediluvian
May 12 at 8 p.m. at Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street
This double-whammy book launch celebrates new collections from two celebrated Brooklyn poets. Aracelis Girmay’s The Black Maria (named for the moon’s dark plains, once thought to be seascapes) takes the Eritrean refugee crisis and diaspora as an entry point to investigate African diasporic histories and the imprint of racism within American culture, digging at questions of human identity. Brooklyn Antediluvian, from Patrick Rosal, also examines race and American culture, including the push and pull of deepening racial divisions and the possibilities and limitations of multi-racial histories.