B.J. Mendelson: Books Have Always Been Around Me

I’m an author, speaker, and comic book writer. I do the first two things to pay for the third thing since I self-fund all my comics.

I’m an ordained minister. If anyone reading this wants to get married in the State of New York, I am legally allowed to officiate your wedding and marry you.

I just finished reading Laughing@Advertising by Bob Hoffman. He has an interesting business model. Bob is basically an older, more successful, version of me. His books are self-published collections of his best essays. All of which you can find on his website, The Ad Contrarian. I love the speed and efficiency of that, as opposed to going through the old traditional publishing way.

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry was my favorite. I knew it was really long, and my grandmother was a slow reader. So every time she came over and wanted to put us to bed by reading a book, I’d try to get her to go with that one because it’d mean I can stay up longer.

Books have always been around me. Same with newspapers and magazines. My Dad used to come home with three different newspapers and leave Tom Clancy books all over the house. So I picked up reading at a very early age. Plus I had three older siblings who were really into comic books. So I was lucky in that I had their stuff to read as well.

I honestly don’t remember. Only because I tend to buy my books in bulk. For example, I just purchased eight books, all on the topic of Universal Basic Income, for the purposes of researching the topic for a potential book of my own. So I don’t usually just walk into the store and buy a single book. I buy way too many, and so it’s hard to remember what I picked up and when. Plus I’m always buying used books for like $4 on Amazon, so there’s always a new book arriving in the mail and it’s just chaos really.

Dead silence. I imagine the infinite, silent vacuum of space would be my ideal spot. Provided I had some kind. If there’s any sort of noise, I’m easily distracted. And once I break out of a rhythm, it’s a day before I can get back into another one.

I always liked How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It’s badly dated, but that’s part of the charm. Like it’s an artifact from the world before World War 2, and yet it’s still probably the best self-help book ever published.

I have a bunch of books from the late 1800s. One of them is on the assassination of President Mckinley. But the one with the funniest title is from the 1840s and it’s something like “Hymns for the Child Mind” and it’s just got this really condescending title implying it’s a songbook for idiots, and I crack up every time I think about it.

The best book? That’s really hard. I think Long Story Short by Margot Leitman was really good. It’s the perfect companion to the Dale Carnegie book, and I loved it so much I bought a print copy AND the audiobook. She’s a terrific storyteller, and it’s filled with useful advice for everyone.

I am the first student, and youngest individual, in the 200-year-history of the State University of New York at Potsdam to create and endow a scholarship, which is named for my grandfather who passed on my first day at Potsdam.

Definitely the Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier and Neil Gaiman which also doubles as coffee table art book.

All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and I’m not sure of a third. Probably something by Alan Watts.

All of the George Carlin books fall into this category. My writing and presentation style is heavily influenced by him. Note: I’m only referring to the books written by him, not the ones written about him. There are a few of those out there now, and while good, Brain Droppings and its sequels are the ones I’m referring to here.

There’s so much from around the world, and from authors of varying genders and ethnicities that I haven’t read, but absolutely should, and so anything by them, to me, is a must-read.

Story by Robert Mckee. I’ve read it before but I find I learn something new each time that I go back to it. So I’m excited to see what I learn next.