Bruce Watson

"You Gotta Remember, Eels Are Weird"

They're slimy, snaky, ugly and repulsive, but once you acquire a taste for this much-maligned species, "slippery as an eel" becomes a compliment

February 1, 2000

It's More than Just a Game

Each time Army and Navy play football, as they will for the 100th time next month, the fiercest rivalry in sports is renewed

November 1999

Review of 'All You Need Is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s'

Review of 'All You Need Is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s'

September 1999

Science Makes a Better Lighthouse Lens

August 1999

Beyond the Blue: The Art of Maxfield Parrish

A master of make-believe, he enchanted millions with his own vision of paradise

July 1999

"Hello Boys! Become an Erector Master Engineer!"

With no "hanky-panky gimcracks," A. C. Gilbert's Erector sets taught boys more than just the nuts and bolts

May 1999

Concerto for Pencilina and Sewer Flute

Wacky instruments often resemble bad plumbing, but all are welcome in the eclectic light orchestra of experimental music

April 1, 1999

Racing to Round Up Readers

Whether they're browsing used titles in Larry McMurtry's Texas warehouse, or ordering on-line, book buyers are a hot commodity

March 1999

Review of 'Rocket Boys: A Memoir'

March 1999

"Lay It Up!"

Curling is chess on ice, with broomsticks

February 1999

Let's Get Dale to Play!

January 1, 1999

A Wizard's Scribe

Before the phonograph and lightbulb, the electric pen helped spell the future for Thomas Edison

August 1998

Hang 'em First, Try 'em Later

By Gobs! There was nothing judicious about Judge Roy Bean

May 31, 1998

Review of 'The Year the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968 in America'

Review of 'The Year the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968 in America'

June 1998

When I Was Your Age...

April 1998

Jack London Followed his Muse into the Wild

February 1998

This Is Not Your Father's Automobile

When Enzo Ferrari began his company 50 years ago, his cars were works of art. Today, they're collector's items

December 1997

Review of 'How Proust Can Change Your Life'

October 1997

"The Storyteller is the Soybean...the Audience is the Sun"

They need each other to make something good happen, and when they get together at festivals and workshops across the land, it usually does

March 1, 1997

If His Life Were a Short Story, Who'd Ever Believe It?

Being locked up for embezzlement freed him to write, launching William Sydney Porter on a brilliant but boozy career as O. Henry

January 1, 1997