Bunch of Amateurs

February 13, 2012
Award-winning This American Life contributor and journalist Hitt (Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim’s Route into Spain) writes a love letter to American culture in his latest. Focusing on amateurs (self-trained experts and famous dropouts), Hitt ties the proliferation of self-made success stories to something intrinsically American. From ornithology to astronomy, Hitt chronicles figures whose success stories are often sugarcoated to make them seem less bizarre, and often less interesting, than they are in the author’s capable hands. A chapter on a “kitchen biologist” ’s attempts to integrate a glow-in-the-dark gene into bacteria to cultivate yogurt (“glo-gurt”) makes the science understandable, the days of tests a collage of comical trial and error catastrophes, and the possibility for world-changing breakthroughs almost tangible. Most interesting are the contemporary examples, including how a Web site used amateur astrologers to assist in cataloguing images of space, or how corporations and even the government often pull their pool of employees from hobbyists and basement tinkerers. As fascinating as it is inspiring, this hilarious book is a tour de force that celebrates troublemakers, risk takers, and the American spirit. Agent: David McCormick, McCormick & Williams.

February 15, 2012
A guide through the sometimes-consequential, sometimes-zany realm of amateurs. Veteran journalist Hitt (Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain, 2005, etc.) posits that various brands of amateurism conceived in the interest of advancing knowledge offer meaningful insights into a uniquely American character. The narrative thread holds together nicely through chapters focusing on the legendary amateurism of Benjamin Franklin, birdwatchers seeking the ivory-billed woodpecker, inventors of various gadgets, genealogists, archaeologists, astronomers and linguists. Hitt wisely concedes that other nations harbor amateurs, as well, but he maintains that American amateurs are notable for their comfort with exploration and with rebelling against authority. Elsewhere in the world, where socioeconomic status is often hardwired at birth, the word "amateur" suggests class warfare. In the United States, the word often carries a hint of adventure. Searching for lasting answers, Hitt studies business theory, providing a serious explanation that outsiders are often not hidebound by the curse of knowledge. In other words, when it comes to reconceiving a workplace, an industry, a charitable endeavor or some other institution, perhaps ignorance sometimes can be considered bliss. Knowing almost nothing about something can become the catalyst driving breakthrough discoveries. When talented amateurs receive positive recognition for their accomplishments, such as the "genius grants" provided annually by the MacArthur Foundation, the white heat of innovation might be kindled further. Hitt inserts himself into the narrative as he meets with living amateurs and discovers newly released material about deceased amateurs. The first-person approach is usually effective because it generates passion about the possibilities of the intellect. A quirky approach to a fresh way of looking at the human animal.

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May 15, 2012
As the popularity of shows like American Idol attests, Americans love amateurs. Hitt, award-winning author and contributor to the New York Times Magazine and public radio's This American Life, offers a fabulous tribute to amateurs. He offers behind-the-scenes portraits of Arkansas ornithologists on the trail of the rare ivory-billed woodpecker; amateur biologists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in their secret meeting place, a homemade genetics lab near Harvard, on the trail of recombinant DNA; a rogue archaeologist in Pennsylvania tracing the earliest Americans not to Native Americans descended from Asians but to Caucasians; and a space enthusiast in rural Oregon on the brink of developing the next generation of telescopes. Interspersed throughout is historical context for America's obsession with inventors and innovators, from Benjamin Franklin to Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg, and their contributions to American commerce and culture. This is a totally absorbing gallery of oddballs and obsessives on the brink of possibly great discoveries, written by a man with a deep appreciation for amateurs and their pursuits.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)