{"product_id":"the-utility-of-boredom-9781926743691","title":"The Utility of Boredom","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSpitball essays on the off-kilter joys, sorrows and wonder of North America's national pastime.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA collection of essays for ardent seamheads and casual baseball fans alike, \u003cem\u003eThe Utility of Boredom\u003c\/em\u003e is a book about finding respite and comfort in the order, traditions, and rituals of baseball. From learning about America through ball-diamond visits to the most famous triple play that never happened on Canadian soil, Forbes invites us to witness the adult conversing with the O-Pee-Chee baseball cards of his youth. Tender, insightful, and with the slow heartbreak familiar to anyone who's cheered on a losing team, \u003cem\u003eThe Utility of Boredom\u003c\/em\u003e tells us a thing or two about the sport, and how a seemingly trivial game might help us make sense of our messy lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Baseball, like life, is getting flattened out these days, compressed to noisy highlight clips and shrill pontification. This book cures that flattening, reaching with grace and poetry past all the bludgeoning hot takes and arid statistical analyses to the kinds of absurd and beautiful details--a spectacular throw from deep right; a meandering spring training game; a foul grounder bounding up into the stands, right at you--that first made us all fall in love with the sport. If baseball, like heaven, is a mansion with many rooms, the essays in The Utility of Boredom are like a fat set of janitor's keys unlocking the wide open marvels of the game.\" -- Josh Wilker, \u003cem\u003eCardboard Gods\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eBenchwarmer: A Sports-Obsessed Memoir of Fatherhood\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Baseball is a welcome obsession of mine, a comfort. Reading \u003cem\u003eThe Utility of Boredom\u003c\/em\u003e by Andrew Forbes fed that obsession beautifully, warmly. It glows. He writes of baseball as sanctuary, baseball in both general terms and specifics--from the feeling of walking into a ballpark on a summer day to Vin Scully's perfect description of a cloud. He invites us to get on our tiptoes and peek over the fence, smell the grass, hear the crack of the bat. He respects the slow-glory of the game, he loves the game, he's really good at this, and I absolutely trust him with my baseball-heart.\" -- Leesa Cross-Smith, \u003cem\u003eEvery Kiss A War\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Invisible Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/02\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781926743691\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 128\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.80h x 5.00w x 0.40d","brand":"Andrew Forbes","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36670766186652,"sku":"9781926743691","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_2df97a4c-0cfd-495a-a84d-6b453a1f1208.jpg?v=1603923568","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-utility-of-boredom-9781926743691","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}