Once again, Sarah Vowell delivers the rare combination of definitive research and ironic insights, and I am impatient for her next piece.

Having read and enjoyed Ms. Vowell's most recent tome, The Wordy Shipmates I can only say reading Radio On was, well, excruciating. Many years ago when public radio, meaning mostly college radio, was actually amusing there was a show called, I think, Mr. Science. The lead went something to the affect of "You know he's right because he has a MASTERS DEGREE in Science." Just change "Science" to "Art History." I can only conclude that in 1996 St Martin's Press was dredging the streets looking for writers, or they would not have published these pissy ramblings of a recently graduated college student. Apparently, according to little Sarah, who like most folks on Public Radio, never had a real job, the highest form of art is Curt Kobain and his strung out girlfriend Courtney Love. Oh, please, give us a break. I know, it was so hard being a teen in the 1990s. That is why they did heroin and made crappy music. To quote ol' Curt--"Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with with your self esteem." What insight! This makes Jim Morrison's line--"The blue bus is calling us" sound like a work of genius. I just gave up on page 146. My head hurt, I could not take any more. The author comes off as a typical NPR elitist, laughing at all us idiots, whose tax dollars go toward funding their little quaint hobby, known as public radio. Oh yeah, she does try and convince the reader she is one of us, by harkening back to her roots in Oklahoma and making reference to life at Sun records. Yes, this book is that rambling. We are given such little time on this earth, please don't waste a second of it reading this book. To quote the great CREAM lyricist, Pete Brown, "Some may come and some may go, but the Art School dance goes on forever." Well that certainly applies to little Sarah.

Once upon a time, radio was a sound salvation. It played all the time, in the kitchen, in the bedroom, on the pool deck, in the car. The tinny pop chug-a-lug wired the air around it with bright-minded echoes of retro romance and fakey fun, filling up the empty blue space that envelops all suburbia with the simplest of all possible remedies for boredom: a beat. - Gina Arnold, Route 666

Sarah Vowell's first book, Radio On is a diary of sorts that documents her experiment - listening to the radio every day for a full year. To some, this may sound easy, but she doesn't simply listen, she engulfs it, understands it, and somehow becomes the radio. Listening to everything from the top ten hits to obscure Native American chants on AM stations, she documents every song and every commercial listened to. An interesting anthropological study of her, if nothing else.

The book was written in 1995, a year after Kurt Cobain passed away and that's what sets the the book on the first page. Being a long time fan of the band Nirvana, Vowell discusses how the band didn't just play music, they influenced it, along with a generation of followers. Throughout the book she touches on other musicians she likes (Courtney Love, Smashing Pumpkins) and abhors (Alanis Morissette, Hootie and the Blowfish). She addresses the idea of selling out and how most bands are completely overplayed, leaving the radio full of repetition and nothing new.

As stated, she doesn't just listen to music. Disliking the famous Rush Limbaugh, she frequently tunes into his program to see what he's ranting about. It's an interesting social commentary, listening to her opinions of him, juxtaposed by her vision of Clinton and the time, a president who she didn't always agree with, but ultimately supported. Along the way, she tuned into NPR frequently, namechecking greats such as David Sedaris and Ira Glass (individuals who she later in her life became friends with and works with currently on the program This American Life).

What was most interesting to me wasn't just her analysis of the radio (which she, ultimately, gets sick of half way through, yet trudges through like any good writer would), but how the book is very dated. Taking place in 1995, she addresses radio and CDs as the only medium of music. In one scene, during an early recording of This American Life, she notes a new, unfamiliar piece of equipment, a minidisc. Ultimately, I'd love to know what Vowell thinks of the radio today. Although, mostly, it hasn't changed, we still have Rush, we still have repetitive top ten hits, but it's not nearly as influential as it was back then. In days of Sirius radio where you can listen to whatever you want whenever you want, ordinary channels seem out of date. And regarding politics, I wonder what she thinks of the situation nowadays, or what she thinks of Mrs. Clinton running (and subsequently losing) for the democratic candidate.

As a long time Vowell fan, I will admit this was my least favorite of her few, however I did enjoy it. It was an interesting journey through the world of this medium, something that, admittedly, I rarely listen to. If nothing else, it inspired me. Inspired me to put down the itunes and ipod and turn on the radio for at least right now. Who knows what I'll find on it.

Here's the long and short of it: Sarah Vowell is a whiney bore, a genius of the obvious who makes it very easy for folks to make fun of the entire NPR culture.

I have read all four of Sarah Vowell's books. I believe that is all of them. I thoroughly enjoyed three of them and would strongly recommend them. With for Radio On, her first book, she seems to be in a different place. Radio On is a diary of Sarah listening to the radio. Although the concept is interesting, the result is a lot of very short entries in which there is little opportunity to develop anything. But the real reason I didn't like Radio On is because of Sarah's perspective at that time. She is a very critical person in this book. Nirvana is the greatest band ever, and The Grateful Dead is worthless. Whether it is music, politics, or a variety of other topics, you get the clear impression that her opinion is right and any others are wrong. Radio On is a very mean and negative view of life and our world. The worst case scenario, though, is someone reads Radio On first and doesn't read Sarah Vowell's other books. That would be huge mistake.