“Hilarious. . . . It’s Cliff Notes for Scripture—screenplay by Plotz, story by God. . . . In the end, though, the book is made by the spirit of the writer.” — The New York Times Book Review
“Like the Bible itself, Good Book contains multitudes—it is by turns thought-provoking, funny, enlightening and moving.” — A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically 
“Plotz is a genius writer.” — Franklin Foer, author of How Soccer Explains the World 
A whip-smart, laugh-out-loud tour through the most important book in the world, a book most people have never read: the Bible.

Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible

Biographies & Memoirs

Plotz, David

Leaders & Notable People

Harper

At a time when wars are fought over scriptural interpretation, when the influence of religion on American politics has never been greater, when many Americans still believe in the Bibles literal truth, it has never been more important to get to know the Bible. Good Book is what happens when a regular guyan average Jobactually reads the book on which his religion, his culture, and his world are based. Along the way, he grapples with the most profound theological questions: How many commandments do we actually need? Does God prefer obedience or good deeds? And the most unexpected ones: Why are so many women in the Bible prostitutes? Why does God love bald men so much? Is Samson really that stupid?

Community & Culture

Harper-perennial

Harper Large Print

V/G to LIKE NEW CONDITION. 2005 Random House trade paperback, David Plotz (Good Book: Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible). It was the most radical human-breeding experiment in American history. The Repository for Germinal Choice-nicknamed "the Nobel Prize sperm bank"-opened to notorious fanfare in 1980, and for two decades women flocked to it from all over the country to choose a sperm donor from its roster of Nobel-laureate scientists, mathematical prodigies, successful businessmen, and star athletes. But the bank quietly closed its doors in 1999-its founder dead, its confidential records sealed, and the fate of its children and donors unknown. Crisscrossing the country and tracking down previously unknown family members, award-winning Slate columnist David Plotz unfolds the full and astonishing story of the Nobel Prize sperm bank and its founder's radical scheme to change our world. - Amazon

The Genius Factory, The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank

Science & Math

Evolution

Random House]

The Genius Factory T

HarperCollins Distribution Services

From the former editor of Slate and CEO of Atlas Obscura comes the unbelievable story of “the Nobel Prize sperm bank” and the children it produced—“a superb book about the quest for genius and, ultimately, family” (Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Talking to Strangers). NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS It was the most radical human-breeding experiment in American history. The Repository for Germinal Choice—nicknamed “the Nobel Prize sperm bank”—opened to notorious fanfare in 1980, and for two decades women flocked to it from all over the country to choose a sperm donor from its roster of Nobel-laureate scientists, mathematical prodigies, successful businessmen, and star athletes. But the bank quietly closed its doors in 1999—its founder dead, its confidential records sealed, and the fate of its children and donors unknown. Crisscrossing the country and tracking down previously unknown family members, award-winning Slate columnist David Plotz unfolds the full and astonishing story of the Nobel Prize sperm bank and its founder’s radical scheme to change our world. Praise for The Genius Factory “[David] Plotz’s wonderful history of the Nobel sperm bank is filled with wit, pathos and insight. . . . [He acts] as narrator, ethnographer, historian, social critic and even go-between, brokering reunions between children and their genitors.”—Chicago Tribune “Perfectly pitched—blithe, smart, skeptical, yet entranced by its subject.”—The New York Times “By turns personal, confounding, creepy, defiant of expectations and touching . . .The Genius Factory isn’t merely curious, it’s useful.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Tense, hilarious, and touching . . . wonderfully readable and eye-opening.”—The Wall Street Journal “Terrific . . . [a] lively account.”—The Washington Post Book World

The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank

Politics & Social Sciences

Anthropology

Random House Trade Paperbacks

THE GENIUS FACTORY is the story of the Nobel Prize sperm bank, one of the most radical experiments in human breeding ever. In 1980 millionaire inventor Robert Graham began recruiting Nobel prize-winners and other accomplished men as donors to his genius sperm bank, in the hope of breeding a cadre of brilliant scientists, politicians and leaders. The Nobel sperm bank fathered more than 200 children before it closed in 1999. THE GENIUS FACTORY tells the story of the bank, but it also tells the very remarkable stories of the bank's children and donors. It follows Tom, a fifteen-year-old boy, as he searches the country for his real biological dad, whom he knows only by his Nobel sperm bank codename: "Donor Coral". And it describes the extraordinary meetings between children and their lost fathers -- the first time in US history that anonymous sperm donors and their kids have met. Funny, riveting, and above all wonderfully humane, THE GENIUS FACTORY is at once a timeless and completely contemporary book about who we are and how we are made.

The Genius Factory: Unravelling the Mystery of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Pocket_Books

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Books by Plotz, David