I am reading a galley proof of Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun by Paul M. Barrett as we speak.

I must say that the book reminds me of one of the long-form articles in the Atlantic or the New Yorker — the book covers everything, and I am only through to something like 30% through.

I have read from the inception of Glock all the way through to where Glocks took over being the go-to gun on Law & Order. This is really a reporter’s book but Mr. Barrett cannot hide the awe he feels for the audacity of Karl Walter (chutzpah, actually) as the salesman as well as the generosity of Gaston Glock, primarily because the Glock 17 only cost $100 to make and so profits were upwards of 66% on every pistol.

It is fascinating, it is awesome — I never knew any of this, really, though I am sure you all do, anyway. All that I know about concrete I learned in high school from a long form article in the New Yorker, so sometimes there are books that just go soup-to-nuts. Then again, I am only 30% through so I will reserve a proper review until I am done.

Oh, that said, this book does not read like reading the Encyclopædia Britannica — there’s a narrative and a level of the author writing the book and synthesizing and analyzing what he’s learned and so he does tell a story.

Related articles

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MAKE caught my eye with these smart and fun cat 5 RJ-45  plug and socket wall-mounted key-chains and mounts, via Lifehacker

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As you may well know, I have been hiding out in Portland, Oregon. If you have seen Portlandia, you know that you cannot go anywhere in the PDX if you’re not festooned with birds on things. I commissioned Dave Stoops the crack bag-making team over at Black Star Bags to make me a large courier bag with a bird on it in reflective 3M tape.

Yes, I feel your envy boring into me. Well, you can get a Black Star messenger bag — or any sort of black star bag or back star anything — with a bird on it, just like I have done.

I have been remiss. I had intended to write about Free Hollow Books because they made one of the best selection of hollowed-out books for the private, sneaky, secretive, connoisseur in all of us.

This particular book, A History of Russia and the Soviet Union, is gorgeous, bold, bespoke, and is so dull to all but my most bookish friends.

It also fits a Glock 23 pistol perfectly. And the Glock 19, too. And the Glock 32, I believe. Yes, hollow books that are double-secret gun cases! Basically, it’ll fit most variants of the Glock compact pistol along with a couple spare magazines.

After taking to the trails and taking up biking as part of my health kick, and putting on 72.2 mi this month so far, I thought I would actively adore the Surly Steamroller single speed bike that I have been putting my mileage on:

For all of you who know Mad Men, you know Don Draper. Well, it is time for all of you nerdy wusses who don’t know how to man up.  Forget “cowboy up” — cowboys wear high heels, blouses, tight jeans, and their pretty hats indoors.  Learn how to adman-up thanks to this flow chart from The Oatmeal on what Don Draper might do when confronted with a problem, via kottke.org:

Everyone knows that prissy men with wire-rimmed specs, long blond hair, and pony tails are innately douchy douches.

Funny cartoon that could be either completely self-aware or a little naive via PvP Online.

Cute promotion for the new Leica V-Lux 20 12.1 MP snappy via Creative Criminals; however, what makes cameras obsolete is not size or quality or price, it has to do with functionality: where’s the phone?

It’s the phone, stupid!  It’s the inability to live-tweet, live-share, live blog, and live-Facebook that makes us always choose the 5-8MP smart phone over the 10-14MP digital camera, stupid!

I would be happy to buy a camera with a phone (I payed over $700 for the Nokia n95 because of its early 5MP camera with its Karl Zeiss lens — but it was a phone, too)

I thought I would update the situation with the article I wrote about the coolest leather messenger bags.

Well, the fellow that created them got in touch with me because his friend saw my previous posts praising his work. His name is Jesse Heirendt and his company, JD Leatherworks, is making me a bespoke handmade bridle leather courier bag that is being tooled and cut and sewn for me right now.

I will write about it when I receive it, though I am told by Jesse that the bag is almost completely white and totally stiff and brand-spanking new when I receive it and that I should avoid all tendencies to oil, dye, stain, age, or do anything outside of using it constantly.

That it takes about a year of constant use to turn it from the lighter (brand new) bag you see on this post and the darker, weathered, aged one — Jesse’s personal daily bag.

My bag will be something special, however, because Jesse agreed to make the bag a bit bigger in every dimension, so my bag will be shaped and designed and outfitted exactly like Jesse’s personal bag but it’ll be larger at 16″ wide by 13″ tall by 6″ deep, larger than the bag I fell in love, which I requested because I want to be able to make sure that I can use this bag as an “out all day” bag that can carry more than just a briefcase or some-such.

I have always been quite a fan of the United States Postal Service mail bag, be it the original all-leather satchel or the newer bag with a leather-strapped and blue canvas bag.

It is amazing to think about how simple — simplistic, minimal — the action of the Glock line of handguns is.

They’re all almost exactly the same, the entire range, all starting with the Glock 17 service pistol through the 1st generation all the way through the current Gen 4. Above is my .40 S&W compact version of the Glock, known as the Glock 23.

It is broken down completely — or as far as anyone really ever needs to outside of a deep servicing that needs to be done by a gunsmith — though I am told one never needs to do it at all.

And, to be honest, some people swear that a Glock pistol really never needs to ever be cleaned at all, short of running a bore snake through it periodically.

One would expect something as fearsome, dangerous, and reliable as the Glock would be a lot more complex and a lot more expensive.

Not only are they absolutely reliable, they’re also dirty cheap — at least $200 less than anything else.