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Book Nook: Grand Eccentrics, by Mark Bernstein

Most of you are familiar with the expression "the third time's the charm." But what does that mean, exactly? Well, in the case of Mark Bernstein it means that I have interviewed him three different times for the same book and that on the third try we finally got things right. Actually, that isn't entirely true. Here's what happened: we got things right during the previous century when his book "Grand Eccentrics - Turning the Century: Dayton and the Inventing of America" was originally issued in 1996 and I interviewed him for the first time. My ancient cassette tape recording of that interview was recently digitized and you can find it in our Book Nook archive here.

The book was reissued recently and we took the Book Nook out on the road to record another interview with Mark at the beautiful new Dayton Metro Library downtown in a fabulous venue they have there called the Eichelberger Forum. We recorded the show before a live audience and we all had a lovely time.

Later when we got back to the radio station we realized that there were some issues with the recording of the show that day and despite our best efforts we were never able to air that interview. For those of us who were there we'll have special memories that we can treasure. But I felt bad for Mark and for our radio audience who were expecting to hear Mark's latest interview about some of the geniuses and innovators that had made our region a special place a century ago. Mark has some wonderful anecdotes about these men. They were Orville and Wilbur Wright, John H. Patterson, Charles Kettering, Arthur Morgan, and James Cox.

Mark came out to our studio in Yellow Springs to record yet another interview about the book. I have interviewed some authors twice for the same book; once for the hardcover and again for the paperback release. That meant I really liked those books. But I had never interviewed an author three times for the same book. Until now. Here it is. The third time truly was the charm!

The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library,  Clark County Public LibraryDayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.

Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994. Over the years he has produced more than 1500 interviews with writers, musicians, poets, politicians, and celebrities. Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them. Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News Sun.