Odds & Ends: September 25, 2026

Salesman. My latest Criterion watch was this 1969 documentary, which follows four door-to-door salesmen from the Mid-American Bible Company as they work Catholic parishes around Boston and then down in Florida, trying to move a $49.95 (that’s $500 in 2026 dollars — expensive!) illustrated Bible to working-class families. It’s a peek into a world that no longer exists, and an interesting look at the intersection of religion and business in America. My favorite scenes are the sales meetings, where the men get pumped up by their manager and the company’s “theological consultant” (that was his real job title) about how they’re on “the Father’s business” before heading back out to knock on doors. The desperation of Paul Brennan, the old-timer who can’t get sales anymore, reminded me of Jack Lemmon’s character in Glengarry Glen Ross. I actually enjoyed this flick more than that one. Definitely less f-bombs.

Ode to a master mechanic by Matthew Crawford. I really enjoy the writing of former AoM podcast guest Matthew Crawford on craftsmanship and the importance of encountering the material world to get outside our heads. His latest essay on Substack is about Ken Jansen, a machinist in Belmont, CA, who builds engines for Volkswagen drag racers. This ode to Jansen is really about the idea that for stuff to work, you need people around who know things. And by knowing, Crawford means people who’ve got a lifetime of embodied knowledge. They know things in their bones. It’s the kind of tacit knowledge you can’t fully explain nor learn from a Google search or from AI.  This kind of practical knowledge only gets passed down in person, from one guy to the next, in shops with no storefront. Ken learned from a German mechanic who trained at the VW factory after the war, and Crawford has been learning from Ken. Crawford’s worry is that as these guys retire and die off, nobody’s stepping in to replace them, which means a future world where fewer things work. 

The Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck. I picked up this 1932 Steinbeck book after reading that Brandon Flowers said the concept for The Killers’ album Pressure Machine (a set of songs about Nephi, his small hometown in Utah) was partly inspired by it. The Pastures of Heaven contains a series of self-contained yet interconnected stories all set in the same California valley. My favorite is about a farmer named Shark Wicks who’s poor but convinces the whole town he’s wealthy by talking up an imaginary stock portfolio, which he tracks in a ledger like it’s real. The illusion eventually comes crashing down in humiliating fashion. Steinbeck’s writing here is simple and plain, yet very evocative. Really enjoyed this one. 

New Balance 574. I needed a new pair of everyday sneakers and went back to the NB 574. Can’t beat it. It’s the classic ’90s dad shoe (New Balance designed it as a trail runner in 1988), and the gray colorway goes with about everything I own. What’s funny is that the 574 has also become my 15-year-old son’s standard shoe, so there are now two identical pairs strewn around the house. The way I tell which pair is his and which is mine is that his are bigger. The kid has gotten taller than me.

On our Dying Breed newsletter, we published Sunday Firesides: A Place for Everything, and EVERYTHING In Its Place and Why Nothing Succeeds Like Success.

Quote of the Week

Monotony is the awful reward of the careful.

—A.G. Buckham