REVIEWS: 'Dear County Agent Guy,' by Jerry Nelson, and 'The Arm,' by Jeff Passan

By Jerry Nelson. (Workman, 207 pages, $14.95.)

I should have seen this coming, seen that Jerry Nelson's essays about farming weren't quite what they seemed. I'm a farmer's daughter, and familiar with the irresistible corniness that comes with telling stories about rural life — the "don'tcha knows" and the punchlines about winter temps rivaling Siberia — "and that was just in my bedroom."

Many of the essays in "Dear County Agent Guy" have been published in various farm magazines, no doubt offering a welcome levity amid reality. Well and good. Then Nelson, who farms in South Dakota, wrote about a cow that went lame. Its future became limited to, as he wrote, "working at McDonald's — and I don't mean as a cashier." So true. And so hard to accept.

The family tried nursing the cow back to health and succeeded, but it made her spoiled, which led to all sorts of mischief. I've lived that. Nelson nailed it. Then he wrote about farm dogs. And mean bulls. And the weirdness of getting a street address. Suddenly I was back on the farm. By the time I got to the essay called "Visiting," I was hooked by Nelson's honest observations of farming life.

There aren't any great truths here — and thank goodness. Sometimes, modest truths are all that's necessary.

KIM ODE, staff writer

By Jeff Passan. (Harper Collins, 357 pages, $26.99)

Want to feel like a baseball insider? Read "The Arm."

I approached it with modest expectations and was captivated by the wealth of information that author Jeff Passan presents, all entertainingly. It took him more than three years to research and write this book and he spent his time well. It's fascinating.

There is an epidemic of arm injuries in major league baseball and it has spread to players in their teens. Passan talks to everyone touched by the issue.

The stories of two major league pitchers who had their ulnar collateral ligaments (UCL) replaced in their throwing arms — aka Tommy John surgery — are weaved throughout this book. One had the surgery twice. But Passan also writes about Anthony Molina, whose fastball at age 15 was clocked at 91 miles per hour, and the pressures on him.

"The Arm" opens with a description of a Tommy John surgery through a surgeon's eyes. Passan later quotes Dr. Frank Jobe, who was hopeful before he performed the first UCL replacement operation in 1974, but was unsure it would work.

Passan even visits Japan, for its perspective on how pitchers should be developed.

He wanted to demystify Tommy John surgery with "The Arm." He does that for a problem that isn't going away.

Roman Augustoviz, sports copy editor