Nazis, Marijuana and Compulsives Make for Great Summer Reading

It’s puzzling why only Americans made the cut in Joshua Kendall’s study of obsessive traits in seven high achievers -- but who cares? The control freaks and workaholics profiled in “America’s Obsessives: The Compulsive Energy That Built Nation” (Grand Central Publishing), one of three books reviewed in the Summer 2013 issue of Bloomberg Pursuits, are so fascinatingly weird that carping seems almost criminal.

Baseball great Ted Williams legally changed his birthday to a postseason date so that celebrating wouldn’t interfere with his concentration at the plate. Henry J. Heinz, he of the 57 varieties, unspooled a tape measure wherever he went; the ear of the statue of Ramses II, Heinz could have told you after his tour of Egypt, measures 3.5 feet (107 centimeters) in length. Thomas Jefferson, Charles Lindbergh, Alfred Kinsey -- the biographical details change but not the point: If obsessiveness isn’t a prerequisite for genius, it sure doesn’t hurt.