When he’s not toiling at his day job with the school district, Santa Barbara native Brian Tanguay writes a blog, “Shouts from the Balcony,” which he describes as “the harmless ravings of an unarmed American.” A voracious reader, Tanguay also reviews books for The Indy, tackling myriad subjects — from theoretical physics to the civil war in the Congo to literati Henry Miller to humorist Gary Shteyngart. Of reviewing books, Tanguay said, “The hardest thing is condensing hundreds of pages into 500 words or fewer.” Fortunately for us, he does that with aplomb.