Reading Wednesday at Barnes & Noble in Greenwich Village from his book “Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat” (Newmarket Press), author Edward McPherson began by describing the time he sat in an auditorium in Muskegon, Mich., taking notes while watching “a woman rip the lining out of an expensive fur felt fedora and dunk it into a bucket of water.” He and about 40 others were learning how to make a porkpie hat at a convention devoted to Keaton (1895-1966), the athletic actor, director, writer, and comedian with deadpan expression whose silent film achievements rank alongside those of Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin.

Mr. McPherson praised Keaton as the silent comedian who seemed most modern. “I think Chaplin is terribly sentimental,” with weepy close-ups, he said. Keaton’s gags were more streamlined and brusque, combining calamitous spectacles with “underplayed detail.”

The book describes Keaton’s early years, his friendship with Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, and highlights his productive period through the feverish 1920s, when “film was a new art and society was in a terrible hurry to become something else. So houses fall, cars careen out of control, locomotives plunge into rivers – everything is on the verge of collapse or collision – and Keaton is there shooting it all.”

Keaton’s penchant for filming catastrophes included a 35-foot train plunging into a river in “The General.” There was just one take with a dummy behind the engine. Afterward, a spectator sees a papier-mache head bobbing along downstream.

The book charts Keaton’s decline into drinking and his eventual return to film and television. “He really saw it all,” Mr. McPherson said. Keaton grew up in vaudeville and lived to appear in Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello’s beach-blanket movies, a Beckett film, game shows like “Truth or Consequences,” and even a “Twilight Zone” episode. While working on the film “Limelight,” Chaplin marveled at how fit Keaton appeared. When Keaton attributed it to television work, “Chaplin was horrified. He thought TV was beneath him.”

One woman in the back of the audience thought the author was being too critical of Chaplin. Mr. McPherson responded that Chaplin “did think very highly of himself.”

Mr. McPherson’s book captures Keaton’s innovative energy and technical mastery. In “The General,” Keaton became skilled at driving a steam engine: “That an actor might have to become an accomplished engineer in order to fill a role seems amazing, impractical, severe, and utterly Keaton.”

Asked about Keaton’s influence today, Mr. McPherson said it could be seen in many works, from “The Purple Rose of Cairo” and Scorsese’s boxing scenes in “Raging Bull” to the action filled movies of Jackie Chan, who said he learned more from Buster Keaton than from Bruce Lee. “Good gags never die,” Mr. McPherson said.

Mr. McPherson will discuss Keaton in Brooklyn at Book Court on June 13 and at a special Brooklyn Academy of Music screening July 27.

***

SMOKLER’S SELECTIONS Bloggers, authors, and others came out Tuesday to Galapagos in Williamsburg for a reading and celebration of San Francisco author Kevin Smokler’s “Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times” (Basic Books), an anthology of young writers in the age of information overload.

At the event, Mr. Smokler described the main theme of the book: that reading in America is still alive and flourishing. It’s just evolving as people are getting information in new ways: “Living a literary life in the morning of the 21st century is more fun than anything else I’ve ever done,” he said.

New York contributors to the anthology read. Stephanie Elizondo Griest described growing up in south Texas and balancing the two halves of her Mexican-American heritage. When she was young, she identified more with the “white” part of herself, but as she grew up she became introduced to the world of Latino literature. She gave a real-life postscript, telling the audience she has moved to Mexico.

Benjamin Nugent read a humorous essay on the writing life and economic realities of jobs and paychecks. Robert Lanham, author of “The Hipster Handbook” and editor offreewilliamsburg.com, read a parody of the ironic style of writing on the Web site for the literary journal McSweeney’s. The narrator tells (replete with footnotes) how to become a writer for Mc-Sweeney’s and, if one achieves this, how to deny it.

Mediabistro.com’s editor in chief, Elizabeth Spiers, read about Andrew Krucoff and his decision to turn his blog into a print publication – on resume paper, no less. Mr. Krucoff had also considered a password-protected blog accessible only by personal recommendation. Among those in the audience were the assistant managing editor at CJRDaily.org, Bryan Keefer; Lindsay Robertson of Lindsayism.com; and Village Voice sex columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel.

An aim of Mr. Smokler’s anthology is to highlight young talent. This was achieved physically when raffle winners were selected from a large bowl containing people’s business cards and slips of paper. “People love to get to free stuff,” said Lauren Cerand, who helped publicize the event. In between readings, books were raffled, including one Italian and two English editions of Mr. Nugent’s book “Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing” (Da Capo), a few copies of Mr. Lanham’s book “Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees and Other Creatures Unique to the Republic” (Plume), and two copies of “Book mark Now.” Ms. Griest did not have books to raffle, since hers are in storage as she moves to Mexico.

Mr. Smokler’s book can be accessed through its Web site, BookmarkNow.net. As a book marketing consultant, he encourages authors to have their own book Web sites. He is also creator of the “Virtual Book Tour,” which connects authors to Web sites and blogs. This has helped affect sales and Amazon.com rankings. But for those dissatisfied with meeting an author in cyberspace, Mr. Smokler is scheduled to appear at Barnes & Noble Astor Place July 20.