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mountainprairie wrote:For anyone who's interested in the American West, I highly recommend All the Wild that Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West by David Gessner. It's informative, funny, and insightful. One of my favorite books of the last few years.
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I really want to read The Emerald Mile; it looks fascinating. I just finished reading Ed Viesturs' and David Roberts' The Mountain... they do a pretty neat job of condensing the history of the big mountains they've covered in their various books.
"The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need – if only we had the eyes to see." -Ed Abbey
"I get scared sometimes—lots of times—but it's not bad. You know? I feel close to myself. When I'm out there at night, I feel close to my own body, I can feel my blood moving, my skin and my fingernails, everything, it's like I'm full of electricity and I'm glowing in the dark—I'm on fire almost—I'm burning away into nothing—but it doesn't matter because I know exactly who I am." from The Things They Carried
I started reading Tom Wood's new book Trading Steel for Stone: Tales of a Rustbelt Refugee Turned Rocky Mountain Rescuer on my way home from Peru. Very good so far - had me laughing out loud a few times on the plane. Tom is a local guy from Evergreen who is a member of Alpine Rescue Team. Check it out.
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." --- Nasreddin
Just read If I Die in a Combat Zone, by Tim O'Brien. He was drafted in '68 and sent to Nam as a foot soldier. An ordinary grunt. It's a very realistic and in places, painful read. The senseless deaths and loss of limbs to mines, and so forth. It makes you realize just how stupid war is, at least the Vietnam war.
Then I picked up O'Brian's fictional book, The Things They Carried. While it is based on his experiences, it's a novel, and soon you can tell he's just making things up. Which is why I can't read fiction. I turned the book back in to the library after a few chapters.
Currently I'm reading The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich. It's an oral history of Russians who lived through the fall of the USSR and its aftermath, up to 2015. Very good read so far. One thing is consistent -- few Russians liked Gorbachev, and fewer now. He's blamed for the demise of a secure way of life, and the fall of a great nation.
"The Elephant Whisperer" by Lawrence Anthony. Beautiful book based on conservation in South Africa and the challenge of living with a pissed off, distrustful herd of elephants after their matriarch was killed by humans. Many other African animals discussed and many and various interesting stories. Don't let the "Whisperer" part of the title turn you off (as it's been over-used in other popular culture).
"The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough. Great story, inspiring characters.
"The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. Parallels stories of Daniel Burnham/Dr.HH Holmes during 1893 Chicago World Fair. Good but not great. Two intriguing but unrelated stories.
I like Erik Larson's stuff too. I thought Devil, Isaac's Storm, and Thunderstruck were all great. For some reason, I didn't like In the Garden of Beasts nearly as much, but just finished Dead Wake: Last Crossing of the Lusitania and found it very interesting.
Sam Keith. One Man's Wilderness -- an Alaskan Odyssey
This is the fascinating true account of an Iowan, Richard Proenneke who at age 50, took off for Alaska and built his own cabin in the wilderness. It is based on his journal and photographs. It was also made into a PBS feature documentary, Alone in the Wilderness.
MtnHub wrote:Sam Keith. One Man's Wilderness -- an Alaskan Odyssey
This is the fascinating true account of an Iowan, Richard Proenneke who at age 50, took off for Alaska and built his own cabin in the wilderness. It is based on his journal and photographs. It was also made into a PBS feature documentary, Alone in the Wilderness.
That sounds good! Did you ever get a hold of No More Dragons?
