Randy's Previously Read List

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Certainly not a complete list. Here's some of what I've read in previous years with short reviews on the most recent.

November 3, 2002
FINDERS KEEPERS, by Mark Bowden. An amazing true story of how a Philadelphia man found and failed to keep 1.2 million dollars, but failed to return it as well. Reaffirms my lack of faith in humanity. 209 pages.

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October 10, 2002
MOUNT WASHINGTON: A GUIDE AND SHORT HISTORY, by Peter Randall. I suppose this would have been a good book to read BEFORE I climbed Mt. Washington. Then again, as it describes the adventures, misadventures, and development of the Rock Pile, I was more familiar with details referred to than I might have been before. Either way an entertaining read. 170 pages.

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September 20, 2002
THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, by Simon Winchester. If a geologist's life is tough, perhaps the precedent was set by William Smith, the father of the science. He was first to understand the implication of various strata of rock and map them clear across England. A canal digger by trade, he had difficulty with the academics of his time, finances, and a wife going mad. An amazing story well told. 330 pages.

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June 6, 2002
BEING DEAD, by Jim Crace. My favorite Crace to date and in fact, the one I first heard about, but had a hard time finding. A great lesson in nature's beauty even as she reclaims her progeny. Two naturalists are murdered in the start of this book, which follows their decay through the rest of their book and the meaning of their life through flashbacks to the "everending days of being dead". 196 pages.

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January 29, 2002
CONTINENT, by Jim Crace. An interesting mix of stories describing an imaginary continent or very different places there. In some ways like Calvino. Good writing, fascinating writing, but little if any plot at times. 139 pages.

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January 28, 2002
A YEAR IN THE MAINE WOODS, by Bernd Heinrich. Much in the style of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, an eclectic study of the ecology and meaning of the Maine woods. Heinrich throws in some Maine locals and his personal life for a quirky look at seasonal changes in people as well as the planet. 258 pages.

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August 9, 2001
THE PHILOSOPHER'S DIET, by Richard Watson. An interesting and entertaining look at how to lose weight and save the world. With chapters titled "Roughage", "Sex", and "How to Die", what more need I say? 110 pages.

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August 8, 2001
BIG TROUBLE, by Dave Barry. Yes, THAT Dave Barry, the humor columnist has written a fun little easy read filled with the humor (of course) and the international intrigue of life in Florida (many more reasons to move to Maine... as if I needed any). It's a novel, an actual novel, as the cover promises, not Dave's usual stuff for sure, but written with his usual sense of the absurd. 317 pages.

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June 15, 2001
HEMINGWAY'S CHAIR, by Michael Palin. Yes, the Monte Python guy. A very enjoyable story with subtle humor and much drama. Martin, a mild mannered postal employee grows into his hero, Ernest Hemingway's shoes to defend the traditional British Post Office and then himself. 280 pages.

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June 7, 2001
LIVING ON THE WIND, by Scott Weidensaul. Not a quick, but another enjoyable voyage to some amazing places with birds... and Scott. He presents an empassioned, but not emotionally based argument for protecting habitat while recognizing the complexity of ecosystems. 420 pages.

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May 12, 2001
FINDING DARWIN'S GOD, by Kenneth Miller. An interesting defense of science over creationism. 338 pages.

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May 4, 2001
A LANGUAGE OLDER THAN WORDS, by Derrick Jensen. Wow, I couldn't put this down. With personal illustrations and headlines ripped from recent news, this book shows how our destructive culture is devouring itself. Amazing and engrossing, it provides no simple answers, but does provide a deep and meaningful encouragement. 400 pages.

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March 29, 2001
AFTER DACHAU, by Daniel Quinn. With moments of great suspense, Daniel unravels a tale told in a paragraph or two in Ishmael that challenges our sense of time and history. 232 pages.

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January 11, 2001
ACADIA, by Jim Crace. An interesting story of a rich man who rose from poverty through a trader's market and those who are touched by his plans to replace it with a huge glass-enclosed shopping mall. 311 pages.

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January 2, 2001
THE TURNING POINT, by Frank Van Der Linden. A fascinating account of the election of 1800 seen less from the candidates, Jefferson and Burr, perspectives than from that of a young printer who is enamored of Jefferson and his betrothed from a family of the opposite party. Fascinating reading that brings history to life especially in the wake of the 2000 election. 370 pages.

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