Read the INK Q&A with Howard Blum and save 30% on American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century.
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Read the INK Q&A with Howard Blum and save 30% on American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century.
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Mentalfloss1 has commented on (5) products.
Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith
Mentalfloss1, July 28, 2008
This is the life story of Ivy Rowe, a woman of Appalachia, and the story of those around her, and it's told entirely in the form of letters written and received. We can see right away that Ivy is intelligent, empathetic and uneducated then over the years we see her learning more and more, both from life and from the letters she writes and receives.I very much enjoy Lee Smith, and to me this is her best book.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Mentalfloss1, July 4, 2008
I'll admit that my west coast bias prevented me from reading Bill Bryson. His book, A Walk in the Woods, about his walk of the Appalachian Trail was the issue. As a person who likes to be above timberline, in dry air, the idea of walking a trail through dense forests in sticky humidity doesn't excite me and I don't want to read about it.
Then I read Bryson's memoir, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and enjoyed it. So I thought I'd give A Short History of Nearly Everything a read. I'm glad I did. The book is fun to read, interesting, informative, and will be one of the books that I'll keep rather than trading in at Powell's. I'd recommend it to anyone remotely interested in any of the sciences and to those who need some background to inform conversations with friends.
Bryson did a huge amount of research in order to write this, including visits with many of the scientists prominent in their fields. He brings it all together with clear prose and good humor. Give it a try. I might even pick up a used copy of A Walk in the Woods.
The Outlander by Gil Adamson
Mentalfloss1, July 3, 2008
Remarkable as a first novel. If Adamson writes something better it'll receive 5 stars from me.
The writing is atmospheric and beautiful and the story is compelling. Set in the vastness of central Canada at the turn of the 1900's the geography takes a central role in this tale of the adventure of young Mary Boulton evading two men who are tracking her across this wilderness.
The situations are brutal, tender, harsh and serene by turns. It's the sort of book that causes me to want to read it quickly to learn what happens next while the writing has me savoring the phrases and descriptions, envisioning what Mary Boulton saw and felt on her odyssey.
(4 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
The Thing about Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead Signed 1st Edition by David Shields
Mentalfloss1, January 31, 2008
I can't actually rate this one as I haven't read it. However, in it's most basic sense it sounds a lot like Alan Watts' "Wisdom of Insecurity" which takes on the same theme. Ultimately we are insecure, accept it, move on, and enjoy the moment.(3 of 16 readers found this comment helpful)
House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest by Craig Childs
Mentalfloss1, November 27, 2007
What happened to the Anasazi? The response I've almost always heard to that question is, "nobody knows". That remains true, but Craig Childs explores the possibilities, makes some links across space and time, and paints an attractive theory of what it meant to be Anasazi and where this may have led the Anasazi by the time the Conquistadors landed in North America.I'm a fan of true adventure books, be they about mountain climbing, explorations or just a person pushing themselves hard in the outdoors. In this book Childs describes some amazing and dangerous challenges that he presented to himself. Such as, crossing untracked SW deserts in August, alone. Exploring high desert canyons in the dead of winter. Discovering a missing step while descending a sandstone cliff in Utah but having little choice but to take the risk. He tells his story through the eyes of an anthropoligist, a dreamer, an adventurer, and through the views of others he meets along the way.
If you love the red rock country, the Anasazi, and want some new perspectives this book is highly recommended.
(3 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)