Amazon.com
The Wandering Hill, the second volume in Larry McMurtry's The Berrybender Narratives, retains the humor of the first installment, Sin Killer, while establishing a more meditative mood. Picking up where Sin Killer left off, The Wandering Hill finds noble English family the Berrybenders waiting out the oncoming winter at a high plains trading post, delaying their hunting expedition through the frontier-era American west. Tight confines force the spirited, bickering Berrybenders to contend with one another, as well as an assortment of colorful attendants and raw trappers. Conflict has arisen between fiery and very pregnant heroine Tasmin and her stoical, evangelical mountain man husband Jim Snow, a.k.a. Sin Killer. Selfish, randy patriarch Lord Berrybender, having lost a leg, seven toes, and three fingers thus far on their journey (though not his "favorite appendage"), is slowly losing his sanity. Malicious youngest child Mary begins an odd pseudo-sexual friendship with naturalist Piet Van Wely, while "foppish" heir Bobbety's no less ambiguous relationship with priest Father Geoffrin inspires his father to accidentally stick his son in the eye with a fork. In between many such self-inflicted disasters, three children are born, fierce native tribes attack, a man is sewn into a buffalo carcass, and many lives are lost, often in the presence of a strange, mobile hill whose legendary appearance signals impending doom. McMurtry, meanwhile, continues the momentum he built with Sin Killer, offering graceful storytelling, wonderfully dimensional realism, and deadpan wit. The wintry Wandering Hill, however, diverges from Sin Killer's madcap activity to further consider the inner lives of many of its splendid characters. McMurtry will have his fans clamoring for an answer, though delighting in his wandering path toward a resolution. --Ross Doll
Book Description
In The Wandering Hill, Larry McMurtry continues the story of Tasmin Berrybender and her eccentric family in the still unexplored Wild West of the 1830s. Their journey is one of exploration, beset by difficulties, tragedies, the desertion of trusted servants, and the increasing hardships of day-to-day survival in a land where nothing can be taken for granted. By now, Tasmin is married to the elusive young mountain man Jim Snow (the "Sin Killer").
On his part, Jim is about to discover that in taking the outspoken, tough-minded, stubbornly practical young aristocratic woman into his teepee he has bitten off more than he can chew. Still, theirs is a great love affair and dominates this volume of Larry McMurtry's The Berrybender Narratives, in which Tasmin gradually takes center stage as her father loses his strength and powers of concentration, and her family goes to pieces stranded in the hostile wilderness.
The Wandering Hill (which refers to a powerful and threatening legend in local Indian folklore) is at once literature on a grand scale and riveting entertainment by a master storyteller.
Customer Reviews:
The Wandering Attention.......2007-06-04
"The Wandering Hill" is the 30th book by Larry McMurtry that I have read. His best work was his early books through "Lonesome Dove". Since his heart attack, he seems to have lost his ability to write about "normal" people, preferring, instead, a cast of zany characters with a token normal person or two. I have not cared for this outrageous personnel and keep reading his latest books out of some sort of sense of loyalty. I was disappointed with the cast of the Berrybender's first novel, "Sin Killer", but read "The Wandering Hill" because it takes place a few miles from my home. Indeed, the visiting nobility (Berrybenders aside) are familiar names to local historians but their activities in the book don't match those of local lore.
I was getting frustrated with these crazy, obnoxious folks when it occurred to me that McMurtry is resurrecting the old Western "Dime Novel". The basic outline is there; use famous names to get the reader's attention but make up everything else. The Dime Novel idea that the more outlandish the story the better also fits right into McMurtry's style of late. What I can't figure out is whether or not Larry McMurtry is doing this on purpose (as some sort of tribute to that "genre") or has his talent evaporated to this level.
The essential problem with McMurtry, of late, is that his works lack depth. The "action" in these recent Westerns seem like what you'd get if Sergio Leone was directing the Keystone Cops. McMurtry's strength, for me, was always the relationships his characters had with one another. We were generally glad to meet up with the same characters in future novels. We start to get some of that quality of work in "The Wandering Hill" in the last 50-60 pages but it wasn't enough. Since they've left my neck of the woods, I don't care to meet up with the Berrybenders again.
The Wandering Hill.......2007-01-23
Hard to put down once you start reading. Another first class novel by Larry McMurtry - my favorite author
More unpleasant prairie shenanigans!.......2006-09-12
Larry McMurtry has written some stunning books, particularly in the western genre. This is not one of them. His unmistakeable style was present but he seems to be trying to parody himself--unsucessfully. I read the first book and didn't like it much, and only read this one in a pinch. At times the sections were boring and I ended up skimming over several pages.
For me I need to find a character to like. Since the characters in this series are mostly vain, self-satisfied and brutish it was impossible to find anyone admirable or likeable. So therefore the rather thin plot of a group of people on a hunt through the American wilderness did not engage me. A disappointment!
Awesome finish.......2006-08-24
Throughout most of this book it seemed like a four star effort, not quite up to the hilarious standard set by Sin Killer, the first in this series. The Wandering Hill is not hilarious. It's a good action story with interesting and very unusual characters.
The final chapter of the book is what earns that final fifth star. It is an awesome scene involving Pomp Charboneau, Tasmin Berrybender, and Pomp's deceased mother Sacagawea. I could see it in a movie, bringing tears to everyone's eyes, including Tasmin's.
There is a sort of humor in death. Larry McMurtry kills his characters off more than just occasionally, and those he doesn't kill he will often maim. One of the oddest scenes I've ever read involves Lord Berrybender, his son Bobbetty, and a fork in the father's hand. Poor Bobbetty really gets it in this story, harmless and silly though the teenager is. He seems like a nice enough kid to me, completely unsuited to the wild, but having lots of fun, come what may.
Tasmin is still the star of the book, as she was in Sin Killer. She's amazing.
I'm really glad I discovered this series. Sin Killer just showed up in a drawer. I don't know who bought it or how it got there. It had been sitting there for a long time, maybe years.
Hilarious, Moving, Wonderful.......2006-07-11
I had not read the first in McMurtry's Berrybender Narratives, so this book came as a complete surprise, and I have to say that it stands alone as a Western masterpiece. I don't even know where to begin to adequately describe his colorful characters, both Indian and European, and the way the tale simply bubbles along like one of the streams in the story.
In a nutshell, the book begins with a very pregnant Tasmin and her "bad boy" taciturn mountain man husband in an uneasy situation. She talks to much, he doesn't talk at all. And here he is in the middle of the very voluble Berrybenders, from the old Lord who is now missing a leg, several fingers and heaven knows what else (but thankfully not, as he says, his "favorite appendage"), to the extremely foppish and whiney Bobbety (the son), to over-the-top younger sister Mary.
And then there is Cook, who stands ready to provide double duty as midwife; and the laundress Millicent, who has caught more than Lord Berrybender's eye.
There are tragedies and the stark reality of frontier life is certainly not glossed over, but the humor and just blank good humor of the book is entertaining in the extreme. I'm looking forward to catching up with the entire series.
Book Description
Hans Breuer, Austria’s only wandering shepherd, is also a Yiddish folksinger. He walks the Alps, shepherd’s stick in hand, singing lullabies to his 625 sheep. Sometimes he even gives concerts in historically anti-Semitic towns, showing slides of the flock as he belts out Yiddish ditties.
When New York-based writer Sam Apple hears about this one-of-a-kind eccentric, he flies overseas and signs on as a shepherd’s apprentice. For thoroughly urban, slightly neurotic Sam, stumbling along in borrowed boots and burdened with a lot more baggage than his backpack, the task is far from a walk in Central Park. Demonstrating no immediate natural talent for shepherding, he tries to earn the respect of Breuer’s sheep, while keeping a safe distance from the shepherd’s fierce herding dogs.
As this strange and hilarious adventure unfolds, the unlikely duo of Sam and Hans meander through a paradise of woods and high meadows toward awkward encounters with Austrians of many stripes. Apple is determined to find out if there are really as many anti-Semites in Austria as he fears and to understand how Hans, who grew up fighting the lingering Nazism in Vienna, became a wandering shepherd. What Apple discovers turns out to be far more fascinating than he had imagined.
With this odd and wonderful book, Sam Apple joins the august tradition of Tony Horwitz and Bill Bryson. Schlepping Through the Alps is as funny as it is moving.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Not For Jews Only.......2007-09-23
To paraphrase comic Jeff Foxworthy, if you find this engaging travelogue entirely humorless... you might be an Anti-Semite. (Reading it might be a good self-test.) Although Jewishness and Anti-Jewishness are portrayed throughout, Mr. Apple's writing is so genuine and fluid that anyone with an appreciation for English will enjoy its exceptional quality. While comparisons have been made to Woody Allen, author Sam Apple might better be described as the Hunter S. Thompson of Generation X. Perhaps "Rolling Stone" would do well to engage him to cover the upcoming Presidential election--and those uncomfortable with Jewishness (Jews and non-Jews alike)--would find it less frightening to enjoy a bright new literary light. Meanwhile, try this one: reading through it is no schlep.
A Tale spiced up with enough lively and sometimes humorous commentary that will unquestionably keep readers turning the pages........2006-10-01
Sam Apple, author of Schlepping Through The Alps: My Search For Austria's Jewish Past With Its Last Wandering Shepherd, first encounters Yiddish folk-singer Hans Breuer at a concert and slide show in New York. Breuer, as Apple points out, is not just your ordinary run-of-the mill Yiddish folk-singer, rather he is truly a wandering Jew and as he reveals in his book, "If you ever happen to be hiking the Alps and you see a man singing Yiddish songs as he watches a dog chasing a sheep in a raincoat, no need for concern."
Apple, who grew up in Houston and now makes his home in Brooklyn, was quite intrigued by this forty-five year old Austrian shepherd. The result was a one thousand word article that eventually has being turned into a witty yet insightful book, wherein much of Apple's research was accumulated while traveling in Austria as an apprentice to Breuer.
During their first encounter in New York, Breuer mentioned to Apple that he wanted to bring Yiddish to the uninitiated in the Austrian Alps. When asked if he wanted these individuals to remember their Yiddish neighbors, his reply was: "I want to make them confront for the first time in their lives this culture that their uncles and fathers destroyed." With this in mind Apple decided to voyage to Austria and find out for himself what it was like to be a shepherd in the twenty-first century and to make sense of Han's Jewish identity or as he states, what it really meant for him to sing in Yiddish. He also wanted to learn about sheep, Yiddish music and anti-Semitism.
Apple's engaging narrative is what Yiddish speaking readers would probably classify as a good "meinsa," something akin to an old wife's tale only this story is actually true. Apple beckons us to follow his meandering through the Alps following a herd of sheep, a shepherd, his mistress and young lamb herders, while picking up along the way various shepherding tips from his mentor and learning about Austria's past and present political landscape.
During the course of his apprentice with Breuer, Apple learns about Austria's post-war anti-Nazi legislation that led to the sentencing to death of several Nazis and the conviction and incarceration of thousands of low-ranking Nazis. However, a few years after the enactment of this legislation, a general amnesty came into effect and all but a handful of the worst offenders were free to live happily every after. In fact, the government's constant line about complaints about Austria's behavior during the Holocaust was that if you have one take it to Germany.
Quite telling of Breuer's psyche is that he associates the Austrian countryside with fascism and anti-Semitism. When he encounters people along his shepherding path, he believes that they are all staring at him with cold eyes, aware that he is not one of them. Apple notes that Breuer enjoys being a living part of a dying tradition, where Yiddish and shepherding are relics of another time- nonetheless he takes great pride in both. Moreover, he is not quite sure how much of his own romanticizing of wandering and Jewishness has drawn him to Breuer. However, what he observes about Breuer's shepherding is "the rejection of modern society in the aftermath of the Holocaust. In his Yiddish songs I inevitably listened for the millions of missing Yiddish voices that should have been singing along."
Apple does an excellent job of capturing the flavor of the Austrian Alps with its little villages and inhabitants who seem to either have collective amnesia pertaining to their past or consider themselves blameless. Although he never does find as many anti-Semites as he originally feared, Apple does provide his readers with some serious insights, spiced up with enough lively and sometimes humorous commentary that will unquestionably keep readers turning the pages all the way to the end.
Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures
Spot-on social observations from an adolescent personality.......2006-04-26
"Schlepping Through the Alps" opens a fascinating window for Americans into the little-discussed world of Austria's internal politics. Unfortunately, the view is clouded by Sam Apple's insistence on foisting descriptions on the reader of his neuroses, his sexual adventures with a "hip" Austrian woman, and the banal details of the protagonist's dysfunctional family. Woody Allen worked comic wonders with the neurotic secular Jewish character, but that persona lost its freshness nearly 30 years ago. If a reader may offer advice to Mr. Apple for his next book, it would be to share more of the results of his impressive interviewing and observation skills, and to keep his private life private.
Best Jewish Novel In A Long, Long Time.......2006-03-31
I don't understand how people can fall over themselves to sing praises of Jonathan Safran Foer and his ilk when Sam Apple clearly trumps the ever-living hell out of the supposed new Jewish literary elite. Shelpping Through The Alps draws vivid pictures, raises intense emotions, explores history and modernity, is refreshingly honest and non-pretentious, and best of all, is side-splittingly funny. I generally hate novels, but I couldn't put this one down. It's an inviting read and I invite you to read it and compare to the works of every other Jewish novelist adorning Nextbook, Guilt & Pleasure, et al. Could you honestly say you'd rather see another Everything Is Illuminated than a new book from Sam Apple? I doubt it.
A good book to schlep around.......2006-01-21
Sam Apple, a young, Jewish writer from Houston, decided to spend several weeks with Hans Breuer, a Yiddish-folksong-singing, Austrian, wandering shepherd. This books tells of his visit. We learn about Hans's personal history, and how he came to his most unusual occupation. We also learn quite a bit about anti-Semitism in Austria, both historical and present-day. Both of these are fascinating topics. Whether you enjoy this book will depend on whether you also find interesting its third topic, which is Apple's own rather extensive neuroses.
This book has at least two major strengths. First, the topic itself is certainly fresh. I, for one, have never before read a book about anti-Semitism and modern shepherding. And second, it is very funny. Apple has a number of amusing adventures, and he never hesitates to use self-deprecating humor.
I enjoyed this book very much. I felt its focus was a bit too varied--I had a hard time shifting from discussions of Nazi atrocities to descriptions of Apple's sex life. Also, I finished the book without truly feeling that I understand Hans Breuer very well. Nevertheless, I do recommend it, both for its entertainment value and for its educational value.
Book Description
The acclaimed author of The End of Nature takes a three-week walk from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks and reflects on the deep hope he finds in the two landscapes.
Bill McKibben begins his journey atop Vermont’s Mt. Abraham, with a stunning view to the west that introduces us to the broad Champlain Valley of Vermont, the expanse of Lake Champlain, and behind it the towering wall of the Adirondacks. “In my experience,” McKibben tells us, “the world contains no finer blend of soil and rock and water and forest than that found in this scene laid out before me—a few just as fine, perhaps, but none finer. And no place where the essential human skills—cooperation, husbandry, restraint—offer more possibility for competent and graceful inhabitation, for working out the answers that the planet is posing in this age of ecological pinch and social fray.”
The region he traverses offers a fine contrast between diverse forms of human habitation and pure wilderness. On the Vermont side, he visits with old friends who are trying to sustain traditional ways of living on the land and to invent new ones, from wineries to biodiesel. After crossing the lake in a rowboat, he backpacks south for ten days through the vast Adirondack woods. As he walks, he contemplates the questions that he first began to raise in his groundbreaking meditation on climate change, The End of Nature: What constitutes the natural? How much human intervention can a place stand before it loses its essence? What does it mean for a place to be truly wild?
Wandering Home is a wise and hopeful book that enables us to better understand these questions and our place in the natural world. It also represents some of the best nature writing McKibben has ever done.
Customer Reviews:
A Connection to the Land.......2007-06-26
I have spent much of my recreational time in the two places Bill McKibben writes about in this book -- The Adirondacks of New York and the Champlain Valley of Vermont. They both offer some of the most beautiful, pastoral scenery in the US. From Lake Champlain itself you can see the Green Mountains of Vermont on one side and the Adirondack Mountains of New York on the other. As Mr. KcKibben points out, while they may look similar and proximate from afar, each is quite different from the other. The Champlain Valley is more pastoral, bucolic and New England-like. The Adirondacks are much more rugged, wilderness-like and rough around the edges. Both can call to you in a way that becomes a lifetime's pursuit.
This book is an easy and short read. It is engaging, paints wonderful pictures with words and gets you to think about the tension between a simpler life closer to the natural world and modern society and progress/development. He is fair in his assessment of the joys and the struggles associated with a simpler life closer to nature. I don't know who would enjoy this book more - the person who has enjoyed this simpler life or one who can only imagine it through books like this one. I highly recommend this book for people who love this part of the world or who have thought about getting closer to the land and living a simpler life.
An Insight into Place and Community........2006-10-17
Bill McKibben describes a walk through place and community. The community is bound by a geographic region but the displaced reader is imperceptibly drawn into the mind-set of McKibben and his guests. You are introduced to a group who love the land on the Vermont/New York border and recognise it as one of the few "wild" places left in America. It is their passion to preserve and conserve that comes through and it is infectious. The book inspires the reader to analyse their relationship to place and modes of behaviour driven by place. The antithesis of economic consumption exists in all of us, however repressed. Bill brings it to the fore. The effect on the distant reader is such that you will join the community despite being so far way. Bravo Bill !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review of Bill McKibben's "Wandering Home".......2006-05-15
Bill McKibben walks for sixteen days through the Adirondack Mountains to share his love of the land with his readers but what makes the book so special are the people Bill introduces, walks with, and talks with (and about...) along his journey. I was a Travel Agent for five years and was lucky enough to be sent to some of the best, first class places in America and this journey that Bill McKibben takes us on with his words is more meaningful than many of those places I went to which include the Grand Canyon & Scottsdale, AZ; the San Francisco Bay Area; Paradise Island & Nassau, Bahamas; Manhattan; the Sierra-Nevada Mountains (by train); and New Orleans & Mississippi River Cruise!
Each authentic and real person that McKibben joins on his trek lends a hand in telling the story. The book is as much about the beauty of the people as it is of the land. I grew up twenty miles away from the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania, and presently I am a steward and guardian of 400 acres of land in central PA with my husband, his uncle, and my husband's brother and I share and appreciate Bill McKibben's deep love for the power of nature, the wild, and the people. I found John Davis (owns a bicycle, no car) as one of the most interesting characters in the book. I also like the stories of Chris Shaw, who has the good sense of memorializing the people who have passed on but that once lived in the Adirondacks and give the book historical authenticity. My favorite stories in the book are from Donald Armstrong and especially Armstrong's memory he shares with McKibben (and us) about Don's wife, Velda and a fly-fishing event. I laughed so hard I cried! It is a funny moment, but this husband-wife story is so cute and sweet, and gives one a feeling of nostalgia. (The church steeple is a cool part, too.) This is a gem of a story and Wandering Home is a gem of a book.
I am a people person and for the first few chapters of Wandering Home I'm thinking that it is too bad Bill McKibben spends all this passion on the Adirondacks. I imagine what his passion could do to improve the lives of the infirm or impoverished people. Much to my chagrin, in the last few chapters McKibben admits this deficit with charm and honesty. He admits he should spend more time helping the less fortunate, and then justifies his love and preservation of the Adirondacks as his way of giving something back to people. And, I agree that he has. Furthermore, he explains that he tries not to be a drain on the planet. If only we could all think this way, maybe our global warming and environmental problems would vanish. For the first time in my life, I realize the full extent of the impact that people have had and still have on our surroundings and I am saddened and sickened by it. (I imagine a sunrise or a sunset over a mountain, or an ocean breeze I thank God there are still a few areas left in this world that man / woman hasn't been able to get his / her hands on.)
I do have one eco-criticism of Wandering Home. Bill writes that he and John Davis climb to the top of Owl's Head on page 93 of his book. Owl's Head is a considerable distance away from Bristol, and is not included in the path outlined on the inside covers of his book. But, every author has to create mystery in some way, right? Judging by the description of Owl's Head I can see why McKibben would include it in his "walk" since Owl's Head sounds like a stunning place with it's 390 degree view of the Adirondack mountains. On my map, Owl's Head is about sixty miles north of Lake Placid one way, as the crow flies.
Dr. Robert Bernard Hass (English Professor, poet, writer, and Robert Frost expert at Edinboro University) and I got into a discussion about hyper-individualism in class one day. Dr. Hass told me about his friend named Bill McKibben and how McKibben writes about hyper-individualism and that a good place to start on the subject would be Wandering Home. I am grateful that Hass recommended the book to me. It was a book that I was sad to see end, but a journey I will always remember in more ways than one. I was so inspired that I am planning on a short family vacation to the Adirondacks for this summer. I will do my best to demonstrate a sense of forest preservation and protection while I'm there, visiting the wild of the Adirondacks.
Thin but worth reading.......2006-04-06
This book is thin. I mean literally. It is really just a somewhat longish essay. I was disappointed that there was not more depth, more history, more "more."
This is the story of McKibben's amble from Vermont to the central Adirondacks, with a crossing by row boat of Lake Champlain. McKibben is a good writer and he loves this landscape and is very concerned about it and its place in the global environment, but I could not help comparing him and this book to another Bill-namely Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Bryson is a much more energetic writer. In my opinion, he is funnier and deeper than McKibben. A Walk in the Woods is a great book, Wandering Home is light weight by comparison.
McKibben has some very good thoughts on environmental issues and expresses an admirable moderation in this book. He is especially sensitive to the complexity of many environmental issues and actively criticizes the "knee-jerk" environmentalists for over-simplifying the issues in many cases. On the other hand, McKibben is something of a romantic airhead. Often his ruminations are fatuous and patronizing; for example, his dogma that those simple Vermont farmers and old Adirondack loggers that he's met are more "authentic" than you or I (McKibben makes this claim more than once in Wandering Home).
Nevertheless, I liked this book and enjoyed reading it. McKibben loves the Adirondacks and so do I. In this short book he's managed to capture something of the flavor of the hidden Adirondacks, that fortunately so few people know. The Adirondack Park of New York is the most beautiful sylvan landscape in the world. McKibben's book raises, but barely starts to answer, such questions as why and how to protect and preserve the Adirondacks and other similarly blessed places.
A dangerous book.......2005-10-24
Bill McKibben is a thoughtful writer. Most of all, this book made me wish I could take a hike with him and meet the land he loves so much. Be warned that this book might make you homesick, even if you've never been to Vermont or the Adirondacks. But beyond that, the book has some serious points to make.
I'm a suburbanite trapped in the cycle of debt that has sucked in so many Americans (in my case, student loans and a mortgage). I work for the Department of Commerce. I have a husband. I have a child who is addicted to video games. I don't have the money or the freedom to move to the Adirondacks, or even take a trip there. This book is a reminder that Americans don't have to live the way we do. We might very well be happier if we got rid of a lot of our stuff and lived more lightly on the land. Of course, McKibben punctures that little bubble by pointing out that a lot of people have tried to do that in Vermont, with laughable results.
I believe that once the cheap oil is gone, life in America is going to be very different. Ordinary American life today puts so much emphasis on getting places quickly. In the not-so-distant future we're going to be staying much more in one spot, and only rarely going anywhere we can't reach on foot or bicycle. This book is a reminder that such a stationary life might not be so bad. There's more to a meaningful and happy existence than what cheap gasoline and Wal-Mart can bring. Maybe someday the science of economics will remember that.
Book Description
IN A SINGLE MOMENT
. . . the lives of three men will be forever changed. In that split second, defined paradoxically by both salvation and loss, they will destroy the world and then restore it. Much had come before, and much would come after, but nothing would color their lives more than that one, isolated instant on the edge of forever.
IN A SINGLE MOMENT
. . . James T. Kirk, displaced in time, allows the love of his life to die in a traffic accident, thereby preserving Earth's history. Returning to the present, he continues a storied career as a starship captain, opening up the galaxy. But as he wanders among the stars, the incandescence that once filled his heart remains elusive.
IN A SINGLE MOMENT
. . . that haunts James T. Kirk throughout his life, he preserved the timeline at the cost of his happiness. Now, facing his own death, the very fabric of existence collapses across years and light-years, forcing him to race against -- and through -- time itself, until he comes full circle to that one bright star by which his life has always steered.
Customer Reviews:
Crucible: Kirk.......2007-04-05
Out of the three books regarding McCoy, Spock & Kirk, I found the one about Kik the least enjoyable. I was surprised since the other two were outstanding reads. It was still OK and worth the time to read. It's just that the other two were that much better. Still, I'm glad to have in my ST Universe collection.
A good story........2007-03-14
the book is not as good as the other books in the triogy but not a bad story.
I loved this book - exciting read!.......2007-03-13
David George is one of my favorite writers - Star Trek or otherwise. Each book of this trilogy left me excited to read the next one. I love how all three books have new scenes that are interwoven with original series episodes. The new scenes were so good, I had a hard time recalling whether or not they were actually in the episodes. What a great way to pay tribute to the show on it's 40 year anniversary. Each book has it's own distinct tone which I also liked. The first two are more personal and character-driven. Even though this one is more action-oriented, it still manages to reveal the heart of Kirk. I like that George wasn't constrained by what was published previously. However, he remains true to the canon of the original and animated series. He also gives us a new take on the origins of Kirk - one that I find far more interesting than being the son of a starfleet admiral. After reading this, I also had a much greater appreciation for the movie, Generations. I now view it very differently. If you've got an open mind and let yourself go with the story, you'll enjoy the ride!
A Major Letdown.......2007-03-13
It is sad that this series celebrating 40 years of Star Trek did not reach our expectations of being a real contender. The initial idea could have made this the greatest Star Trek series written to date.
The first in the series, Crucible McCoy was far and away the best though it tended to ramble and to over repeat already well known classic Star Trek TV episodes and films. While longer than need be, the longest of the three in this series, it did give an interesting study of Leonard "Bones" McCoy. I gave it five stars despite reservations over the overuse of well known material. Crucible Spock was far below the first in that it was repetitive of past outings by other writers and frankly rather boring. Knowing how the second book of a triology can be less than the first I gave it four stars in charity. The idea was that the third and last book would be a hum dinger. That all the magic of classic Star Trek would be right there for us to enjoy.
Sadly this is not the case. The author admits that it was a hard book to write and it is shorter. You don't need to read the first two books, though you should the first if you haven't. David R. George III acts as though you haven't read them and repeats material from his first two. This final book in the series does not really resolve anything.
I consider myself a big Star Trek fan, have all the DVDs and a lot of memorabilia (including numerous books) in addition to knowing well several of the stars. I have used Star Trek in my teaching and have written articles about what I consider one of the media giants of the 20th Century. Had the author just combined these three books into one giant volume, only referred to past events in shows we have seen without detailing the plots of so many, and not repeated so much this would have been a great addition to any Star Trek library.
If the reader is as unsatisfied as I am about how the author ends the last days Kirk, Spock and McCoy, there are much better books. I will only recommend one series here. I refer to the series by William Shatner and company. It is the far future of Picard, Janeway and Sisko, but the three we have known so well are especially there. Kirk has survived thanks to alien outsiders, McCoy is very old and still going with the help of bionics and Spock is of course on hand. Not married, though Kirk is for a while, and free booting about the Galaxy in a special ship again saving the universe.
Shatner, or whoever is doing that writing, gives us the real Star Trek we knew and loved. Mr. George just doesn't undestand the Star Trek universe.
A disappointing final entry.......2007-03-09
After reading the first two volumes of this trilogy, featuring Dr McCoy and Mr Spock, I was excited to pick up the closing issue about James Kirk. I must say I was really quite disappointed. I really enjoyed the McCoy book and to a very slightly less extent, the one about Spock. In those character-based stories, the reader was treated to a view of the principles unlike that of most ST novels. In the final volume, however, the author decided to write an action-driven story about Kirk, with very little of the character analysis and history that made the first two so enjoyable to me.
It isn't like we were hurting for another action-packed James Kirk novel. And between the real Kirk, the nexus-Kirk, the nexus-remnant-Kirk, and future Kirk, and the post-dead Kirk, I'm not even sure which one I was reading about.
The author should have stuck with the formula of the first two.
Average customer rating:
- A People's Necronomicon at last
- Become one with madness, in the comfort of your own home
- Abdul Alhazred could have written this
- I'a, Tyson!
- You must eat 3 Fungus Spiders to gain the second sight
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Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred
Donald Tyson
Manufacturer: Llewellyn Publications
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Alhazred: Author of the Necronomicon
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The Art Of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos
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Necronomicon Spellbook
ASIN: 0738706272 |
Book Description
Anyone familiar with H. P. Lovecraft's work knows of the Necronomicon, the black magic grimoire he invented as a literary prop in his classic horror stories. There have been several attempts at creating this text, yet none stand up to Lovecraft's own descriptions of the Necronomicon . . . until now. Fans of Lovecraftian magic and occult fiction will delight in Donald Tyson's Necronomicon, based purely within Lovecraft's own fictional universe, the Cthulhu Mythos.
This grimoire traces the wanderings of Abdul Alhazred, a necromancer of Yemen, on his search for arcane wisdom and magic. Alhazred's magical adventures lead him to the Arabian desert, the lost city of Irem, ruins of Babylon, lands of the Old Ones, and Damascus, where he encounters a variety of strange creatures and accrues necromantic secrets.
Customer Reviews:
A People's Necronomicon at last.......2007-07-12
Though I am in strong agreement that this is a really terrific book, some of the terms used by previous positive reviewers (e.g. "believable") stand in tension with my own favorable impressions. While the Lovecraftian research is laudable and the feeling that the book has an actual insane author is great, praising these alone deflects attention from the purpose of Tyson's effort, which is a page-turning rollicking good time that wastes no space with pseudo-academic text and dives right for the bizarre, funny, disturbing possibility of taking the conceit of the Mad Arab seriously.
The style of short linked vignettes is inspired. It creates a progression of dream-like, dark, poetic stage sets. These are in fact so wonderfully weird that I regret Tyson hasn't taken a turn at meatier fiction. If the book has any relatives out there, they actually come from very different family of literature, including the works of Borges; the book is in fact strangely like Italo Calvino's classic "Invisible Cities."
This is a book for anyone, not just Lovecraft junkies, a real People's Necronomicon. Great stuff.
Become one with madness, in the comfort of your own home.......2007-04-04
I agree with most of the earlier reviews. They are what sold me on the book, to be honest. I just wanted to add that i really enjoyed how the author wrote from the perspective of an insane person who truly believes he is not insane. It's quite seductive and allows the reader to see how a person could hit such levels of depravity and still wear a veneer of humanity.
Abdul Alhazred could have written this.......2006-10-26
Of the many Necronomicons out there to read, Tyson has finally written one that is actually believable - as if a real Abdul Alhazred wrote it.
Tyson sticks meticulously to Lovecraft - and I do believe that Lovecraft would have given this book a huge thumbs up.
The book is also enjoyable to read - it flows very well. I didn't want the book to end as I read it. Some portions of it were tragic, making Abdul Alhazred a very sympathetic character, in my opinion.
I'a, Tyson!.......2006-08-13
Though knowledge of H.P. Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos" enhances the enjoyment of this brilliant work, it isn't necessary. Tyson's Necronomicon traces the detailed path of the Mad Arab from his expulsion from Yemen into the desert to his final mind-shattering demise in Damascus. This text would also make a great sourcebook for the popular Call Of Cthulhu role-playing game from Chaosium. Lovcraft would have been delighted!
You must eat 3 Fungus Spiders to gain the second sight.......2006-08-12
Before I begin I do realize that this book is considered an "Occult" book and alot of the people who buy this believe in the contents. My response to that is simply .... "wow". Anyways, I read this book strictly as fiction. I myself am not a huge fan of lovecrafts work but, I am intrigued by his mythology and really wanted to have alot of it layed out in front of me. Sadly at first I had a hard time finding that. But this book definently did that Job. First it is well written, you can tell by the more complex language the author uses. Second, it in detail covers the Chthulthu Mythos and lays all the basic and much of the in depth information about them out for the reader. Third, This book is loaded with content and definently gives great credit to Lovecrafts writings. But their are a few downsides. It is written from the perspective of that "crazy arab" so it reads more like a handbook or guide. Their also isn't much action except for in the end. So It can be somewhat of a slow read, sense I found it hard to sit down and read a large amount at once. But the chapters are short so it makes this problem not to bad.Lastly, The book is heavy in terminology from Lovecrafts other stories so those people who haven't read much of Lovecrafts work might find some of the information confusing. Overall it is a good book and no doubt will satisfy those whom are just interested in the sheer fiction side of Lovecrafts Mythos. But I'm sure for those out there whom believe it to be real or semi - real. The author follows the occult quite a bit himself or so I've heard and I'm sure you will be satisfied.
Book Description
St. Martin's is proud to present a new and continuing series of the greatest classics in the literature of hunting and adventure, chosen from the personal library of writer and big game hunter Peter Hathaway Capstick. These showcase volumes will once again make available the true masterpieces of Africana to collectors, armchair hunters, sportsmen, and readers at large.The twenty-sixth president of the United States was also a world-renowned hunter, conservationist, soldier, and scholar. In 1908 he took a long safari holiday in East Africa with his son Kermit. His account of this adventure is as remarkably fresh today as it was when these adventures on the veldt were first published. Roosevelt describes the excitement of the chase, the people he met (including such famous hunters as Cunninghame and Selous), and flora and fauna he collected in the name of science. Long out of print, this classic is one of the preeminent examples of Africana, and belongs on every collector's shelf.
Download Description
This book reads like a loping conversation with Roosevelt about his safari in east Africa. He is full of dated opinions about native peoples, and the endless hunting scenes are not for vegetarians. All this said, it is a bully adventure book.
Customer Reviews:
African Game Trails (Capstick Library).......2007-01-24
I purchased a copy of this book and am extremely disapointed with the quality of the photographs. They are so fuzzy and out-of-focus as to be useless--in some cases unrecognizable. I'm suprised that you offer such a poor quality volume for sale. I coresponded with the publisher and the nice young lady offered to send me another copy but added "I looked at the pictures and they're terrible." I replied that I already had one lousy copy and did not need another. You should check the quality of this volume carefully....it's terrible!
African Game Trails : An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Naturalist .......2006-03-24
I cannot get enough of Teddy Roosevelt this man is unbelievable in all his accomplishment
as a hunter and naturalist a great American you must read his works.the book is five stars.
mike gorman.
Classic African Safari Travel Narrative.......2002-11-22
In 1909, just after the end of his term as President, Theodore Roosevelt traveled to Africa for a year long safari.The trip was a major undertaking ; hundreds of porters were needed to carry his baggage. Roosevelt's son, Kermit came along, taking photographs which are reproduced in the book. Roosevelt and company bag hundred of animals. It appears that all hunting rules were suspended for the ex-president. Roosevelt and son are soon blasting away at anything and everything that comes into view. British East Africa is described in terms that make today's politically correct readers wince. Attitudes have changed dramatically in less than one hundred years. It is odd to hear Roosevelt describe parts of Africa as a "white man's country," suitable for large scale settlement by Europeans. The book bogs down and I was unable to read it without skimming through some parts. The descriptions of marching through wilderness and chasing after game on foot and on horseback seem to go on forever. There is a lot of great infomation here even if it is necessary to become your own editor by skipping though tedious parts.
A must read if you are going on safari.......2002-05-20
This book gives you the genuine flavor of safari 80 years ago.
Better than being there.......2001-11-24
Not being very good with a gun, having little outdoorsman skills, and not being in the best shape of my life, reading this book was better than being there. If I was there, I would miss the animals, I would be too tired to enjoy it, and besides all of that, Africa is not as it was 100 years ago.
I have just begun to reread this book, and I don't know how many times this is. I enjoy it each and every time I pick it up.
Customer Reviews:
Is it still a title if I do it this way?.......2007-03-02
This is a fun, complete, egotistical translation of Chuang Tzu. Fun, because it is full of zaniness and funny names and joy. Complete, because it contains all of Chuang Tzu and not just the easily amusing bits. Egotistical, because the author is a scholar and foolishly uses the PC "she/her" even when "he/him" would be better; deletes random bits he doesn't approve of and then lumps them together at the back; goes on about what he can't know anything about in the front matter and puts more of these bits in the beginning of each chapter. Should you buy this book? Oh, sure. Buy one. Should you be like the translator and flap your opinions around? Oh, sure. Everything makes a noise. Should you be like the author and make people wiser and happier for two thousand years? Oh, oops -- got to go -- I've said too much.
Best Translation of Chuang Tzu in English.......2006-10-28
This is an amazing book. Mair explains his methods in his introduction; he claims that Chuang Tzu is a literary writer first and a philosopher second. As such, Mair aims to capture the inimitable style of Master Chuang, whom he claims created new ways of expressing oneself in Chinese. The resulting text is a fabulously refreshing collection of parables, which seems to contain the essence of philosophical Taoism. Chuang Tzu has much to teach us about the utility of uselessness, the interchangeable nature of the large and small, and my favourite teaching, the futility of 'guarding against thieves.' Chuang Tzu explains in chapter 10 'Ransacking Coffers' that people who go to great lengths to guard against thieves are just preparing things for the 'great robber.' This seems to have something to say about the nature of capitalism, especially in this era of corporate takeovers and the like. Chuang Tzu is an antidote for modern life.
Mair includes the complete text of Chuang Tzu, not limiting himself to the 'Inner Chapters' (which are regarded as being actually written by Chuang Tzu). He includes the 'Outer' and 'Miscellaneous Chapters', many of which Mair claims are the equal or superior of the Inner Chapters. Each chapter is prefaced by a note giving context to the authorship of the chapter. For instance, Mair regards some of the chapters as being written by Confucianists who have somehow wormed their way into Chuang Tzu over the centuries.
This book compares favourably to other translations of Chuang Tzu I have read. My first exposure to Chuang came in Burton Watson's translation of the Inner Chapters, and while I have not read this book for many years, it was Watson who convinced me of the necessity to study this quasi-historical figure. 'The Essential Chuang Tzu' (Hammill & Seaton) was disappointing in comparison to this book. Thomas Merton's 'The Way of Chuang Tzu' is a nice little book, but not of the same calibre of this volume. In short, Mair's volume seems to me to be the definitive translation.
Chuang Tzu can change your life--quite literally--if you are willing and able to pursue a life of carefree wandering. It's a book not to be missed.
the Chuang tzu.......2003-05-17
One trusts this is probably the best English translation there is of the Chuang Tzu. The Chuang tzu has a unique place in the world of spiritual writings; it breathes the air of freedom like nothing else. Not knowing ancient Chinese, however, the only thing I can say is that I am very happy with this translation.
The Best Available Translation Of This Toaist Classic.......2002-03-13
Though Burton Watson's translation comes a close second, this version is the absolute best English translation I have found. Mair includes the "rhyming prose" the poetry and lots of the zaniness that somehow gets passed over in other translations. For those wishing to have more notes Mair generously refers them to his writings in the Sino-Platonic Papers. Mair is second to none in his understanding of archaic Chinese and takes us back to the truly revolutionary collection of writings that Chuang Tzu really is.
Superb translation but with a lack of notes.......2001-08-04
It's a fresh and scholarly translation, but also potentially controversial, since a few sections of the text have been deleted (even from the Inner Chapters). The deletions are not noted in the main text (the general reader will be unaware of them) or clearly explained. They can be found in the "Deleted Passages" appendix at the end of the book. Some translations are unconventional, like "look after your parents" (Watson) in the beginnig of chapter 3, is translated by Victor Mair as "Nourish your inmost viscera"; it would be interesting to know why. I would look forward to another edition with notes.
Book Description
A mage's power has brought five university students from our world into a realm where an ancient evil has freed itself from captivity to wreak revenge on its enemies.
Praise for The Fionavar Tapestry:
One of the very best fantasies to have appeared since Tolkien. (Andre Norton)
Kay's intricate Celtic background will please fantasy buffs. (Publishers Weekly)
Immense scale, literary richness and dazzling heroes. (Toronto Star)
This is the only fantasy work I know which does not suffer by comparison to The Lord of the Rings. (Interzone)
A grand galloping narrative...reverberates with centuries of mythic and incantory implications. (Christian Science Monitor)
The essence of high fantasy...a remarkable achievement. (Locus)
The Fionavar Tapestry is a work that will be read for many years to come. (Charles de Lint)
Customer Reviews:
Super Reader.......2007-08-26
The group are wandering ever deeper into Celtic and Arthurian mythology.
The Wild Hunt, a sacrifice to the goddess to stop a magical freezing winter.
Kim realises she has to try and get help from Arthur in the coming conflict, and travels to their Stonehenge to raise the spirit of Uther Pendragon.
Jenny realises that she is really a Guinevere type.
Arthur is awoken, and they learn what he did that wasn't so nice. He, in turn, realises they will need Lancelot, and does a similar thing to that used to get him back.
A good read.......2007-01-09
Book two in the Fionavar Tapestry, this book lives up to the first ones legacy. While some strange plot holes marr what should be a 5 star rating, the people and world in this book still sparkle and the overall story arc is satisfying. If you like fantasy, you will like these books plain and simple.
Blah. Contrived blah........2006-12-26
I've read worse stories than The Fionavar Tapestry. And, to be fair, its second book "The Wandering Fire" isn't all bad. There are moments when the story actually holds your interest. The problem is, there aren't many of them, and for long stretches this book, like its sequel "The Wandering Fire," suffer from long passages that alternate between artificial and hokey.
A previous reviewer, Nancy Eckert, has summarized "The Wandering Fire" correctly. Read her review and be warned.
Guy Gavriel Kay even panders to the purient interest of juveniles with a character (Kevin) who has a sexual encounter with a Goddess while falling into a subterranean crevasse, finishing the act right before he hits the ground and dies (splat). "The Wandering Fire" has a lot of exaggerated emotionalism, college-age young adults who act melodramatically as if they were fourteen-year-olds. And it has more than its share of pseudo-intellectualizing -- "deep" thoughts spun out of thin air and presented as if they were profound, which they are not. Maybe Kay was targeting a 14-year-old audience with this book.
Kay steals from the legend of King Arthur and Guinevere, essentially making that story a subplot of his own work.
Be warned readers: this is no "Ring of the Nibelung" here. Despite what some have said about the book, it is nowhere near the same league with The Hobbit, and although you can tell that Kay is trying hard, his descriptive powers aren't on a level with Tolkien's. The Fionavar Tapestry is a story, but it is barely a story. Calling it literature would be going too far, and let's not mention art.
Despite its serious flaws (from an adult point of view), "The Wandering Fire" is readable, and, some of the time, even enjoyable. That being said, there's just no way the story is good enough to deserve the glowing endorsements given it by such luminous writers as Andre Norton, Charles de Lint, and Marion Zimmer Bradley, all of whom, if they are still alive, should be ashamed of themselves for giving it excessively high praise.
And more...........2005-10-21
I remember the first time I read this series. It took me four days (it would have taken three, but there was a delay in getting the last two from a friend). I was moved more deeply than any other work in fantasy I had read. I remember staying up until 6 AM (I was in theater at the time) reading them, and weeping my way through the last third of the last book in the series.
Without doubt, Kay invokes all that is deep in us as people who have created mythos and myths to carry us. He evokes all that is strong in us, while showing that even the mythic have their weaknesses. While later works of Kay's may be more polished, this is the raw material that he still works from.
As with every reading, when I finished my recent re-read I was almost traumatised to leave the world that had been so well crafted. The end leaves all satisfied, but there is a bittersweet flavor to it, since the people he has created are no longer accessable to the reader.
This is the series I would want while stranded on a desert island. And I cannot think of anything more to say than that.
Not quite there........2004-08-07
Sigh. I really had hopes for this series. Unfortunately, after trudging through two mediocre novels, it remains to be seen whether I will bother with the third.
The Wandering Fire, the second book in the Fionavar Tapestry series picks up not exactly where the first book, The Summer Tree, left off. Some time has elapsed since Kim's rescue of Jennifer from Starkadh, and the five are back in their own world, waiting for something to bring them back to Fionavar. That something is a dream from Seer Kim Ford, which will tell them what their next move should be. We also find out that Jennifer is carrying the child of Rakoth Maugrim, which she intends to keep. Eventually Kim has her dream and the five are sent back to Fionavar through the power of Kim's ring, the Baelrath. Kim also summons King Arthur (yes, THAT King Arthur) to help them in their quest. Soon all five are involved in their own paths in the war against the Unraveller. The novel chronicles the struggle to find out how Maugrim is creating the perpetual winter that is crushing Fionavar, and then how to defeat it when they finally do find out.
The Wandering Fire is plagued by the same problems of the first novel- too much melodrama, not enough character development, and several rather silly things. I spent much of the first half of the book rolling my eyes, especially at the appearance of King Arthur. I mean, come on, can't you even think up your own heroes? I also spent a lot of time rolling my eyes over the ludicrous amount of sex in this novel. GG Kay uses sex as as such and important plot device that it left me wondering just where he was drawing inspiration from. I don't have a problem with sex in a novel if it's used correctly, but GG Kay dramatizes it to the point where it's sickening.
Don't be misled by the comparisons between this series and Tolkien's work. Tolkien's works are far more engrossing and monumental, and unlike Kay, Tolkien knows where to direct his attention and when to quit. The Wandering Fire suffers from too many different elements and characters, to the effect that the heart of the novel is lost.
Lastly, there was something that irritated me about both novels, and I couldn't put my finger on it until recently. And that is that GG Kay writes with too much ambiguity. Ambiguity has its place in fantasy novels, granted, but GG Kay uses it so much that I felt like I was wandering in a perpetual fog, unsure of what was real and what was imagined.
The Wandering Fire is at least entertaining, if you can manage to not be distracted by the aforementioned items. For me, the Fionavar Tapestry series takes itself far too seriously, and I think I'll take the advice of others and try some of GG Kay's later work.
Average customer rating:
- This book made me a reader
- Surprised at what books he really read, while wandering
- Should be required reading
- Fascinating
- A guide book to becoming self-educated through books and experience.
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Education of a Wandering Man
Louis L'Amour
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0553286528
Release Date: 1990-11-01 |
Book Description
From his decision to leave school at fifteen to roam the world, to his recollections of life as a hobo on the Southern Pacific Railroad, as a cattle skinner in Texas, as a merchant seaman in Singapore and the West Indies, and as an itinerant bare-knuckled prizefighter across small-town America, here is Louis L'Amour's memoir of his lifelong love affair with learning--from books, from yondering, and from some remarkable men and women--that shaped him as a storyteller and as a man. Like classic L'Amour fiction, Education of a Wandering Man mixes authentic frontier drama--such as the author's desperate efforts to survive a sudden two-day trek across the blazing Mojave desert--with true-life characters like Shanghai waterfront toughs, desert prospectors, and cowboys whom Louis L'Amour met while traveling the globe. At last, in his own words, this is a story of a one-of-a-kind life lived to the fullest . . . a life that inspired the books that will forever enable us to relive our glorious frontier heritage.
Customer Reviews:
This book made me a reader.......2007-09-12
This book made the greatest singular impact on my desire to branch out and read - not to read what I was told or what a boy (18 at the time - but I was a boy) or a man might be expected to read but to accept that my desires might go in many directions. I can still recall the start of the book - It was May 14th my class in Jamestown North Dakota was graduating and I was in Singapore - That is a line that makes a boys eyes flash with the excitement of adventure.
This is a true treasure of a book and its vast in its breath of knowledge and thought. It was instrumental in forming the man from the boy in my case.
Surprised at what books he really read, while wandering.......2007-08-19
I liked reading about "his reading". Even so his adventures were another insight into his later writing style. It shows how he became both a storyteller and a teacher. These books, Harold Bloom's "How to Read and Why" and Carolyn See's book "Making a Literary Life", were also books about reading but L'Amour's autobiography brings a new dimension to this approach. I suspect that many will have come to this book as solid Louis L'Amour fans but for me the desire to read about books brought me to this author. I was curious about why he had been so successful and I was more curious to learn something about him.
The events in his autobiography precedes his amazing success as an author and focuses on his early years. He had left school in the 30s and wandered. He experienced the western US as well as the Far East. He worked as a seaman, ranch hand, and took odd jobs often traveling as a hobo.
The travels are interesting enough to make the book a stand-alone success but what really was interesting was the "books" he read as he traveled. He marked the course he took pausing to tell about the books he read on the way. He was obviously searching for an education and it was a surprise to learn of what held his interest. Shakespeare and Nietzsche were a surprise to find on his list of readings but then all the traditional authors were ones he read.
Some of the travels captured in this story are indeed about the West. His time in the desert, others working as a cattle skinner, and even being involved in small town boxing exhibitions, found in his own early experiences are reflected in his many novels. When you see his effort to understand and learn all that he could then you see that his travels and reading was a personal quest for knowledge. It then is easy to see that the many characters he wove into his later books seem to much deeper and richer having known Louis L'Amour's personal story from this book.
Probably the obvious lesson to learn from his book about wandering is that wandering in our own reading habits and subject matter can matter.
Should be required reading.......2007-02-03
Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour should be required reading for all homeschooling parents, homeschooled teens, book-lovers, teachers - anyone who values education.
I am very familiar with Louis L'Amour's work. My dad had the complete, leather-bound collection of his western novels, and I read many of them when I was in junior high and high school. My favorite book of his is, by far, The Walking Drum, which wasn't a western, but a 12th century adventure novel. In spite of having read so many of his books, I had no idea that Mr. L'Amour was such an autodidact.
This book is a rambling memoir of his travelling years and the books that accompanied him along the way. He dropped out of school at age 15 at the beginning of the depression. He spent the next years of his life wandering the world as a merchant marine, boxer, logger, miner - you name it, he probably did it. But just because his formal education in school had ended, he did not stop learning. No matter where he was living, he found a library or bookseller - sometimes skipping meals and sleeping outdoors in order to fund his book habit. The list of books he read is astounding - books on every topic imaginable. He was especially interested in history and sought out source materials wherever he could find them.
Fascinating.......2007-01-03
This is the type of book that you will either love or hate. I loved it because it provided insight into the mind of one of my favorite authors and I found that mind to be far more fascinating than I ever expected. I have read dozens of his westerns and have found them thoroughly entertaining, but have noticed that most of his protaganists are very similar in many ways. This fact, I discovered, is not due to a lack of imagination or an "in-a-rut" formulaic method of writing. On the contrary, it is because L'Amour wrote himself into his characters and attempted to impart those things which have interested him in his studies to the reader. He intuitively understood what readers would enjoy because before and above being a writer, he was a voracious reader. His love of and enthusiasm for books that he revealed in "Education of a Wandering Man" was contagious and exciting for me as a fellow reader.
As I mentioned, however, some people will invetiably not like this book if they expect it to be a coherent story, a "birth to death" autobiography, or a nail biter. It is closer to a annotated bibliography to his early life along with interesting anecdotes and philosophical musings.
When I finished the last page of the book, I felt quite sad as I did not want it to end. I highly recommend it to those who love Louis L'Amour and who love to read books. It will make you want to turn the TV and radio off and sit down with a good book. It will also serve as a very comprehensive "recommended reading" list for those trying to find that next great book.
A guide book to becoming self-educated through books and experience........2006-12-16
This is about as close as a L'Amour fan will come to an autobiography or personal memoir. This is not a western novel, though it gives great insight into how he wrote and reseached his books. I found it interesting that he book starts with a reference to his high school class graduating while he was on a steamer in Indonesia. He had already started in real world education at this point.
L'Amour gives the reader a lengthy discussion of becoming self-educated through books, and experience. I enjoyed the lengthy lists of books L'Amour read during his wandering years in the 30s. I have been logging what I read since reading the book. It is a worthy discipline.
L'Amour gives a breathtaking discussion of walking out of the Mojave desert. It reminded me of my time at Fort Irwin, California (about 50 miles north of Barstow in the middle of similar land). L'Amour was a great researcher, and wrote from both personal experience and knowledge. This is an enjoyable book. It should be required reading for any aspiring writer. L'Amour emphasizes the value of education through experience and self-guided reading. He never degrades formal education.
Read and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler
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Recommended Books
- Catastrophic Cooking
- The Knee Of Listening: The Divine Ordeal of the Avataric Incarnation of Conscious Light
- Objects and Meaning: New Perspectives on Art and Craft
- Red on Red: Native American Literary Separatism
- Suzuki Violin School: Violin Part, vol. 1
- The Three Musketeers
- The Essential Wilderness Navigator: How to Find Your Way in the Great Outdoors, Second Edition
- The Executive Mystic: Intuitive Tools For Cultivating The Winning Edge In Business
- Profit Power: 101 Pointers to Give Your Business a Competitive Advantage
- North American Labor Markets: A Comparative Profile
By Sorrow's River: A Novel (The Berrybender Narratives)
Folly and Glory : A Novel (Mcmurtry, Larry)
Sin Killer: A Novel (Berrybender Narratives)
Boone's Lick : A Novel
Dead Man's Walk : A Novel
