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Adventurer
Mountain climber
Virginia
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Mar 19, 2016 - 09:48am PT
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"Walking the Nile" by Levison Wood. Great story about his 2013 trek the length of the Nile River from Rwanda to the Mediterranean coast in Egypt.
"Reclaiming Conversation" by Sherry Turkle. Fascinating book about the decline of person to person conversation in the age of texting and its affect on education, personal relationships, family, friends, and work.
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Levy
Big Wall climber
So Cal
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Mar 19, 2016 - 11:15am PT
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Off The Grid by C.J. Box. For those of you not familiar with C J Box, his books are set in the Wyoming backcountry, usually involving hunters, poachers and some larger conspiracy.
They're well written and have a nice appreciation for nature and the wild.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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Apr 19, 2016 - 08:52pm PT
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Incredibly current for a first draft of 1936. The later revisions are slightly polished but no changes in the original story.
Highly recommend this read if you ever wondered what actually took place on this tragic journey.
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Curt
climber
Gold Canyon, AZ
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Apr 19, 2016 - 09:01pm PT
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^^^^^^ I just got that in the mail and will start it after I finish "Titan:" The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr." by Ron Chernow whick I am reading now.
"Titan" is one of the best biographies I have ever read. I'm currently finishing re-reading "The Gathering Storm" by Churchill and then I'll start in on "And Then All Hell Broke Loose." On deck is "Capital in the 21st Century" by Thomas Piketty.
Curt
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MisterE
Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
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Apr 19, 2016 - 09:02pm PT
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1491.
A mind-blower.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 19, 2016 - 09:49pm PT
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Mozart - A Life by Paul Johnson. Mind-boggling scholarship went into the 156 pages
of densely packed observations often at odds with the prevailing prejudices. I will probably
immediately re-read this.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 20, 2016 - 03:41am PT
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Reading a few books at once, The Myth Of the Lost Cause and Civil War Hisory, edited by Gary Gallagher & Alan T. Norman. Interesting reading for a person who lives in the deep South. If I could only get some people I know to read it!
Also reading From The Heart Of The Crow Country, by Joseph Medicine Crow. Another sad tale of the demise of a Native American tribe.
I think Reilly suggested Longitude, by Dava Sobel. It seems very promising from the first few pages I have read.
I see some good material posted above to select from.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Apr 20, 2016 - 08:34am PT
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Tobia, I add my props for Longitude. I really enjoyed that book. Wanted more detail, but I suspect the primary sources are pretty thin and that Dava Sobel did the best she could with what is available.
Good to see there are a few books out there talking sense about slavery and secession.
I recently read David M. Potter's Impending Crisis, 1848-1861. Thoroughly enjoyed it. No matter what anybody says, it was all about slavery. Can't believe there's any doubt considering that many of the southern states' declarations of secession mention slavery outright. Sample Mississippi's, which begins: "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery."
As General Grant wrote in his memoirs, discussing Lee's surrender: "I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought."
I just finished two on early Nevada: Mark Twain in Virginia City by Paul Fatout and Devils Will Reign by Sally Zanjani. Both decent.
I did hit on a clause of Twain's, in an obscure newspaper article, that is so good it makes me weep: "with the serene confidence that a Christian feels in four aces."
That is about as close to perfect of a sentence fragment as I've ever read.
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Apr 20, 2016 - 09:35am PT
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Dark Star Safari. Paul Theroux.
Budget backpack journey from Cairo to Capetown.
4 out of 5 so far.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Lassitude 33
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Apr 20, 2016 - 10:04am PT
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Just finished Erik Larson's Dead Wake. Great book for the long airline flight. Now onto The Martian ... for the return flight.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Apr 20, 2016 - 11:26am PT
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Just finished China's Wings by ST's own Gregory Crouch, liked it!
I am now reading The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternative history novel by Michael Chabon, a Pulitzer winner. It's helping me "bone up" on my Yiddish phrases.
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Pete_N
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Apr 20, 2016 - 02:15pm PT
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I've just started Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell by Janet Wallach. So far, so good though it's clear the writer has no clue when it comes to climbing (a very minor component of the book). I'm struggling a bit to get into We the Navigators (David Lewis). I read mostly to escape having to think hard (for me, required for most activities), and this is a bit too close to work, but I'm hoping to break through.
I also just got a dvd of Moana, Robert Flaherty's film about his family's experiences living in Samoa in the 1920s. Flaherty is the fellow who directed Nanook of the North btw. I'm getting ready for a work trip to Micronesia and the purchase seemed semi-justifiable. I'm psyched anyway.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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Apr 20, 2016 - 02:38pm PT
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A good reference for those interested in this historic route.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Apr 20, 2016 - 02:58pm PT
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ydpl8s! Psyched. Thanks for making the effort. Moon Chin just celebrated his 103rd birthday, and Pete Goutiere is coming up on his 101st.
Now you'll appreciate your connection to CNAC and the Hump whenever you handle a Fedex package--after the war, ten of the AVG (Flying Tiger) pilots who came over to CNAC after the AVG disbanded in July of 1942 went on to found The Flying Tiger Line based out of Los Angeles International Airport. (Joe Rosbert--he who crawled out of the mountains with the broken leg--was one of the principals.) It was the first airline in the world dedicated to flying freight. So they used their fighter pilot cache for the name, but actually did what they'd learned with CNAC--flying freight. Fronted by Bob Prescott, it operated successfully until Prescott died in 1992, at which time the others sold out to Fedex. Hence the connection between Fedex, the Hump flying, the AVG, and CNAC.
CNAC forever! ;-)
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Apr 20, 2016 - 03:00pm PT
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Pud. If you're an Oregon Trail enthusiast, you might enjoy Rinker Buck's recent The Oregon Trail: An American Journey. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Two brothers get the wild hair to drive a covered wagon from Missouri to Oregon in 2012. Great story.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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Apr 20, 2016 - 03:08pm PT
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Thanks Gregory, I'll check it out!
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Bldrjac
Ice climber
Boulder
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Apr 20, 2016 - 05:02pm PT
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Just about finished with The Story of Edgar Sawtelle........not sure how I missed it when it came out, but have quite enjoyed it. The author definitely knows dogs, which makes it even more interesting to me. Just starting "The High Mountains of Portugal", which has gotten great reviews, and has captivated me from the beginning....I'm only about a chapter in, as I have to finish Edgar S. first!
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Apr 20, 2016 - 05:18pm PT
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Just finished "The Journey of the Flame", by Walter Nordhoff.
On the day of his 104th birthday, Don Juan Obrigon.....standing tall and straight, with hair still flaming red....prepares to tell his life story to assembled relatives and guests.
"This is an artfully imagined work of fiction that is based on meticulous research and personal knowledge, bringing life to the study of history."
It's Great! Enjoy and Cheers, Lynnie
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Ward Trotter
Trad climber
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Apr 20, 2016 - 06:54pm PT
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This has been a year of re-reads for me. Currently I'm 150 pages into "The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill" by William Manchester, the excellent biography of Winston Churchill.
This time around I can much better appreciate the historical reach of Churchill's life . Born in 1974 during the high point of Victorian England, the span of his life encompassed that nation as the preeminent Imperial power, only to arrive to the edge of ruin, and after rescue from that ignoble state to the dissolution of its longstanding colonial reach , then eventually to second class status among the global powers.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Apr 20, 2016 - 07:04pm PT
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Thanks for the share Ward Trotter. I will check it out!
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