|
|
|
Vol. 38, No. 18 |
 |
2-20-2008 Booktalk, 2/21/08
I listed 14 of my favorite books. It was very hard to limit this to just five or even ten for that matter. I have been someone that has read since I was first taught how. I even had my own library when I was in grade school and I would check out my Hardy Boys Mystery Series to my friends. Of course there were late charges!!
Group One: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, The Source by James Michener, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (and almost anything else by Vonnegut), Watership Down by Richard Adams, 1984 by George Orwell, Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy, and Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Group Two: T. Rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez, A Sad and Terrible Blunder by Roger Darling, Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, Collapse by Jared Diamond, Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle, and The Prize by Daniel Yergin. Group One books are those that I have found entertaining for different reasons. I am a cowboy from Wyoming, having been raised in a family where both Mother’s and Father’s sides were ranchers.I still have a small ranch in Wyoming where I have five horses and continue to help my neighbors with cattle drives during the summer. So Lonesome Dove is an obvious favorite. A great saga of the American West with incredible character development played out on a wide geographical stage from Texas to Montana.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a great philosophical journey in search of quality. A worthy goal. I did not learn anything about working on my Harley from this book but I learned a lot about my soul. The Source almost convinced me to be an archeologist. Then I realized that digging in the dirt in 100-plus temperature is not terribly different than digging postholes with a set of jobbers. Breakfast of Champions. I enjoy all of Vonnegut’s writings. I have never analyzed why. I just can’t seem to put one of his books down when I start reading. I suppose I liked Watership Down and 1984 for many of the same reasons that I like Vonnegut. Hunt for Red October and Jurassic Park appeal to my interest in science and techno thrillers. Group Two books are more related to my academic interests. T. Rex and The Crater of Doom is a great story of scientific discovery written like a mystery. It is one I recommend to all of my students because of the extremely careful nature of the scientific research that took place prior to any publication. That does not happen often enough these days. Students need to know the amount and quality of work that goes into quality research.
Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse are written by a geographer and bring together some really important concerns and explanations for understanding past and current conditions on our planet. In Collapse the author also demonstrates that things can change rapidly if we fail to pay attention to the important issues. I use both of these in classroom discussion. The Prize is the story of the oil industry around the world. A truly great book that provides incredible amounts of historical and geographic information about an industry that continues to be so significant in our modern era. I continue to use parts of the PBS series in my classes to provide historical background to today’s situation. Arc of Justice, by one of Ohio State’s own, is a superb book to better understand the long struggle for racial equality in the United States. This is just a great book that everyone should read. A Sad and Terrible Blunder is an excellent historical geography of the events leading up to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The author provides maps, air photos, topographic sheets and first hand information from his walking the very ground that Custer and his command covered leading up to that battle. I have been interested in this material for a number of years. I have read perhaps every major book that deals with the Little Big Horn Battle. My ranch in Wyoming is just six miles from an extinct volcano today known as Inyan Kara Mountain that has Custer’s name carved on the top, put there in1874 during the Black Hills expedition by a member of his party, George Reynolds. In my opinion this is the best and most complete book every written on that battle. Who is your favorite character in literature? Augustus McCrae, of course. He is one of the two main characters in Lonesome Dove. He is a true man of the west and a great cowboy. My idol.
What is the last book you’ve bought? The Knife Man by Wendy Moore and The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston. Purchased at the same time.
What’s your “guilty pleasure” – a book you love but don’t often talk about because it’s not “serious” literature? I guess I don't feel “guilty” about anything I have read. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks was a very good, quick read. A wonderful story with considerable emotional content. But I do not consider it a serious bit of literature. I have read other of his works and like them as well for enjoyable reading. Message in a Bottle comes to mind.
What “important book” have you not read and why haven't you read it? I suppose hundreds but I cannot name one. As a general rule if I think a book is important to read, I read it.
What book would you most want your kids to read? what would you want them NOT to read? I do not have children, but if I did I would want them to read Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. By junior high I would want them to read Arc of Justice.
I have never considered what I would not want children to read. Not having them I have not had to cross that bridge.
What classic novel was a disappointment to you? Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. You have to ask me what is disappointing about anything written by Conrad? I found it impossible to finish.
If you were to ban one book, what would it be and why? I am not interested in banning any books.
What genre of literature do you prefer to read (history, fiction, biography, etc) and why? I enjoy a lot of different genre as you can discern from my list of favorites. I read for pleasure and I read for academic interest. As one gets older interests change. All of the books on my list struck a chord so that I still recall them today and remember them favorably.
My big problem is that I am too busy reading things I have to read to read everything that I want to read. I have always thought that when I retire I will have time to do that but I will probably get all curled up with that great book list and fall asleep.
What magazines do you subscribe to and why? I do not subscribe to any, although I do get a magazine from the American Paint Horse Association and one from Harley Davidson. I do read the New Yorker and Newsweek over lunch which people leave in the faculty lounge.
Booktalk is a literary column that appears regularly in onCampus.To nominate someone for a future column, e-mail harris.587@osu.edu.
|
Bill Ackerman