Copy
Friends,
 
Thanks so much to everyone who has recently signed up for this list and to those who've shared the recommendations with friends and colleagues. Since my last email, I've read some excellent books, including one of my new all-time favorites. I hope you find a few that are of interest. Enjoy the fall!
 
One Breath: Freediving, Death, and the Quest to Shatter Human Limits by Adam Skolnick - Did you know there are people who can inhale one massive breath, dive 300+ feet below the ocean’s surface, then swim back to the top, mostly unscathed? I didn’t, and I’m usually in the know when it comes to such oddballs. One Breath is an overview of the sport of freediving, and it explores the activity from every angle—its history, physiology, training techniques, mental aspects, and current competitive landscape.  While the book focuses primarily on Nick Mevoli, a freediving prodigy who ultimately pushes beyond his limits, it also profiles many of the sport’s top competitors, an intriguing and diverse cast of characters. As an interesting side note, I started messing around with some of the breathing techniques described in this book and easily held my breath for 3:15! Crazy stuff that I will continue to explore. [For more ocean adventure, I’ll re-recommend this book from the March/April 2016 email: Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson]
 
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance - Growing up in eastern NC and spending plenty of time in Appalachia (as well as one particularly memorable stint deep in the Louisiana bayou), I’m very familiar with the demographic profiled in this book. But having the plight of poverty-stricken white people so intimately described by one of their own was eye-opening and disturbing even to me—I can only imagine how shocked people less familiar with this culture (e.g. many of my neighbors here in Boulder, CO) would be. The author grew up in one of the poorest parts of Appalachia, with an opioid-addicted mother and no father, yet he managed to claw his way out, eventually graduating from Yale law school. This would be a fascinating story at any time, but it’s especially important at this juncture in our country's history. Check out this WSJ book review for a more detailed analysis by a person who actually knows how to recommend books. [People may think I’m joking, but the cult classic documentary The Dancing Outlaw also gives a surprisingly accurate portrayal of life in the “holler."
 
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan - No exaggeration, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s part memoir and part adventure travel narrative, and it is written in a style so beautiful and engaging that I found myself re-reading pages and passages multiple times—I never do that, nor do I use the word “beautiful” to describe anything. The author is a war reporter and staff writer for The New Yorker who has lived a fascinating, adventurous life. From his childhood in California and Hawaii, a multi-year, around-the-world surf trip, teaching English in apartheid-oppressed South Africa, and his early career in San Francisco, surfing has been the common thread that connects all aspects of his life. He describes surfing and the ocean in ways that are amazing, artistic, and accurate, yet he somehow never goes overboard with flowery or pompous language—unexpected for anyone from The New Yorker. Even if you have no interest in surfing, you’ll love this book. It’s long with small print, but I never once found my attention drifting. I just wanted a fun surf adventure story, and I ended up with a Pulitzer Prize-winning work of art. It’s amazing. BUY IT! [My two other favorite surf books are In Search of Captain Zero: A Surfer’s Road Trip Beyond the End of the Road by Allan Weisbecker and Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer’s Quest to Find Zen on the Sea by Jaimal Yogis.]
 
Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney After nearly a decade of struggling to figure out original ways to accurately describe ranches, rivers, and western landscapes, this book was a godsend. More of a reference book than prose, it’s a comprehensive catalog of over 850 terms that describe America’s natural features. Even better, the terms’ original definitions were composed by some of our best contemporary writers, folks like Jon KrakauerCharles Frazier, and many more. I’ve caught myself looking up one word, and then continuing to read, page after page, because it’s all just so interesting. Highly recommended for anyone like me who thrashes through the writing process. [I was turned on to the book by Stephen Rinella, one of the modern-day masters when it comes to describing the natural world. His book American Buffalo: The Search for a Lost Icon is one of my all-time favorites.]
 
End of Plenty: The Race to Feed a Crowded World by Joel K Bourne Jr. - The author is from my hometown and has had a distinguished career writing for National Geographic—most notably, he warned of New Orleans’ hurricane vulnerability in 2004, just 10 months prior to Katrina’s wrath.  In the End of Plenty, he lays out a balanced history of industrial agriculture, then goes on to scare the bejesus out of the reader with numerous examples of how the world is going to run alarmingly short on food if we remain on our present (population, political, technological) trajectory. Thankfully, the second half of the book is a series of optimistic, hopeful stories of individuals and companies altering the doomsday trajectory through innovative and sustainable agriculture that can be applied on a global scale. It’s dense, well researched, and thought provoking, but written in a fun style that you’d expect from a National Geographic reporter.
 
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo - I don’t know that I’d call it “life-changing” and it’s certainly not “magic,” but after reading this book, I went absolutely nuts decluttering. My wife and daughter were out of town for the weekend, so I spent two full days ridding myself of accumulated junk—I gave a pile to Goodwill, recycled at least 100 pounds of paper, and organized everything else into what seems to be a sustainable system. Keep in mind, I’m no pack rat and purposefully don’t have a lot of junk, so I was amazed at how much I was able to eliminate using Kondo’s system.  There are plenty of weird/silly ideas in the book (she seems to think socks are alive), but it convinced me to spend a weekend cleaning instead of having fun in the mountains, so I have to recommend it.
 
---
Thanks again for subscribing to my bimonthly book recommendations.  I've discovered most of my all-time favorite books through suggestions from friends like you, so the whole point of this email is to encourage more discussions about good books.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions, and feel free to forward this email to any of your friends who may be interested.
 
If you were forwarded this email and want to receive future editions, you can either sign up here or send me an email (edroberson@gmail.com).  One email, every other month with a few books that I’ve recently read, enjoyed, and highly recommend.
 
Thanks,
 
Ed 






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
Mountain & Prairie · 2316 N Wahsatch Ave · #102 · Colorado Springs, CO 80907 · USA

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp