An Odyssey

Mendelsohn, Daniel. An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic. New York: Knopf 2017. Print.

First Sentences:

One January evening a few years ago, just before the beginning of the spring term in which I was going to be teaching an undergraduate seminar on the Odyssey, my father, a retired research scientist who was then aged eighty-one, asked me, for reasons I thought I understood at the time, if he might sit in on the course, and I said yes.

Description:

When his 81-year-old father asks if he can sit in on his freshman seminar at Bard College on the Odyssey, Daniel Mendelsohn agrees. The resulting experiences from this intimate class and father-son interactions are the basis for an surprisingly compelling book, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic.

What...could studying the ancient classics possibly teach students in the present day? ... Human nature..."[P]hilology,' from the Greek for "love of language" -- was nothing less than a means to a profound understanding of the "intellectual, sensual, and moral powers of man."

There are actually three plot lines to this book, each equally thought-provoking. First there is the class and its discussion of the epic poem, the Odyssey by Homer (or by several authors over the centuries who compile separate stories into one work). The seminar provides an in-depth analysis of the adventure poem with fascinating background of the Trojan War and its principle characters. There are translations and definitions of significant Greek text to fully understand the interesting implications of specific phrases. 

The one word in the English language that combines all of the various resonances that belong severally to "voyage" and "journey" and "travel" -- the distance but also the time, the time but also the emotion, the arduousness and the danger -- comes not from Latin but from Greek. That word is "odyssey."

During classroom discussions, Mendelsohn's father doesn't just sit quietly in a corner listening as Mendelsohn anticipated. Instead, he interjects his crusty opinions that often challenge or even contradict his son's direction in the seminar, with freshmen joining in with their opinions.

The second interwoven narrative gives background of the early home life of the Mendelsohn father and son including the prickly history between the two that crops up in the author's mind during comments made by Mendelsohn's father. Their relationship was challenging to say the least, with the precise mathematician father distancing himself from his gay son and setting high standards for behavior,

Finally, after the seminar concludes, father and son embark on a cruise that follows Odysseus' voyages through the Mediterranean. After such a testy seminar experience, how will these two survive living together on a boat for several weeks?

Now that I am old...I guess I can see the part about the importance of being out there and trying things even if you fail. You have to keep moving, at least. The worst thing is to go stale. Once that happens, you're finished.

I knew very little about the Odyssey before reading An Odyssey, so would have been satisfied with just the explanation and discussion of the poem. But having the other two tracts of an Odyssey made this a much rich  experience for me. As father and son's characters slowly reveal themselves, grow and falter, they take on the importance and adventure of Odysseus himself.

And surely, these two men along with Odysses, embark on life-changing odysseys. The Odyssey we learn is about Odysseus' son Telemachus' journey to find and understand his father, Odysseus, just as Mendelsohn begins to discover and understand his own father. 

I was realizing for the first time, how much the Odyssey knew about this ostensibly trivial but profound real-life phenomenon, the way that small things between people can be the foundation of the greatest intimacy...When you have those things, those things that couple have, they keep you connected long after everything else becomes unrecognizable.

A great read, one I really enjoyed thoroughly, definitely worth your time on so many levels.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Homer. The Odyssey  

New, lean, fast-paced translation of the epic poem

The Unconquered

Wallace, Scott. The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes. New York: Crown. 2011. Print.

First Sentences:

We found fresh tracks in the morning, footprints in the soggy mud, adult size 8 or 9, and no more than a few hours old. 

They pointed in the same direction our column was headed, deep into the farthest reaches of the Amazon jungle.

Description:

Small tribes of ancient people dwell deep in the forests of the Amazon, living apart from the modern world through their own choice. And why not? Every previous contact with man has led to their losing trees and homes, contracting fatal illnesses, or being enslaved to work on rubber plantations. They moved deeper and deeper into isolated portions to preserve their lives and culture. 

But how long can they remain isolated, unconquered, living in a vast, untapped source of valuable trees, acreage for grazing, and land for roads to join the vast reaches between cities in Brazil?

Scott Wallace in his gripping true adventure, The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes, tells the peril of these tribes and the efforts made to protect them. Recently, Brazil set aside huge tracts of rain forests on a provisional basis as a "preserve" for these tribes, a buffer zone that permits no outsiders. The  hope is that the tribes can re-establish their numbers and culture away from modern man. 

But is this program having success? If it isn't, there are plenty of people eager to have these lands opened for development with roads, buildings, mining, and deforestation to create grazing lands.

Author Wallace joins a dangerous expedition into this unknown region to observe the health and numbers of these tribes ...  a task made more difficult because the expedition members cannot come into physical contact with these tribes and risk impacting a tribe's health or culture. The expedition must travel for weeks up rivers and then hack the pathless jungle through the preserved land. Insects, snakes, torrential rain, starvation, and low morale plague them. Each step is a tremendous effort.

But they do find signs of one of these tribes, the Arrow People, along with warning signs left by the tribe to go no further. A closer approach might mean disaster to both sides. The Arrow People are notoriously quick to use their deadly curare poison blowguns and bows and arrows against all intruders. There is genuine fear among expedition members, but their commitment pushes them forward and closer to danger with each day.

Wallace gives a well-researched background on these tribes, the history of Brazil, the exploitation by plantation owners and missionaries, and the efforts by anthropologists to control this land. The unique culture of each isolated tribe is fascinating to learn about. Equally interesting are the efforts of the expedition members to find ways to survive the rigors of the jungle, fending off the boredom of eating monkey meat to sighting a giant anaconda in the river. They even drizzle a juice made from bark shavings into their eyes to give them a better 3-D look into the flat greenness of the jungle and even provide extra energy for their weary legs.

A thrilling, true life adventure with death and discovery awaiting the expedition members each day. 

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Adams, Mark. Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

Author Adams retraces the steps of ancient Incas through Peru to explore ancient cities. Along the way, this inexperienced hiker and historian uncovers tales of this ancient culture, the men who originally discovered it, and the future of these fragile cities. (previously reviewed here)

Blue Latitudes

Horwitz, Tony. Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before. New York: Holt. 2002. Print.

First Sentences:

When I was thirteen, my parents bought a used sailboat, a ten-foot wooden dory that I christened Wet Dream. 

For several summers, I tacked around the waters off Cape Cod, imagining myself one of the whalers who plied Nantucket Sound in the nineteenth century.

Description:

Author Tony Horwitz has a passion for Captain James Cook, the man who circumnavigated the world in a small wooden ship at a time when "roughly a third of the world's map remained blank, or filled with fantasies: sea monsters, Patagonian giants, imaginary continents." Horwitz decided to revisit the destinations written about by Cook during his three voyages, including stops in the Arctic, Antarctic, Alaska, Hawaii, Tahiti, Terra del Fuego, and other far-flung destinations.

The result of his historical travels is Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, a rollicking voyage and encounters with the people and places of Captain Cook's travels. Using Cook's diaries for inspiration and historical background. Horwitz and his Australian friend, fellow sailor, and general lay-about Roger Williamson, fly to each of Cook's ports and wander the land looking for traces of Cook while gathering the current views about the explorer from locals.

To prepare himself for this travel, Horwitz first spent one week working as a common seaman on a replica of Cook's ship, Endeavour. This ship was currently taking a round-the-world voyage and allowing volunteers to spend time living, working, and eating as Cook's crew did in the 1700s. Even for a sailor, the experience for Horwitz was daunting from scaling masts during storms to trying to sleep in a tiny, rocking hammock. Throughout the trip, Horwitz provides us with comparisons to what Cook's men endured for years at a time on the original voyages.

Surviving this test, Horwitz and Williamson fly (rather than sail) to Cook's destinations. Horwitz is fascinated that Cook's missions were for scientific rather than personal goals. Cook had set out in 1769 to record data from the Transit of Venus celestial occurrence, search for a new continent (Australia), and seek out a Northwest Passage for ship travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. His voyages took years, weathering storms, shipwrecks, and unruly crews. Cook demonstrated his leadership time and again by making his men leave the promiscuous women and warm air of Tahiti for less desirable destinations of cannibals, cold weather, and other deprivations while also trying to communicate with Tahitians, Maoris, Hawaiians, and other natives who had never seen white men before. 

Horwitz and Williamson compare what they find at each location with entries from Cook's diaries and biographers' writings, noting the changes in population, landscape,and attitudes towards Cook. With much time on their hands between transportation, the two men are able to interview locals and historians, read original documents, and explore native customs - and drink the local brews, of course.

Blue Latitudes is a fascinating, detailed, thoroughly researched history of explorer/scientist Cook and the world and people of the late 1700s and the European Industrial Revolution. It is also a detailed commentary of the changes, both positive and negative, Cook's voyages brought to those destinations and our world today as revealed to two modern explorers.

Cook not only redrew the map of the world, creating a picture of the globe much like the one we know today; he also transformed the West's image of nature and man. 

[P.S. On a related note, the wreck of Cook's original ship Endeavour might have been discovered off the New England coast. It was intentionally sunk during the American Revolution. Here's a link to this discovery and the story of the ship's life after Cook's voyages.]

Happy reading.

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Horwitz, Tony. A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America

Horwitz sets out to reenact the adventures of the Indians, explorers, and conquerors who set foot in the New World between 1492 and 1620, the era between the discovery by Columbus and the landing of the Pilgrims.

Honeymoon with My Brother

Wisner, Franz. Honeymoon with My Brother: A Memoir. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2009. Print

First Sentences:

Amid the pine tree windbreaks and foamy Pacific shore, Sea Ranch, California, is a wonderful place to be dumped.

The wild lilac and ill-tempered sea lions -- they'll distract your attention for at least a few minutes after the woman of your dreams leaves you at the altar. That, and a hell of a lot of booze.

Description:

What do you do when, just days before your are to be married, the woman on your dreams calls off your elaborate wedding? Well, if you are Franz Wisner and his support team of friends and family, you have a party anyway at the wedding location and then go on the pre-paid honeymoon trip - with your brother. The details of this true, funny experience of travel and re-connection are wonderfully recorded in Honeymoon with My Brother: A Memoir.

Author Wisner, (aka "Wiz") is at first devastated by the break up with fiance Annie, but when best friends call the wedding guests to have them come anyways to the San Francisco resort by the sea, the party is on. Also, there's a spur-of-the-moment ridiculous ceremony between Wiz and his elementary friend John. 

Five days later, after a demotion from his high-power job, Wiz contacts his free spirit brother Kurt and convinces him to take the first-class honeymoon trip with him They are two dissimilar brothers, distant and unfamiliar with each other. But somehow they come to understand (or at least tolerate) each other throughout the ensuing two-week journey to Costa Rica.

I had no idea how we'd travel together, but got a glimpse before we left LAX on the overnight flight to San Jose. 

"Come on, Franz, let's go scam our way into the United Airlines lounge," he ordered as we waited for the flight.

During that trip, they reevaluate their lives and decide they need a radical change. So they quit their jobs, sell all their possessions including their houses to undertake another trip together. This one, mostly unscheduled and without guidebooks, lasts two years and covers 53 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.

We agreed that prepaid hotel reservations and prearranged tours limited our flexibility. Vacations, like life, needed room for improvisation. No more, we swore.

Honeymoon with My Brother is a story of relationships, disappointments, travel, and the reemergence of the human spirit for Wiz and brother Kurt. Faced with the challenges of lost passports, foreign lands and people, these brothers reconnect with people through conversations, recommendations for food and sites, and thoughts of love and life.

Wisner's style is casual, but thorough, as he records their details and conversations during their wandering adventures around the world. The "unexpected" in people and experiences become the norm for them as they begin to embrace the unknown with open arms and eyes.

A thoroughly delightful, humorous, and thoughtful book with characters you want to follow forever. Fortunately, there is a second book of Wisner's later travels, How the World Makes Love ... And What It Taught a Jilted Groom, where Franz travels the world searching for the meaning of love to the people of different cultures. Can he ever recover from his broken wedding and find love again? You'll just have to keep reading.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Wisner, Franz. How the World Makes Love ... And What It Taught a Jilted Groom  

Continued travels with Franz as he talks with people worldwide to understand what love means to them and how he can recover from his shattered love life.

Easter Island: The Mystery Solved

Heyerdahl, Thor. Easter Island: The Mystery Solved. New York: Random House. 1989. Print.

First Sentences:

Easter Island exists.

Hidden in the blue. And it is, as you suspect, the hiding place of mysteries.

Description:

Everyone knows about the enormous stone heads staring out to sea from the cliffs of Easter Island. But did you know that many of these heads actually have huge bodies below them, revealed only when centuries of dirt and ash were dug away? And that some head wear huge circles of red stone like massive crowns? And that these images somehow "walked" from miles from their volcanic quarries to their pedestals on seaside cliffs?

And everyone has heard of Thor Heyerdahl and his 3,000 mile voyage in the balsa and reed raft from South America to the Polynesian Islands to prove people from the Americas settled those islands. Now Heyerdahl is back to explore the stone carvings and culture found on the far-flung Easter Island, hoping to discover answers that have eluded scientists and anthropologists for centuries. 

The results of his historical research and his fascinating personal explorations are vividly shared in his book, Easter Island: The Mystery Solved. And are his findings revolutionary! 

After narrating the official history of the island using records from the first European navigators and even Captain James Cook, Heyerdahl painstakingly pieces together the oral history of Easter Island from the locals themselves (the islanders had no written language).

His findings show the island was settled first from the West by sailors from the Americas rather than by Polynesians from the East as was traditionally thought. Statues and stone walls show a strong resemblance to carvings in Peru, but not those found in Polynesia. Plants and ancient pollen traces reveal vegetation on the island common in South America, but again not found in Polynesia. And ocean currents and trade winds running west to east have been shown by Heyerdahl to pull voyagers from Peru right to the shores of Easter Island.

Unfortunately, none of the locals knew the origins of the statues, nor who built the roads and walls, nor who wrote the untranslated rongo rongo script found on wooden tablets. The islanders are very secretive of the few ancient items they have found, hiding small idols and other relics deep in caves throughout the island, rarely showing them to strangers. But Heyerdahl persists, winning the trust of the locals to uncover their secrets and help them understand their own culture.

Heyerdahl scientifically pursues and charts these mysteries then tracks down answers. He discovers (then demonstrates on an actual sEaster Island statue) how the huge images were transported using only ropes (the island is treeless); why some statues have white eyes inserted into their faces and others are sightless; why some images are only heads and others are complete bodies that have been buried over the centuries; and eventually who were the first settlers who built the images and what happened to those cultures that left current populations completely in the dark about their own history.

Easter Island is a thoroughly detailed story cleverly and breathtakingly told of the many mysteries unraveled by Heyerdahl and other scientists. Under Heyerdahl's probing, digging, and experimentation those long-buried secrets are explained to the world in patient, clear writings and a story-telling style of narration. 

Originally I thought I would just flip through this book and check out the many pictures of this island and images, but immediately found myself riveted by Heyerdahl's clear storytelling and discoveries that I simply could not put it down. A wonderful book that is very highly recommended.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Heyerdahl, Thor. Kon Tiki

The classic true-life adventure of the author and five men who constructed a balsa and reed raft, then sailed 3,000 miles from Peru to the Polynesian Islands to prove those islands had originally been settled by a culture of skilled boatmen from South America.

Road Swing

Rushin, Steve. Road Swing: One Fan's Journey into the Soul of America's Sports. New York: Doubleday. 1998. Print.

First Sentences:

"'Working press?'" a Pittsburgh Pirate once said to me with a sneer. "That's sorta like 'jumbo shrimp.'".

"My favorite oxymoron is 'guest host,'" I replied chummily....But he didn't know. And he didn't care. In fact, he thought I was calling him a moron, so he calmly alit from his clubhouse stool and chloroformed me with his game socks.

Description:

Maybe  not everyone is into sports, but great sports writing is something to be included on all reading lists. Humor, passion, history, statistics, and human interest abound in most sports writing and this week's book is no exception.

Steve Rushin, a writer for Sports Illustrated, on the eve of his 30th birthday decides to take a 22,000-mile road trip to visit the famous (in his mind) sports venues in America. His resulting chronicle is Road Swing: One Fan's Journey into the Soul of America's Sports, a wickedly funny, personal look at the oddities that make up the culture of athletic contests in America. 

I had not fixed itinerary, except to travel the nation in two grand loops, like the grand loops of the lowercase l's that punctuate the $995 card-show signature of Bill Russell.

Traveling to Cooperstown, the Field of Dreams, Churchill Downs, Lambeau Field, and the Talladega race track, his meandering tour also stops at Mr. Rushmore, Yellowstone, Graceland, and the Grand Canyon. He visits such luminous stops as the Richard Petty Museum, the Celebrity Softball Blowout at Yale Field, the Louisville Slugger plant, and a National Inline Basketball League game. And he finds a man named "Cleveland Brown" in the phone book and calls him to discuss the Browns sudden move to Baltimore.

I bet you are saying to yourself, "Boy, all that sounds intriguing and is probably very funny," and you would be exactly right. To further entice you, here are some excerpts to give you a feel for his observations and dry wit style:

When India looked to be hopelessly out of the [cricket] match, despondent fans set fire to the stadium. The match was called on account of arson. 

Because of the state's singular lack of diversions for young millionaire athletes, Wisconsin is the home of four NFL training camps.

The [Green Bay] Packers were nicknamed the Packers because their first uniforms were donated by the Acme Meat-Packing Company, the same outfit that still supplies arms to Wile E. Coyote.

Passing through Bluffton, South Carolina, in a horizontal rain, I considered stopping at the Squat 'N' Gobble, but feared its name might be more accurate the other way around.

I fetched a sandwich at Sophie's Deli [in Birmingham, Alabama]: ... I wasn't sure what it was made of -- to judge by the taste, I'd guess the chrome bumpers of American automobiles manufactured between 1949 and 1976 -- but it didn't really matter.

[Florence, Kentucky call to hotel room service]: "I'd like a cheeseburger, please -- medium." And the most pleasant voice on the other end of the line replied with great regret: "I'm very sorry, sir, but we only have one size cheeseburger.

At one time, St. Louis was "The soccer capital of the United States..." Granted, this is a bit like being called "the entertainment capital of Switzerland" or "the fashion capital of North Korea."

I booked a room [in Irving, Texas] at the La Quinta Inn -- La Quinta being Spanish for "next to Denny's."

I-35 [from Lorado, TX to Duluth, MN] has been called "the nation's spinal cord," and given the road's conditions, America has come serious neurological disorders. The road had more rutting than most National Geographic documentaries.

In thirty minutes, the [Grand Canyon sunset] sky exhibited every shade of eye shadow worn by waitresses in the Southwest.

It isn't true that you can blink and miss Idaho while driving across the state's panhandle, though I strongly recommend that you try.

You get the idea. I loved it and hope you will too. His goals were clear and his dogged pursuit of them hilarious. 

I wanted all of my lunches to be racing-striped in ballpark mustard, noisily dispensed from a flatulent squeeze bottle. I wanted to eat all of my dinners from a Styrofoam fast-food clambox that yawned in my lap while I drove seventy miles an hours and steered with my knees. I wanted all of my afternoons to dwindle down in the backward-marching time of a scoreboard -- :10, :09, :08 ... -- that physics-defying device that allows a person lucky enough to mark his or her time by it to grow younger. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Bouton, Jim. Ball Four

The first and best insider look at baseball, players, and games as told by irreverent pitcher Jim Bouton. Called one of the best sports book written.

The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty

Vida, Vendela. The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty. New York: HarperCollins. 2015. Print.

First Sentences:

When you find your seat you glance at the businessman sitting next to you and decide he's almost handsome.

This is the second leg of your trip from Miami to Casablanca, and the distance traveled already has muted the horror of the last two months. 

Description:

Sometimes just the title of a book can make you want to at least skim the first sentences. Such is the case with Vendela Vida's exquisitely exotic and twisty novel, The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty. What a fantastic title!

The unnamed narrator, checking into a hotel in Casablanca, reaches down to find her backpack has been stolen - with all her money, passport, credit cards, laptop and other vital possessions. The local police seem incompetent but then suddenly they announce they have recovered her backpack and all possessions.

Sounds great for her, huh? Unfortunately, the item they present her with is certainly a backpack, just not her backpack, although the photo on the accompanying passport slightly resembles the narrator. There are identification papers and credit cards in the satchel, along with some money. With only a little hesitation, the narrator accepts the backpack and checks into a luxury hotel using her new name and identification.

She embraces the new name and persona until circumstances and her own actions force her to abandon that one and take on an entirely different name and identity.

There is more to her, we learn, than merely a chameleon-like traveler assuming false identities. She clearly has had a trauma in her life, an event that has driven her to Casablanca on vacation, an event that makes her reluctant to return home. Using a new identification seems to fit her unpredictable existence ... until that one falls apart as well.

She is an adept survivor, one step ahead of discovery as a fraud and one leap into another adventure of lies, impersonations, and new adventures. Gripping to the very last page, believe me. A great, unexpectedly engrossing and fascinating read.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Highsmith, Patricia. The Talented Mr. Ripley

A cool, calculating man murders a friend simply to assume his identity and wealth, managing to stay one step ahead of the inquiring police force. Completely, delightfully evil and unexpected in its twists and turns.

Science Fiction from Stanislaw Lem

Lem Stanislaw. The Star Diaries. New York: Harcourt. 1976. Print
                                  
          and also:  Tales of Prix the Pilot. New York: Harcourt. 1979. Print

First Sentences:

It was on a Monday, April second -- I was cruising in the vicinity of Betelgeuse--when a meteor no larger than a lima bean pierced the hull, shattered the drive regulator and part of the rudder, as a result of which the rocket lost all maneuverability.

I put on my spacesuit, went outside and tried to fix the mechanism, but found I couldn't possibly attach the spare rudder -- which I'd had the foresight to bring along -- without the help of another man.

          Ijon Tichy - The Star Diaries 

"Cadet Pirx!" 

Bullpen's voice snapped him out of his daydreaming. He had just had visions of a two-crown piece lying tucked away in the fob pocket of his old civvies, the ones stashed at the bottom of his locker.

           Pirx - Tales of Pirx the Pilot 

Description:

Not sure how many people today know the works of science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem, and that is a shame. Lem was a Polish writer mostly during 1960 -1990 and is best known for his futuristic novel Solaris which was made into two films. 

His work is unlike most American science fiction, a genre he despised for its authors' choices of simplistic stories, dull dialogue, and goal of making money. Lem felt science fiction should explore more important themes such as the emptiness of space, the difficulty of communication between different (and the same) species, the unknown factors of robots, and the folly of man trying to put his mark on the vastness of the universe.

Here are two of Lem's short story collections to get you started. Each follows the space adventures of one rocket pilot as he grapples with the oddities of the universe and the beings and machines that he finds.

The Star Diaries  (a sample from the stories)

• Long-time, seen-it-all pilot Ijon Tichy (picture Harrison Ford as Han Solo in Star Wars) finds that, needing an additional person to make a vital repair to his rocket, decides to enter a series of vortexes where time is muddled. He meets a man who resembles himself who has advice on how to fix the problem, but Tichy feels it is simply a dream. Only later does he realize it was actually himself visiting him from the next day. Unfortunately, by that time it is the next day and he becomes that figure, trying to warn his sleeping yesterday self while dealing with his image from the next day. And the confusion gets worse and worse as the days unfold and new Tichy's from the future appear to those from the past.

• In another story, Tichy is the representative from Earth seeking membership in the United Planets. Rather than the ceremony being a formality, he finds he has to defend all of Mankind's wars against men and their limited advances in science. The surprise conclusion results when the actual origins of man are discovered.

• Tichy also is sent to a world populated only by robots who have revolted against humans. They have taught themselves the basics of human society, including language based on the only books they found: Chaucerian English. 

Tales of Pirx the Pilot (a sample from the stories)

Pirx is a young, brash pilot just learning the ropes from Cadet School to his early patrol voyages. A very likable character who seems to draw trouble due to his inexperience, laziness, or shortcuts.

• The opening story shows his life in Cadet School and his final test flight to a moon orbit. Unfortunately everything goes wrong, from pesky flies to a loose electrical circuit panel, and emergency controls that are locked. Of course, he has forgotten to bring the legendary crib sheet secretly used by all cadets for every emergency.

• Pirx, later sent to explore the disappearance of two qualified pilots while on routine patrol, notices on his screen an illusive light with incredible speed and maneuverability.  He gives chase, hesitates, retreats, and chases again while the light stays just out of reach. What is it and what does it want? Pirx must reason out the answer before his fate is sealed like the other two pilots.

Both Tichy and Pirx are interestingly human in their desires, reasoning, and avoidance of work when possible. Both pilots face the emptiness and vastness of space, yet find it a universe populated by unusual beings and challenges. Whether trying to communicate with other humans or species, working with malfunctioning robots, or delving into worlds of unusual populations, Tichy and Pirx gamely take on adventure after adventure of peculiarities and illogic. 

They must slowly piece together each situation and figure out answers to complex questions that are right in front of them. The problems are both complex and simple, but always enthralling and exciting. Of course, there is always technology that is good, bad, and indifferent.

On the one hand, we have no choice but to trust in our technology. With it we would never have set foot on the Moon. But ... sometimes we have to pay a high price for that trust.

For those new to Stanislaw Lem, I hope you give him a try. His is a completely different world of sci-fi, one that challenges as it makes you laugh. Highly recommended.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles

Chronological history in short stories of man's exploration and colonization of Mars, with all the richness and tragedy of life on an ancient world. (previously reviewed here)

Weir, Andy. The Martian

An astronaut, inadvertantly left on the the surface of Mars, must figure out a way to survive alone until a rescue ship can arrive months in the future.  (previously reviewed here) 

The Last Great Walk

Curtis, Wayne. The Last Great Walk: The True Story of a 1909 Walk from New York to San Francisco, and Why It Matters Today. New York: Rodale. 2014. Print.

First Sentences:

At twenty-five minutes past four on a clear, chilly late winter afternoon in 1909, an elderly man walked out of the main New York post office, opposite City Hall in lower Manhattan, and paused for a moment on the uppermost step.

Description:

Wayne Curtis in his fascinating book The Last Great Walk: The True Story of a 1909 Walk from New York to San Francisco, and Why It matters Today interweaves the facts of Edward Payson Weston's 3,900 mile walk across the United States in 1909 along with significant related topics such as how man began to walk, styles of walking, the development of quality roads, the conflict between pedestrians and automobiles, and the current state of walking in today's society.

Edward Weston was known as The Walking Man for his many long distance walks throughout his life. His first walk resulted from losing a bet that Stephen Douglas would win the 1860 presidency election. The loser (Weston) had to walk 430 miles from Boston to Washington DC in 10 days and witness the presidential inauguration. Weston, although at first doubtful he could complete that distance, actually found the walk an easy, enjoyable experience. He fully intended to walk back Boston a few weeks later but had to alter his plans due to the outbreak of the Civil War that made walking on roads in that area dangerous.

Over the next years he walked 5,000 miles in England and 1,200 miles from Portland, Maine to Chicago in 30 days on a $10,000 bet. He was a showman who advertised his challenges to raise money and also see the flocks of people who cheered him along the way.

But his biggest challenge and the subject of this book was to walk from New York to San Francisco in 100 days. It would require approximately 8.2 million steps - about 80,000 per day (compared with the average American today who takes about 5,000 steps daily). Weston would have to walk over rural and non-existent roads as only 6% of US roads were paved in 1909). He trained by walking 25 - 30 miles each day for months.

The weather was consistently horrendous throughout the journey, with stiff winds that blew him off the road, snow, rain, and mud; all difficult elements that make him re-think his decision to start the trip in winter to commemorate his 70th birthday. That's right, he was 70 years old when he set out from New York City in 1909.

He braved walking across a train trestle (after being reassured that no trains were coming) which spanned the Missouri River. It was one mile long and 150' high, giving him frightful nightmares for days after. In the covered snow tunnels in Montana, he had to press himself flat against the wall as trains shrieked past him only one foot away. Sometimes he walked 35 miles without seeing a house where he could get rest and food after his accompanying car broke down and had to be abandoned. 

In the end, he averaged 38 miles a day over the 3,925 miles, including 2,500 miles walking on railroad tracks to avoid the ankle-deep muddy roads. He walked 1,800 miles alone without a support vehicle, wore out three pairs of shoes, and estimated his money spent as $2,500 (about $60,000 today). To offset costs, he sold photos of himself, gave lectures along the way, and received free lodgings and meals from hotels which he promoted in his articles and interviews.

But The Last Great Walk has much more to offer besides this fascinating man and his travels. Woven into Weston's walk is detailed research into the invention and rise in popularity of automobiles, walking styles, and the dangers of walking (in 1909, 60 people were killed and 1,200 injured in Chicago alone). Author Curtis explains the term "jaywalking," created to convince people not to walk so randomly in streets, has nothing to do with birds. 

["Jay" was] slang for a rural rube or country bumpkin: Only someone who didn't know the ways of the city would cross in the middle of a block ... framing the debate to make urbane city residents fearful of being thought a hick.

While these details might sound like a distraction from the Weston trans-America walk, they actually add tremendously to our understanding of the world of 1909, the magnitude of Weston's feat, and the progress of walking, roads, and automobiles. I found I loved reading these details as much as the trek itself. 

In the end I simply enjoyed following this small, determined 70-year-old man and his quests to walk longer and longer distances to promote health and to just show everyone he could do it at any age. His philosophy was always the same: pedestrianism is something all people can benefit from. After his second cross-country walk, he sums\med it up:

"Anyone can walk....It's free, like the sun by day and the stars by night. All we have to do is get on our legs, and the roads will take us everywhere."

Weston might have been the inspiration for cancer survivor Thomas Cantley who just last week completed his own 4,000 mile trans-America walk while pushing a 6' ball to raise awareness for testicular cancer. Long distance walking clearly still has the power to captivate the attention and imagination of casual walkers like me. Well done, Weston and Cantley! And well done to author Curtis for resurrecting Weston's story of determination.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

This is a little more humorous long walk as writer Bill Bryson attempts the 2,100 mile Appalachian Trail. Along with his cranky companion Katz (who throws out all their food in the first few miles because it was too heavy), Bryson comments on nature, the people they encounter, and the joys and sorrows of hiking for distance..

White, Dan. The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind - and Almost Found Myself - on the Pacific Crest Trail (P.S.)

Young couple other decide to test their lack of skills against the 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Train on the West Coast snaking up from Mexico to Canada. Love, insanity, harsh words, and cactus-eating occurs.