Compulsively Aimless

I have a lot of books on roads, road trips and road adventures.  Trying to organize them into categories can be difficult.  There are cross country road trips, meandering road trips, and road races.  Then there are the purposes for which people travel roads---pilgrims set out to make a new life.  When I finished law school, the greatest freedom I could think of was to get in my car and drive across country.  Car + 26 year old, and lots of roads meant freedom.  That trip was part pilgrimage. I retraced a 1919 trip my maternal grandfather made at the same age.  I tried unsuccessfully to publish a book out of the adventure. This group is picked for some of the most adventurous road trips with a little history thrown in. 1.  The Wild Roads: The Story of Transcontinental Motoring , T.R. Nicholson (1969).   Stories of motoring firsts in the early age of the automobile.  Nicholson's expertise in early automobile adventures hit the sw...

Still waiting to travel there.     1.  Coming into the Coutnry , John McPhee  (1977).   The only one of the list I've read.  A masterpiece of McPhee's stellar work.  He has a knack for finding interesting characters and adventures.  Conveys a sense of a country unto itself.  Bought used State Department book store. 2.  Disappearance: A Map, A Meditation on Death and Loss in the High Latitudes, Sheila Nickerson (1996).   Bought used in The Raven Bookstore, Amherst, MA. 3.  Going to Extremes , Joe McGuiness (1980).  Bought used, can't remember where. 4.  Birthplace of the Winds: Adventures in Alsaska's Islands of Fire and Ice , John Bowermaster (2000).  Bought used, can't remember where.   5.  Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings , Jonathan Raban (1999).   Bought used, can't remember where.   6.  Glacier Pilot , Beth Day (1970).   Bought used, Warrenton Library Bo...

"To be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice" -- Marcus Aurelius   Why keep a journal or diary?  Writing to an audience of one.  I was given a blank journal for high school graduation and have written in it since.  1.  The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarist , Edited by Irene and Alan Taylor (2000).   Organized for every day of the year from a rich set of sources--Pepys to Andy Warhol.   Bought new.   2.  A Book of One's Own: People and Their Diaries , Thomas Mallon (1984).    Chroniclers, travelers, confessors, and prisoners have all kept journals and for different reasons. This anthology samples some of each.  Bought used, can't remember where. 3.  Diary of Samuel Pepys (Modern Library).   The first great diarist.  Lord of the English Admiralty.  Lived thorough the Great Fire of London.   Hardback from the Modern L...

The golden age of flying was set off in 1927 by Charles Lindberg and carried on by Emelia Erhardt and others.  I have a few books from this era when flyers were devising new adventures. 1.   Gods of Tin: The Flying Years , James Salter (2004).  Salter graduated from West Point in 1945 and entered the Army Air Force, (later the U.S. Air Force).  A short gem of a book with memoirs from his training, that included losing his way over Pennsylvania and crashing into a house in Massachusetts.  He went onto to fly a tour of duty (100 missions) in Korea in F-86s.  Bought the book new from the author with his inscription during a book night of authors and maybe one of the best nights of my life. 2.   The Flying Carpet , Richard Halliburton (1932).   In 1931, adventurer--writer Halliburton hired a professional aviator to fly him around the world in an open cockpit bi-plane. In 18 months, Halliburton circumnavigated the globe, covering 33,660 miles and 3...

A section of myself dedicated to another author-adventurer--Tim Severin.  Severin's unusual career takes history out of the classroom and travels with a purpose--retracing great moments of history.  My shelf has about half his books.  There are plenty more.    1.  Tracking Marco Polo (1964).   By motorcycle from Venice to Central Asia retracing Marco Polo's route along the Silk Road.  Bought used but can't remember where.   2.  Explorers of the Mississippi (1968).   Severin starts his journey at Lake Itasca in a Birch bark canoe to tell the story of DeSoto and other European explorers of the Father of Waters. Bought used. 3.  The Oriental Adventure: Explorers of the East (1976).   Severin retraces paths of European explorers in Asia.  Lots of quality pictures and prints.  Bought used.   4.  The Brendan Voyage (1978) .  Severin sails a leather currach from Ireland to Newfoundl...

The carpets were works of art with a practical use.  The repeating  designs had a hypnotic effect.  I could feel an irrational urge          posses them, much like what bibliomaniacs must feel for books. -- Excerpt from Unknown Sands , John Kropf and blatant plug of self-promotion for my only book.   Carpets carry a world history in their weaves.  They have a power to tell stories and inspire.  I spent two years in the carpet making country of Turkmenistan.  With time on my hands, I became fascinated with carpets and their secrets.    1.  The Carpet Wars: From Kabul to Baghdad, A Ten-Year Journey Along Ancient Trade Routes , Christopher Kremmer (2002).  Part travel memoir, part history, and an adventure story that falls into the middle of the conflict in central Asia.  Bought new.         2.  The Root of Wild Madder: Chasing The History, Mystery, and Lore of the Pe...