Compulsively Aimless

Dear Readers,   In the last month I've had to move to a house with about half the space and very little in the way of book shelve space.  For the moment, 80 percent of my library is boxed and stored in the attic until I either build an addition on the house for the books or go up to the attic and visit them box by box.  This has put a serious crimp in my posting new lists.  I'm determined to continue adding more lists but it may be some time before I can get at them.  Meanwhile, hope you enjoy the existing lists.    I'll be back. JK

One sign of bibliomania is buying books about books.  I've always been conflicted about this.  I'd rather be reading actual books themselves than spending time reading about reading.  Here's my list of meta-books. 1.  A Passion for Books: A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Lore, and Lists on Collecting , Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for and Appreciating Books (1999).  The subtitle says it all.  Bought used at Valley Books, Amherst, MA.      2.  The List of Books, A Library of over 3,000 works, Frederick Raphael and Kenneth McLeish (1981).  One of the most thoughtful list of books assembled.  Lists by category, best books of the decade.  Specific symbols denoting books of special interest.  Birthday gift 1981.  3.  The Lifetime Reading Plan, Clifton Fadiman (1960).   Fadiman outlines a plan for reading your way through the great minds of Western civilization.  Bought...

Part two of the Eclectic travel collection. 1.  Once Around Lightly, Robert St. John (1969).  St, John was a radio broadcaster from the 1940s.  He travels from Japan to southern Asia, Indonesia, India, through the Khyber pass into Afghanistan ending in Iran.   Bought used at the State Department bookstore. 2.  Whereabouts: Notes on Being A Foreigner, Alastair Reid (1987).  Are you a foreigner by necessity, accident, or choice?  Reid explores the aspects of what is like to be an outsider.  He travelers to places of his past looking for lost connections but finds himself a stranger.   Bought used somewhere.  3.  Urbane Travellers 1591-1635, Boies Penrose (1942).   Sketches of English travelers.   Traces the beginnings of English travel.  Bought used somewhere. 4.  Places, James Morris (1972).    Morris writes about American cities and remote islands.  Illustrated with Mo...

This may be one of the most strange and eclectic book lists.  The only thing these books have in common is that they were purchased for one dollar or less and are small in size.  Have a look. 1.  Happiness is a Dry Martini, Johnny Carson (1965).  Very much a 60's "Mad Men" period piece.  Illustrated by Playboy cartoonist Whitney Darrow, Jr.   One-page variations of Happiness is...recognizing your new secretary from an old Playboy Magazine.   Bought used somewhere. 2.  The Heroic Korean People, Chinese Foreign Language Press  (1972).   Full of color pictures, a piece of North Korean propaganda.  With a forward, "May the blood=cemented militant friendship between our two peoples remain forever green!"   Pictures showing soldiers with rocket launchers with captions like, "Korean People's Army fighters practice shooting with deep hatred for the U.S. aggressors."  Bought used at the State Department Booksto...

Given the time, I would roam every back road of the America.  In planning for that day, I collected some references guides to take with me.  Here's a short list.   1.  A Field Guide to America's History, Douglass L. Brownstone (1984).   A reference guide showing where to look at the land to find man-made footprints across America complete with a glossary and bibliography.  Bought used at BJ's Books, Warrenton, VA 2.  The Lost Towns & Roads of America: A Journey Revealing Early America Still Here Today, J.R. Humphreys (1961).  Humphries set out from the Atlantic Highlands of New Jersey westward across the country to following Indian and pioneer trails through the midwest and southwest all the way to Spanish settlements along the California coast.    Map of journey on inside boards.  Extensive black and white photos.  Bought used somewhere. 3.  America's Architectural Roots: Ethnic Groups that Built Amer...

I've got some Scottish heritage.  One of my all time best trips was to Scotland.  And I like the accents. (burrs?)  It's a great place for romantic and stormy landscapes and getting away from it all.  And also sheep and short harry livestock.  Here's a short list of my books on Scotland.   1.  Edinburgh Picturesque Notes, Robert Louis Stevenson (1900).    One of Scotland's treasured authors, notes on the ancient city.  Sketches and black and white photos.  The inscription runs two pages (back when they did inscriptions as part of book giving) telling the recipient that the book was purchased during "one of the most fascinating and interesting days" of his life, August 28, 1902.  Purchased for the inscription alone at an Amherst, MA book store.  Book seal William J. Hay, Bookseller, John Knox's House, Edinburgh.  2.  The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. by James Boswell (1973)....

You may think sets of books boring.  Indeed, in a moment of twitter feeds, status updates and multimedia multitasking, the sustained concentration that is required to absorb a set of books may seem unimaginable.  In fact, I consigned my sets to the bottom shelves, obscured by bric-a-brac.   I've rediscovered them in here.  The theme--foreign lands of mystery and intrigue.   1.  John L. Stoddard's Lectures: Illustrated and Embellished with Views of the World's Famous Places and People, Being the Identical Discourses Delivered During the Past Eighteen Years Under the Title of the Stoddard Lectures 10 Volumes (1903).   Travel narratives of Europe, Japan, China, the Middle East and the American West.  Illustrated with black and white photographs and sketches.  I bought online at the height of my travelogue mania.  Beautiful as works of art with their red leather binding and marbled boards.  2.  The Burton Holmes L...

Mountains of books have been written on the spy business.  As long as there are secrets, there will be interest in the profession.  Here's a short list from my collection: 1.  Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer, Peter Wright (1987).  Wright provides a rare first-hand account of Britain's MI5 including efforts to detect high level defectors, Philby, Burgess, Maclean and Blunt.  British authorities went to great efforts to prevent publication.  Black and white photos of the main figures.  Bought used from a library sale (what library, remains a mystery).    2.  Red Horizons, Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa (1987).  The most chilling accounts of the group.  Pacepa was the Romanian head of the intelligence service under Ceausecu.  Romanian society was under near total surveillance with public buildings bugged and nearly all government officials sex lives monitored by hidden camera....

My preference is for travel books devoted to a single adventure.  I started to make an exception and buy collections of travels.  Some of the books are built around a theme--the most remote outposts or others simply write a series of eclectic adventures in one book.   Here's my collection. 1.  Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire, Simon Winchester (2004) .  Winchester traveled over 100,000 miles to vestiges of the British Empire including Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands and the most remote island on earth, Ascension Island.  Bought new. 2.  The Offensive Traveler, V.S. Pritchett (1967).   Pritchertt says he is an offensive not in the sense that he travels in a state of arrogance or complaining but that he is always observing and watching the private lives of other people where he is an outsider.  Wonderful  essays on Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran and Spain.  Bought used but can't remember...

Sailing has its own language, its own culture and its own traditions.  The combination makes for an entertaining collection of reference books. 1.   Naval Customs Tradition and Usage, Lt. Commander Leland Lovette (1939).   A perennial book updated every few years that includes Sea Manners, Shore Manners loaded with historical examples and illustrated with black and white photos and etchings.  Purchased at the State Department Bookstore. 2.  Bluejackets Manual (1946, 17th ed.).  The guidebook for the US Navy.  A practical guide written for new recruits to old salts.  Bought used somewhere. 3.  Naval Terms, Commander C. C Soule, USN (1926).  If you want to know how to define everything from Keep Her Full to Pinch Her, Naval Terms is your source.   Precise illustrations for all rigs, knots, fittings, compasses and boats.  Bought for a $1.50 somewhere.  There's a history through inscriptions in...

How would any of us act during the chaos of war?  Here's a small collection of books on the subject.  1.  War, Sebastian Junger (2010),  Junger, author of The Perfect Storm , lived among soldiers in a remote fire base in eastern Afghanistan for 15 months.  Junger observes the experiences of the soldiers in Afghanistan in an effort to understand experiences of soldiers throughout history.  Bought new.  2.  The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo & The Somme, John Keegan (1976).   Keegan is one of the foremost scholars on warfare made a study of battles fought 500 years apart.   Keegan profiles the histories from standpoint of the foot soldier.  Bought used from State Department bookstore. 3.  War and Intelligence, John Keegan (2004).   Keegan's scholarship on how intelligence has been used by Nelson seeking Napoleon's fleet, Stonewall Jackson during the Civil War, and the British cracking...

In a moment that out did Yogi Berra, General De Gaul is quoted as saying, "China is a big country inhabited by many Chinese."   I'll say the same with books-China is a big country with many books written about it.  I've mentioned books on China from my other lists (Paul Theroux, Colin Thubron, Ella Maillart and others) but this is a short list of  western writers and travelers who shared their insight and passion about the country.   1.  River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, Peter Hessler (2001).  Hessler is a gifted writer and patient observer--two qualities that were well suited to his two years in the Peace Corps in a backwater of China.  His travels and experiences teaching English literature in China are wonderful and rewarding.  Hessler has since gone onto write other books on China and pieces for The New Yorker.  Bought new.   2.  Frontier of Heaven, Stanley Stewart: A Journey to the End of China, Stanley...

For a while my obsession was collecting travel books about central Asia.  Rather than do one long list, I'm always looking for new categories.  Here's a new sub-sub category: One trip--two views.  1.  News From Tartary: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir, Peter Flemming (1936; Library of Travel Classics).  One of the most difficult routes that can be taken, Flemming and his traveling companion Ella Maillart, a Swiss journalist traveled through western China over the Taklaman desert and the Himalayans.  Flemming was the brother of Ian Flemming, author of the 007 James Bond novels.   Bought used, State Department Book Store. 2.  Forbidden Journey, Ella Maillart (1937; The Century Travel Series).  Ella Maillart was told the journey she was about to undertake was impossible for a westerner and certainly impossible for a western woman. Maillart was instrumental in getting Flemming through with her amateur medical skills.  A remarkab...

The biggest body of water I've every raced on was the Chesapeake.  Racing around the British Isles or around the world solo is another mater.   Sport quickly becomes a fight for life.  Two stories of that here.   1.  Fastnet Force 10, John Rousmaniere (1979),   Force 10 is a mariner's scale to say a violent storm at sea.  In 1979, a force 10 storm ripped though a storm in the Irish Sea during the Fastnet race.  Forty foot waves damaged over half of the 300 boats.  Rousmaniere who was in the race, assembled the stories into a single riveting narrative.  Bought used at the State Department book store with a book plate from "Jane Murdoch." 2.  Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters, Derek Lundy (1999).   The world's most dangerous race is the Globe Vendee, a single-handed sailor around the world with no stops.  During the 1996 race, sailor Derek Lundy, a contender for the lead, turned his ...

Books on globalization aren't new.  There is just more of them.  Here's a few: 1.  The Clash of Civilizations: Remaking of World Order, Samuel Huntington (1996) .  Huntington analyzes the world through 9 civilizations. Bought new.  2.  The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Friedman (2005).   Friedman's examination of how technology is connecting the world.  Bought used somewhere. 3.  The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall, Ian Bremmer (2006) . Bremmer presents a helpful theory to understand how nations transition from totalitarian states to democracies.  Received from book signing. 4.  America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, Mark Steyn (2006).   Steyn sees Europe in decline from its falling birth rate and welfare state, and America still able to survive through its ideas but just barely. Bought new.  5.  Democratic Ideals and...