Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst studying energy, environment, food and technical change; Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Manitoba.
This spring I re-read again Burton’s great two-volume classic of a pilgrimage to Mecca (R. F. Burton: Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to al-Madinah & Meccah ), one of the greatest, and the most informed travelogues ever written.
His summer reading recommendations, written for Gates Notes and reposted on his site
But there is one book I have been rereading (usually large random chunks of it, not cover to cover) once every 12 to 18 months for decades: Melville's Moby Dick (1851), for its inimitable combination of sublime and mundane, poetic and scientific, thrill and repose.
American Scientist 'Scientists' Nightstand' interview about his reading, reposted on his site
Emotionally, I was much taken by Solzhenitsyn's First Circle (Harper & Row, 1968), the book I could not read as a citizen of the westernmost province of the Soviet Empire and read in the original right after we came to Pennsylvania in 1969.
American Scientist 'Scientists' Nightstand' interview about his reading, reposted on his site
Decades ago I was impressed by Caro’s first volume of Lyndon Johnson biography: this year came out a no-less readable latest instalment ( R. Caro: The Passage of Power ).
His summer reading recommendations, written for Gates Notes and reposted on his site
New, and highly recommended, first-time readings have included von Rezzori (G. von Rezzori: The Snows of Yesteryear and G. von Rezzori: Memoirs of an Anti-Semite ) and Crace (J. Crace: Continent ), and Jean Renoir’s memories of his father (J. Renoir: Renoir, My Father ).
His summer reading recommendations, written for Gates Notes and reposted on his site
New, and highly recommended, first-time readings have included von Rezzori (G. von Rezzori: The Snows of Yesteryear and G. von Rezzori: Memoirs of an Anti-Semite ) and Crace (J. Crace: Continent ), and Jean Renoir’s memories of his father (J. Renoir: Renoir, My Father ).
His summer reading recommendations, written for Gates Notes and reposted on his site
New, and highly recommended, first-time readings have included von Rezzori (G. von Rezzori: The Snows of Yesteryear and G. von Rezzori: Memoirs of an Anti-Semite ) and Crace (J. Crace: Continent ), and Jean Renoir’s memories of his father (J. Renoir: Renoir, My Father ).
His summer reading recommendations, written for Gates Notes and reposted on his site
New, and highly recommended, first-time readings have included von Rezzori (G. von Rezzori: The Snows of Yesteryear and G. von Rezzori: Memoirs of an Anti-Semite ) and Crace (J. Crace: Continent ), and Jean Renoir’s memories of his father (J. Renoir: Renoir, My Father ).
His summer reading recommendations, written for Gates Notes and reposted on his site
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