What is fascinating to me is I have been completely captivated by Into Thin Air (to the extent that sometime this morning I even sent an email to Cathy 'o Dowd reproaching her and Woodall for being so selfish, and for putting up such a heroic charade to the home crowd, during the '96 ascent) is that Krakauer has also covered the very interesting story of Christopher McCandless. This story caught my attention one day at Kang's when I was paging through an English textbook, and read a few short paragraphs in a general interest section, covering McCandless' rejection of materialism, and his journey to purge himself. I identified with this search for meaning, and it is obviously thrilling to discover that Krakauer chose this as a project. This book is at the top of the list of Must Reads.
On the subject of Must Reads, a traditional Norfolk koan comes to mind:
ReplyDeleteA man with a wooden leg
Sits down to read a book.
The book is not about men,
Or wooden legs,
Or sitting down.
Not all books are.
Some books are about women,
Fleshy legs,
Or gymnastics.
But not all books are.
This one isn't.
This book is about rocket science.
It has big friendly writing
And lots of pictures.
And there is an interactive section.
You can pretend that
You are an American,
And you can shoot
Laser-guided rockets
At unprotected Third World civilians,
In the war on terror.
It is good to interact.
More may be encountered:
http://alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com/2004/11/traditional-norfolk-koans.html
bizarre. can someone please post a comment that isn't a whackjob and is capable of making a bit of sense? otherwise abstain, jeepers!
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