Book Grokking

Eric tagged me to answer some more questions, this time on books. It’s been a busy day, all the same I enjoy these and they only take a few minutes.

1. Total number of books I’ve owned… Wow, I suppose I’d have to give the same answer as Eric. My house is covered with books and there are still books in boxes in the garage from my college days. I too have given away so many as to make a number near impossible. So, my answer is, “lots”

2. The last book I bought…The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn. I have to tip my hat to Eric for writing a blog about this book last week.

3. The last book I read…See question #2. I am reading it at this time. The bond between those who helped mold the mindset of our country in our infancy and those who are in that same process now are so similar as to be linked inseparably. The only difference being that they used pamphlets as an inexpensive means of broadcasting ideas while we use blogs. Each idea is then used and reused until a better understanding of the original thought has been properly discussed and improved. I like the idea of being linked to folks like Ben Franklin or Thomas Paine in such a way.

4. Five books that mean a lot to me…A. The Book of Mormon as it is the only book that I know of delivered by an Angel. Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” B. Pecaw’s Gift by T. Fraser Stern because I put a lot of myself into it. Just because it’s a novel does not discount the fact that most of it is true; the names have been changed to protect the guilty and the innocent. C. The Past Through Tomorrow, Future History Stories, Stranger in a Strange Land or Time Enough For Love are all by Robert Heinlein and I would be hard pressed to pick which I liked best; I lean toward the Future History Stories. Again, Eric and I have chosen a work by Heinlein and so I grok. D. Contact by Carl Sagan because throughout the book is a never ending search for scientific as well as spiritual truth; something which perplexed the author in his own life. E. The collected works of Norman Rockwell was a gift from my parents and contains a pictorial history of an America that may have been lost from off the face of the earth.

5. I’m supposed to tag five victims now…E. Jahn, Mike Landfair, Tony Iovino, Robert May, and Ross Kaminsky. Tag, you’re it!