Annotated Bibliography

General Fiction Historical Fiction Science Fiction Fantasy

Children's Classics Humor Travel / Adventure Nature / Outdoors

Philosophy / Religion History Popular Science Writing

This isn't half of the good history books I've read, but for some reason I can't think of any more off the top of my head at the moment.

Steven Ambrose

• Undaunted Courage
  This is a recent description of the Lewis and Clark expedition that apparently includes a fair amount of new information never before published for the general public. It includes lots of excerpts from their journals. It brings the expedition alive; very interesting and easy to read.

Anne Frank

• Diary of Anne Frank
  This is amazing. Without realizing it, Anne Frank wrote a great novel in her diary, one day at a time. I was not expecting to get swept up in her life heart and soul, her joy and sadness, family problems and childish dreams.

Benjamin Franklin

• Autobiography
  Old Ben'll make anyone feel like a lazy dullard. He's the archetypal all-American self-made man. He methodically went about everything from what he ate to how he conducted incidental conversations. He has a great sense of humor, and (apparently) he really enjoys talking about himself. (Although to his credit, he was writing to his son and had no idea his letters would end up published as an autobiography.)

John McPhee

• Encounters with the Archdruid
  Jon McPhee, a famous journalist, tells first-person of three trips he went on with Sierra Club ex-president, David Brower. One trip includes Floyd Dominy as well, as they all float down the Colorado River before Glen Canyon was drowned. (Dominy was largely responsible to the Glen Canyon Dam, and Brower said that allowing the canyon to be flooded was the greatest mistake of his life -- the tension could be cut with a knife!) Well worth reading.

Mark Reisner

• Cadillac Desert
  Don't read this book if you don't like being so pissed off you can't sleep at night. I've talked to people who should know and they've told me that Reisner is reasonably fair. He has a superb chapter on the fascinating story of how the LA aqueduct was built, and there's another great chapter devoted to Floyd Dominy -- a fascinating intelligent man, may he rot in hell for flooding the Glen Canyon all the same! It is long but extremely interesting cover to cover.

Watkin Tench

• 1788
  Watkin Tench tells of the original settlement of Australia from first person. It is fascinating, entertaining reading.

Tom Wolfe

• The Right Stuff
  This is the entertaining and interesting history of supersonic flight and sending men into space. The characters involved are extremely colorful and amusing.