Random Reading

When I finished reading Jan Reid's biography of Ann Richards, Let the People In, and before starting Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (2004), I decided to read a couple of shorter books. One was Another Side of Bob Dylan, the memoir of Victor Maymudes' time as road manager and friend to the illusive performer and cultural icon. Maymudes started the book, recording several tapes of his recollections, before he died suddenly of a stroke in 2001. Some years later his son Jacob decided to transcribe the tapes and put his father's memories and stories in context, adding some of his own personal experiences as well. The result is pretty interesting, and not only for the insights it offers into the strange world of Bob Dylan, but for filling in the details of Maymudes' own life as a manager of performers and promoter of some of the most significant folk, rock, and jazz artists of the era from the early sixties through the eighties and nineties. Perhaps even more fascinating than his time with Dylan are Maymudes' recollections of other artists and personalities, including Hugh Romney (Wavy Gravy) and Dennis Hopper, and stories of his other career as a home builder and developer of properties in and around Santa Fe. The book was another of my wife's ARCs, which gave me a chance to read a really interesting book just prior to its official publication date.

After Another Side of Bob Dylan, I picked up a book I'd started and put aside several decades ago, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time (1988). Like many others, I've long been fascinated by Hawking, who is one of those genuine geniuses who can also make himself understood to more ordinary mortals. It goes without saying that he is a truly remarkable human being, even setting aside the obstacles he's been forced to overcome because of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), but what I find particularly impressive is his ability to explain scientific theories like general relativity and quantum physics and describe why they are important, or should be, for the rest of us. I came away from my reading of A Brief History of Time, refreshed and challenged by Hawking's clarity and rational thinking about such enormously complicated matters as the Big Bang, inflation, black holes and singularities. In a brief but captivating book he describes various theories and competing explanations of the origins (and destiny) of the universe in a way someone with little math or science can follow and appreciate.

To date this year I've read 26 books, not yet a record, but I suspect I will read a few more before I'm done, including a couple more for my book group. I'm pleased to discover that my Men's Book Club has gotten me out of my reading routine and comfort zone and introduced me to some books and authors I would not otherwise have sought out on my own. So I have much to be thankful for in finding such an interesting group of guys who bring so many different perspectives and opinions to such a diverse collection of books. More to follow on Genghis Khan.