So I finished a long account by adventurer and naturalist Craig Childs, called HOUSE OF RAIN. This was a natural after our recent exposure to Mesa Verde and the high deserts of Northern New Mexico and SW Colorado.
After storming through it I wished I had had a chance to read it much earlier in my life, in a time when clambering among boulders and across rubble strewn mountain sides could have been rather easily accomplished by my much sprier self. :-)
In the hours of reading about his hikes among the ruins, known and unknown, of vanished civilizations commonly referred to as Anasazi (not a 'good' name) or Salado, etc. with references to even earlier tribes stemming, perhaps, from Aztec culture, I was drawn back to my youth when becoming an Ethnologist seemed my real future. Of course, when I realized that there were few peoples and areas left to be discovered I switched to a medical career.
Ethnoarcheology, Ethnoecology, Maritime ethnology, study of middens, etc, just did not seem as fascinating as the discovery of unknown species, not adventurous enough, perhaps.
On the other hand, not having to fight off leeches, spiders, ticks and other creepy crawlies did seem much more comfortable, :-), as I aged!
In my heart I am still that one who would have loved to discover the unusual, and to delve into old mysteries.
Now, of course, only as an armchair traveller (lol), who gives thanks for the abundance of books written by more intrepid men and women.
During the hours spend immersing myself in the presumed lives of these people, albeit only via the words - and how polished and poetic they were - by Mr. Childs, the question why did they vanish continues to be as fascinating to me as it appears to all those researchers. Numerous conjectures abound, none of which give really satisfying answers. Drought, wars, annihilation of complete tribes, barbarianism and, even cannibalism, in its purest (?) as religious cult offering, or circumstantial due to adverse conditions, all are named, but questions remain.
 |
| Acoma, New Mexico |
 |
| Montezumas Castle, Arizona |
 |
| Tuzigoot, Arizona |
 |
| Manitou Springs Colorado |
 |
| Spruce Tree House, Mesa Verde |
 |
| Excavations of underground house with sipapu -airshaft? Mesa Verde |
.
"The Lost" by Daniel Mendelsohn, a deeply felt and researched history into the lives of "lost" relatives, interspersed with Torah excerpts. A must read for anyone who is a student of the holocaust and its effect on the generations following.
by David Guterson, sort of a court room drama which involves events following Pearl Harbour, the Japanese internment and its long term effects of that. Only to end on a positive note. Well written and gripping, he does let the characters grow in stature, at the end.
an autobiographical novel by Zdena Berger is one of the rare books that provide some insight into the lives of women and girls during the Nazi years, and in the camps. The way the author uses the 'present tense' makes reading it even more stirring..jpg)
of 'Saint Sebastian'. 
of 'The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice and the Theban legion'! 
LOL!
and 
.
- not up to his usual speed IMO-had to think hard to recall the title;-)!
(written in the early 80s and almost prophetic in hindsight). That one did ask for some deeper thinking :-) - a later-at-night subject when times hangs on one's hands.
- a collection of essays amusing with its finely honed irony!
- tale of an ocean voyage gone horribly wrong but also a tribute to strong willed men of the past.
