Books for the Men in Your Life

It's that time of year! Father's Day approacheth, and I have compiled my annual(?) list of reads that might appeal to your reading man. Most of these are non-fiction, I confess, but men love non-fiction, don't they?

1. First off, for those who love history and history of technology, I just finished The Guardian of All Things. This history of memory, both human and artificial, was 90% riveting. Silicon Valley tech journalist Malone covers everything from brain functionality in evolving hominids, to Ciceronian memorization techniques, to the invention of written language, to the Internet, stopping every place in between. In what other book could you find an account of papyrus and parchment production, as well as a discussion of whether machines might one day become so human as to be indistinguishable from the real McCoy? Seriously--from a thousand-year-old vellum MS in the Bodleian to Battlestar Galactica Cylons, all in one book. And, having grown up in the Silicon Valley, I loved Malone's history of it. In a way it was reading my own history. Visiting the "computer room" with its big machines and roaring fans at Digital Equipment Corporation where my mother worked. Touring "Bill and Dave's office" when I worked at Hewlett-Packard. Billboards alongside 101.

I was even almost able to explain how an amplifier worked when my kids asked. Almost. I mean, it made sense when Malone explained it to me, but it failed to take hold in my physics-challenged memory.

Give this book to a man in your life at your own risk. He might bombard you with his learnings, but you'll enjoy them, too. I promise.

2. If disaster and survival is more your guy's thing, try

World War II! Disaster at sea! Sharks! Governmental cover-ups!

or

Teddy Roosevelt! Lethal heat! New York City!

3. If he needs a good laugh he'll probably enjoy

I'm a Ken Jennings fan. This exploration of the map- and geography-loving world both educates and amuses. Plus, this recommendation is road-tested. I gave it to the dear hub to read, and he has greatly enjoyed it.

4. And, finally, I need at least one fiction suggestion. How about

Yes, I know it's been out forever, and maybe he had to read it in high school. But hey--it's one of the best books ever, appealing both to the idealistic and mid-life crisis stages of a guy's life. Not only that, but you can then get him to see the Leo diCaprio movie with you. Just don't buy him the Gatsby with the movie tie-in cover

Cover not released yet, but it might look a little something like this...

Happy Father's Day to all!

Hit the Road, Jack

We've been enjoying an uncharacteristically long and warm and sunny stretch of late spring days, and those familiar with the vagaries of Seattle weather can only hope that this is not, in fact, summer, and all the summer we're going to get. Whatever the case, all the heat puts me in mind of travel. With kids still in school (and I'm not complaining), last week's day trip to Centralia might be all the world I'll be seeing for the near future, but there are always books.

Given my weakness for disaster books, exploration books follow close behind. Especially since exploration often entails disaster. And how frightening and exciting it must have been to explore when you really weren't positive what you might find! Nowadays there isn't a corner of the earth that hasn't been Fodored or Lonely-Planeted or Rick-Stevesed to death. (Speaking of Rick Steves, when we were listening to the radio in the car the other day, my fourth grader asked me, "What's a midnight toker?")

Besides KON-TIKI, here are some of my favorite recent exploration reads:

1421 by Gavin Menzies. Like KON-TIKI, it may contain flawed science, but Menzies' account of the Chinese Treasure Fleet possibly discovering the New World and circumnavigating the world is thrilling. Besides, it brags on Chinese people.

1491 by Charles C. Mann. What was the New World like before the Europeans showed up? Not exactly how it's been presented in textbooks and film, argues Mann. Not your usual anti-imperialist diatribe. Very funny description of Native Americans' first view of Europeans, from American perspective.

OVER THE EDGE OF THE WORLD by Laurence Bergreen. Magellan's epic voyage. But after reading 1421, you may wonder how Magellan knew what he knew.

SEA OF GLORY by Nathaniel Philbrick. For those of you who couldn't stomach the cannibalism in Philbrick's IN THE HEART OF THE SEA, you'll be relieved to hear these sailors stick to rations. Charles Wilkes' 1838 Exploring Expedition and what they discovered.

THE RIVER OF DOUBT by Candice Millard. If you're a Teddy Roosevelt fan, what better than Teddy in an adventure story? Who knew he explored an unmapped South American river post-presidency. Top that, Woodrow Wilson.

BLUE LATITUDES: BOLDLY GOING WHERE CAPTAIN COOK HAS GONE BEFORE by Tony Horwitz. In the Tony Horwitz-Geraldine Brooks marriage, Horwitz apparently supplies the humor. Here he and a liquored-up buddy retrace Cook's epic voyages and find things rather shabby.

Flop in a shady hammock with one of these babies in one hand and a glass of iced tea in the other, and you're set. Travel without the drawbacks. No high gas prices, no snoozing head rolling onto your shoulder in coach class, no kids fighting in the back seat, no Montezuma's Revenge. This is the life.