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  • From: Rowland Smith <rowland AT cashi.us>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] BOOKS
  • Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 09:52:18 -0400

Thomas wrote:

Diana Duncan wrote:

I was talking to Rowland the other day about our enjoyment of Carl Hiaasen. I mentioned that my favorite writer of that satire/crime/silly genre is Christopher Brookmyre, a Scottish writer who (until now) has not been available in the States. I just checked, and you can get his books here now! Yay!

Rowland also mentioned that we should occasionally post our highly recommended books to the list with some easily searchable subject line (such as the one above?).


Great topic, Diana. I am currently reading /The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin/ by H.W. Brands. It's a detailed and very engaging biography.

And so that I might have more time for reading and more money to spend on books, I just picked up /Getting Things Done/ by David Allen. It's a book on getting organized. An entry on BoingBoing.net led me to the purchase.

Too bad Champeon's not on this list anymore. He churns through good books and usually has something interesting to say about them.

I recently read "The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin" by Gordon S. Wood </exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Gordon%20S.%20Wood/102-2207673-9282512>. It was a fascinating book, dealing mainly with Franklin's climb from poverty to gentry, and his fervent British loyalty during his youth, and subsequent transformation from British subject to American revolutionary.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/159420019X/102-2207673-9282512?v=glance

*"From Publishers Weekly*
Eminent revolutionary historian Wood illuminates the life and times of perhaps our nation's most symbolic yet enigmatic forefather. Born of modest roots, Benjamin Franklin displayed from an early age a sharp mind and a literary gift, which served him as he went on to amass a small fortune, mostly as a printer, and to emerge as a civic leader. Wood, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for /The Radicalism of the American Revolution/, shows how Franklin's skills and charm enabled him to complete the remarkable transition from humble beginnings to gentlemanly status, occupying his later years with scientific experiments, philosophy and statesmanship. Wood also introduces us to Franklin the loyal British subject, who could scarcely conceive of a colonial government independent of the British, yet, in 1776, at the age of 70, came to play a key role in the Revolution. He secured the help of the French, who in turn helped ultimately to define Franklin as the "symbolic American." This is not a comprehensive biography. Instead, Wood's purpose is to supplant our common knowledge of Franklin as the iconic, folksy author of /Poor Richard's Almanac/ with a different, richer portrait, a look at how a man "not even destined to be an American" became, paradoxically, the "symbol of America." What emerges is a fascinating portrait of Franklin, not only as a forefather but as a man."

TaB
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