The Books that Made the Man

I thought it would be lots of fun to share with my readers a few more tidbits of where my mind wanders in the literary field. Over the years, like most of you, I have read hundreds of books, good and bad. Here, I am attempting to list the ones that in one way or another made a longer impression than normal. Not all of these books are still high on my recommendation list, but most are, and I will explain what impressed me about each one. In some cases, it was a matter of timing, or a book was a springboard in a totally new direction. I will leave it at that.

I am not nearly finished putting this together, but I will put this up already in it's unfinished condition, like an artwork in the process. If any of you read one of these based on my comments, it would be great to hear your impression. Read on.

Book Cover Book Name Why this one?
Partridge Family Partridge Family series Great stuff! This series was as nearest as I can remember my spring from childrens to the teen presses.

Although this was not the first nor by far the last teen adaptations, they were still a great way to revisit Kieth, Lori, Shirley and Danny in a story that was never turned into a screen play. Now these books are a standard item on e-bay.

Jaws Jaws
by Peter Benchley
As far as I can remember, this was my jump into the "adult" world. The cover of Jaws was just an eye-grabber from the word go (though not shown here). The movie did not live up to the thrills the book left, but when does it ever. The adaptation of Towering Inferno was close on it's heels, but I was about to leave the pop world in favor on sci-fi.
Carson of Venus Carson of Venus
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs, though not exactly adult in audience, was a huge influence on me. I thrived to read every single book he ever wrote. Carson of Venus I later learned was the third in a 5 book series, but it was awesome nonetheless. This led me directly to his John Carter and Tarzan series', as well as some really classics such as The Mucker and The Oakdale Affair. Science fiction became a big deal for me from this day on.
Mountains of Madness Mountains of Madness
by H. P. Lovecraft
My pal Dave gets the credit for this discovery back in 7th grade. Although I read it so long ago, it would be over 15 years later before I would rediscover this tome and become the Lovecraft fanatic that my Cthulhu pages clearly show.
Chaos Chaos
by James Gleick
Although something of a pop-science book, this book was pretty much sigularly responsible for sending me back to college to strengthen my mathematical background. When I think where I would be if I had not gotten that Math/Computer Science degree .. all because of a book!
Catspaw Catspaw
by Joan Vinge
Joan Vinge is actually quite a good though not so prolific of a writer. Catspaw introduces us to a mentally proficient "psion" named Cat. The book facinated me, as well as the power of being psionic, so, in case you have wondered where the name of my website came from, now you know. "88" is simply my favorite number, that I also use when I play softball.
England's Dreaming England's Dreaming
by John Savage
If you have spent more than 45 seconds on my website, or if you have known me longer than two weeks, you know that music has been a big deal for me since High School. After a couple of heavy rock years, the punk scene turned the world of rock on it's ear. Just what was going on in Great Britain for their part has never been so clearly put together than with this book. If you were in my generation, you might really enjoy this albiet thick tome of punk and new waves lasting legacy to pop as we know it. I can't say that this changed my life as much as filled it some information holes.
Dinosaur Heresies Dinosaur Heresies
by Robert Bakker
Those of you that have seen or preferrably read Jurassic Parkmay or may not know that the scientist was modeled after Robert Bakker. His theories have had a huge impact on what we currently theorize about the dinosaurs that walked in our historic world. He shows us piece by piece how the current theory came together taking dinosaurs completely out of the lizard family, and making birds actual living decendants of this branch of evolution. This was one of two influencial books that I reference in my thinking of our past.
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