These are a few of my favorite...

authors.

Of course, I'm stuck in a slight rut. In the past year, I've read a series of books on farming, soil conservation, etc., and I've come to see a thread of commonality among the authors I tend to fall for... First there is the obvious ability to write, then the absolute love of nature, the love of beauty, and a sense of humor.

(My husband likes to say that my sense of humor is frequently lacking. The truth is, though, that what I find amusing is very different than what tickles him. Will I end up being an old woman telling jokes that nobody finds funny but me?)

I find myself wishing that I could spend a week with some of these fellows. That is, until the fear that my image of said author was/is nothing like they were/are in real life... One who seems as if he/she would be a bosom buddy or kindred spirit may, in reality, have a personality that grates against mine. Who knows.

Louis Bromfield is my most recent read (apart from various works of fiction I've read just to give this tired mind a break). What I absolutely loved about him in From My Experience... was his up-front admission that any book written strictly on the nuts and bolts of farming should bore anyone to tears, and so he mixed up the technical with stories, musings, and philosophy.

Scott Chaskey is similar to Bromfield. Bromfield and Chaskey were both writers before seriously taking up the task of farming. Chaskey also mixes in stories, poetry, and other thoughts into his depiction of life on an organic farm in This Common Ground...

And then there is Wendell Berry.

Veering off the subject of farming and nature and heading off into the more 'brainy' subject of science...

I, once upon a time, stumbled upon a book in the university library entitled Science: Sense and Nonsense by J. L. Synge. The title was too intriguing to pass up. A quick glance at the date stamps inside the cover told me that the book had only been checked out once or twice, and not since the 70's. After reading this book, I would have given anything to have been transported back 50 years to be a student in one of this man's classes. I can't even begin to tell you how fun this book was to read. If you have any sort of mind for math and/or science, there are several copies available on amazon.

Finally (for now) there is George Gamow. Mr. Tompkins is a work of fiction about a man who goes to sit in on a series of physics lectures. He invariably fall asleep, and in his dreams, learns by 'experience' about the concepts of relativity and other fun topics.

So, now that you know that I really am a nerd (I am so glad to get that off my chest)... I'm going to bed. Let me know if any of you take the trouble to look up any of the above authors and give them a read. I'd like to know what you think.