I love a good travel story/memoir. I read Going Somewhere by Brian Benson. It chronicled a bike journey from Wisonsin to Portland, Oregon with his then girlfriend. I find that those that attempt these types of adventures such as the pacific crest trail or cross country treks are searching for something. I think Brian was too. I saw this quote recently and I think it fits this book and pretty much sums the book up. This book was just OK for me.
"We must take Adventure in order to know where we truly belong."
** Be advised there are some more racier scenes described in this bookNext I picked up the book, the smartest kids in the world; how they got that way by Amanda Ripley. I really enjoyed this book. Education is a hot topic lately with common core. Amanda breaks down what 3 countries (Finland, Poland, and Korea) do to teach kids successfully and why these kids perform better than American Kids. The ended up discussing this book with a lot of different people. I generally don't find myself doing that. There were several things I walked away with. One is we don't take education seriously enough. Secondly, we don't pay teachers enough nor do we expect them to be highly trained. Lastly we have fallen behind other nations because we don't teach higher thinking skills. We don't teach the language of math from an early age. In addition, most Americans don't consider math nearly as important as other skills. Amanda not only gives the facts but used first hand experiences from exchange students that lived and attended schools in Finland, Poland and Korea.
Lastly, I read Gone Feral; Tracking my Dad Through the Wild by Novella Carpenter. I have also read Farm City by Novella and I am glad to see this follow up though a very different type of book from Farm City. It chronicles her search to learn about her father who lives somewhat a mountain man existence and how this is triggered by her want to become a mother. Novella is quite the character and that comes through in this book as well.
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