Reading Alaska and Iberia by Michener
Introduction to Iberia
Between last night and this morning I began to read Iberia by Michener and the introduction is pleasant. It takes us back to a time when people trailed by coal ship to Italy, before bouncing around and dropping into Spain to pick up oranges. The scene described within the first few pages is a nice one. It reminds us of an age that is long gone. The notion of ships picking up oranges, the spain of poor seaside towns that rely on fishing, or orange sales and more.
It contrasts to the news stories we read about Spain and tourism today. Today with AirBnB tourism is destructive, rather than constructive and cultural. It’s important to be reminded that travel was not always a one hour hop on a plane from A to B to go partying and clubbing. In the past travel was a journey.
The Alaska Introduction
The book Alaska has a different introduction. It starts by telling us what is real, what is based on reality, what is invented based on fact, and what is entirely fictional. It then speaks about plate Tectonics and moves on to mastodons and more.
Sixty Hours of Reading
According to the Kindle App both books combined will take about sixty hours to read. One of the advantages of lowering the number of books I want to read this year is that it has freed up my time, to read longer form books. At a time when people speak of not being able to read more than a page or two at a time I am planning to read two voluminous books. If I succeed then that will be interesting. I will have learned a lot.
Kindle Read
I could get the books on Kindle, and listen to them as I walk, drive or cook but I prefer to read them on the Kindle app. In my experience long books, in audio form require a good reader, not to become tiring. Part of the reason I was tempted to read these books is that they were cheap. 3 Euros 81, as I check now on Amazon.fr.
And Finally
Until I reached my reading goal for the year I was choosing shorter books. Now that I have reached my book reading goal I can enjoy longer form content. Of course, if I want to get through these books I will have to read for more than a few minutes a day before falling asleep. I think I will be transported back in time, with these books.
