Blog

favorite authors/books & profound influencers

in no particular order

Edward Stratemeyer (fiction)

Who? Creator of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew—that’s who. Fun and formative stuff. Every now and then, I’ll pick one up and read it. Stratemeyer didn’t really write the stories, tho. He (and later, his daughters and other successors) provided outlines to ghost writers who fleshed them out, under the famous pseudonyms of Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene. Leslie McFarlane ghosted the first Hardy Boy books. Mildred Wirt Benson ghosted the first Nancy Drew books. For fans of the 1930s, Applewood Books is reproducing the original versions of the early books with their original illustrations and dust jackets.

  • The Hardy Boy series
  • Nancy Drew series
  • The Nancy Drew Scrapbook (Karen Plunkett-Powell)

Ayn Rand (fiction & non-fiction)

Ayn Rand’s style and substance can be summed up by the title of one of her books: THE VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS. She was a gutsy, independent thinker. While I am not philosophically congruent with Ayn Rand, I find myself agreeing with many of her conclusions. And I love her novels.

  • Anthem
  • Atlas Shrugged
  • The Virtue of Selfishness
  • The Ideas of Ayn Rand (by Ronald E Merrill) – Excellent intro to her ideas by someone outside her circle of devotees

Jack London (fiction)

Here’s one of those guys who went out while in his youth and had a lifetime’s worth of adventure, then spent the rest of his time writing about it. I’m a lifelong stick-in-the-mud and must accept that I will not be able to write a Jack London type of story that rings true.

  • South Sea Tales
  • Martin Eden

Jules Verne (fiction & scifi)

This is more my type of writer. A stay-at-home dreaming of far-off adventures. His stories were somewhat formulaic but vastly fun.

  • The Mighty Orinoco
  • Michel Strogoff (Michael Strogoff)
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth

Dante (epic poetry)

Even tho I ain’t religious, I was transported by Dante’s great work. I read John Ciardi’s verse translation, laden with footnotes. I hope to read it again. It doesn’t mean anything that I felt most at home in “Inferno”, does it?

  • The Divine Comedy

Eric Hoffer (non-fiction)

His influence upon me has diminished over time but I still admire his writing and his choice to live a modest lifestyle. I frequently reread the journal he kept for a brief while (the first book listed below) to regain my sense of grounding. He preferred brief, vivid explanations that (along with deBono) influenced my of presentation of ideas. “The True Believer” is destined to be his profoundest work – and explains much that is going on today in the 2020s.

  • Working and Thinking on the Waterfront
  • The Temper of Our Time
  • The True Believer

Charles Darwin (non-fiction)

If religious thought inhibits understanding, it should not be surprising that thinking which challenges religious conventions can be freeing and potent. By confronting religious dogma (however reluctantly), Darwin has set biology on the most productive path as well as freed minds from their religious straitjackets. 

  • The Origin of the Species (i recommend “The Illustrated Origin of Species, Abridged Edition” edited by Richard Leakey)

H.L. Mencken (non-fiction)

Perhaps he’s too cynical, but I find his style of writing so engaging that I don’t care what the content is about. He (like S.I. Hayakawa & Abba Eban) has that cadence to his prose that appeals to my inner rhythm, along with a sweeping vocabulary that furnishes just the right word or phrase. He was prolific and works are widely reprinted.

  • A Mencken Chrestomathy

S.I. Hayakawa (non-fiction)

My thinking hasn’t been the same after reading Hayakawa’s most famous work. It gleaned the best insights and techniques from a very flawed system of thought (IMO), Alfred Korzybski’s General Semantics. Somehow, I managed not to be affected by his flawed left-leaning politics.

  • Language in Thought and Action

Edward deBono (non-fiction)

I suppose I can measure deBono’s influence by how it easy it is for me think “laterally”, ie, to see in new and creative ways. He studies the mechanics of thinking – and emphasizes practical step-by-step techniques – as opposed to vague suggestions. 

  • PO
  • I’m Right, You’re Wrong
  • The DeBono Code™ Book
  • etc

C.W. Ceram (non-fiction)

When I read Ceram’s famous book around 1982, I realized that my heart wasn’t in computer programming. However, two decades later, I have been too poor to engage in archeological field work. However again, this book has led to the realization that my eclectic reading choices over the years were dictated by an anthropological curiosity — in myself.

  • Gods, Graves and Scholars

Herbert Bensen (non-fiction)

I come from a very high-strung family. To reduce stress, I took self-hypnosis classes. That led directly to my reading Bensen’s highly informative book which demonstrated the similarity between self-hypnosis, meditation and relaxation techniques — and confirmed their benefits. While I’m not floating thru life blissfully like a yogi, I’m less stressed than I could have been.

  • The Relaxation Response

Elaine Morgan (non-fiction)

This Welsh writer became an apostle to British biologist Alistair Hardy and his Aquatic Ape Theory after encountering the theory from British zoologist Desmond Morris, who mentions the theory regularly but noncommittally. There’s nothing non-committal about Morgan. She has vigorously promoted it in her own series of books. I first heard of the theory from a wonderful Australian documentary called “Waterbabies”. I don’t know if the theory will prove accurate, but it is fascinating in itself — and for the emotional reactions it provokes from supposed scientists.

  • The Descent of Women
  • The Scars of Evolution
  • The Aquatic Ape

(first published in an earlier personal website – before i begin using freed prose)