Book Recommendations

What I’m Reading …

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“Whether you’re a hot-spot-seeking tourist or a native getting a little more familiar with your beachside backyard, Highway A1A: Florida at the Edge will put you in touch with what makes the state’s eastern coast special. From the tiny town of Callahan to world-famous Key West, visionary travel writer and tourism expert Herbert Hiller covers thirteen Atlantic counties, providing maps, historical and present-day photographs, and recommendations for places to visit, lodge, eat, and shop that are truly local in character.”

What I’m Reading …

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“In the first contemporary book about this American Heritage River, Bill Belleville describes his journey down the length of the St. Johns, kayaking, boating, hiking its riverbanks, diving its springs, and exploring its underwater caves. He rediscovers the natural Florida and establishes his connection with a place once loved for its untamed beauty … River of Lakes weaves together the biological, cultural, anthropological, archaeological, and ecological aspects of the St. Johns, capturing the essence of its remarkable history and intrinsic value as a natural wonder.”

Did You Know …

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  • Two 1980’s Hollywood icons, John Cusack (The Sure Thing) and Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), were both considered for the role of Walter White?
  • After binge watching Breaking Bad, Anthony Hopkins wrote Bryan Cranston a fan letter comparing the series to a “great Jacobean, Shakespearean or Greek tragedy”?
  • Marius Stan, who portrayed Walt’s surly car wash boss, Bogdan, has a PhD in Chemistry and serves as Interim Director of the Systems Science Center in the Global Security Sciences division of Argonne National Laboratory?
  • Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and Walter White Jr. (RJ Mitte) never shared a scene together during the entire series?
  • Mark “Hector Salamanca” Margolis made his film debut (fully clothed!) as Unhappy Man in the XXX-rated classic The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976)?

Encyclopedia of North Carolina

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Billed as “The first single-volume reference to the events, institutions and cultural forces that have defined the state,” the massive and highly informative Encyclopedia of North Carolina was edited by the late, great William S. Powell (1919-2015) and published in 2006. I was fortunate to make a small contribution on several topics in the Encyclopedia, including:

  • American Indians – Part 1: Introduction
  • Caves and Caverns
  • Military Installations, Civil War
  • Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve
  • Swannanoa Gap Tunnel
  • Woodcarving

The Essence of Existence

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“Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.” – W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge (1944)