On Eighty Eight Books That Shaped America and Stranger

I like to read.  It's not really my fault, I inherited it from my mother.  As a rule, I'd rather read than watch TV most of the time, with certain NFL games involving the Chicago Bears or the Atlanta Falcons being the inevitable exception.

This morning, I heard a biblical reference about being a stranger in a strange land.  This made me think first of Robert Heinlein's book, then Leon Russell's song.  The stronger pull was to Heinlein's book.  Back when I went through my science fiction phase, a long time ago, I read three authors for the most part--Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Heinlein.  Of the three, I probably read less of Heinlein than of the others.  With that said, Lots of things from "Stranger' stayed with me; grokking, Fair Witnesses and open-mindedness, especially.  If you've read the book, you will recall that Valentine Michael Smith, the central character, was as open-minded as they come.  He was the stranger being introduced to Earth customs, having literally been raised on Mars.

in looking back by way of Google and Wikipedia, I noticed a reference to "The 88 Books That Shaped America," specifically, that Heinlein's book made the list.  This was a list created by the Library of Congress, but despite the government involvement,  it's an interesting list.  Heinlein and Bradbury made the list, but Asimov did not.  I read more Asimov, in part because there was more of it.

What is the impulse that sends you almost at once to a pencil and paper to check off how many of them you've read?  I am not going to facilitate that by providing the list here, but our friends at Google can provide it very quickly (in 0.27 seconds according to their search results).  There were some interesting choices--Joy of Cooking, for instance.  Did it shape America literally, by changing eating habits?  For example, did looking at an easy recipe for fried chicken simply send people to KFC all the more often, or was it vice-versa--did it lead to the near-demise of places like Stuckey's?  I'd say the former, the fast food biz grows faster than an American waist line.

Now on to Leon Russell, here's the opening stanza:

How many days has it been
Since I was born
How many days until I die 
Do I know any ways
That I can make you laugh
Or do I only know how to make you cry

Can you beat that?  How about this one?

When the baby looks around him
It's such a sight to see
He shares a simple secret
With the wise man
He's a stranger in a strange land

Great stuff, give it a listen and you'll agree.  It's a call to learn to love each other, nothing wrong with that.  By the way, I read thirty-three of them, the 88 books, of course.