Summer Reading

Having finished "Hiroshima" last weekend and "The Great Infuenza" today, I made an early morning foray to Barnes and Noble to scout for some new acquisition. As always, it was a delightful trip despite the dark clouds scuttling across the sky and the heavy rain pelting the windows. If anything, this actually put me in the mood to buy books as there are few greater joys in life than rainy afternoons spent with a strong cup of coffee and a good book. This afernoon promises to fall well within the ideal and I'm looking forward to spending the day spent in this manner.

I was pleasantly surprised that B & N had in stock all the books on my list. Usually I have to do a special order at the store or just order it online at home. But not today. I had to make some decisions so as not to come away with too many. As the Honduras trip won't occur until November or December, I opted to hold off on the travel books until late August or so. And the same is true for Vietnam, which is under consideration for my extended Southeast Asia trip beginning in January. Plenty of time to pick up the travel guides at a later date. Besides, they would serve only as a distraction now.

Of the five books under consideration, I came away with the following three:

1. Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health (Laurie Garrett)

2. The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance (Laurie Garrett)

3. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Jared Diamond)

These three works should be sufficient to keep me occupied for most, if not all, of August, depending on available reading time.