Pssst. Wanna buy some interesting little books? Books that aren't on the New York Times Bestsellers List or reviewed in your local paper? Books that may appeal to your private peculiarities? I offer you three.
Here are the criteria for my choices:- The book must be a real book, available on the shelves of most large bookstores.
- The book must be a serious book, containing well-researched facts, even if the subject matter seems a bit taboo.
- The book must be one I've personally bought and read from cover to cover.
The three books I'm reviewing are ones I have found so informative and useful that I've passed them on to friends with the best critical commentary I know: "You must read this book." And, no, I'm not selling the books or realizing any gain from recommending them.
I admit the titles are a little suspect, but the contents are serious.
First: "How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found," by Doug Richmond. A Citadel Press Book, Carol Publishing Co., New York, 1994. Paperback: $6.95.
Ever run away from home when you were a child? If you had known then what's in this book, you would never have been caught. Or maybe you're just tired of who you are and really like to fantasize about getting a brand new life. Or, if you are married and just want to get some attention from your spouse, this fact-filled book will do it. You should have seen the expression on my wife's face when she saw me reading this little manual in bed one night. "Is there something you want to tell me, dear?" I gave her the book to read. Now, when we're out walking in the evening, we make a game of plotting our escape together. As she explained, "If you're going to leave me, I'm going with you."
When I consider the material in this book, I see how trapped I am by the broad evidence of my existence. It would be difficult to get away from myself. Besides, I'm too old to run away and never be found. I don't like running, for one thing, and for another, I like being found.
"How to Disappear" made me reflect on how much of my identity is accidental and circumstantial - out of my control and not my choice. Now I realize how many places in the world my name, Social Security number, fingerprints, photograph and all the other evidence of my identity exist. I'm stuck with me, I guess. Still, it's interesting to imagine who else I might have been.
This next book will also get attention around the house.
"How to Embalm your Mother-in-Law," by Robert T. Hatch, another Citadel Press Book, Carol Publishing Co., 1993. Paperback: $8.95.
I found this one while searching the reference sections of bookstores for material about the rituals of dying for a book I was writing.
"How to Embalm" is written by an undertaker. He describes in sober detail the actual process of embalming a corpse prior to burial, including all the artificial devices used to make the body appear "natural." Nothing ghoulish or macabre or sensationalistic about the information - just the facts. I promise that when you get through reading the details, you will never allow yourself, or anyone you love, to be embalmed.
My final review: "How to S--- in the Woods," by Kathleen Meyer. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, Calif., 1989. Paperback: $5.95.
Too many of us are using the great outdoors these days. And there are too few sanitary toilets. So, we do it in the woods. With grim consequences. There's no surface water in our country that's not polluted by Giardia and other fecal-carried microbes, germs and diseases - which can make you very sick or even kill you. Drink unfiltered or untreated water at your peril. This well-written little manual deals factually and honestly with all the problems of personal sanitation in the out-of-doors. Hundreds of thousands of copies have been sold, and it's required reading by many organizations that conduct wilderness hiking and rafting excursions. It's an extremely sensitive and useful treatment of a dangerous subject. Read it, and when you go into the woods, mind your own business thoughtfully and carefully - for the sake of all of us.