The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway - 144 Pages

A classic collection of Hemingway shorts. His skill in creating characters with whom you are simultaneously fascinated by, disgusted with, and sympathetic for excels here. Great insight into human nature.  Like all works of literature, this requires discernment when reading to be useful for edification. 

Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon by Edward Dolnick - 400 pages

My super awesome sister-in-law Miriam bought this book for me a few years back and I finally got to it this year.  It's the story of the first expedition down the Colorado into the Grand Canyon. 

Adventure, white-water danger, one-armed manly men, presuppositional atheistic geology, Mormon murder mystery...all told in breathtaking detail by award winning journalist Edward Dolnick.

 Excellent read!