A number of people who have taken my IDL courses have asked where I get the poems or stories I tell, or they want to know about the CDs I sometimes bring and play in class. Sometimes they just want to know the names of any good books I've read lately. (I do travel a lot!) I retired this page for a long time because it seemed too personal for a professional web page. But a number of people have recently asked me to display it again. So I've updated the page and made it available. I guess you don't have to read it unless you want to. :-) This annotated list of my favorite books and CDs is personal, but I think it goes a long way towards explaining why I teach IDL courses the way I do. The books and CDs can be ordered from Amazon.com by clicking the Amazon image below.

Favorite Books (Fiction)

Desert Notes/River Notes by Barry Lopez

This is my favorite book of all time. Many of you who have taken my classes have heard me tell and read many of these stories. The story Directions is the best story I have ever heard about what it is like to learn something new. My professional life and my classes have been about taking people on that learning journey. I wouldn't think of leaving for a class without this book in my bag. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Field Notes by Barry Lopez

This book is the third book in the fictional "Notes" trilogy. Like Desert Notes/River Notes this book leaves me weak. The story "Pearyland" is the best story about the eternal mystery of life I know. And "The Entreaty of the Wiideema" shows us what it means to live our lives "dangerously". Storytelling doesn't get any better than this. ISBN 0-380-72482-0. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

I've been familiar with Wallace Stegner for a long time. (Angle of Repose is a great book that I read years ago.) But I don't remember him writing like this! Crossing to Safety may well be my new favorite book of all time. A story of a life-long friendship between two couples, it is warm and inspiring and as well-written as any book I have ever read. Maybe you have to be middle-aged to appreciate it, but I loved this book. ISBN 0-14-013348-8. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The River Why by David James Duncan

This is a funny, heartwarming story of a boy coming of age in a confusing world. I first read this book on a plane, late at night, when all around me were sleeping. I thought I was going to be arrested because I couldn't stop laughing. The chapter entitled "The Warble of the Water Owl" may be my favorite book chapter of all time. ISBN 0-553-34486-2. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

This book is as fine a collection of short stories as you are likely to read, earthy, mysterious, full of life with all its sorrows, joy, and magic. Her story "Two Words" about the power of language was written on scratch paper while she was stuck in traffic in Caracus. If you are feeling a little too set in your ways, this may be the book for you. ISBN 0-553-57535-X. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris

This is quite simply one of the two best books of fiction I read in 1997. The same story told from the point of view of the daughter, the mother, and the grandmother. If you ever believed in the sanctity of the "facts", this story will show you how differently the facts can be interpreted. I think for a work of fiction, this story is the "truest" book I read this year. ISBN 0-446-38787-8. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

This is the other of the two best books of fiction I read in 1997. Quirky, strange, but also filled with the truth of life, this book was impossible for me to put down. This is the kind of book that when I finish it, I sit there exhausted, wondering if I will ever find another one like it. ISBN 0-0609-2114-5. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Kingsolver, another of my favorite writers, is absolutely eloquent in the way she describes relationships. This book about a missionary family in the Congo, told from the point of view of the mother and her threee daughters, is Kingsolver at her best. You will laugh out loud, as I did, at the strange misuse of words of one of her protagonists. If that girl is not in my wife's high-school biology class, she should be. Poignant, sad, and funny at the same time, this book explores the world as it really is, not as we wish it was. ISBN 0-060-93053-5. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Favorite Books (Stories and Poetry)

Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter by Barry Lopez

This is my favorite book of coyote stories. Many coyote stories are cleaned up for general audiences. Not this one. Here coyote cavorts in all his many guises: prankster, warrior, seducer, fool. "One day coyote was goin' along lookin' for some food, like he always is..." There is no better way to put programming in its proper perspective. This book can be ordered through Fanning Software Consulting. ISBN 0-380-71111-7.

The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda

This book is a wake-up call to what is important. The questions transport me to a different place, where what is essential is again made known to me. "Why was I not born mysterious? Why did I grow up without companions? Who ordered me to tear down the doors of my own pride? And who went out to live for me when I was sleeping or sick? And which flag unfurled there where they didn't forget me?" ISBN 1-55659-041-5. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The Heart Aroused by David Whyte

This book points out the reasons we need poetry and stories and myth in a corporate culture. Whyte is a poet who brings his poetry into the work place and tells us why it matters. Books like this one remind me that the poems and stories I tell in classes are important. Stories let us discover those essential elements of our lives and our work which make us feel most alive. ISBN 0-385-48418-6. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The Essential Rumi edited and translated by Coleman Barks

If you buy only one book of poetry in your entire life, it should be this book. Rumi, a 13th century Sufi poet, wrote the most mystical, passionate poetry I've ever read. This book is full-to-bursting with the delicious passion of love and the mystery of life. This Coleman Barks translation is superb. If you ever find a tape of Barks reading this poetry with his back-up jazz band, grab it at any price. You will be in for hours of mystical delight. ISBN 0-06-250959-4. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The Essential Haiku edited and translated by Robert Hass

This book is the best book of Haiku poetry I have ever read. If you like these little pearls of wisdom, these are terrific. I especially like those of Kobayashi Issa, a simple farmer, who feels affinity with all of creation: "Napped half the day; no one punished me." I tell this poetry in my classes late in the day on Thursday when everyone needs something sparkling to wake them up. ISBN 0-88001-351-6. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Against the Evidence by David Ignatow

Ignatow is another of those poets who can help you get through the middle-age blues. Writing about alienation, pain, and dispair, he never fails to see the hope and the way out. His plain, simple poems are some of my favorites. ISBN 0-8195-1214-1. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Once Upon a Midlife by Allan B. Chinen

This is one of those books I think you begin to appreciate just when you least expected you would. Life swirls around you and in your middle years you begin to wonder "How in the world did I get here!". This book reassures you that you aren't alone, that others have traveled this way before you. Here are some of the sign posts you should look out for along the way. ISBN 0-87477-725-9. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky

Need something to take home to the kids? Look no further than this delightful book of poems for the young and the young at heart. My kids can recite "I Wonder Why Dad is so Thoroughly Mad" at the drop of a hat. Almost any Jack Prelutsky book is great bed-time reading, but this one is my all-time favorite. ISBN 0-688-02271-5 in hardback. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Favorite Books (Non-Fiction)

Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez

This book took me almost two years to read. I can't read any one of these essays without stopping for weeks to savor the experience. This is the most beautifully written book of non-fiction I believe I have ever read. ISBN 0-553-34664-4. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Crossing Open Ground by Barry Lopez

By now it might have occurred to you that Barry Lopez is my favorite writer. This is another book of essays about his travels in the Arctic. Lopez has a sense of place like few writers I know. His essay about his travels on a scientific research vessel in the Arctic Ocean, entitled "The Lives of Seals", moves me more every time I read it. ISBN 0-679-72183-5. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich

This is one of my favorite western books. This series of essays was written while Ehrlich was living on sheep ranches in Wyoming. A student of Zen Buddhism, Ehrlich finds the profound in the simple, everyday tasks of her life. This book encourages me to look at the natural world more closely. ISBN 0-14-008113-5. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Refuge--An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams

Williams is another western writer, a naturalist, who in this book writes about the dying women in her family. Refuge enlarges upon her essay, The Clan of the One-Breasted Women", originally published in Northern Lights in January, 1990. Louise Erdrich, another of my favorite writers, describes Refuge like this: "Refuge is a record of loss, healing grace, and the search for a human place in nature's large design. Terry Tempest Williams's courage is matched by the earnest beauty of her descriptive language, and keen compassion of her observations." ISBN 0-679-740244-4. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield

This book promises to be a guide through the perils and promises of a spiritual life. Jack Kornfield is a former Buddhist monk who holds a Ph.D. in psychology. He is a sought-after meditation instructor. I find his suggestions for meditation and inner transformation particularly appealing as I face middle age. This is a book I have read several times, and a book I still pick up when I find my life too busy and scattered. ISBN 0-553-37211-4. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen

Many of you are probably familiar with Quammen's wonderful, quirky essays in Outside magazine. Unlike his several books of essays, this book is an extended treatment of one topic: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. He does an unparalleled job of describing the issues and problems. This is one science book I believe every scientist owes it to himself or herself to read. This is exactly how science should be reported. ISBN 0-684-82712-3. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The Holotropic Universe by Michael Talbot

Several years ago I thought I was going crazy. I'd walk into a bookstore and end up in either the New Age or Religion section. I was obsessed with the idea of altered states of reality, even going so far as to experience non-drug induced altered states myself. It was a trip. This book convinced me that I was not alone in wandering this path, that a lot of very normal people have taken these strange, shamanistic ideas seriously. This book explores the ideas of physicist David Bohm, a protege of Albert Einstein, and neuropsychologist Karl Pribram, who think the world we live in may be a giant hologram. This is the kind of book to take on vacation when you have nothing to do and are particularly open to new ideas. I still think the world is a whole lot stranger than we generally give it credit for being. ISBN 0-06-092258-3. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman

Would you like to know why you can step off the plane in almost any country in the world and find a MacDonalds close by? This book will explain the essential facts of globalization to you. If I would have read this book 25 years ago, I think life would have been very different for me. It is that kind of eye-opening book. Now I understand what all the fuss was about at the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle. Globalization is happening. The question is: Does globalization make the world a better or poorer place to live? ISBN 0-965-88594-1. This book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Favorite CDs

Migration by Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai

Nakai plays Native American flute accompanied by Kater on piano. This CD is my favorite background music for writing IDL programs. Every time I hear the selection "Quietude", I stop what I am doing and get pulled once more into the eternal mystery. Silver Wave Records.

Life Blood by Joanne Shenandoah with Peter Kater

Shenandoah sings traditional Haudenosaunee-Iroquois chants and melodies, put to music by Peter Kater. I first heard this music on the PBS documentary How the West Was Lost. I never tire of hearing it over and over. Silver Wave Records.

How the West Was Lost Vols. 1 & 2 by Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai

A two volume CD to accompany the PBS documentary of the same name. Enchanting, sometimes somber music that I like to play in the morning before a class to center myself for the teaching ahead. Silver Wave Records.

Symphony No. 3 by Henryk Gorecki with Dawn Upshaw

One of the most moving pieces of music I own. I find it full of hope and inspiration. Elektra Nonesuch.

Eric Clapton Unplugged by Eric Clapton

This is a strange CD to be found in my collection, but one I find myself playing when I need a little edge to the programming. I guess I've heard the cut "Old Love" about a million times, and I'm just about to put it on again. Enough said. Reprise Records.

Perfectly Human by Mark Sloniker

Sloniker is a local musician and a nice guy. This new age jazz CD is one I never get tired of hearing. I also recommend and play his first CD, entitled Do Whatcha Love. Perfectly Human is on the JazzNouveau label of Music-West Records. Do Whatcha Love is on the Fahrenheit Records label.

Change of Face by Wind Machine

Another local band that has made it big nationally with new age jazz. They have a number of CDs, any one of which I recommend. Their latest CDs are on the Blue Meteor Records label.

Days Like This by Van Morrison

Any CD by Van Morrison is a good CD, if you ask me. But this is the one I inevitably reach for when I want some IDL programming music. I listen to it over and over, all day long, and I have never grown tired of it. Exile Productions, Ltd.

Tears of Stone by The Chieftains

Songs to bring tears to your eyes from a variety of women artists, backed up by the Irish melodies of the Chieftains. My favorite is the Magdalene Laundries by Joni Mitchell. But you will also find songs by Bonny Raitt, Sinead O'Conner, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Natalie Merchant, and other female vocalists. Haunting melodies. RCA/Victor Records.