Here’s a place to discuss the best book you’ve read all year—or ever.

My brother is a veracious reader who always has at least five books he’s reading simultaneously. Thanks to him I am never at a loss for a recommendation. Myself, I’m only good for perhaps two at a time but it takes me forever to get through them. I tend to stay away from fiction simply because there’s so much to learn so I reserve fiction for vacations.

One of the more recent books I’ve read was by Simon Winchester, “A Crack in the Edge of the World”. A_crack_book_2 Mr. Winchester is a geologist and he amazingly manages to write with interesting prose. The book centers on the 1906 earthquake but the author begins at the far eastern end of the world and works his way across the North American and Pacific plates until he reaches San Francisco. I never knew for example that one of the most active places in our country for earthquakes is the city of New Madrid in Missouri and reading about that event is worth the price of the book alone; or that the beautiful National Park of Yellowstone will be the end of the west as we know it.

The book is a fascinating read and especially recommended for those of you living in Belmont—so close to the San Andreas Fault.

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