BOOKS: Education of a Wandering Man

I never was much for Western fiction, so the books of Louis L’Amour were never on my “radar screen.” However when I came across his autobiography, Education of a Wandering Man, I was taken by surprise. I thought I find the story of a shallow fellow want only to watching old black and white Westerns. But nothing could be further from the truth. It turns out, L’Amour is quite a Renaissance man, one of great learning, who’s advise most people would be wise to take. I would even go as far to say, if I had to recommend just ten core books to read, the Education of the Wandering Man, would be among them. Strong recommendation, I know, but I stand behind it and if you read it you will see why. Foremost L’Amour was an avid reader and traveler from early childhood. Books were his passion__Western’s your thinking, perhaps, but there was much more, He read and knew Gibbon’s, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and knew it well, liking to revisit it many times. He had a particular like for Sansom’s, History of Japan and books such as, Boswell’s Johnson, Schliermacher’s, Soliloquies, Bertrand Russell’s, Marriage and Morals, Eric Hoffer’s True Believer, Polybius, Histories and Voltaire’s, Candide, were all regular companions. But these books only scratch the surface; his reading list was a deep one, and from it he drew his stories, combing this book knowledge with an innate ability for storytelling. L’Amour was more than an avid reader. He had a prodigious memory and could easily summon up a quotation from Shakespeare, Kipling, Yeats, Shelley, Plato or Oscar Wilde, all in the same breath. But what makes L”Amours autobiography so special is not his reading list, but his willingness to share how he was able to read all he did and how he was able to achieve the stupendous success that he achieved in his life. His advice is good, solid and worth emulation. And this is the core of the book. It’s what makes it worth reading. L’Amour describes his book as “an adventure in education.” Read it.