In favor of the “stack books” portion of my “Stack Books, Log Miles” mantra, I am here to provide you with a quick review of the two books I was able to finish this month (January 2025). I plan to keep this going monthly and - if I don’t finish a book during a calendar month - I get to hop on here and type five hundred words on why I was unable to do so.
The first book read in January was One Life at a Time, Please by Edward Abbey. This was originally published in 1988, a year before Abbey’s untimely death. It is a collection of essays on the topics of Politics, Travel, and Books & Art. The pictured printing is 225 pages in length.
Anyone who has known me for more than 45 minutes knows that I am a huge Edward Abbey fan, possibly giving him the title of my favorite author. He writes about the American Southwest in a way that will make you want to chunk everything and move out to the desert. My favorite book of all time, Desert Solitaire, is especially capable of conveying this feeling. One Life at a Time, Please was able to invoke similar emotion. In this book, there is an essay on Big Bend, which anyone who has known me long enough to know I am an Ed Abbey fan has also known me long enough to know I prefer the Big Bend of Texas to almost anywhere in the world. It was amazing and inspiring to read of my favorite region in Abbey’s words. I rated the book a 10/10 and am confident it will be one I revisit from time to time, particularly the Big Bend section.
Abbey is my ultimate “adventure writing” inspiration. Perhaps over the life of this Substack we will a slight comparable progression in my work.
A few quotes I loved:
“There is nothing like a good bad dirt road to screen out the faintly interested and to invite in the genuinely interested.”
“I am not a connoisseur of cities. In general all big cities seem alike to me: appalling places.”
“A long and bitterly cold night - should have known better than to camp on a sandbar. I do know better - but did it anyhow.”
“We agree that getting up early, before anyone else, gives one a feeling of moral superiority that may last, on a good day, all day long. Furthermore, early morning is the sweetest time of day, any day.”
“Among the Americans, read Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Henry Thoreau, Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, B. Traven, Thomas Wolfe, John Steinbeck, Nelson Algren, and Dr. William Carlos Williams…Emulate them until you find others emulating you.”
“Why write? How justify this mad itch for scribbling? Speaking for myself, I write to entertain my friends and to exasperate our enemies. I write to record the truths of our time as best as I can see it….I write to give pleasure and promote aesthetic bliss. To honor life and praise the divine beauty of the natural world. I write for the joy and exultation of writing itself. To tell my story.”
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”
“The search for transcendence and integrity and truth goes on, as witness the work of Annie Dillard, Wendell Berry, Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry, Leslie Silko, Peter Matthiessen, Barry Lopez, Edward Hoagland, and Jim Harrison, among many others.”
This is only a small selection of the highlights I took, but these feel most relevant to this post.
I highly recommend this book or any Ed Abbey book if you like dry humor, excellent nature writing, and / or are needing a way to connect with nature while bound to the day to day grind. In general, I prefer his essay’s and journals, but his fiction is worth a read as well.
The second book of the month is The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. This was the first book I read as part of 75Hard (10 pages a day!), and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Obstacle is the Way was published in 2014 and rolls in around 185 pages. I had many, many highlights in this book but will spare you those this go around. The ultimate gist of this book is in the title. The roadblocks you encounter, if properly navigated, are what lead you to your success. The roadblocks are to be embraced, even loved. Not shied away from. Holiday pulls from countless historical examples from the Stoic philosophers to Ulysses S. Grant and Teddy Roosevelt.
This is my third Holiday book to read, the others being Discipline is Destiny and The Daily Stoic (which I still read most every day). He does an excellent job of relaying ancient wisdom and philosophies into modern problems, in a way that is relatable and understandable. I intend to read Holiday’s entire catalogue.
I would recommend this book to anyone (truly), but especially anyone who feels “stuck” or like they can’t break through. Frankly, I would recommend any of Holiday’s books. They are a great reminder of the stoic virtues and values and a way to implement them into our modern life, where they are perhaps more applicable than ever.
I am currently reading Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck and Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday - be on the lookout for more next month!
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