27 Comments
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Suzanne's avatar

What an amazing man. He had a calling and followed that inner voice. He knew deep down what he had to do and went for it. It takes a lot of courage to do what he did.

I made some big choices in life, nothing compared to what he did, but have no regrets. Life is for living, not staying in your safety zone.

Thank you for sharing his story . Trip to the library is now on my agenda.

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3musesmerge's avatar

Sometimes I wonder if we’re all called to different adventures at different times of our lives?

I wonder about the value of those who choose to hold their ground, to grow where they are planted, and perhaps through consciousness slay dragons?

To every living thing there is a season?

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The Forgotten Muse's avatar

School was interfering with my education- Epic line

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Martin Mc Carthy's avatar

I totally agree with you, Erik, that 'books are precious things .. the strong backbone of a civilization'.

I bet Trump and his goon squad have stacks of money, but almost no books. No wonder the world is in such way right now!

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What's avatar

Trump has the rarest of attributes, courage. Give him a chance.

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Blancos Khim's avatar

I have the words, but not sufficient enough to describe this. How I wish more people would read, and read a lot. Today, where our attention is being fought for online and offline, all we can do is at least read a book a month.

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Amy Roberts's avatar

Sometimes a self-education is the best kind you can get. Follow your curiosity and you can’t go wrong.

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African Data & Voice's avatar

A good life for your family and money to buy good books - success

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Gabriele Ulrike Stauf's avatar

Great to share this wonderful author with us.

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susan conner's avatar

Beautiful. And I give thanks to my parents and both sets of grandparents who had many books and allowed me time to read. Still read books.

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Dan McManus's avatar

My mentor in my 20’s introduced me to L’amour; and L’Amour, in large part became a mentor. One summer I decided to collect all of his books, visiting every used bookstore I could find, and today his complete library sits in my library. When I want a quick, well told adventure story, I grab another one off the shelf.

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D Douglass's avatar

Sooo GOOD!!!!

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Tim Sharp's avatar

The Walking Drum and The Last of the Breed were two of his great non-western books. Very good reading.

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Ruzena Rok's avatar

Thank you for this illuminating post. It's time to go read now.

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D.J. Jordan's avatar

I didn't go for a Higher Education in University. I created my own System, outside that system, as I was born an Anarchist, and I've been living The Best Higher Education I wanted: through much reading, in my writing, making music, and traveling the world over!!!

ERIK, I LOVE YOU, and I Always Love your posts, etc -- you are surely One of The Best!!! ☮️ 🎯 ❤️

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Danielle Brugnone's avatar

My papa (grandpa) wasn’t what one would call a “reader” but he had several of L’Amour’s books. I never knew anything about him. Now I’m inspired to pick one up.

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Claudia's avatar

His career path reads with an almost uncanny ease, yet for some, moving from job to job and from adventure to adventure is unimaginable. It reads as if, for him, it's like brushing his teeth to make room for the worlds in the books he's read or written. As if worldly things are barely perceptible background noises.

Thanks for sharing! This is exactly the ease I'm looking for; it's the other path I'm wishing for myself and a loved one who struggles with ME/CFS and whom I care for—in search of the worlds beyond the background noises.

I'm not sure if my thoughts fit, though, as I'm still looking forward to reading a book by the still-unknown author, but I enjoyed your thought-provoking article—thank you!

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Art Curtis's avatar

For whatever reason, maybe riding the rails, this article reminded me of one of the best books I have ever read Loren Eiseley's ALL THE STRANGE HOURS: The Excavation of a Life. Eiseley was an anthropologist who thought deeply and poetically. I believe he was the provost of the University of Pennsylvania when he wrote this particular book. It is worth reading his many books.

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