On top of those things, I have also taken it upon myself to read some books that I enjoy. Memoirs mostly, of people that I find interesting. Some notable ones that I have read recently are Steven Tyler's Does the Noise In My Head Bother You? which was a great book of honesty, humor and his struggle with drug addiction. I am a big fan of Steven, I think he is a great singer and overall a great person, and I absolutely loved seeing him on American Idol this past season; a show which I normally find boring and predictable.
Just before school was out, I finished my 4th (but his first) of Neil Peart's books, called The Masked Rider which chronicles his adventures bicycling in West Africa. I was not sure how interested I would be in this book, because usually that sort of thing isn't my "bag", but I actually really liked it. It's interesting from a biker's point of view because he has to live in the same conditions as a citizen there every day for a month as hotel accommodations there aren't exactly what one would call "luxurious". Most of the time your shower is a bucket of water and a sponge, your toilet is a hole, and your bed is a foam pad (if you're lucky). Neil's usual meals consisted of an omelette and instant coffee in the mornings (in almost every town too, it's weird how big on omelettes they are there), and for dinner "rice with junk on it". It's probably better that he didn't know what was in it. I wouldn't want to know. Meanwhile, he's riding his bike upwards of 30 miles per day on all sorts of rough African terrain, encountering drunken soldiers, buses, cars and many other strange things that wonder around the street, only to get relief from a few warm sodas during the day and a nice cozy foam pad at night. He mentions at the end how it puts it all in perspective: I should say so! But nonetheless I commend him for doing these things because I'm pretty sure I would die on the first day. I love Neil as a drummer, and almost more as an author.
Another notable book I read was surprisingly by Duane "the Dog" Chapman (known to most as Dog the Bounty Hunter on A&E). This was his first of two books entitled "You Can Run, but You Can't Hide". I put off reading this book for a while, kind of expecting it to be just short stories of his most memorable bounties, mostly told by an intermediary as that is how many other TV stars' are written, but when I was on my flight back from Crested Butte, Colorado, I decided to pick this one up. I'm glad I did.
When I first started watching Dog The Bounty Hunter, I was absolutely shocked at how totally opposite he is from everything he is presumed to be. Yes, he dresses like a tough old biker dude, and in some forms he is, but he is really a gentle giant. He is the big, bad Dog all the way up until he catches his man, and then a different side of him comes out. A friend. He believes that everyone deserves a second chance, so when he catches his bounty, he cuffs them and then treats them with the utmost respect. He talks to them about their lives and what's going wrong and what they need to fix and shows them that jail is not the end for them and that they can turn their lives around because well, he did.
Dog's book chronicles his young life, from being abused by his father to joining his first gang to his moment of truth when he was in Huntsville State Penitentiary for a murder he didn't commit. One day one of his inmates named Bigfoot had just learned that his momma had passed, and he ran frantically for the gates getting ready to break out. The sniper guard was ready to fire aiming down his scope, and here comes the Dog sprinting after Bigfoot to bring him back home. That's where his bounty hunting days began. This is really a heartwarming book, and it even covers his capture of serial rapist Andrew Luster in Mexico, and then his unfair arrest for kidnapping (bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico). This book follows all the ups and downs of Dog's life and career, and I would recommend it to anyone.
And for now I am in the middle of the New York Times Bestseller "Heaven Is for Real" which is a true story about a little boy who has a supernatural experience while having an emergency appendectomy. It's told by his father, a pastor, so he is more fascinated than anyone when he hears his son speak of these things. It's quite a convincing story for non-believers, I myself am still on the fence about the concept of religion, but it's a good story with quite an argument for belief in an afterlife. I just started it today but I'm almost done. It's a short but heartwarming read for anyone interested in such things.
Well that's it, I'm off for the night. Peace. Yeah, I just said peace.
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