Good Reads

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If you are a history buff, you need to know about best-selling author Erik Larson.  Even if you're not a history buff, but enjoy a fascinating read, you should know about his books. Last fall I read The Devil in the White City, an account of a mass murderer and the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Yesterday, I finished reading Isaac's Storm, Larson's gripping account of the Galveston hurricane of 1900, as seen through the eyes of resident meterologist Isaac Cline.  What sets Larson's books apart, besides his vivid storytelling, is the amount of research behind each book.  Larson searches a prodigious amount of public records to recreate masterful accounts of the historical events on which his books are based.  Ocassionally, he'll even treat you to nuggets of related historical and scientific information that help set the stage for the story at hand.  

Up next:  Thunderstruck, Larson's story (set in Edwardian London, Cape Cod, and Novia Scotia) of two men - Lawley Crippen, an unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi.  "Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners; scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed; and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth.  Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless. . .Meanwhile, Crippen, 'the kindest of men,' nearly commits the perfect murder" (taken from book cover).