by Martin Collis, Ph.D.

I'm sure there's an old Chinese proverb that says, "good things come in sixes." In the previous two issues of WELL, I listed 6 favorite movies, and CDs. This time it's books and I'll stay with fiction. To narrow the list down to six is a joke as my house is full of books. As Sydney Smith noted, "there's no furniture as charming as books." My main criterion in selecting these is how much I enjoyed them:

1. Shoeless Joe – Bill Kinsella.
   A beautiful book from which the beautiful movie "Field of Dreams" was made.
   
   
2. Prince Of Tides – Pat Conroy
   Not great literature perhaps, but extremely readable with some good insights on the teaching profession. The film was very bad and didn't do justice to the book.
   
   
3. Neuromancer – William Gibson
   This is science fiction of a high order. William gave birth to the term 'cyberpunk' in this book which was the first of a trilogy.
   
   
4. The Goldbug Variations – Richard Powers
   Astonishing book. Dense, brilliant, thought provoking with a fugue-like structure.
   
   
5. High Lonesome World – Babs Deal
   Obscure and wonderful novel about the life and death of Hank Williams.
   
   
6. The Devil Rides Outside – John Griffin
   Written by Griffin when he was blind, which seems to sharpen his descriptions involving the other four senses. I named my daughter Christianne after a minor character in the book.