Three Worlds Gone Mad: The Hunter, The Hammer, and Heaven gets back to what RYP does best: storytelling. The book documents Robert Young Pelton’s journeys to three different war-zones (Sierra Leone, Chechnya, and Bougainville) and his attempts to understand the place and its people. Like in DP, Pelton manages to explain the places better than any history text. Where else are you able to see from the eyes of pirate hunting mercs, American ex-CIA jihadists, and hermit rebel leaders? Unconstrained from the limits of a journalism, Pelton shows us firsthand a world outside of our own – a glimpse into war-torn regions of the world – and the ordinary people who inhabit them.

I highly recommend this book to and fans of RYP and, for those who have never read his works, this is a good place to start.

I picked up the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin at one of those library book sales a few years ago for something like $1. It’s been sitting on my bookshelf, neglected, ever since – though I kept telling myself I’d read it one day. Finally, I have.

I enjoyed the book a good deal. Though I can’t say I agree with all of Franklin’s politics or his racist leanings, I did enjoy the writing style and the insight into the times. It’s impressive how varied a man he was, seemingly every institution and employment being touched by him at some point. (And the book only goes to 30 years before his death.) I wouldn’t use the book as a mold to shape my life to, which was the book’s intention, but it’s still a good read.

The Fairhaven Folktales of Dirty Dan Harris by Michael Sean Sullivan is a fun little bit of local history. It concerns the life and times of “Dirty” Danial Harris, the sailor and whiskey smuggler who founded the town of Fairhaven in the 1800s. Dirty Dan had a reputation as quite the story teller in his time, this book being the recounting of his tales that were orally passed down after his death.

The Complete Guide to Lock Picking by Eddie the Wire is something of a classic on the subject. I find that when talking to lock specialists, I’m always referred to it at one point or another. It’s a short book. At only 80 pages, it obviously isn’t very indepth. I found the author to brush over some topics too quickly, and was also lacking in pictures to help reinforce concepts. But all in all, the book taught me a good deal. Now I need to invest in a pick set.

Riding the Rails by Michael Mathers is a photo essay of riding freight trains in the ’60s-’70s. The pictures are incredible, the stories and interviews intruiging. A recommended read for those interested in hoboing.

Danien Leen’s The Freighthopper’s Manual For North America is a short, concise guide for the would-be hobo. Originally printed in the ’70s, this edition was “updated” in 1992 – meaning he added a couple useful appendices. The main part of the book, though, still feels out of date, mentioning reefers and cabooses. The whole book is only about 100 pages, about a third of that pictures. It’s a nice little manual to blow through in an hour or so, but by no means a replacement for Littlejohn’s Hopping Freight Trains in America (which I’m quickly discovering is the modern bible on the subject).

The book is a little hard to come by. I didn’t have much trouble finding a used copy online, but there’s also a stamp in the back of the book that reads:

ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS UNIQUE BOOK ARE AVAILABLE FOR $8.95 (U.S.) POSTPAID FROM: DANIEL LEEN BOX 191 SEATTLE, WA 98111 U.S.A.

I don’t know if that box is still valid, but it may be worth a shot.