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'So Brave, Young, and Handsome'
Leif Enger's long-awaited second novel, "So Brave, Young, and Handsome," is a circular tale -- it begins as it ends.
Perhaps somewhat autobiographical, the story is told by Monte Becket, author of a surprise bestseller of derring-do in the Old West.
"Martin Bligh" was the story of a Pony Express rider, " ... a story to make a boy lean forward; it had Indians and great ships and the buried gold of Coronado and two separate duels, including one with sabers."
On the strength of the first book's success, Monte quits his job at the P.O. and becomes an author, but after seven starts of new books and no finishes, he decides he had better reclaim his day job.
At that precise moment, a white-haired man rows out of the mist of the river, and by and by invites Monte for a six-week trip out West where he (Glendon) will seek forgiveness from a lost love.
The conventions of the picaresque novel come richly into play as Monte and Glendon run afoul of (the historical figure) Charles Siringo, who as a former Pinkerton agent, is after Glendon for the crimes of his youth.
Baptisms of flood and fire follow, a friend is gained and violently lost, followed by redemption of many sorts in a California citrus orchard. Enger's remarkable prose is filled with aphorisms and the quirky expression of the plain-spoken.
Although "So Brave, Young, and Handsome" is no "Peace Like a River," it is assuredly the very best next thing.
'The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments'
In "The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments," George Johnson, science writer for The New York Times, Scientific American, The Atlantic Monthly and other prestigious magazines and journals, has selected his 10 favorite scientific experiments of all time based upon their simplicity, their elegance and their contribution to scientific progress and an understanding of the nature of the cosmos.
Johnson presupposes some knowledge on the part of his readers that they may not have, but for the most part, his descriptions of William Harvey's parsing of the circulatory system, Albert Michelson and Edward Morley's search for "aether" that proved the non-existence of that illusive-for-a-good-reason non-substance and Ivan Pavlov's experiments on conditioning and response are fascinating.
My favorites are Newton's simple but profoundly important experiments on the nature of light and color, and Galileo's experiment to yield the intervals of acceleration of falling objects -- timed with music.
"The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments" is a great little book, partly because it makes the reader want to know more, and partly because we find out where the knowledge came from that we thought everybody already knew.
• Laura Wadley is a librarian with the Provo City Library. E-mail her at
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