a Forensic Economist, and Navajo Rug Arbitrager
Kent Gilbreath was raised in Valley Mills, Texas. He worked in his father's general store and on the family farm. Valedictorian of his high school class, a member of the Super Centex Football Team, he received his economics degree magna cum laude from Baylor University. After receiving his doctorate from The University of Florida, he taught International Economics aboard World Campus Afloat of Chapman College, traveling around the world with 500 students. He served three terms as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas. The Conservation Foundation, one of the world's most respected environmental research organizations, published Dr. Gilbreath's book, Business And the Environment Toward Common Ground. He also authored a book dealing with small business development on the Navajo Indian Reservation. H served on the Texas Supreme Court's Citizens' Commission on the Texas Judicial System, former director and past president of the American fellows of the Amundsen Instititute of U.S./Mexico Studies, and along with many, many other honors too numerous to recount, founded and coached the Baylor University Soccer Team.
No Chance
Meetings Books & Odd Bits: HOMEPAGE
Learning is not a process that begins and ends in the classroom. Some of the most lasting educational experiences you encounter will be those that result from your exposure to ideas outside the formal educational structure. To help you find good literature, I have made a list of books, mostly fiction, that I have enjoyed reading and that have in one way or another, been meaningful to me.
1. Herman Hesse's books are powerful statements about the search for meaning in life: Siddhartha, Demian, Steppenwolf, PeterCamensind (Hard to Find). If you like Hesse, you will want to read his many other works.
2. Zorba the Greek by Nikos Katzanzakis.
3. Candide by Voltaire.
4. Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man And The Sea, and many more.
5. The Lord of the Rings (a trilology) by J.R.R. Tolkien (The most enjoyable series of books I have read).
6. The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham.
7. Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford
8. John Steinbeck is a dependably good author. Try Tortilla Flat, Travels With Charley: In Search of America, and the Grapes of Wrath.
9. Mark Twain is always good. In addition to Huckleberry Finn, try: Tom Sawyer, The Mysterious Stranger, and many more.
10. All Quiet on the Western Front by E.M. Remarque.
11. Watership Down by Richard Adams.
12. Leaving Cheyenne by Larry McMurtry.
13. Wolves by Hanls Helmut Kirst. Also read his delightful trilogy about a German soldier in World War II: The Revolt of Gunner Asch, The Return of Gunner Asch, Forward Gunner Asch.
14. Ben K. Green writes truly great tales about Texas and the West. The Village Horse Doctor, West of the Pecos; Wild Cow Tales, Horse Tradin' and many others.
15. Herman Wouk's two books about World War II: Winds of War and War and Remembrance.
16. Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon.
17. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler.
18. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Schute
19. The Chosen by Chaim Potok. Also: The Promise and My Name Is Asher Lev.
20. Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl (nonfiction adventure).
21. Animal Farm by George Orwell.
22. Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
23. Go Down Moses by William Faulkner (A book of short stories -- read "Go Down Moses" and "Delta Autumn").
24. The Inferno by Dante.
25. The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima.
26. Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
27. James Herriot's delightful books about an English veterinarian: All Creatures Great And Small and others.
28. I enjoy reading many of Tennessee William's plays: Streetcar Named Desire, Sweet Bird of Youth, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
29. Unto A Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg.
30. The "Grand Inquistor" -- a story in Notes From Underground by Dostoevsky.
31. Lust For Life by Irving Stone (a fictional biography of Van Gogh).
32. Exodus and Trinity - - two epic novels by Leon Uris.
33. My Name is Aram by William Saroyan.
34. Congo by Michael Crichton.
35. The Life And Times of Rembrandt by Hendrik Wilhelm Van Loon. Hard to find, but we probably can get you one copy.
36. Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver by J. Frank Dobie.
37. I enjoy reading Shakespeare's plays. Try: A Midsummernight's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, and MacBeth.
38. The English romantic poets are fun! Wordsworth, Shelly, Keats. Also try my favorite, Robert Browning -- a true genius.
39. Kurt Vonnegut's books are fascinating. Try: God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse-Five.
40. For escape, try James Michener's books: Tales of the South Pacific, Caravans, and The Source (this explores the common roots of Islam, Judaism and Christianity).
41. I enjoy reading about American Indians. Consider the following novels: The Man Who Killed Deer by Frank Waters, Laughing Boy by Oliver LaFarge, and Stay Away Joe by Dean Cushman.
42. Tony Hillerman writes great mystery novels about a Navajo policeman: The Blessing Way, The Ghostway, The Dark Wind, People of Darkness, Dancehall of the Dead.
43. I Giorghos by William J. Lederer.
44. Ursula K. LeGuin is an award winning science fiction writer. Try: The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Earthsea Triology: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore.
45. Isaac Asimov is perhaps the greatest living science fiction writer. Try: The Foundation series of five award winning science fiction books (start with Foundation) or his robot detective books: The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn.
46. For escape and light reading, try the western novels of Louis L'Amour.
47. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams.
48. All the Pretty Horses by Cormack McCarthy.
49. Medicine River by Thomas King.
50. My Antonio by Willa Cather.
51. Pigs in Heaven and Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver.
52. The Education of the Little Tree by Forrest Carter.
No Chance Meetings Books & Odd Bits:
HOMEPAGE
Great
Reads
News & Odd Bits
Kent
Gilbreath: Renaissance Reader
Waco:
Stranger than Fiction
Narnia
& C.S. Lewis
Books on Adoption
The
Medievalist
J.R.R.
Tolkien Reader
Carl Hoover's Media Reads
Charles'Travel Picks
Prosecutor's Crime Room
Cowart's Conflicts
Cowboys
& Preachers
Nick's
Picks
Great Flicks
The
Local Okie
Steve's Stuff
Fantasy &
Sci-Fi
Brain
Busters
Genealogy
Books
Customer Requests
Films
You'll Love: Great Screenplays -- recommended by Bob Darden
Big-Headed Book Room
Texas Books
New rooms are always under construction. we can order almost any book for you. Simply email your request to Nelson@sicembears.com. We welcome your suggestions and comments.
No Chance Meetings Books & Odd Bits
Copyright 1998