Part 4 was published November 12, 2023, and can be found here.

Books That Influenced My Philosophy

Book number one is the Bible, of course.

The next book is at the top of the list is second only to the Bible. I read “Black Like Me” when I was a freshman at the university, and it has had a lifelong influence on me. It was written by John Howard Griffin. He was a White man who wanted to find out what it would be like to be Black. With the help of a dermatologist, he altered his skin color making it dark enough to pass as Black man. This book permanently affected my opinion of people who issue racist comments. I know its my fault, but since reading this book, when I hear somebody make a racist comment, my respect for that person takes a permanent hit. The book obviously was a real eye opener on racism in this country. And yes, it still happens, and I regrettably still hear people making those comments.

A sidenote related to this subject - On one trip to Florida, Sherell and I returned home by taking the northern route, which goes up across Georgia, through Atlanta, and out of the northwest corner. This was not long after the governor of Georgia declared, under pressure from the US government, that the Confederate flag that always hung below the American flag on the same pole had to come down. I could not help but notice that I never saw a single American flag in the air until we got within 10 miles of leaving the northwest corner of Georgia. Obviously, when they were told they had to take down the Confederate flag, they also took down the American flag. Therefore, to this day, I have an extremely low respect for southern people. Yes, it’s my problem because there has to be someone down there that's good.

An Encyclopedia Britannica set is next on my list of influential books. My parents purchased the set in 1951. They were my window to the world. With them I learned to love to read. Much later, I read Stephen Hawking's book on time, and then Einstein's explanation of relativity, which was supposedly written so that most people could understand. I would read a section several times trying to understand what Einstein was trying to tell us.

The next book was one titled “Who will Feed China?” by Lester R. Brown, director of a think tank in Washington, D.C., called Worldwatch Institute.

Lester Brown has family connections on a farm or ranch northeast of Greeley. Dr. Dalsted, CSU Economist, told me that a few years ago Brown spent some time visiting the CSU campus.

What this book dramatically told me is that the best recommendation that I can make, as far as a career goes, is to somehow, someway stay connected to agriculture. We have suffered tremendous losses as farmers the last five years, but this all one day will dramatically end. There will never again possibly be enough food.

The book I enjoyed the most is “Five Equations that Changed the World.” This book is authored by Michael Guillen, professor of math and physics at Harvard University. It's not so much about the· equations themselves, and the mathematics, but about the men who wrote these equations and the time in which they lived. I purchased it because I read a book report on it in US New and World Report noting that all five of these world-changing equations were written by men who believed in a creator; including Albert Einstein.

Next: Some Activities in the Last Sixty Years