Jeff, you got it as a gift a year ago last June, and I immediately ordered
it from Amazon. Middleton will never win the Pulitzer but I so enjoyed
'Earth is Enough' which you recommended, so I bought "In that Sweet
Country."

I saved it....I read the first story..or article if you will - it being a
collection of his writings for magazines - on the plane to the Philippines.
I read the last one yesterday.

I have read it on the plane...by the sea...on the porch...at the park...on
mountain tops before sunset...savoring each one like fine aged wine.
Laughs...I took a year and two weeks to read that book.

Middleton had one article on cane rods...the feeding and care of bamboo if
you will, and THAT is how I treated that book. When the day was right, when
the mood was right....when the weather was right...I took that trusted book
off the shelf and went to where my heart lead me to read just one more
article. My boarding pass out of LAX was is my bookmark.

Now I read a lot of books...and now I read them on my computer.....I really
want an e-book reader. I read John Grisham and Robert B. Parker but I just
can't imagine having the feel of the book....marking the pages....placing it
on the shelf for future use with some flat electronic device.

The internet and it's electronic devices....Frank Zappa and his 'devices'
have changed the world....

John