The calming (and stimulating) effect of a good read.

Want to stop learning?  Then stop reading!

I did that for a few years.  Burned out from reading stacks of crap needed to practice law (quit in roughly 2005 after 30 years of mostly real estate trial work).  But it took finding the right kind of books to get me back in.  

This library started out as about 30 titles of books I found to be "good reads".  That meant it kept my interest for all (or at least most) of the journey.  It meant the author talked with authority, whether I agreed or disagreed with viewpoint.  Some things I knew; some things I learned.  

I'm not big on fiction, so most all of these deal with some bit of history.  We are supposed to learn from history ... and if mistakes were made, use it to guide us in our lives in better directions.  Some history needs to be told, painful as it might be, about our own human frailty.

Anyway, enough about non book things.

Here are some of the books I think worth spending time with.  There are plenty more that are in our library but not listed.  Don't be afraid to browse them all.

I will try and catagorize, though many cover more than one true subject:

Keep in mind that a good number of the books we have here are true out of print ... and as such most of those copies are "used".  Nothing junky, but maybe former library or with some markings,  If you only want an unused book, be sure to ask me before you order,  Those that are NEW I will try to remember to designate.

Here we go:

American Bison: 

1. Buffalo in the House; R.D. Rosen
2. Wild Idea; Dan O' Brian
3. Getting a Stand;  Geo. Bird Grinnell
4. American Buffalo; In search of a lost icon;  Steven Rinella
5. Great Plains Bison;  Dan O' Brian

Western History:

1. A History of the JA Ranch (re-print)  Harley Burton
2. Life in the Saddle; Frank Collinson
3. The Book of the American West; edited by Jay Moynahan
4.  Soldiering in Souix Country; Lt. Charles Springer
5. Any of Thomas Mails Native American volumes (the People called Apache; Pueblo Children of the Earth Mother; Warriors of the Plains; The Hopi Survival Kit and on!)
6. The XIT Ranch of Texas: J Evetts Haley. 
7.  A Collection of Historical Reprints (we put this together for you) ... check it out on the website.
8. The Buffalo and His Fate:  reprint of an 1880 British Article ... with amazing accuracy

Art and Artists of the West:. 

1.  Buckskin and Buffalo; artistry of the Plains Indians;  Colin F. Taylor

2. A Collectors Guide to the Prints of Olaf Weighorst;    Jim Drye

3. Bison in Art;  Larry Barsness
4. Charles Russell: Printed Rarities;  Larry Len Peterson
5. L.A. Huffman; Photographer of the American West;  Larry Len Peterson

Western Historical figures: 

1. The Buffalo Hunters:  Marie Sandoz
2. The Buffalo King,  The story of Scotty Phillips ; Nancy Veglahn
3.  Last of the Plainsman; The story of CJ Buffalo Jones; Zane Grey

 Women of the West:

1. Womans Voices from the Western Frontier; Susan G. Burruille
2. The Land of Buffalo Bones: The Diary of an English Girl in Minnesota
3. My Diary:  Cornelia Adair

 Coffee Table books:

1. The Last of the Buffalo; Return to the Wild;  Harvey Locke
2. No Turning Back, The Art of Veryl Goodnight; Veryl Goodnight
3. Photos of Lonesome Dove;  Bill Whitliff 

Authors I find "impressive"

1. Steven Rinella
2. Thomas E. Mails
3. Dan O' Brian
4. Marie Sandoz
5. Todd Wilkinson
6. (for kids) Paul Goebel