Education of a Wondering Man is such a lovely, rambling autobiography of Louis Lamour that I can hardly tell where to begin. It is a prolonged reminiscence of books that influenced Lamour throughout his life and his remembrance of the varied times and places in which he read them. Lamour was such a fanatical reader that he averaged greater than 100 books a year from the 1930's until his death - and most all of that either nonfiction or 'high' literature. The man was voracious!
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But it is not just a bunch of lists of "I read this, then I read that." It is an treatise on how to educate oneself through reading. Lamour's lack of use for our modern idea of schooling was obvious. It was almost an unschooling book rather than a self-education or homeschooling book.
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Lamour also comes across in this book as the ultimate champion of secular humanism. he cites ideas that pretty much all of humanity's problems can be solved through better education - and that through reading. This verges on a transcendence type idea in this book.
Personally, I do not believe that the human mind has any limits but those we impose ourselves...I do not believe that man has even begun to realize who he is or what he can become...
Several times throughout the book, I got to wondering what such a well-read man thought of the bible, or what his relationship to Christianity was, when all of a sudden, he answered that directly. He appeared to place all religious texts on the same level as other literature. I can't find the quote right now, so I'll paraphrase...
While I obviously don't agree with these ideas there is a lot that is instructive in the book. It is a charming memoir of a mind-bogglingly well-read man. The tone of the book is that of slow, patient, patronly instruction. I'd recommend reading it.I have read the Christian Bible several times and found it instructive. I have also read the Koran and it was useful too.
If you're interested in picking up a copy, please check out my Amazon store...
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