1990 Christmas List, http://www.rasmusen.org/_amazon/xmas90.htm

• 1. Light Tackle Fishing . Byron Dalrymple, 389 pp., 1947. Here is a man who talks about real fishing: for bullhead and bluegill, not bass and muskie.
• 2. The Vicar of Wakefield . Oliver Goldsmith, $4.76. A charming little novel that makes you feel good when you've finished it. It is a wholesome reminder that a good and admirable person can nonetheless be simple and foolish.
• 3. The Harvard Guide to Influential Books. Edited by C. Devine, Claudia Dissel, and Kim Parrish, 300pp., 1986. These Kennedy School students asked 113 professors to list books and write a paragraph about each one.
• 4. The Microbe Hunters. Paul DeKruif, 357 pages, $10.40, 1926. Science made exciting and passionate.
• 5. The Toshiba T1000SE laptop computer. The keyboard feels good and the screen is visible day and night. Good for taking to the mountains or the beach. And I really don't miss the hard disk.
• 6. Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties , Paul Johnson, 816 pp., $16.00, 1983. You can put this on your shelf with Manchester's The Glory and the Dream. Johnson reminds us of past mistakes and does not hesitate to point fingers.
• 7. Pillsbury Country Biscuits. Just twist it open and pop it in the oven. My one item of sensual pleasure on this list.
• 8. Discovering Sierra Trees. Stephen Arno, $4.00, 89 pp., 1973. This is the best tree guide I have ever seen. You may have to buy it in national parks---it is published by the Yosemite Natural History Association.
• 9. John Adams and the American Revolution .Catherine Bowen, 699pp., 1949. This book, which covers Adams's life up to 1776, has too much fictional nonfiction, but it is well worth reading. How could such a nonpolitical man help found a country? ---Because he was honorable and good at writing arguments.
• 10. The Guide . R. Narayanan, 220 pp., $9.56, 1958. Somehow I think of The Mayor of Casterbridge ; this too is an ordinary man's rise and fall in an everyday world not our own.