Handlebar Poetry
Philosophy student Bradley Parsons likes to read. At least he did when he dropped into our office in 1997. He was riding from Jasper in Canada back to his home in Laguna Beach, California.
He recalled, “At 22 years of age, just finishing my undergraduate stuff and nothing really better to do (not much demand for the philosopher these days) I decided to answer that call to travel. Lacking funds for flying, and not exactly owning a vehicle of my own, it was either hike it or bike it. I chose the bicycle and rode a 3,600-mile trek from my driveway in southern California to St. Augustine, Florida, venturing through Colorado and some snow, the Grand Canyon, Oklahoma and hills for miles and miles. I chose that path and it has made all the difference. This is my third time out.”
He added that he can’t stay out of second hand bookstores. This is what he had on board his ‘bookmobile’:
Blue Highways
A Catcher in the Rye
Chariots of the Gods?
The Bhagavad-Gita
A Short History of Ethics
The Dancing Wu Li Masters
The Bible
The Elements of Screenwriting
