--=[ Population 485 ]=-- --=[ Them ]=--
A strange but enjoyable book about a small town volunteer firefighter who talks about living his life and meeting his neighbors through and around the fire department. They say never judge a book by it's cover, but the photo on the front of the jacket of a man walking down a rural highway was enough to entice me to buy it.
It's quite a good story, filled with many small, well-written forays into the history of the town and the effect that they have on the present, large or small. A very good book that I highly recommend.
If there's one thing that I learned from this book, it's this: No one will ever tell you the truth about themselves. Jon goes on a surreal adventure where he travels the world with 'extremists' of every stripe - almost. Most of them saw this as an opportunity to further their own adgenda or a validation of their hypothesis, either positive or negative.
What can one draw from this book? The world is a strange place that appears even stranger when viewed through various people's eyes. Naturally, the truth behind everything turns out to be the strangest of all.
The dry humor in parts of this book are quite good, including when Jon cannot tell if the people threatening his life are joking or not.
I enjoyed it so much that I tore through it in a day and a half. A modern speed record for a man with too much to do.