Bruce Barcott, August 1
Bruce Barcott's love letter to Tahoma, "The Measure of a Mountain," is Transportation Choices Coalition's Books on the Bus spring/summer 2013 selection. The book details Barcott's attempts to know the mountain -- from his initial, disastrous, solo hikes, to his extensive research and interviews, to his ultimate attempt to reach the summit -- and in the process, helps readers understand this natural wonder a bit better. Barcott writes, "Like rain and rivers and trees, the mountain is a continuous presence in our lives, but in our psychological landscape, it occupies a place greater than the forests and falling water... The mountain inspires in us a feeling akin to spiritual awe: reverence, adoration, humility... Rainier is a mountain few of us know." Books on the Bus is a quarterly book club for bus and train riders, designed to take advantage of public transportation's inherent strengths: time to read and immersion in a unique, temporary, and very diverse community. Every quarter, the project selects a book for participants to read on their bus rides. At the end of the three-month reading period, Books on the Bus hosts an event to celebrate and discuss the book.