Member: ABVR

CollectionsYour library (3,167), Currently reading (3), Read but unowned (138), Wishlist (34), Library List - Pro (225), Library List - Rec (122), TBR - Pro (3), Zotero hopper (349), Weeded (97), Awaiting disposal (12), All collections (3,999)

Reviews108 reviews

Tags@VH (1,571), @GA (1,396), history (1,239), fiction (1,159), science fiction (721), *Read (671), US (539), Britain (480), 20C (433), technology (365) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

GroupsAerial Warfare, Boats and Sailing, BookMooching, Crime, Thriller & Mystery, History of Science/Technology/Medicine, Librarything Series, Military History, Name that Book, Non-Fiction Readers, Science Fiction Fans — show all groups , Science!, Writer-readers

Favorite authorsDavid McCullough, John McPhee, Robert B. Parker, Mike Resnick, Spider Robinson (Shared favorites)

About meI'm a writer and part-time history professor. Born and raised in southern New England, I've lived and worked in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia since 1993 but remain an unassimilated Yankee who misses the sea, the snow, and decent clam chowder.

For the demographically curious, I . . . was born in 1963, am the son of a teacher and a social worker, am 6' 3" tall, am left-handed, attended public schools, have a PhD (University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1990), vote Democratic, am somewhere between an agnostic and a deist, follow baseball with interest but other sports not at all, drive an aging Toyota minivan, and have owned seven Macintosh computers since 1987 but never owned a cell phone.

When I'm not teaching, writing, parenting, or keeping house, I'm usually reading, watching movies, spending time with my family, or (when visiting New England in the summer) swimming and sailing.

About my libraryMy library, still in the process of being entered, consists of several distinct chunks. These include: 1) Books I use in my teaching and research, mostly located in Georgia and mostly about history, science, technology, and popular culture; 2) Books inherited from my late father that I've kept because our interests overlapped, mostly located in Massachusetts and mostly maritime history, archaeology, English literature, and classic science fiction; 3) Yet-to-be read books, scattered through both houses, that will probably be passed on when I'm done with them.

The fact that I keep very little "recreational" non-fiction and virtually no recreational fiction after reading it means that my library--especially the part tagged GA--will at any given moment look more narrowly focused, and more "serious" than my actual reading habits.

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Membership LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway

Real nameA. Bowdoin Van Riper

LocationMarietta, GA

Emailbvanriperbellsouth.net

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/ABVR (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ABVR (library)

Common KnowledgeSeries (379), Awards (290), Characters (2993), Places (891)

Member sinceNov 12, 2005

Currently readingThe Price of Admiralty by John Keegan
The Earth in Turmoil: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Their Impact on Humankind by Kerry E. Sieh
Weapons of Choice (The Axis of Time Trilogy, Book 1) by John Birmingham