Howard Blue's

Careers
	How great it might have been had I read some books similar to the ones on this page when I was a high school or college student. Like many young people with relatively little information to guide me, I had to begin to think about what I would like to do with my life.

To read reviews about a book or order it, click on its title. To quickly reach one of the subtopics immediately below, click on it.

Anthropologist

Fox, Robin. Participant Observer: A Memoir of a Transatlantic Life.  Transaction Publishers, 2004. Anthropologist recalls her interactions through time and cultures.

Armed Forces

Cordeiro, Lisa. Parris Island:  A Woman's Memoir of Marine Corps Boot Camp. Whiskey Creek Press, 2004.

Holden, Wendy and Travers, Susan. Tomorrow Be Brave:  A Memoir of the Only Woman to Serve in the French Foreign Legion.  Touchstone, 2007.

McConnell, Malcolm and Kennedy, Claudia J. Generally Speaking: A Memoir by the First Woman Promoted to Three Star General in the United States Army. Grand Central Publishing, 2002.

Winters, Larry. The Making and Un-making of a Marine by Larry Winters. Millrock Writers Collective, 2007.

Chemist

Bader, Alfred.  Adventures of a Chemist Collector.  Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995. Man rises from youth as a World War II Jewish refugee to wealthy businessman and art collector.

Bader, Alfred.  Chemistry & Art: Further Adventures of a Chemist Collector. Orion, 2009. Successful chemist uses wealth to promote art.

Doctor

Austin, Paul. Something for the Pain: One Doctor's Account of Life and Death in the ER. Norton, 2008. ER doctor reveals how high-stress career of helping others led to a struggle to save himself.

Heinzl, Richard. Cambodia Calling: A Memoir from the Frontlines of Humanitarian Aid.  Wiley, 2008. Young doctor’s experience as a member of Doctors Without Borders.

Smith, Linnea, M.D.  La Doctora: An American Doctor in the Amazon .  University of Minnesota Press, 2002.

Educator

Conroy, Pat. The Water Is Wide: A Memoir . Dial Press Trade Paperback, 2002. White southern writer recalls his life-changing experience teaching black children on South Carolina’s Sea Islands.

Curtin, Philip D. On the Fringes of History: A Memoir. Ohio University Press, 2005.  By the founder of African Studies and the Program in Comparative World History at Wisconsin University and Johns Hopkins University.

Engineer

Brainerd, Wesley and Malles, Ed. Bridge Building in Wartime: Colonel Wesley Brainerd's Memoir of the 50th New York Volunteer Engineers. University of Tennessee Press, 1997.

Hickam, Homer. The Coalwood Way: A Memoir . Delacorte Press, 2000. Rocket-obsessed high school senior finds a way out of his small West Virginia town to become a NASA engineer.

RoseMeyer, Maurice Patrick.  Adventure in the Air: Memoirs of a Flight Test Engineer. Idiomatic, 2009.

Wozniak, Steve and Smith, Gina. iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It . W.W. Norton & Co., 2007.

Firefighter

Taylor, Murry A. Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper's Memoir of Fighting Wildfire. Mariner Books, 2001. Alaskan firefighter’s adventures in the high-risk specialization of smokejumping.

Lawyer

Brown, Jeff. Soulshaping: A Journey of Self-Creation . North Atlantic Books. 2009. The author recounts both his rise from a troubled childhood to becoming a trial lawyer and his decision to leave the law.

Librarian

McShean, Gordon. Running a Message Parlor: A Librarian's Medium-Rare Memoir About Censorship. Ramparts Press, 1977.

Mathematician

De Morgan, Sophia Elizabeth (Frend). Memoir of Augustus De Morgan: By His Wife Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan . With Selections from His Letters. Adamant Media Corporation, 2005. British mathematician and logician formulates rigorous methodologies.

Midwife

Muhlhahn, Cara, Lake, Ricki and Epstein, Abby. Labor of Love: A Midwife's Memoir. Kaplan Publishing, 2008.

Miscellaneous

Gardner, Chris. Pursuit of Happyness . Amistad, 2006. Despite having never gone to college, and after a period of being homeless, author became a wildly successful stockbroker.

Levison, Iain. A Working Stiff's Manifesto: A Memoir of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me, and Three I Can't Remember. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003.

O’Hara, Scott. Autopornography: A Memoir of Life in the Lust Lane. Haworth Press, 1997. Gay porn star recalls his unusual professional life and role as an AIDS activist.

Psychologist

Bloland, Sue Erikson.  In the Shadow of Fame: A Memoir by the Daughter of Erik H. Erikson. Penguin, 2006. Author uses her own training in the field to understand how celebrity culture changed her father, the renowned psychoanalyst.

Brown, Roger.  Against My Better Judgement: An Intimate Memoir of an Eminent Gay Psychologist. Harrington Park Press, 1996.

Pipher, Mary. Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World. Riverhead Hardcover, 2009. Psychotherapist finds inner peace through spiritual transformation.

Roberts, Robert E. My Soul Said to Me: An Unlikely Journey Behind the Walls of Justice. Psychologist specializes in treating prisoners, changing lives both inside and outside of prison. HCI, 2003.

Shapiro, Dan. Delivering Doctor Amelia: The Story of a Gifted Young Obstetrician's Error and the Psychologist Who Helped Her. Vintage, 2004. Therapist who specializes in treating doctors recalls a complicated case.

Tomasulo, Daniel.  Confessions of a Former Child: A Therapist's Memoir.  Graywolf Press, 2008. Therapist analyzes his own life through the prism of his professional experiences.

Screenwriter

Catherman, Brad. Open-field Running: The Adventure of Selling a Screenplay: (A Memoir). Seaboard Press, 2007.

Sargent, William. Writing Naturally: A Memoir. University Press of New England, 2006.  Science writer’s memoir about life as a writer of obscure subjects.

Undertakers

Eames, Jim.   The Country Undertaker: Reminiscences of a Bush Life . Allen & Unwin, 2005. An Australian undertaker recalls his life and profession.

Joniken, Tom.   Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training . Random House, 2010.

Lynch, Thomas. The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade. W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 2009.  A funeral director and poet muses over his profession.

Mosca, Alexandra K.   Grave Undertakings: Mortician by Day, Model by Night—One Woman’s True-Life Adventures .  New Horizon, 2003.

Nadle, June.   Mortician Diaries: The Dead-Honest Truth From a Life Spent With Death .  New World Library, 2006.

Veterinarians

Wight, James. The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father . Ballantine Books, 2001. Son recalls life with beloved celebrity veterinary surgeon.