Like Sand through an Hourglass…

Years ago I had the pleasure of working with a wonderfully good-humored, droll, witty Brit geologist named Michael Welland. He ran the strategic planning group of Atlantic Richfield’s international division while I was in charge of the financial planning and budgeting team. We came from very different backgrounds, but hit it off, and enjoyed many a good time together. Then, as all too often happens, corporate changes caused us to part company, with Michael going back to Indonesia to work for another oil & gas firm while I moved on to software and later biotech.

But we never quite lost all contact. And, fortunately, the internet managed to grow up just when we needed an easy way to find each other and stay in touch (thanks, Google :)).

A bit over a year ago Michael told me he had written a book about, of all things, sand. I immediately ordered a copy of the book…and let it languish.

That was a mistake. It’s a wonderful book, full of fascinating information and stories, some personal, many not, framed with Michael’s engaging humor. It’s definitely worth reading! Which is not surprising, given that it won the 2010 Burroughs Award, bestowed annually by the American Museum of Natural History for the best natural history book written in the previous year.

So, don’t do what I did. Grab a copy today and enjoy!

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