Racing Odysseus by Roger H. Martin (2008, Hardcover)

There are several themes in the 60+ year old author's return to a college freshman semester, and his memoir weaves them into a fairly seamless web of experience in which each of the author, the professors and coaches, and the students (themselves in turn scholars, athletes and idiosyncratic individuals), are seen in the different lights through which they pass on their journey through St. John's unique curriculum and lifestyle. Martin writes well, and, as a college president on leave, has the very unusual perspective of not just observing those in the college community around him, but also the life of the novitiate that he himself is living. The sections on rowing are refreshing for their focus on settings and camaraderie rather than the competitive striving that is more often the thrust of rowing writing. Most of all, however, I enjoyed reading the story of an older man who took the time to do something different and challenging in the process of re-centering and evaluating the rest of his life.