Assignment for My Blog Readers

Picture of the Day for 5/1/2010. Since my blog entries have been rather book-centric this week, I decided to continue the theme for one more day. Here's the backstory behind this picture. About a month ago, my friend Al asked me to search thrift and used book stores for a 1990 first edition/hard copy of "Sannibel Flats" by Randy Wayne White. (In case you're wondering, it's a mystery novel featuring a character called Doc Ford. I highly recommend the whole Doc Ford series by the way.) My search has yielded nothing for Al, but I've come across several books that I've ended up buying (as pictured in the photo above). If I keep this up, I'm going to add several hundred books to what is already an extensive personal library.

My most exciting discoveries have been a couple of space-related books. The first is about the Mercury 13, a group of women who participated in a privately-funded experiment to undergo the same physical tests given to the first group of male astronauts selected by NASA (the Mercury 7). All 13 women passed the same tests as the men; however, they were not invited to participate in NASA's astronaut program. Russia sent the first woman into space in 1963, but it was another 20 years before the first American woman would go into space. (Don't you just love this mini history lesson?)

I'm even more excited about the second space-related book I found- a first edition copy of "We Seven" written in 1962 by the Mercury 7. Of those seven astronauts, only two are still alive- John Glenn and Scott Carpenter. I'm planning on sending the book to John Glenn for his signature. Since Scott Carpenter still attends astronaut autograph shows, I'll snag his signature at the next event I attend.

So, here's the assignment I was referring to in the title of this blog entry. If you encounter any of the following books in your travels, please purchase them immediately and I'll reimburse you:

1- Hard copy only of "Sannibel Flats" by Randy Wayne White

2- Any space or astronaut-related books

3- I'm throwing in this one for my niece Renee. Anything by the author M. M. Kaye