Growing up, I was a vociferous reader; in college, as an English major, I also read a good deal. Then came work and children. My reading suffered as it took a back seat to preparing meals, cleaning house, school activities, and laundry.

So, I missed reading some of the great books of the 70's,80's, and even the 90's. I'm trying to remedy that now. At the moment I am about halfway through James Michener's novel, Centennial, which deals with the story of the history of Colorado.

As the book cover states, " the novel is based solidly on the facts of history and is an illuminating account of the development of this country, and of the immigrants from many nations who came to the west and drove the Indians out. The story is one of people--people involved in dramatic events and conflicts: Indians, trappers, traders, adventurers, explorers, gold-seekers, ranchers, cowboys, homesteaders, farmers, hunters, speculators."

As he did in Hawaii, and The Source, the two novels by Michener that preceded this, he begins with the prehistoric formation of the region. He then proceeds to a discussion of its first animal inhabitants beginning with the dinosaur, diplodocus, 160 million years ago.

Some might find this boring; but I personally found it completely fascinating, especially the telling of the origin of the horse. Fossils tell us the horse, still a very small animal, migrated across the land bridge in Alaska to actually reach its full potential in Asia and Europe. At some point the horse then returned to America.

The story of the buffalo is equally interesting. The bison of the prehistoric age were gigantic creatures who eventually died out. The buffalo who roamed in the hundreds of thousands across the plains actually did not originate in the Americas but came across the land bridge into the Americas where they flourished from Canada to Mexico on the lush grass of the plains on the eastern slope of the Rockies.

Michener is not for the impatient. His books are epic accounts; this one totals 909 pages. However, if you enjoy fictionalized historical novels, as I do, it is a great read!