Reviewed by Ginger Harman (Reader)	9/2/2011
The Summer of ’72 by Theodore Carl Soderberg Haight and Ashbury meet Rolling Stones and the Alaska Fisherman! I have to admit this is my favorite book written by the Ted Soderberg and I highly recommend this book! Mr. Soderberg provides a plethora of characters with a capriciousness of personalities. The author narrates the story of his experiences during the hippie Revolution of 1972 as he takes a hiatus from college. From the beginning humor is ever present when the storyteller recalls his driving across the United States. For example, he slams his burgundy Corvair into a large brass propeller. After all, who else can manage to be in a boating accident and later get pulled over on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for going three miles over the speed limit, and next thing you know is that he is having a conversation with an actor portraying W.C.Fields while picking up women at a San Francisco bar? One of my favorite scenes was Ted driving his red VW to a Rolling Stone magazine party with Sunshine and Earth girl. I was completely captivated with images of Hors d'œuvre of Iranian caviar with orange wedge and secret ingredients. In addition to the “one per customer” rule and listening to a private concert by guitar legend Steve Miller, Ted writes in detail what Allan Cohen describes as celebrating “transcendental consciousness, the beauty of the universe, the beauty of being." This is followed with Ted the next morning beating on the wrong red Volkswagen while suffering from “existential vertigo.” The author has an amazing talent for his descriptions of his fellow crew members and his job as a commercial purse seiner in Southern Alaska. Fires, bears, and near death experiences are all encompassed while on board the Ranger with Captain Jim at the helm. Moreover, I enjoyed the story of Brother Tobias and the religious tale of why you don’t hitch hike and accept a ride from just anybody. Ted returns to landlady Hazel who just cannot figure out why those lovely plants don’t seem to grow any tomatoes. The growth and experience that Mr. Solderberg gained during the Summer of 1972 was more than a lesson of confidence and self-reliance, but the remarkable journey of cultures and relationships that are formed between those around us including our environments. Much like Ted, we all get burned out with career, frustrated with media, and dream of a little bit of adventure in life. Perhaps we should all embark on an existential adventure of our own.