When I was around 18, a mentor of mine was talking about the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma when I was assistant teaching for her in Pennsylvania. Over the next year or so I kept thinking about that book occasionally, but totally forgot the title, so I couldn’t buy it for myself.

Eventually, I was on a trip in Maine and went into a tiny bookstore to see if I could find something interesting to read during my stay. There were no other customers in the bookstore, it was very quiet, and the one employee was just sitting at the register.

I slowly started making my way around the perimeter of the bookstore, carefully looking at all of the titles that were sitting at eye level for me, not touching anything. About 10 minutes into my browsing, a book simply fell from an upper shelf onto my head. To this day I have no idea what could have possibly caused it to fall.

The book was The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I bought it immediately. I love it. I’ve read it several times in the many years since. Thank you, bookstore ghost!