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Dr. Isern's book Dakota Circle: Excursions on the True Plains was a very easy book to read and understand, unlike Webb's The Great Plains. This book was written the same way that Dr. Isern lectures; always getting to the point and never beating around the bush. It is written like he was talking to you instead of you actually reading the book for yourself. I like how in the beginning of the book he explains what he means by his title; the circle of people sitting around talking, I find this happening a lot in my family when we all get together, even though there is really not that much space we somehow always find a way to fit everyone in the room that wants to be included in the talk, occasionally this talk will spill out into two different rooms one person yelling to the other room so that they are still included and then another person yelling back to keep the talk going. The book just continues in a nice flow from then on, not spending too much time on one subject; each subject is given its correct allotment of time.

The chapter entitled Jerry-Built Contraptions really hits home for me because living on a farm you don't always have the money that you need to buy something that is essential. In certain cases you have to make things on your own, like my dad says: "If you can't make it then you don't need it." This saying refers to anything on the farm that can be fixed by something else on the farm, unless of course it is something that he really likes, say a tractor for instance. I like how I can relate a lot to this book even though I am not from the Dakotas; I still see a lot of the same thing going on in Minnesota and in the states that border the plains.