Download Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time djvu

Part really good storytelling, part laugh-out-loud humor and part pithy bits of philosophy, this book by Michael Perry offers readers a temporary citizenship in New Auburn, Wisconsin, a remote community of farms (although many have gone the way of most family farms), woods, dirt roads, more woods and people who--like all of us--need help every once in a while. So they call 911. And Mike Perry, along with a handful of other stalwart volunteer EMTs and firefighters answer those calls.

Perry grew up in New Auburn, and like so many young people who spend their childhood in rural areas, left as soon as he could. After earning his nursing degree and working elsewhere for a dozen years or so, he made his way back to hometown where most of his family still lives.
And then he joined the volunteer firefighters, working alongside his mom and brothers.

This book is an extraordinary tale of answering 911 calls from the rescuer's point of view, as well as the joys of living in a very (very) small town. And it's fascinating! It's also scary, a bit gruesome (some chapters are not for the faint of heart) and heartwarming. (And the ending is heartbreaking.) Thank goodness there are people like Michael Perry who put their lives on the line for the rest of us. And thank goodness he can come home, fire up his computer and tell us all about it. Highly recommended!

I bought this book on a lark after seeing Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver fame) recommend it to someone on twitter. It's outside of the usual genres I read and I didn't really know what to expect but I found myself amused, touched, enlightened, and constantly surprised at every turn of the page. Michael Perry has a way with words that's intellectual without being academic or high-falutin'. He'll be talking about sitting in his LAY-Z-Boy picking the mud off his boots and suddenly throw out a word you have to look up (I say that as someone with a pretty substantial vocabulary) then draw some parallel to something Edgar Allen Poe once said. He constantly surprises you like that. He's very easy to read though. He's also hilarious. It's usually not even what he says, but how he says it that had me in stitches half the time. It honestly takes a lot for something to make me laugh out loud but I actually had to quit reading this at night when my roommates were trying to sleep because my uproarious laughter woke them up so much. Michael Perry is now one of my top 3 favorite writers. It doesn't matter what he's writing about, it's always entertaining. If you like this book I highly recommend you read his book Truck as well. Before Michael Perry I never would have imagined myself reading a book about someone restoring an old truck, AND loving it so much that I limited myself to only a few pages a day, so it wouldn't end so soon. If you're expecting a book all about being an EMT or how to survive small-town life, it might not meet those expectations, but you will enjoy it anyway. Highly recommend

I read this a few years ago and read it again to discuss for my book club. Perry's engaging writing style kept me smiling just as much the second time as the first. His insights about the residents of his small town and about those he fights fires with and with whom he provides EMT services are both wise and entertaining. I smiled and I cried. If only we all could see the positives — and humor — in our lives, our friends and our family members as Perry does in his. As members of my book club discussed it, two women admitted, "I'm in love with Michael Perry." He's strong and resolute, he's tender and caring. And his writing is sublime.

If you want to read a literary book on firefighting or small town living then this is the book. Population: 485 is a hilarious and moving collection of essays written about New Auburn, Wisconsin; a town of, yes, you guessed it--485 people. Not only is Michael Perry a skilled writer, he is also a volunteer firefighter/emt, and he captures the chaos and insanity of this world beautifully.

Not many firefighters are dedicated to the literary tradition of writing, so it isn't easy to find such a talented voice to account their day to day lives. Perry is the man. Never have I had more respect for volunteer firefighters than I do now. In New Auburn, rarely are they truly off-duty. They leave work, family, or home at a moment's notice and even respond to calls alone with no idea of who will show up or when. Regardless of back up, when the beeper goes off Michael Perry goes running, sometimes in spandex cycling shorts, other times in cowboy boots.

The rural landscape has dangers all it's own: an explosively defecating cow or a clan of suspicious drunk rednecks armed to the hilt in the middle of nowhere. Despite the perils, Perry loves small town living, although he does sometimes get a hankering to take off and roam. He describes in warm detail the denizens of his environs and often accounts their deaths as well. In a town as small as New Auburn, everyone knows everyone, and it's hard to forget the exact curve of road where your neighbor died.

Death comes with the territory and Perry does not skirt it. He is a man's man, but with a sensitive side inclined to philosophize and contemplate all that he is witness to. When he's not skinning deer or traipsing through a swamp hunting duck, he's hanging out at the local poetry reading. There's a touch of Hemingway here, although unlike the American Master, Perry is expert at making fun of himself and bringing the "heroes" down to earth. He recounts the foibles, follies, and mishaps of the firefighters who respond in the middle of the night for almost no pay in hilarious detail. One minute Perry had me laughing out loud; the next I was struck silent by his ruminations on death, loss, and the intangible bonds of love that hold the entire town together.

Perry can fight fire AND write. An awesome combination.