We all want to be Dirk Pitt

Classic and vintage cars; lives in an airplane hangar; high seas adventurer; successful with the ladies...if you haven't met Dirk Pitt yet, you should. He's the literary embodiment of the most interesting man in the room before that guy retired and spent his time in Dos Equis TV commercials about himself.

My dad introduced me to books by Clive Cussler - featuring his leading character Pitt - when I was in my late teens (it's a toss-up between Cussler and Louis L'Amour as to who is his favorite). Seeing me sitting around bored one day (ah the days before the advent of modern smartphones), he suggested I read a couple of chapters to see what I thought. I dove in with the first Cussler book I grabbed from the living room shelf and immediately decided that if I could live vicariously through anyone, it was going to be Dirk Pitt.

Nowadays we like to consume media in timeline order. Tell me you haven't watched the MCU or Star Wars all the way through in timeline order at least once and I'll call you a liar. So I encourage you to read Cussler and Dirk Pitt the same way.

Start with "Pacific Vortex" and work your way forward from there. You won't be disappointed!