History has more than charm. It mesmerizes. Right now, my head is a twirl of England in the 1700s, America in the late 19th century and North Dakota between 1870 to 1950. What time is it now?

First, I'm reading "The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science" (2009) by Richard Holmes. What a fine read. It's the focus of a book club meeting I'll be enjoying Monday night. It opened up with a recounting of botanist/anthropologist Joseph Banks' trip with Capt. James Cook to Paradise (Tahiti). It was an adventure that earned Banks the chair of the British Royal Academy.

Then it moved to the work of William and Caroline Herschel, making mirrors by hand for telescopes and discovering Uranus. And on to the first balloonists, in France and England, with Benjamin Franklin playing a bit part. Big balloons made of paper, or silk covered with rubber, carrying early test pilots outfitted with bottles of champagne.

Holmes knows how to tell a tale.

The same can be said for Kathleen Dalton, author of "Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life" (2002). Her prose sings, and TR always provides a great story.

Dalton will be the headliner at the fourth annual Theodore Roosevelt Symposium at Dickinson State University on Oct. 15-17. She will speak in May Hall on the DSU campus at 7 p.m. MDT on Oct. 15. It's free.

The symposium always opens on a Thursday night with a wonderful speaker. It has, along with the symposium programming, become the highlight of my fall. This year, the theme is "Theodore Roosevelt: The family man in the arena."

I've read a number of biographies of TR, and Dalton's book counts as the best written. Clay Jenkinson says that this is the best one-volume biography of TR. I've been alternating between "The Strenuous Life" and "Age of Wonder." It's sort of like having both strawberry and chocolate ice cream in your freezer.

Dalton will be joined at the symposium by Stacy Cordery, the author of "Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker," (2007). I've not read it; however, my wife, Debi, in preparation for the symposium, is reading it, and shares the best parts and highlights at supper. Cordery is a professor of history at Mannouth College in Illinois.

And also taking part will be Betty Boyd Caroli of Oberlin College, the author of "The Roosevelt Women" (1999); James Martin of Marquette University, the author of "Children and Youth in a New Nation" (2009); Amy Verone, chief of cultural resources at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in New York; and, of course, Jenkinson and DSU faculty members

The symposium should be fabulous. For more information, go to www.theodorerooseveltcenter.com.

My final timeframe refers to the 21st annual Governor's Conference on North Dakota History, which will be held at the Heritage Center on Sept. 25-26. The theme: "The 3 Rs in North Dakota: Education from 1870 to 1950."

The conference offers some practical workshops Friday, including "Preserving Native American Artifacts in Museum and Historical Society Collections" by Neil Cockerline, director of preservation service at the Midwest Art Conservation Center, and "One-Room Schoolhouses: Recording Historic Buildings in North Dakota" by Amy Bleier, research archaeologist, and Lorna Meidinger, architectural historian, both from the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

The second-day content leans toward issues: "Coal Caddies, Computers and Cohorts: An Illustrated Lecture on One-Room Schools of the Past and Present" by Dr. Kathleen Gersham, professor and chair of the Department of Educational Foundations and Research at the University of North Dakota, and "To Keep the Schools Filled With Indian Pupils" by Dr. Carole Barrett, professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Mary, and Marilyn Hudson, Hidatsa and Mandan descendent from the Three Affiliated Tribes Museum.

For more information about the Governor's Conference, go to http://history.nd.gov.

Time, it appears, is relative. At least it is for the reader.

(Ken Rogers' column appears each Saturday. Contact him at ken.rogers@bismarcktribune.com.)