Ducati Monster Forum

I read about 4 or 5 Books a year and usually pass them on instead of collecting a library. I would read more books if it weren't for the TV, and all the other stuff that goes on in life. Right now I'm about 100 pages into James Clavell's "Whirlwind." I read one of his before, years ago, "Shogun" I think. It was long... but interesting. I would like to do more reading which would mean changing some habits like TV watching or surfing. (on the internet)
What are you reading? Post up, Share.

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Right. I knew that someone would say they were reading this post, but I figured it would be at least 5 posts before that happened. So besides stuff on the interwebs, What are you reading?

You underestimate the power of the DMF. ;D

Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show on Earth

See that's what I'm talking about. What's the book about?

(http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/031/Purple/1a/fb/d3/mzi.yparrbrx.175x175-75.jpg)

Finished earlier this year - "The big short"  by Micheal Lewis.  Good book about the financial crisis and CDO etc.

just finished "Griftopia" - I highly recommend this book to anyone interested to learn about financial crisis debacle.  The writer is Matt Taibbbi - rolling stone.  He writes in such a way that a peasant like me can understand it.  Can't recommend this book enough.  One of the best.  I will read this one again for sure.

Just started reading - "Dead Aid" -  by Dambisa Moyo - Why aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa.

Next in my list - "Money and Power" by William D. Cohan - its about how Goldman Sachs came to rule the world.


All this books courtesy of public library.  Got to love it.

Wish I had the big screen Kindle.  Thing is too expensive.

(In reality, I should be reading my microsoft .NET MVC book)

(http://mheasiabusiness.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/toyota-under-fire-9780071762991.jpg)

Stupid stuff like proving Darwin's theory of evolution and a deeper understanding of the deviations in the path of natural selection.

biased... ;D

workplace propaganda  [laugh]

I bought the book shortly after it was released.  I have his other book, The Toyota Way as well.

So...

you've...

'bought in'. :-*

thirteen-ish years will do that to a guy.

I just wish a few others in the organization would get with the program.

+1  Recently read that too. Michael Lewis explains the absurdity of the subprime mortgage frenzy in an entertaining way.

Just finished "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell.  It's an adorable short book about Gerald's life as a boy in Corfu in the mid 1930s filled with funny stories about his wacky family, the quirky Greek neighbors, and his escapades capturing all sorts of animals in his quest to be a naturalist (e.g. a mother scorpion with a back full of babies that somehow ends up in the middle of the dining room table)

Also recently read the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy.   They're beach-reading suspense books - over the top at times, much darker than I expected, but fast reads.  The author said he wanted to create a modern Pippi Longstocking (main female character kicks butt).  And for good measure the author wrote himself in as the dashing investigative journalist whom all the ladies love (I'm not kidding, it's ridiculous).  Oh and there's a reason the first one was originally titled "Men Who Hate Women"

And "The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley.  It's an interesting book about genes competing to make it into the next generation, how different species have evolved very different ways to compete for mates, why humans reproduce sexually versus asexually, and why we've evolved such gigantic brains compared to our ape cousins.  YMMV - I used to be biologist so I like this kinda stuff.

Currently 12 pages into Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.  Seems to be about WWII and rockets.

Just finished Ken Follet's World Without End which is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth.  I highly recommend them both.

Just started Gretchen Morgenson's and Joshua Rosner's book "Reckless Endangerment about the recent economic meltdown. 

Another excellent book on the financial crisis is Andrew Ross Sorkin's Too Big To Fail. 

I just finished "They are all Red Out Here": Socialist Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925 by Jeffrey Johnson. I'm now reading In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson. It's good so far.

I have a list of about 20 books I plan on reading this summer, but I haven't started any of them (except the one I'm re-reading - Killing for Coal: America's Deadliest Labor War  by Thomas G. Andrews.

I've been reading Darwin's Origin of the Species for months now.  Being a biologist I should have read this years ago but I'm finally getting around to it.  What I am finding awesome about the book is that Darwin was not aware of genetics or the extensive fossil record that we take for granted, yet he was able to put together his theory of Natural Selection.  It is also interesting to see the minor errors that he made.  I also enjoyed the passionate sex scenes, the car chases, gun fights and explosions. 

So, I'll admit to being a Geek.

alternating between "Taliban" by Ahmed Rashid and "The Hot Shoe Diaries" by Joe McNally. Both nonfiction; the first being a history of the Taliban movement and the second being a photography book about speedlights  ;D

Endgame: The End of the Debt Supercycle and How it Changes Everything - John Mauldin

Down the River - Edward Abbey

Life - Keith Richards

How is this one?

I loved that book.  Abbey was a left wing, crusty, environmentalist that I really identified with. 

really good so far, just started, only a few chapters into it, I like his writing style, kinda rambling, funny anectdotes, still on his childhood, so he hasn't gotten too crazed yet  [thumbsup]


I really like Abbey as well, more the crusty environmentalist part, left wing not so much, having a hard time with this one, as I bought some weird printing where the type is smaller than normal, read at night before bed, and eyes get tired/puts me to sleep!  (especially after reading "Goodnight Moon for the 100th time to my daughter b4 putting her down :))  I am really enjoying his commentary/insight/views on Thoreau & more, fascinating stuff, and of course love Mr Abby's sense of humor/biting wit!  wish we had more like him!

How do you like this one so far?

All right, I'm not afraid to say it.  I just finished all seven Harry Potter books.

It's good. Very comprehensive. The first section is all about the history and rise of the taliban. I haven't gotten to the meaty part yet. The same author wrote a book called Jihad thats supposed to be good, but I haven't read it yet.

The End of Faith   

Author: Sam Harris

Funny cause I'm reading it in spanish. I was trying to figure out how I was going to go back to work in Latinamerica. It's the best way to get my mind wrapped around reading my work crap.

Reading Jerusalem 1913; The orgins of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Amy Dockser Marcus.

I want to read this:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/11/leading-atheist-publishes-secular-bible/ (http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/11/leading-atheist-publishes-secular-bible/)

Autobiography of Mark Twain, volume 1

It is like home work. not sure I'm gonna finish it but I hate being a quitter. It just isn't as interesting as I had hoped.

Recently finished 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' and 'Ender's Game'.  About to start 'The Girl Who Played With Fire.'

Travels with Charlie - Steinbeck

for the second time. It's even better this time around

"A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us."

Not that it's a contest, but +11 internets to you, sir. Steinbeck is great. BIG  [thumbsup]

The + 11ty Billion applies.

Have you ever read Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon?

I tried that one and had to put it down.  Even though he was preaching to to choir, he still pissed me off.  Maybe I'll have another go at it

did get a little preachy and overwrought and ultimately fell short....the real issue isn't religion although that is the current and prevalent danger/manifestation of tribal behavior in a world full of WMD's

religion is a little more dangerous a form of tribalism in that it can make all sorts of promises it does not have to deliver on....it taps into superstition which is a coping mechanism that probably is nestled in our cave-dwelling DNA and it self-justifies on the premise that it is divinely guided

Core issue is tribalism and/or factionalism...which is deeply rooted in our competitive survival blueprint rather than our cooperative survival blueprint.

And even within the cooperative tribe there is competition for breeding rights when there is no prevailing competition for gathering the bugs and berries to eat

The real problem is in how we determine when to apply competitive vs. cooperative survival.  Unfortunately I don't see mankind binding itself as a species short of having an extraterrestrial invasion of creatures equally as or more unpleasant than,, we are  ;)

Looks like I will be soon  [beer]

Thanks for the heads up

You're quite welcome  If you enjoyed Steinbeck's magnificent Travels With Charlie

I am quite certain Blue Highways will resonate with you as well..

East of Eden is a must read--my favorite novel of all time.

The children of Hurin By JRR Tolkien (Edited by Christopher Tolken)
Soon to be followed by Webbots, Spiders, and Screen Scrapers "a guide to developing internet agents with PHP/CURL"

The later is not really literary reading but it seems interesting.

The Anabasis by Xenophon

Just finished A Game of Thrones and started A Clash of Kings

So far it's been really good

Oh, just wait...

Still reading "crossing the rubicon" by Michael Ruppert.  Halfway.  Been extending the library renewal for probably six month now.

The Soldier's Wife by Joanna Trollope

The Afgan war from the Brit perspective.

The Medici Conspiracy

A great read about the illegal antiquities trade for anybody into it although it is slightly outdated.

Currently: "Underground London" by Peter Ackroyd.
Starting shortly: "Ghost Milk: Recent Adventures Among the Future Ruins of London on the Eve of the Olympics" by Iain Sinclair

FInally got around to reading it RAT.

Fantastic read albeit very much different from Steinbeck  [thumbsup]

“Instead of insight, maybe all a man gets is strength to wander for a while. Maybe the only gift is a chance to inquire, to know nothing for certain. An inheritance of wonder and nothing more.”

I'm about halfway through Two Wheels Through Terror by Glen Heggstad

Finished up a fair bit of Hemingway's work.  He's wordy when he really gets lit.

JM

I need to read some Hemmingway.

'The Prince and the Pauper" I dont know why I've never read this before. It's pretty good.

Glad you enjoyed it, it resonates on so many levels re: the human experience/American experience....

the quest for that which is "authentic" that is still around

in an increasingly pre-packaged corporatized/federalized world

Reading two books currently.  'Rant' by Chuck Palahniuk and 'Cloud Atlas' by David Mitchell.

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.  Considering it was published 10 years ago, it's pretty topical

The Raft

I really liked those - and the Swedish films. If you liked that, try Headhunters by Norwegian author Jo Nesbø (http://jonesbo.com/#!/books/headhunters (http://jonesbo.com/#!/books/headhunters)). There's also a film version of it that's great (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614989/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614989/)). It's a good adaptation, complete with spectacular Coen brothers-like violence, irony and sarcasm.

Hedy Lamarr was called the most beautiful woman in the world. She was a movie star back when the movies had stars and an inventor.

I am reading Hedy's Folly The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr The Most Beautiful Woman In The World by Richard Rhodes.  From a review in the New York Times:

That a glamorous movie star whose day job involved hours of makeup calls and dress fittings would spend her off hours designing sophisticated weapons systems is one of the great curiosities of Hollywood history. Lamar, however, not only possessed a head for abstract spatial relationships, but she also had been in her former life a fly on the wall during meetings and technical discussions between her ­munitions-manufacturer husband and his clients, some of them Nazi officials. Disturbed by news reports of innocents killed at sea by U-boats, she was determined to help defeat the German attacks. And Ant­heil, arguably the most mechanically inclined of all composers, having long before mastered the byzantine mechanisms of pneumatic piano rolls, retained a special genius for “out of the box” problem ­solving.

Over several years the composer and the movie star spent countless hours together drafting and redrafting designs, not only for the torpedo system but also for a “proximity fuse” antiaircraft shell. In reality, their patent was an early version of today’s smart bombs. The device as they made it employed a constantly roving radio signal to guide the torpedo toward its target. Because the signal kept “hopping” from one frequency to another, it would be impossible for the enemy to lock onto. To solve the problems of synchronizing receiver and transmitter, Ant­heil proposed a tiny structure inspired by the workings of a piano roll. This was a feat that years later would be used in everything from cellphone and Bluetooth technology to GPS instruments.

On Aug. 11, 1942, United States Patent No. 2,292,387 was granted to them for their design. But persuading the Navy to take it seriously proved insurmountable. Pentagon bureaucracy, coupled with the fact that the design’s co-inventor was a movie star, resulted in their idea being ignored. Hedy’s folly may have been in assuming men in government might overcome their prejudice that a beautiful woman could not have brains and imagination. But she lived to see similar versions of her invention be put into common practice, and in 1997, Hedy Lamarr, at the age of 82, and George Antheil (posthumously) were honored with the Pioneer Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Pledge to Hedley Lamarr (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoM-ZC7uNnc&feature=youtube_gdata_player#)

American Sniper by Chris Kyle

I read that recently. That heady Lamar book sound like a thing to read soon.

If you liked Chris Kyle's book, check out Marcus Luttrell. I am sure you have heard of Lone Survivor, but he recently released a book called Service which is very good.

The Red Circle by Brandon Webb is also a great read.

WAR......by Sebastian Junger

Has given me some sleepless nights.

An incredible book.  The accompanying documentary by Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo, is good as well.  Sadly, Hetherington was killed by a mortar blast while reporting in Libya last year.

Tom Clancy. Dead or Alive.

Im about 1/2 way thru book 5 of a Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin
This is the series Game of Thrones on HBO was based on.

I dont read a lot of fantasy stuff, but this must be a good series as ive read over 4500 pages of it.
:)

Book 3 was def the best of the bunch. sorta like Empire is the best Star Wars

I just finished The Wild Blue by Stephen Ambrose. It's about George McGovern and B-24 pilots in WWII.

I've just started Thurber, TX Life and death of a company coal town, by John Spratt
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51E8pL6sMHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)

So far it's a great nonfiction story about him growning up there in the 20's.

Started the new Grisham "The Racketeer" so I'm gonna put the Clancy aside for a couple of days. The Grisham is a library book and the wife wants to read it after me.

"The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks"
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=henrietta%20lacks&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CC4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHenrietta_Lacks&ei=qHXGUJPzOuKpiAeSgoFg&usg=AFQjCNHRxih0kqgnYns_EME2-brfo4yhvQ (http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=henrietta%20lacks&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CC4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHenrietta_Lacks&ei=qHXGUJPzOuKpiAeSgoFg&usg=AFQjCNHRxih0kqgnYns_EME2-brfo4yhvQ)

Title : merchants of despair by Robert zubrin

Radical environmentalists, criminal pseudo-scientists, and the fatal cult of anti humanism .

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Al9Mz8MxL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)

Just plowed through all 3 books written to date of the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie, with a break in the middle for the latest Dresden Files book and shortly circling back to the Hours Heresy novels

That is a fantastic series.  I do have to say it starts to fall apart a bit the further you go, Martin has too many irons in the fire at this point or something.  He takes way to long to release the next books due.

I got tired of waiting for Dance with Dragons (I think it was like 6 years between A Feast for Crows and Dance with Dragons).  So I moved on to Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series from Tad Williams, and then to the Wheel of Time series from Robert Jordan (The problem with this one is Jordan died before he finished it, so another writer is finishing it... and still waiting for the last book).  Both are really good IMO, but I do like Song of Ice and Fire better.  I figure I'll just start the Martin books over again, and by that time maybe he'll at least have the followup to Dance with Dragons out.  Haven't seen the HBO series, but I've heard good things about it.

HBO is a good rendition, but, no spoilers here, the books have a lot more depth.

Hardcover anthologies of old Donald Duck/Scrooge comics from the late '40s and early '50s.

I is cultured-like.  ;D

Nice [thumbsup]

The entire Diesel Sweeties (http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive/1) archive, book 4 of the Game of Throne series, and Mathew Pearl's "The Dante Club." Again.

Just finished Grisham, now back to Clancy

Bouncing between (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41qftdtIayL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-65,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg) and (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514VcOJ835L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-67,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)

By Stephen Ambrose and Thomas Childers. That's one of Ambrose's many works which include plagiarized material.

Read that. Reminds I need to get it back from a guy at work.

Racketeer was great. Better then the last few Grisham's. I quit reading Clancy when he started the co-author thing. He doesn't write much of "his" books.

http://www.onesecondafter.com/ (http://www.onesecondafter.com/)

just started it, but pretty good so far

One Second After is a 2009 fiction novel by American writer William R. Forstchen. The novel deals with an unexpected electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States as it affects the people living in and around the small American town of Black Mountain, North Carolina.

And here i am reading Taste, Memory: Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter ... by David Buchanan. 

Les Miserables

(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa91/chiflado/b4f817593c43ca5da240be6800eef1c2.jpg)

My sister bought this for me for Christmas to help laugh about the sleepless nights having a toddler.  Not kid friendly at all btw.  Funny though! 

"Go the f**k to sleep!"

Samuel L. Jackson's reading of the book..

http://youtu.be/CseO1XRYs9I (http://youtu.be/CseO1XRYs9I)

Just finished Unbroken.

Great book, but damn...amazing what those guys went through!

Going to start th 14 part Wheel of Time series

Zen The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Prisigs.

Got the new L.K. Rowling book as a gift. The Casual Vacancy is her first non Harry Potter book and her first for adults.

Will start it this week.

Very interesting. Let me know when you go insane.  [laugh]

I'm reading  Zero Day by Mark Russinovich

It's about Hackers infecting the worlds systems with really nasty malware and ruining everything for everybody.


BTW green eggs and ham is a good book. It's on my must read sometime in life list.  [thumbsup]

I'm reading Herb Cohen's Negotiate this by caring but not that much ... less then 100 pages to go. After I finish it, I'll start reading Glen Heggstad's "Two Wheels through terror".

I'm reading Twist of the Wrist II by Keith Code, read the part I few weeks ago.
I can easilly recommend to anyone moving on 2 wheels...

Believe me....half way through I thought I was.....It kept me up at night. It gets more sane the more you read. Worth the read

Just started The Finish
(http://bks9.books.google.com/books?id=woTmjwEACAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&imgtk=AFLRE71T2jaDOegFMBc1hpgDzx1yXufvYACqIF4wXnAOT-8E1pOnBOnR33K2BGIdnAoL95t4fdEHiwPksXg1tF05buSg4f_LAORinUKUjRcLjkTuFYmnM6W71CHyBgIDZ_bTEgbObgk8)

Cannot even make it through the first chapter.  I want my money back!

Bowden didn't write this book.  Instead of flushing his toilet paper, he sent it to his publisher for this one.

Some things just aren't worth reading. find something else.

I really like Bowden's books. Maybe he was stoned when he wrote it

Just finished Caleb Carr's "The Alienist." Highly entertaining historical fiction about the hunt for a serial killer in 1890's New York. If you like murder mysteries or psychological thrillers, you'll enjoy it.

Started on "The Name Of The Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. It's historical fantasy fiction (knights, wizards, etc) which isn't typically my favorite genre, but it's got an interesting premise and comes highly recommended by people whose opinion I trust.

His other books are great.  Well researched, well written. This one...  [thumbsdown]

Tell me more, I'm unfamiliar.


That book was....just wow. As you said amazing. And what's even more amazing is many of these guys including Zamporini were able to forgive their captors.

Just got done with. "the dog stars" by Peter Heller. I hope he writes a sequel.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nh2IdNvgs0Y/TMNXGpxePVI/AAAAAAAAK7M/qyZAZ2q9xxA/s1600/interrupting+chicken.jpg)

What's the story line about?




I'm reading this interesting article from scientific American. The cover photo warrants some study.


http://tenaya.ucsd.edu/~dettinge/Dettinger_Ingram_sciam13.pdf (http://tenaya.ucsd.edu/~dettinge/Dettinger_Ingram_sciam13.pdf)

Wow! 

Last time it rained for 40 day, I thought the flooding was a lot worse than that.

Nate, you were there. What was it like? ;D

If you remember the earth also opened the flood gates of the watery deep as well. That's why the flooding was worse.

You think it's coincidence that Nate and Noah both begin with the same letter?

It's about a father reading a bedtime story to his daughter and her constant interruptions and the result.

It's Zip's favorite. [thumbsup]

John Grisham "The last Juror"

I think this may be the best written book by him I've read.

Just finished "American Sniper"  by Chris Kyle and just started the game of thrones book called "a song of fire and ice"  or something

Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks.

Next will be his Z War book. It's on the night stand. Want to read it before the movie comes out. ;) Get some! :D

My Song: A memoir: Harry Belafonte

Quite an upsetting read.

Because of this I stopped reading what I was reading and downloaded "world war Z"  so far it's fantastic! Thanks

I just finished reading The Twelve by Justin Cronin and am now reading Rick Atkinson's The Guns at Last Light. 

Decided to finally start reading the James Bond books. Finished Casino Royale and Live and Let Die so far, and just downloaded Moonraker to start in on next. Loving the "borrow for free from your Kindle with Amazon Prime" option  ;D

You have that backwards. "A Song of Fire and Ice" is what the series is called. "Game of Thrones" is the name of the first book.

I recently read all the Ian Fleming books. Most of them were really good. I got Matador hooked as well.
Trying to finish the Sparrow. I got a little too depressed to go on for a while there  ;D

Finished American Rebel a bio of Clint Eastwood, if you are a fan at all you will like it alot.  He is a true rebel, and was born with the proverbial horseshoe up his arse.  His view of everything in life is how he lives it no holds barred,  basically calling all his shots and hitting them.

Canon 60D user manual....:-\

Bukowski last live reading on CD.  Kind of hooks you to ear what he will say next. A slow Lenny Bruce with a bottle of wine.

I watched a good doc. on Bukowski on Netflix. Awesome writer.

Just picked up an new one by Orson Scott Card "The first Formic War" sequel to Earth unaware from the Enders Game series. should be good.

Just finished Ryk Browns "Celesti: CV-02" (Ep. 8 Frontiers Saga) on my kindle.
Good sci-fi.  [thumbsup]
I like the fact that kindle provides an outlet for indie writers, some are really good. I think the days of major publishing houses (and all the politics that it used to take to get published) are numbered.

I'm a real sucker for Nordic Noir...
Scandinavian mystery novels, if you will...
I feel like our friends in the North have a good grasp on dark and enigmatic characters.
I'm currently in the midst of the "Harry Hole" novels by Jo Nesbo. I know, it's a TERRIBLE name for a character... but the books are great.

Check out the Red Breast if you're in the US... That would be book 1.

http://jonesbo.com/# (http://jonesbo.com/#)!/books

They are quick reads.

"The Reader" author Bernhard Schlink, I seen the show and liked it and I think seeing the show made the book better which is usually not the case.  I am waiting for the library to get his other books.

I just requested "Doctor Proctor's fart powder" from the library.  Now that is an interesting title!  Are the "Snowman" and "Leopard" worth a listen?

I would imagine so. If you haven't read or listened to any of them yet, I would go Redbreast, Nemesis, and Devil's Star. It's a three-part series with an intertwining deeper conflict. I really truly enjoyed them, and read all three in ten days.

If you wanted to do Snowman and Leopard, go in this order: The Redeemer, The Snowman, The Leopard. I just started the Redeemer, and I believe it's another 3-part series, based on what I can gather from reviews and the cover art.

i just finally finished the 'new' dune books, ending with Winds of Dune.


Right now I'm reading William Gibsons's Zero History.
Not sure what to think so far.

Feast For Crows, 4th book in the Song Of Ice and Fire. Series Game of Thrones is based on.

Just finished re-reading the first two of the King Killer Chronicles (Name of the Wind; Wise Man's Fear) by Patrick Rothfuss.

Frothing at the mouth waiting for #3 to come out next year.

Easily some of the best-written fantasy novels ever.

If By Sea - The Forging the American Navy - From the Revolution to the War of 1812 by George C. Daughan.

I was looking for something about John Paul Jones, and ended up with the above. Just started, but interesting and well written.

Working my way through the James Bond books. Most of the way through Goldfinger and already have For Your Eyes Only downloaded to my kindle and ready to start in on as soon as I finish that one.

Steven Tylers "Does the noise in my head bother you", Richards Americanized twin brother and he might survive the Nuc blast along with Keith.  His life is a high side at 2000 mph.

Does anyone listen to books?  I go through a lot of them on the road and working the monotonous jobs at my shop, requested online and free from the friendly local library.

Just finishing up "earth afire" from the Ender wiggins series. just came out.

Finished reading Stephen Coonts Pirate Alley. Not bad.

I just finished William Gibson Zero History, the last of the Bigend storyline (pattern recognition - spook country - zero history).  my favorite of his so far.

I have Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep waiting to go.

Finishing up Middlesex by Eugenides. Waiting for Bleeding Edge by Pynchon, out next week I think.

In the middle of Phantom, glad you told me about them.  They have a different tilt or feel which I like, although the fart doctor was a waste of time.

The Sun Also Rises, Mr. Hemingway 

It is good, and while i do normally really like his writing style & work, this is my first time reading it & I am not enjoying it as much as others... great Hemingway style, but not a huge fan of the character interactions in this one...

Kinzua: From Cornplanter to the Corps   by William Hoover

a book about the white man screwing the Seneca Indians to build a dam in the middle of nowhere (my favorite place in the world)

An OK book but limited on perspective.

I just finished "Farmacology" by Dr. Daphne Miller.

(http://0.tqn.com/d/radio/1/0/2/d/AbuseOfPowerMichaelSavage.jpg)

I'm half way through and so far it's pretty darn good.

I like his reference to Schwarzenegger, "Terminatus Strudelhead," and Larry King, "Flatulus Suspenderus."

Another good one of his is "A Time for War"

(http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Big-Peace/2013/11/11/George-Washington-Secret-Six-cover.jpg)

A peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn.  For the second time.

just finished No Country for Old Men  [thumbsup]

and now starting Room Full of Mirrors (Jimi biography)

Revisiting most of the Honor Harrington series. next up is Leviathan Wakes

white noise

Re-reading Puck of Pooks Hill by Kipling.  I like the perspective of British History told through the story.

About to start 'boomerang' by Michael Lewis

How did that stack up to other Cormac books? I've read and loved All the Pretty Horses & The Road, but really did not like Blood Meridian.

it was my first foray into any of his books, I had been meaning to for awhile, and i really enjoyed it.  I will check out The Road, once I finish up with current reads...

Slogging through Tess of the d'Urbervilles on Audiobook. Very hard to get into. Anyone else do audiobooks?

http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/walt-disney-s-donald-duck-christmas-on-bear-mountain-the-complete-carl-barks-disney-library-vol.-5-u.s.-canada-only-6.html?vmcchk=1 (http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/walt-disney-s-donald-duck-christmas-on-bear-mountain-the-complete-carl-barks-disney-library-vol.-5-u.s.-canada-only-6.html?vmcchk=1)

I'm such a highbrow.  8)

the ultimate hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

The Samurai Sword, by Kohshyu Yoshida.

The author is descended from samurai. His samurai ancestry dates back to Atsu Toshi (about 1200AD) and his great grandfather, Wakaji, was a Ronin in the 1800s.

John Grisham "Sycamore Row"

Set in rural Mississippi. Rich white guy dies, leaves all his money to his black housekeeper and cuts his children out of the will. Chaos ensues. Lots of funny parts. It makes me want to be a fly on the wall. They should make a movie out of this book, (and not screw it up.)

Great writing. This guy can really tell a story.

The Heart and the Fist by Eric Greitens
Just getting started but so far so good
From the author "The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL shares one man’s story of extraordinary leadership and service as both a humanitarian and a warrior. In a life lived at the raw edges of the human experience, Eric Greitens has seen what can be accomplished when compassion and courage come together in meaningful service."

Last couple weeks I ran into three  "interesting" books (audio)

Worm: The First Digital World War: Mark Bowden  (Black Hawk Down)

Chris Kyle : American Gun : I hated the part where he mentions someone getting shot in the back by a friend.  Kaya
starts out the book.  Some new interesting stuff and written straight forward prose as if he is talking to you.

Priceless : About an FBI agent in the FBI's Art Crime Division :  Robert K. Wittman  : Still reading it but it is way cool.

Just finished "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

...in one day

Great book. Not my type of pick-up literature but someone bought it for me

I finished Blood Meridian by McCarthy recently.  It was my third read of it and each time it gets better.  I can't seem to put it down.  Also, humans are evil.

I'll check it out  [thumbsup]

Just finished John Sandford's Phantom Prey.  I've read several of his, they're pretty good!

JM

Ok, but don't expect to feel good at any point.

The Judge is both irresistible and terrifying.  And the prose is beautiful.

The Road wasn't exactly a walk through the park. Perhaps part of the reason why I read it straight through in one evening?

I'll give it a shot. I'm man enough  :D

What Im not reading anymore...Mars Inc. By Ben Bova.
Put it down after 9 chapters.

Finished Blood Meridian by McCarthy a week ago and just finished All the Pretty Horses by him as well.

Both good books. Both entirely different books.

S.

Reading a StarWars Book and after that. The new Tom Clancy.

Nice.  I read ATPH too recently.  Different indeed, but both good.

(http://bks5.books.google.com/books?id=R7rgpxRZ3NsC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&imgtk=AFLRE72yPSgPdrSuRpIXIeOGa8ZvoSUHn4mmwBR4peOQ58QrDV0gynMelnBzTOZDr1Klx9NaWddjikFrbGgOdChgS1AtuqSO1milaxoX9shsXT4wzQ-ejgLnyYc0PwLKteeHmqcI5qgJ)

Did you read the rest of the trilogy? I might pick up the next.

I'd like to get No Country for Old Men yet and see how I feel.

Blood Meridian was probably one of the toughest books I've ever read. In a good way though. I loved McCarthy's play between biblical connotations and evil characters.

No.  I've heard ATPH is the best of the batch and I was getting a little McCarthy overdose, so I jumped into some other stuff for now.  Probably will get to them sometime, but now I'm gonna wait until you read them and give me your take.  ;)

+11tybilion

Just started Lone Survivor

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad.

“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it much.”

More Joseph Conrad- Lord Jim

Halfway through Tom Clancy. Been busy. The book is about 6 inches thick. Its actually pretty interesting. Part of the plot involves Russia invading Crimea.

Recently?

Market Forces by Richard Morgan and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

Born to Run

Extreme Cosmos - Bryan Gaensler

Mind boggling is an understatement,  what is more amazing to me is how they get their calculations.

Sky and Telescope magazine suber.

Stephen Donaldson - Fatal Revenant (Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Book 2)

Peter Stark- Astoria

Its about John Jacob Astor (who once owned Greenwich village and the Farm that is now Times square) and Thomas Jefferson's plan to start an empire on the Pacific Coast when it was as yet unclaimed by any nation State.

Food nutrition fact labels.

Goddamn doctors and their trying to keep me alive-ness.....  [bang]

contemporary algebra   mcgraw hill

How does it differ from Classical Algebra?

it's kinda like a justin beiber remix algebra

to isolate the variable you must wear a flatbilled hat sideways

I have algebra all figured out. To Isolate the variable, all I do is get some scissors and cut the variable out and then put them in another room. Problem solved.

"Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka......best not to think about it too much.

The United States of Arugula by David Camp.

I'm going through the three Stieg Larsson / Dragon Tat again.  Him and Joe Nesbo get a lot of my attention, does anyone know other authors of the same sense?

Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis

Man...he had one f'ed up, but extremely interesting, childhood!

I might need to check that out.

I just started Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Like that one =). Almost done (only 200 pages left) with The Brothers Karamazov.

on to #6, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince... (it's for my daughter, really! ;))

Stephen Coonts - Liberty

JM

If you like the RHCP, it is fascinating. It's amazing he is still alive. I had no idea.

Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America - Chuck Norris

The Sun Also Rises - Hemingway

Last read maybe 10 years ago and loved it.  A little less fun than I remember, but I'm only 1/3 through so far.

totally late to the game, but I'm reading game of thrones.  on book 3 now.

From what I understand, you are not only not late, but maybe a little too early.  I mean, he isn't going to finish the series for years and years, so the later you start the less you will be part of the crowd of people frustratingly waiting for the next novel to come out.

Service bulletins and instructions for a 70s model Vane 1700 diagnostic/analysis station for autos. It's been hardly used and gathering dust in a closed gas station workshop. It has a pipe sniffer, oscilloscope, etc. A mate got one at auction and is giving it to me on permanent loan. Very cool (and funny) reading the 70s literature.

I enjoyed that one. 

JM

The Bleed by John Cronin. Pretty good, so far and I just started.

The Big Sleep- by Raymond Chandler, 1939 detective novel. A pretty good read and a bit racy for it's time.

Chandler is always a fun read.

Just finished Endurance by Alfred Lansing.  It's the story of Sir Ernest Shacklenton's failed attempt to reach the south pole in 1914.  Unbelievable story. :o :o  I couldn't put it down.  We are all puny men in comparison.

Re-read of Cathcart's "Ducati Motorcycles" of '83.

Just finished Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  Great story, okay storytelling.

Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen

Sally Ride: America's First Woman In Space.

Travels with Charley

-Steinbeck


Reading this for probably the 3rd or 4th time because it makes me happy every time.

Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen.  About Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe.  I'm 2/3 through it.  Takeaway so far: Magellan was a dick.

EDIT: Finished it. Takeaway: everyone is a dick.

I just finished 3:

The Female Brain and The Male Brain, both by Louann Brizendine, M.D. Both extremely interesting...I think everyone should read them, as it explains the biological reason the sexes act and perceive things differently.

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. Another extremely interesting book.  [thumbsup]

Armored Thunderbolt (http://www.amazon.com/Armored-Thunderbolt-U-S-Sherman-World-ebook/dp/B0094B19K6) by Steven Zaloga.

Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II

so my daughter & I finally finished the Harry Potter series, and I had the bright idea to introduce her to one of my childhood favorites, Mark Twain.

Huck was my favorite, but I figured I should start with Tom Sawyer... it's been 25+ years since I last read, and I am not sure if it's because I am reading out loud, but wow, it is tough to read with all of the colloquialisms!  I am starting to try to translate for her, but find I am having to make some stuff up, lol.

Just finished Underworld by Don DeLillo...not a fan. Still plugging away at The Goldfinch, hoping it's going to go somewhere.

I really enjoyed that book. Such sacrifice!

Watched the movie two nights ago. That was great also!

GK

I tried Underworld and lost interest 1/3 way through.  Not that it was terrible, just didn't "take".

Last week I finished Stealing the General by Russell Bonds.  About a secret mission in 1862 to steal a locomotive in Atlanta and run it to Chattanooga, wreaking havoc and basically cutting the Confederate's rail supply line in half.  They failed, but were awarded the first Medal of Honor in the US.

Moby Dick-again, I always seem to find something new in this book.

"better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken christian"

The Crossing -- Cormac McCarthy

Let me know what you think.  I'm looking for another good CMc book.

The Black Banners...extremely good book.  [thumbsup]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Banners-Against-al-Qaeda/dp/0393079422# (http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Banners-Against-al-Qaeda/dp/0393079422#)

just finished Sammy Hagar's Red   -- good, fast read, have never been a huge fan of his music, but have always respected him as a musician

Best from him I've read so far. Same beautiful prose and oddly chilling characters. The stories that foreshadow the future  are incredibly well written and tucked away so that if you aren't focused, it's easy to skip over the small details.

This one definitely took some turns that I didn't see coming and really made me want more.

Great book! Will be picking up the third in the trilogy ASAP.

Lee smolin, time reborn, and
'a short introduction to general relativity' by foster and nightingale.

Three roads to quantum gravity and the trouble with physics,
Also by lee smolin, are good too.

The Soul of Soil

Good to know. I've put it on my reading list.

Halfway through The Right Stuff now...

Buried Prey - John Sandford.

JM

Just finished..

Cities of the Plain

-Cormac McCarthy

[thumbsup]

question for you military history types:  has anyone ever read
one of the few books about simo hayha, the finnish super-sniper
from the russo-finnish winter war?  i've been looking for one for
quite a while ... they're like $800 (yeah, eight hundred) on amazon.

probably not what you are looking for, but try abebooks.com - great source for buying books on the cheap, I usually use amazon for my "wish list" and then go buy from abebooks...

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=simo+hayha&sts=t (http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=simo+hayha&sts=t)


**edit, yes, the book you are looking for is at the bottom, $750 ;) **

yup ... that's the one.  thanks for looking it up.  that's about the price i've seen
pretty much anywhere its available.  i'm guessing my local library isn't going to
have one on the shelf.

Question.

What in the world is a book that expensive for?

Thats a serious question BTW. Not trying to be a dickhead

not sure.  its published in finnland, but i've heard someone say
that you can contact the finnish publisher and get it for less.
i haven't investigated that pathway yet.

beginnings and beyond, foundations in early childhood education.

Are the trilogy books related in any specific way or plot, or just the theme of life on the border?

Definitely read them in order. It all ties together in the last book

Finally picked up Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace. I'll check in next month.

John Grady Cole, a young man that is all we should be, or at least a good character. [thumbsup]

Just started "Dune" by Frank Herbert... well, I'm 450 pages in because I cannot put this thing down! Excellent so far. Stoked that there are six in the series.

I've been referencing the glossary in the appendix at times, thinking about reading the whole of the appendicies (sp?)

Should I wait until I finish the book to guard against spoilers?

my memory is that they get sort-of exponentially worse as you go through
the series.  the last 1 or 2 aren't even written by FH if i recall. 

The Conquest of Bread, Peter Kropotkin

"A Brief History of Molecular Electronics," Mark Ratner Nature Nanotechnology 2013, 8, 278-281.

Y'all will finish your novels before I digest 3.5 pages.   :P

This reminds me, I only read the first one. Should add the others to my list. Cormac's 2/3 for me. Loved The Road and All the Pretty Horses...did not like Blood Meridian.

I read it when it was a trilogy...

they were good, but after 3 I had enough.

Great book, DREADFUL movie...

"whatever happened to the metric system"?

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/books/2014/08/john_marciano_s_whatever_happened_to_the_metric_system_reviewed.2.html (http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/books/2014/08/john_marciano_s_whatever_happened_to_the_metric_system_reviewed.2.html)

Interesting book.

Read the first one, started the 2nd but didn't get past a certain head in a jar thing...

The Crossroad, by Mark Donaldson.

It's about an Australian SAS soldier in Afghanistan who won the Victoria Cross.

Think this should be a good read. 

http://www.amazon.com/Curmudgeonism-Surly-Mans-Guide-Midlife/dp/0991238230 (http://www.amazon.com/Curmudgeonism-Surly-Mans-Guide-Midlife/dp/0991238230)

It's an easy read.
Punch teenagers
Drink beer.
Boobies for fun and profit.

Can't find it at the Library.

Just finished..

No Country for Old Men - CMC


Now reading..

Child of God - CMC

I won't stop until I've read all of his books

Silken Prey  -John Sandford

JM

Odd Thomas, again and Four Blind Mice . . . as said, on and off . . .

ahhh jeez, so after somewhat influencing my daughter's reading habits... I am now picking up some of hers...

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

:)

The Magicians - Lev Grossman

Harry Potter with sex and cursing.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/episodes/extreme-animals/ (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/episodes/extreme-animals/)


Neato

I'm way behind you---only just finished The Crossing.  Liked it better than ATPH.  Bleak, but good.  I liked the wolf storyline.

COTP next.

I switched it up and just finished The Da Vinci Code by David Brown.

The book is definitely better than the movie.

Did Dan's brother write another version?  ;)

I agree the book is waay better than the movie..as they usually are...

I was too busy reading the book to notice the name on the front  ;D

D-Day The Battle For Normandy by Antony Beevor.

;D
Casey Stoner - my story my way.
and Fiction -Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

The Reach Of A Chef, Professional Cooks in the Age of Celebrity by Michael Ruhlman.

The Wild Truth by Carine McCandless

(http://scene7.targetimg1.com/is/image/Target/14635498?wid=410&hei=410)

I was just a little kid when all this shit was happening right down the road.

The Infantry's Armor (http://www.amazon.com/The-Infantrys-Armor-Separate-Battalions/dp/0811705951) by Harry Yeide.


(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XcysdkSrL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)

American Sniper - Chris Kyle's autobiography

Excellent

 [thumbsup]

That was a pretty good read. I'm not typically a fan autobios but it was given to me for Christmas. Definitely a real eye opener and a sad story in the end.

Next... The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

America the Beautiful by Ben Carson

The Emigrants - W.G. Sebald

Hadn't heard of it but just looked up on Amazon.  Sounds interesting.  Let me know what you think when done.  [popcorn]




Oh, and in line with the thread: I'm in the middle of Chancellorsville by Stephen Sears.

The Hard Magic series

On a whim decided to pick up "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

I have never read any of his books but love the quotes I have seen from him and was having a conversation with my daughter about her astronomy class the other day and he came up as a reference.

I'm reading as well. Very good. Crazy what those guys go through over there.

Agreed



Sublime. Witty in some spots, dreamy, depressing, joyful, and funny all around. At times it seems aimless, however, each individual written about is there for a reason.

Ok.  It goes in my Kindle queue.

Thanks.  [thumbsup]

Bluebeard - Kurt Vonnegut

I'm looking to read Marcus Luttrell's other book Service: A Navy SEAL at War. Anyone read it?

"Truth, justice, and the curious case of Chris Kyle" by Michael McCaffrey.

I see a pattern forming

Great book


Very interesting read as well. The Ventura story wasn't in the version of American Sniper that I just read.

Triple J: have you read any of the other Vonnegut books?

I presume they removed it since they went to court.

Ya, quite a few. I'm a big Vonnegut fan. Cat's Cradle is my favorite. Welcome to the Monkey House is a cool collection of his short stories.

I don't remember the specifics of Blue Beard, as I read it a long time ago. I just remember thinking it was a cool book.

Ventura was never mentioned by name in the book, only as "Scruffy" who Kyle later ID'd as Ventura in interviews. Is the "Scruffy" barfight story in the version yall read? What about his story about being summoned to shoot looters from a rooftop in the aftermath of Katrina by a top secret govt agency?

Did you read the book?

Nope. The Ventura story broke in 2012. "Scruff Face" was the character in the book and the lawsuit wasn't filed until Kyle id'd Ventura as "Scruff Face" on Opie and Anthony then Bill O'Reilly. And in the dozen or so objective reviews I've read on AS the story was always Scruff Face. There's absolutely no reason to believe Ventura was ever named in the book and a mountain  of evidence to say he wasn't. It's a little like confirming the validity of nuclear fission without having to split an atom yourself.

So....is the "Scruff Face" story in the contemporary version?

No, none of that is in the version I just read (finished last week). I would have remembered either, especially since I was looking for anything sounding like the Ventura story. The Katrina story is just too out there to forget. Good book, although some does seem a bit far fetched (what do I know though, I've never been to war)...but the Katrina thing is just over the top.

from wikipedia:


So it looks like it was taken out in editions published after Jul/2014.

A.J Delgado of "The National Review" penned a very good, apolitical article about the lawsuit and the vitriol that went Ventura's way after the suit. Just Google if ya wanna check it out.

For the record I'm not a huge Ventura fan although there is much to be admired about someone as "comfortable in his own skin" as he is. I've tried to argue with him on his FB page when he spouts certain conspiracy theories...but he hasn't responded yet, lol.

Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page

 [thumbsup]

Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife

John A. Nagal

Trying to read Clockwork Orange... tough for me with all the slang.  I had to put it down and I'll get back to it when I'm more focused.

In the meantime I started on Starship Troopers.


To the person reading Dune.  I've read them all.  Even the "expanded universe" books by the son.  Don't bother with those unless you're like me and just had to read it all. 

Of the six Frank books, I actually like the last 2 the most.  Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune.

Starship Trooper was the very first book I read for pleasure. Hooked from there. Not what you expect at all and still one of the best scifi books I've ever read. The second and third Dune books were not great.

Send a copy to droneboy.

Have you seen the movie?

The Hunt for Red October.

JM

It's not fiction

You read Knife Fights yet?

Wonder how the two compare.

I had not. Thanks

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/15741213203_ae3cc5777f_c.jpg)

I put down American Sniper. Too much hype and anger. I picked up Sevice: A Navy Seal at War. This is a very good read so far, much better than Sniper.

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KJ7okGkML.jpg)

None of which Oprah approves of.

 [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] She only reads cue cards.

Angels and Demons - Dan Brown

I don't approve of her either, so we're even. ;)

I really enjoyed this book. When Dan Brown is on, he can really produce a very entertaining book.

Agreed. I am about 200 pages deep and starting to see a pattern between A and D and the DaVinci Code.

Not sure if I'll read any more of his after this.

That's interesting. I'm currently reading Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell's other book, and it has WAY more politics and anger/BS than American Sniper. I would expect this book of his to be the same. I've considered putting it down, but when he gets back on topic it is very interesting.

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519EXA2XJZL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)

Just finished "The Hunt for Red October."

JM

The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown  [bacon]

Saint Odd, Dean Koontz

Odd jumped the shark after the second book. The movie sucked too.

agreed!  I kinda gave up after the 4th book due to waning interest, but being that this one is a "conclusion" to the series (we'll see) I figured I'd give it a shot, local library had it, and to be honest, it is good! 

maybe I needed the time away...

have not seen the movie(s?), I vaguely remember seeing a trailer, and thinking looked like it was gonna be pretty bad...

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon

I usually give a book 10 pages. If it doesn't catch, I put it down. I didn't have anything else for a train ride so I am about 100 pages deep. Not sure I'll continue with this one.

started reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" with daughter, but my wife seems to think she's a bit young yet (and her teacher concurred) :(  so we'll save that for another day...

reading Jack London: An American Life now

Like teachers know everything.

right??!! 

more like women in general... ;)

anyways I made my case (which has never been a strong suit) and have talked to my daughter about the subject matter, both while reading this & Tom Sawyer, so she has a "decent" understanding of how screwed up people can be and how far we have come (and how far to go) and the importance of not basing how you treat people on color of skin, accents, etc

she's got a pretty good head on her shoulders (much better than I at her age for sure), and is bummed to not continue for now, as she was really enjoying it...

back to Magic Tree House for you kid! ;)   

We did just read another really interesting younger person's book, well she read first & gave me the [thumbsup] to read too (I liked it, lots of pictures ;) )

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik

"John Dies at the End" -David Wong

Reading this one for the second time, batshit insane and incredibly hilarious, man I love this book.

The liner quote is perfect- "like a cross between Douglass Adams and Stephen King"

Anybody see the movie? is it worth a look?

Just Finished Tom Clancy Full Force and Effect.

It's a page turner.

Just finished John Sanford's Silent Prey and am starting his Winter Prey.

JM

Nope, but it's on my Netflix list.  [thumbsup]

Added to the list. I'll check it out.

Suttree - Cormac McCarthy

Same.


I liked this book a lot. I agreed wholeheartedly with his disdain towards the politicians who choke military missions with almost impossible ROE.

Great book. Seen the movie?


Ripper read. Love the movie too. Must have seen it close to ten times.


I've got that beside the bed, but it will be a holiday read, like all my other Clancy novels!

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson.  Confirming what I already knew: that I am a lesser man.  :)

No...I always hate movies after the book.

I agree on his ROE comments as well...except his guys are the ones that wrote the ROEs

His guys? Unpack that for me if you will.

I usually watch the movie first and then read the book. I broke that rule with both Lone Survivor and American Sniper. Regretted it both times. I definitely enjoyed Service more than Lone Survivor. It happens to detail the deployment in Ramadi right after Chris Kyle and it shows the effort that eventually turned everything around. Yes, he does jump into some politics, but in general it felt more uplifting compared to the other 2 books.

Fiasco by Thomas E. Ricks

Right as Rain
By George Pelecanos

Valley of the Moon
Jack London

AWS D1.1: Structural Welding Code-Steel

For work.

 [thumbsup]

I like picking up the Lincoln Welding 'Bible' once in a while. ;D

http://www.amazon.com/The-Procedure-Handbook-Arc-Welding/dp/B000K6O6PE (http://www.amazon.com/The-Procedure-Handbook-Arc-Welding/dp/B000K6O6PE)

Nelson Demille "The Panther"

Annapurna by Maurice Herzog

IRS form 1040... ;D

I've heard of it, but am not familiar---is it tragedy or a comedy?

Watching Magnum PI

Do you feel wiser?  Do you enjoy life more?  Are you happier?  Don't worry, all are know side effects.   ;D


Which episode?

...or a pleasant surprise.

It was the one where he gaurds a Balarina and TC is smitten by her. Magnum also drives a blue Mercedes SL 380 or 450 instead of the 308 Ferrari

Yeah, kinda a middle of the pack episode.  I do love when TC's soft side comes out, though.  Nice to see characters bucking narrow stereotypes.


Ok, back to books...

I need to read more Hemingway.  I read Have and Have Nots, Call to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Sun Also Rises and all the major ones.  Any minor works that I need to pay attention to?

JM

Those you list are really the best of it. A Moveable Feast is good but it is not a novel, more like a collection of writings about life as struggling artist in paris in the 1920s.

Strong Fathers Strong Daughters.

Challenging reading for sure!

BSA manual, Amal carb manual.

DR650 Clymer manual because yay, new bike!

Also: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Westherford

DR's don't break...

they just continue to go slow. ;D

Currently faster than a dusty duc in a barn that hasn't seen sunlight since the bush administration.  ;D

 [popcorn]

The Messenger by Daniel Silva

It hasn't been quite that long.

Bring the DR to DIMBY and see. :-*

Ok, but I choose the terrain for battle.


[googling "fire roads New Hampshire"...]

OK...you're in charge of leading the ride...Dan and herm are off the hook...

I'll follow. :-*

Go Like Hell by A J Baime.

Story of Ford and Ferrari race wars in the 1960s.  ;D

Finished.  Good read if you're unfamiliar with the story.  Good I love 'merica when I read stuff like that.


Now...
Race Tech's Motorcycle Suspension Bible by Paul Thede and Lee Parks

Buried Prey - John Sandford

JM

John Demille "The Gold Coast" an excelent novel about the Old money on Long Island.  [thumbsup]

East of Eden - Steinbeck

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson

Title says it all.  30% done and good so far...

My First Summer in the Sierra - John Muir

Under Fire "Tom Clancy" (Grant Blackwood)

A Jack Ryan Jr Novel

Pretty good so far.

Tattoos on the Heart by Father Greg Boyle.


Get the audio book. He reads it himself, and he's a great story teller.

I could use a good Audio Book.

Just finished...

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Deception Point - Dan Brown

Currently reading...

Gould's Book of Fish - Richard Flannagan

Just finished "Eddie Would Go" - great read on a great man that was gone way too early...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Aikau

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson

Really interesting book!  [thumbsup]

Yeah, I'm sure I learned a little of that history in school but I definitely forgot it all by the time I picked up the Anderson book.  Was good to get an understanding of the background in the MidEast and, frankly, how utterly random events and minor political decisions can end up having such a profound effect on the world.  Also, TE Lawrence is an inspiring---if complicated---man.

current:
Freedom Climbers: The Golden Age of Polish Climbing by Bernadette McDonald

Almost done and conclusion is that the Poles were tough and fearless SOBs.  [clap]

Base Nation
By David Vine

"How U.S. Military bases abroad harm America and The world"

Just started reading, very interesting stuff.

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West
by Stephen Ambrose

Went through that last year.  I would give multiple limbs to have been on that expedition.

I have that very book on the bed beside me Dave!

Just finished 'Full Force And Effect' yesterday which I thought very good!

Meditations on Violence

All the posts (so far).

http://www.dailyyonder.com/topics/in-the-black/ (http://www.dailyyonder.com/topics/in-the-black/)


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“I’m here with P and P Construction, said I’d be shoveling belt.”

The man I was speaking to behind the desk was strong, arms the size of oak trees, what a lot of folks refer to as a mountain man. He wasn’t very old, but the lines on his face, the way he spoke, and the glare in his eyes said that he was physically and mentally much older than his age in years. He was simple and to the point.

“You got your miners card and papers?”

“No,” I said. “I just got my papers last week at the state office in Hazard, but they said this Xerox copy would do until my card comes in.”

“All right, you’ll work for me then. You work every night from 9 ’til we get done. Now go get your sh– together. We start in about an hour”

Nervously I tried to lace up my new matterhorns, get my cap light adjusted, and look like I knew what I was doing, failing miserably. My knee pads were still in the plastic. My belt was so stiff it would have served more purpose as a walking stick. All I could do was push back the fear and walk back into the mine office.

“Hey, boy, where did ya work at before now, the pie factory?” I just grinned and held onto my dinner bucket so tight that my knuckles turned white. “You too pretty for a coal miner. I imagine we’ll get some use out of ya somehow though. Stop starin’ at the lockers and get out there, you’re gonna miss the mantrip.”

I walked a fast pace out to the rail car, 20 burly men lying side to side somewhat spooning, just like my girlfriend and I would do at night. I was intimidated and scared. I wasn’t scared just because we were riding a rail car seven miles back into the mountain to work in a 36 inch seam of coal. I was scared because these were “real” men, fathers of the kids I went to school with, men who had enough strength to bend a one inch steel bar with their bare hands. I was just a skinny teenage boy with glasses, bad skin, and not enough ass to pick up a loaded number four coal shovel.

So I just laid down in the first opening I saw, turned on my headlamp, and closed my eyes as the wheels of the car barked against the rails and the diesel engine roared into my ears.

A few minutes after we entered the mine, a voice cut through the noise like nothing I had ever heard before.

“WHOA! Stop g–damn you!”

Sparks flew up past my face and the wheels of the car screamed as the operator brought us to an abrupt halt.

“Alright now, it’s Sunday night after pay day. Everybody chip in so we can get this night started right. Don’t any of you sons-a-pregnant doges hold out neither.”

All the men were bearded, haggard, eyes sunken back into their skulls. The darkness and glow of the head lamps made everyone look like death. Pulling plastic bags, pill bottles, and emptied Skoal cans out of their pockets and dinner buckets, they dumped the contents onto the top of the rail car. Lortab, Xanax, Valium, and whatever other prescription drugs they had.

“New kid, you got any medicine or candy to put in on this?”

I simply shook my head right to left, right to left, right to left. When I could finally stop, I watched the men use their mining certification cards to cut lines of a multi-colored rainbow assortment of powders they had crushed from the pills. It disappeared as quick as we did when we entered the drift mouth. So did my romanticism about miners.

Great read  [thumbsup]

The Last Wish - Fiction by a Polish Author that became basis for The Witcher set of games.

Never played the games. But the books a good light read so far.

And since my last update... All of the Laundry Files to date, A Dresden Files set of short stories, The Aeronauts Windlass, all of the Monster Hunter International series to date, all of the Grimnoir Chronicles series, and all of the Gentlemen Bastards books to date

Currently reading The Martian, and Seven Deadly Sins by Corey Taylor.

True North, by Jim Harrison

Devil in the White City, Erik Larson

and on the 'lighter' side, the Grimm trilogy, by Adam Gidwitz (I have gone from recommending books for my daughter, to reading her recommendations for me... ;))

Just finished "Cloudsplitter" a 750 page tome on abolitionist John Brown written by Russell Banks. Somewhat fictionalized but a helluva read.
Currently reading "President Me" by Adam Carolla. Love that guy.

NATOPS C-130T Flight Manual

https://info.publicintelligence.net/USNavy-C130T.pdf

You too can have a copy (Takes about a minute to download)

Just finished the NORIEGA MESS . . .

Any of you Cali guys remember the SLA (leftist terrorist group that kidnapped Patty Hearst)?
Reading Jeffrey Toobin's great book on the whole thing. I think I was 10 when she got kidnapped and remember watching their safehouse burn down on the news. Turns out she was holed up in a motel room near Disneyland about 3 miles from my house at the time. :o

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51yQD83OIhL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)

Joy lived several blocks from there when she was growing up. She remembers.

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So, since quitting my job last May and traveling south I've had a lot of time to read.  Thirty-six books so far.  Gives me a good chance to read things that I've always been meaning to get to, but never had the time.  Case in point: I just finished White Noise by Don DeLillo.  My first DeLillo (read 1/4 of Underworld a decade ago and then lost interest).  Good book, but not as great as some have claimed.  Still, DeLillo definitely presaged (in 1985) the malaise brought on by technology that is now more common.

A few of the best books from my last ten months, in case anyone is looking for something:

- I re-read Lolita (Nabokov) and Unbearable Lightness... (Kundera) and both were better than I remembered.  Probably because this time around reading I am an actual adult.  Also, Nabokov is one hell of a prose stylist.
- Art is Propoganda (Orwell): good collection of essays by the most ardent opponent of power. Homage to Catalonia was an another good Orwell read, if you're a fan of Europe circa WWII.
- The Looming Tower (Wright): the story of Bin Laden and 9/11 hijackers as seen from US Intelligence
- The Victim's Revolution (Bower): no comment (politics!), but I'll say that I'm glad I'm not in college these days
- The Great Shark Hunt (Thompson): good collection of gonzo essays by the man himself

36 Books? Go you!

Just finished 'Anger is an Energy: My Life Uncensored' by Johnny Lydon - great read, but obviously not for everybody!

reading 'The Endurance: Shackelton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition' by Caroline Alexander - loving it, a lot of amazing pictures to go along with the telling of an epic tale!

[thumbsup]





I read Endurance by Alfred Lansing a few years ago.  Same story, nearly same title.  I couldn't put it down.  We are all mere mortals compared to that troop of men...  [bow_down]

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Just finished this: ^^

Am now onto this one:

(http://opengarages.org/handbook/carhackers_cover.png)

Then:

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I'm finally tackling Moby Dick.  I've read a lot of mixed reviews on this classic.  We'll see how it goes...

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I was in 9th grade when this Shiite went down.

reading 'Fingerprints of the Gods' by Graham Hancock...

fascinating read!  not so sure about the premise, he makes some compelling arguments tho!

From Wiki:

Thesis[edit]

Quetzalcoatl as depicted in the Codex Magliabechiano.
The book pivots on "fingerprints" of allegedly influenced civilizations, evidence of which Hancock finds in the descriptions of Godmen like Osiris, Thoth, Quetzalcoatl, and Viracocha. These creation myths predate history, and Hancock suggests that in 10,450 BC, a major pole shift took place, before which Antarctica lay farther from the South Pole than today, and after which it shifted to its present location. This earlier civilization theoretically centered on Antarctica, and later survivors built the Olmec, Aztec, Maya and Egyptian civilizations.

Hancock was influenced by Rose and Rand Flem-Ath's When the Sky Fell: in Search of Atlantis (1995/2009), in which they expand the evidence for Charles Hapgood's theory of earth-crust displacement and propose Antarctica as the site of Atlantis.

The pole-shift hypothesis hinges on Charles Hapgood's theory of Earth Crustal Displacement.[2] Hapgood had a fascination with the story of Atlantis and suggested that crustal displacement may have caused its destruction. His theories have few supporters in the geological community compared to the more widely accepted model of plate tectonics.

I was just talking to students about pole shifts this morning.

I'm reading Miracles by Eric Metaxas.

Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould

Really Really good book...  had a bit of a slow start (I had to put the book down every few  pages, as I was having to reread so much and look up too many great big multisyllabic words, eyes glazing over, etc) but settling in now & really enjoying author's style, wit, & insights into his views on evolution of Life on this Great Big Ball!  (and expanding my vocabulary to boot!)

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Great book about the tragedy of 9-11 focusing on the twin towers, the people inside them and the horribly frustrating lack of communication between FDNY and NYPD.  :'( :'(
This topic still fvcks me up and probably always will.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Halfway through, pretty entertaining.

I like Margarita's.

Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning"
Kip Woodring's " H-D Sportster/Buell Engine Hop Up Guide"
Johnathan Clements  "A Brief History of the Samurai"

In the Garden of Beasts - Eric Larson

Die Trying - Jack Reacher Thriller by Lee Child

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Just finished it. Great read! 👍🏻👍🏻

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Finished "Enemy of the State" (latest in the Mitch Rapp series) =  [thumbsup]

and then read "The Razor's Edge" by Somerset Maugham...

Wow. GREAT read!  One of the best books of fiction (although loosely based upon some events/peeps in Mr Maugham's life) I have read in a long time...  had never read any of his books previously, but will definitely be reading more of his work = good stuff.

 

The Hard Way - Jack Reacher Thriller by Lee Child

Finished in a couple of days!

Just love the series!

"The Naturalist" by Andrew Mayne =  [thumbsup]

"Professor Theo Cray is trained to see patterns where others see chaos. So when mutilated bodies found deep in the Montana woods leave the cops searching blindly for clues, Theo sees something they missed. Something unnatural. Something only he can stop.

As a computational biologist, Theo is more familiar with digital code and microbes than the dark arts of forensic sleuthing. But a field trip to Montana suddenly lands him in the middle of an investigation into the bloody killing of one of his former students. As more details, and bodies, come to light, the local cops determine that the killer is either a grizzly gone rogue…or Theo himself. Racing to stay one step ahead of the police, Theo must use his scientific acumen to uncover the killer. Will he be able to become as cunning as the predator he hunts—before he becomes its prey?"

Also reading "Principles" by Ray Dalio (someone that I admire greatly) = good/great read so far!

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Finishing up: The Radium Girls by Kate Moore, Running With The Mind Of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham, Absence of Mind by Marilynne Robinson, The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, and An Astronaught's Guide to Life On Earth by Col. Chris Hadfield.

Waiting in a stack: A Significant Casualty by Paul Pilkington, Endurance by Scott Kelly, What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton, The Taking of K=129 by Josh Dean.

They will have to wait till the end of April. I am (again) studying for another test. Did ASP is Oct and will sit for CSP next. Gonna be a Certified Safety Professional.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

I liked Lost City of Z so much, figured I'd check out another of his books... good book, well done, a little slower to get into than Z, but intriguing story.

from Amazon:
"In the 1920s, the Osage found themselves in a unique position among Native Americans tribes. As other tribal lands were parceled out in an effort by the government to encourage dissolution and assimilation of both lands and culture, the Osage negotiated to maintain the mineral rights for their corner of Oklahoma, creating a kind of “underground reservation.” It proved a savvy move; soon countless oil rigs punctured the dusty landscape, making the Osage very rich. And that’s when they started dying.

You’d think the Osage Indian Reservation murders would have been a bigger story, one as familiar as the Lindbergh kidnapping or Bonnie and Clyde. It has everything, but at scale: Execution-style shootings, poisonings, and exploding houses drove the body count to over two dozen, while private eyes and undercover operatives scoured the territory for clues. Even as legendary and infamous oil barons vied for the most lucrative leases, J. Edgar Hoover’s investigation – which he would leverage to enhance both the prestige and power of his fledgling FBI - began to overtake even the town’s most respected leaders..."

Origins - Dan Brown

Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coehlo

Breakfast of Champions - Vonnegut

Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World - the Dalai Lama

 [thumbsup]

Goliath Must Fall: Winning the Battle Against Your Giants - Louie Giglio

Terminal List by Jack Carr   [thumbsup]


A Navy SEAL has nothing left to live for and everything to kill for after he discovers that the American government is behind the deaths of his team in this ripped-from-the-headlines political thriller.

On his last combat deployment, Lieutenant Commander James Reece’s entire team was killed in a catastrophic ambush that also claimed the lives of the aircrew sent in to rescue them. But when those dearest to him are murdered on the day of his homecoming, Reece discovers that this was not an act of war by a foreign enemy but a conspiracy that runs to the highest levels of government.

Now, with no family and free from the military’s command structure, Reece applies the lessons that he’s learned in over a decade of constant warfare toward avenging the deaths of his family and teammates. With breathless pacing and relentless suspense, Reece ruthlessly targets his enemies in the upper echelons of power without regard for the laws of combat or the rule of law.

An intoxicating thriller that cautions against the seduction of absolute power and those who would do anything to achieve it, The Terminal List is perfect for fans of Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Stephen Hunter, and Nelson DeMille.

Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume I...  this is gonna take me awhile...  just started but so good so far!

&

7 Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli 
(in my ongoing, but so far a failing, quest to better understand our Universe... why is it that the more I try to learn, the less I ultimately understand and/or the more questions I have? ... I guess I shoulda maybe put the bong down with a little more frequency in my formative years... ;))

Just finished Strange New World, Aldous Huxley... 

been meaning to read for like ever, glad a did, but a bit of a depressing read

Will start, tonight with Kitchen Confidential

Sapiens  by Yuval Noah Harari

Only 100 pages in but very interesting

Just finished Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes  [thumbsup]

and started I am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes, really really good so far!

(http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h288/GK1970/1800A58A-B3B6-49B8-BFEC-75CCE8D98656_zpsizlpdexr.jpg) (http://s67.photobucket.com/user/GK1970/media/1800A58A-B3B6-49B8-BFEC-75CCE8D98656_zpsizlpdexr.jpg.html)

Most of last year was all text books, all the time.

Finally back to reading books that don't put me to sleep after a few sentences (such as taxation on modified endowment contracts - ugh).

For WWII enthusiasts, The Matt Urban Story is a current fascinating read.  Urban is/was also a hero to many young kids and communities after his war years.  

He retired in my hometown and my dad had his book which he gave to me when I was there recently during Christmas.  My dad also met him a few times at the local American Legion and sang his praises.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/matt-urban-the-greatest-soldier-in-american-history-but-youve-never-heard-of-him-right.html (https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/matt-urban-the-greatest-soldier-in-american-history-but-youve-never-heard-of-him-right.html)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6309780.Matt_Urban (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6309780.Matt_Urban)

Just finished John Adams, by David McCullough = good stuff!  took me awhile to get through, but really interesting read on the early days of our country, and also interesting how 'history doesn't necessarily repeat, but it sure does rhyme!'

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0743223136/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i5

Acid for the Children: A Memoir, by Flea

Great book/read by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist extraordinaire!  can't put down...  [thumbsup] [thumbsup]

Let's Go (so we can Get Back) - Jeff Tweedy
Really good, Mr. Tweedy's sense of humor comes thru in spades, have had many chuckles so far

I have not ready any 'fantasy' in ages, and just rec'd a book as a gift, given with rave reviews

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

I could not put it down.  and luckily, it is the 1st in a series called the King Killer Chronicle, and now I am on to the 2nd book

The Wise Man's Fear

Great story, amazing writing  [thumbsup]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingkiller_Chronicle

I bought that a year ago based on reviews, comments, and recommendations from others similar to you comments.  But decided I'm not starting until I have a real sense that the third and final book will come out.  I can't invest in a series that does not promise completion.

Baracoon

re: 3rd book, from the family that got me hooked, apparently, he is a bit of a perfectionist and it took him 7+ years of editing to get the first two out...  not looking forward to the wait for #3, almost done with #2... now you have me nervous, lol

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Man, our food industry is really screwed up.  But regardless I recommend this book to anyone who's interested in knowing something about your food and where it comes from/ how it's made.  Pollan is good because he isn't "preachy" and generally sticks to reporting instead of proselytizing most of the time.

 [thumbsup]

I will add this to my list. 

Finally got to this last month.  Lived up to the hype.  Recommend  [thumbsup]

Good Stuff!!

reading 3 currently... (or trying to, lol)

Far & Wide: Bring that Horizon to Me!  - Neil Peart

The Thomas Sowell Reader

Don't Burn This Book:  Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Unreason - Dave Rubin

Reading some good ones...

"Feeding Dogs: The Science Behind the Dry vs. Raw Debate" - Dr Conor Brady

Really eye-opening book.  Highly recommend for anyone with a 4-legged furry companion... and really, has some great info for us 2-legged peeps as well.

"A Good Man:  Rediscovering my Father, Sargent Shriver" - Mark Shriver

Just started, but heartwarming read about a Wonderful Man & Father (and founder of the Peace Corps)

Led Zeppelin: The Biography, by Bob Spitz

Yeah, just what the World needs, another Zep bio...  have  read more than my share, and am really enjoying this one too...  it is a little drier in writing style than say 'Hammer of the Gods' so far, ie, more factualish historical account than back of the tour bus/hotel rooms kinda thing...   [thumbsup]

This thing still on? I found Ozzy's autobiography at a thrift store. Helluva read and in Ozzy's voice.
Also just read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I'm big into Russian literature so this was right in my wheelhouse. Outstanding read.

"Championship Fighting" by Jack Dempsey..
A hard man.

"No Dream is Too High: Life Lessons from a Man Who Walked on the Moon" - Buzz Aldrin

"Mud Ride: A Messy Trip through the Grunge Explosion" - Steve Turner (guitarist for Mudhoney)

"Broken Money:  Why Our Financial System is Failing Us and How We Can Make it Better" - Lyn Alden