What are you reading now...?

[Druid5]

Originally Posted by wildelectric

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield and Critique of Pure Reason by Kant. Both are developing me as a warrior.

Both of those were good reads, Gates of Fire was a required read for my BOLC II class and I liked it a lot. Try reading The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes or Nietzsche's work on Perspectivism for further reading.

[Roguish Lawyer]

Decision Points, George W. Bush
The Ultimate Sniper, John L. Plaster

on page 202 of a 642 page novel.

"The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova

Cliff note version,

[I]The Historian has been described as a combination of genres, including Gothic novel, adventure novel, detective fiction, travelogue, postmodern historical novel, epistolary epic, and historical thriller. Kostova was intent on writing a serious work of literature and saw herself as an inheritor of the Victorian style. Although based in part on Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Historian is not a horror novel, but rather an eerie tale. It is concerned with history's role in society and representation in books, as well as the nature of good and evil. As Kostova explains, "Dracula is a metaphor for the evil that is so hard to undo in history."[3] The evils brought about by religious conflict are a particular theme, and the novel explores the relationship between the Christian West and the Islamic East.[/I]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Historian

for page turning pleasure, grab a copy.

Enjoy

[ZonieDiver]

I just finished The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick. It's about "Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn" and is excellent. Well-researched. If you are interested in "Custer-ology" don't miss it.

I found the stories from Private Peter Thompson fascinating - oft left out of recountings due to the unbelievable nature of his tale. No one comes out "clean" as Denzel Washington's character says in Glory.

[Sigaba]

Re The Historian. I enjoyed it. I recommend it. That being said, the description of it in the Wikipedia entry is bizarre. (When people today want to describe something that takes concentration to grasp, they throw in "postmodern" e.g., the banter about Pulp Fiction.)

My $0.02.

[Sigaba]

Daniel W. Drezner, Theories of International Politics and Zombies (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2011) ISBN-13 9780691147833.

FWIW, Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Zombie Research Society. Notwithstanding Drezner's expertise on zombies, I very strongly disagree with his definition of zombies as ghouls rather than as animated corpses. Defining zombies as ghouls raises a number of ontological issues that should have pushed the work in an entirely different direction. YMMV.

In any case, this is an interesting, intellectually complex, and funny work that, at times, offers devastating critiques of the practice of international relations and the study thereof. Verily, Drezner is almost smart enough to be a historian.

[Dusty]

Born to Run by Chris McDougall

[nmap]

Endgame, by Mauldin.

It's going to be a long time before we see strong economic growth. Lots of pain remains...

Originally Posted by nmap

Endgame, by Mauldin.

It's going to be a long time before we see strong economic growth. Lots of pain remains...

I was thinking of adding it to the list, do you suggest picking it it?

I'm not opposed to reading a dinger once in awhile, makes me appreciate the winners when they arrive.

[Saoirse]

After having had the book: The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom, by Slavomir Rawicz, recommended by a very good friend, I finally started reading it. It's hard to put that book down, the only time I manage that is when my nook slams me in the forhead.
I am at the point right before the escape. We take a lot of granted but when you read about his experince with the telefunkt and the Col's wife....its a small happiness for him.

[nmap]

Originally Posted by wet dog

I was thinking of adding it to the list, do you suggest picking it it?

I'm not opposed to reading a dinger once in awhile, makes me appreciate the winners when they arrive.

I do suggest picking it. It combines extensive information from Rogoff's (This time it's different), as well as a study by the Bank for International Settlements - along with facts, figures and charts.

It isn't dry reading, despite that. It explains everything in clear, simple examples. And it points out the reasoning behind the conclusions. In addition, it looks at other developed countries, not just the U.S.

For anyone who is affected by changes in the federal budget (and that's most of us, IMO) this will cast some light on where we're headed.

[craigepo]

Originally Posted by Quietus

I'm halfway through a 2000 novel by James Carlos Blake called "Wildwood Boys." It's a sympathetic portrayal of the life and times of a Missouri partisan who we have come to know as "Bloody Bill Anderson."

I'm reluctant to praise the writing talents of fiction writers, but Blake writes well. Besides telling well a story, he is pretty accurate about the making of paper cartridge loads for cap and ball revolvers, and the carrying of spare loaded cylinders for the pistols.

The book does trouble me some, because it makes me think about how thick (or thin) the veneer of what we think of as our USA civilization might be. Knowing of riots and of post-Katrina behavior does not in any way compare to the way participants from both sides of this relatively recent conflict, treated their enemies. I had known from reading, about what a bad place Missouri was during the war between the states. This book gets down in the dirt, regarding what we now call "atrocities", done right here.

Missouri was a really bad place during the civil war. There were few "big" battles, but lots of house burning, looting and murder.

However, if you want to see a different side of the Civil War, take a look at "Better Angels of Our Nature", written by a guy named Halleran. Talks about Freemasons during the Civil War. Interesting to read about such civility amongst all the bloodshed.

[MtnGoat]

No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks by Ed Viesturs

I have followed the adventures of Ed Viesturs for many years. I loved reading his stories of his pursuit of the 14 summits with great interest over the years. The book is great reading as enthralled by the challenges and the seeming overwhelming and inherent risks Ed took on many different slopes. If you’re not a climber this book at times gets very technical in descriptions of gear and climbing TTPs. I wouldn't have minded so much, except for the fact that he didn't really go into a lot of detail about some of his climbs. I could overlook this penchant for the overly technical and excessive information, but the casual reader would probably get bored with it or become uninterested. So far good overall reading for anyone.

[akv]

Chasing Shadows- Fred Burton

Fred Burton is the VP of Stratfor, and a former DSS agent, this is the story of a cold case dating back to the Cold War he was troubled by for years, and finally recently helped solve. The case involved the murder of the Israeli Air Force attache to the US in 1973, the murder took place in Burton's Maryland hometown while he was in high school, and all sorts of domestic agencies and international players were involved in the story.

[Dusty]

I'm done with "American Caesar" if anybody wants it...