What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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jdb
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by jdb »

Blues wrote:Due to popular demand...I started "A Man Called Ove", by Fredrik Backman late last night.

It's been entertaining thus far...early into the read. :beer
Ordered the book from Amazon based on reviews on this site. But may put off reading it for awhile, have gotten so many interesting reviews on this site and others plus classics waiting to re read that now have a book queue, which is a good thing.
Last edited by jdb on Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by denismurf »

I'm halfway through The Mauritius Command, volume 4 of a series of historical novels by Patrick O'Brian based on the naval conflicts between Great Britain and various coalitions at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. The heroes are Jack Aubrey, a rising officer in the navy, and Stephen Maturin, a doctor, philosopher, and scientist who travels with Aubrey as ship's doctor and Aubrey's only friend.

I read and recommend these novels primarily because they are gritty, realistic entertainment, with a much more serious picture of the times than you get in HMS Pinafore or Horatio Hornblower novels, for example.

Right now I'm pushing volume 3, HMS Surprise, as my favorite so far, thanks primarily to some comedy in the form of a sloth that Mr Maturin brings aboard as a mascot without permission from Captain Aubrey.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by oldcomputerguy »

About a third of the way through Gerry House's "Country Music Broke My Brain". Great read.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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I'm reading The Big Picture by Sean Carroll, a physicist (not to be confused with Sean B Carroll, the evolutionary biologist). It is a sort of philosophy of science.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by bengal22 »

Beloved by Toni Morrison. First book I have read by her and I plan on reading more.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

bengal22 wrote:Beloved by Toni Morrison. First book I have read by her and I plan on reading more.
I read that some years ago and overall thought it a pretty good read...but then I have some issues with the "magical realism" style regardless of author.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by snowshoes »

World Right Side Up: Investing across 6 Continents(Agora Series), by Cris W. Mayer, a well versed author on investment suggestions & strategies literature.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by TimDex »

The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver.... I dislike most modern fiction, sticking to nonfiction, particularly histories. This book is wonderful, set about 15 years plus in the future, as our wonderful country has undergone internet catastrophe, an economic collapse, Latino invasion, and political upheaval. The author may get hung if she ever goes on a college campus. Great book. Tim
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by quantAndHold »

Born To Run, by Christopher McDougall. A guy who can't run without getting injured explores the history of running, and ends up in Copper Canyon running a 50 mile race with some of the best ultra runners in the world. Fascinating.

I remember meeting "Old Bob" when I went to Batopilas back in about 1980 or 81. He wasn't old then, he was just "Bob."
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Bungo »

One Summer: America 1927, by Bill Bryson.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by quantAndHold »

Hillbilly Elegy, by JD Vance.

A look into a culture that isn't well suited for the modern world. I had never considered myself to be part of the "liberal elite" before, but apparently a college education and a decent job makes me one.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

quantAndHold wrote:Hillbilly Elegy, by JD Vance.

A look into a culture that isn't well suited for the modern world. I had never considered myself to be part of the "liberal elite" before, but apparently a college education and a decent job makes me one.
Started out pretty good but by the time I got a quarter to halfway through my eyes were rolling back in my head. Couldn't finish it.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Blues wrote:
quantAndHold wrote:Hillbilly Elegy, by JD Vance.

A look into a culture that isn't well suited for the modern world. I had never considered myself to be part of the "liberal elite" before, but apparently a college education and a decent job makes me one.
Started out pretty good but by the time I got a quarter to halfway through my eyes were rolling back in my head. Couldn't finish it.
I thought this was an excellent book describing a part of the Midwest left behind, devastated and struggling, describing one family and one boy outside the dominant culture who finally excelled despite enormous handicaps. It was sometimes depressing and sometimes inspiring.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Mrs.Feeley »

"My Journey at the Nuclear Brink" by William J. Perry (Stanford Security Studies, 2015). Memoir chronicling Perry's journey from Silicon Valley entrepreneur designing surveillance technology to track the Soviet's nuclear arsenal to undersecretary of R&D in the Defense Dept. during the Carter Administration, and secretary of defense during the Clinton one. Discusses global nuclear threats as he sees them today. Lots of page-turning historical drama, lots of geeky details, a very engrossing read.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MP173 »

"The Passenger" by Lisa Lutz.

Half way thru it...very good.

A woman goes thru identities as she is escaping from something...just what is it?

Ed
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

"The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe" by Heather Mac Donald

She makes her points well (if a bit repetitively). The other side of the story "reported" by the mainstream media.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

MP173 wrote:"The Passenger" by Lisa Lutz.
She has a series about the Spellmans, a dysfunctional family of private investigators.

http://lisalutz.com/books/the-spellmans/
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Nothing Like It In The World, by Stephen Ambrose

This is the history of the transcontinental railroad, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. I re-learned the amazing history of this project, and also learned much new to me.

The project actually began before the the Civil War, with surveying and route selection. President Lincoln was a big supporter, promoted some of the initial legislation and was somewhat involved in selecting the actual route of the road. Union General Grenville Dodge was the Chief Engineer on the Union Pacific, but several times refused that job offer until after war was over. Construction actually began during the Civil War. President Grant was also an enthusiastic supporter, particularly of the Union Pacific. The Army was a big supporter during and after the war, including Generals Sherman and Sheridan.

The Union Pacific crews (working westwards from Omaha/Council Bluffs) were largely both Union and Confederate veterans along with immigrant Irish. The geographic and weather conditions of construction were astoundingly harsh. In Wyoming "the country through which we run was if possible more barren than yesterday. There is no water within ten miles of our line. We had to haul our water in barrels. . . . The weather was suffocatingly hot. . . .The team returned with casks filled with water. But it was so full of all kinds of poison that we could not use it. It was red as blood and filled with all sorts of vermin."

There were frequent Indian raids on the Union Pacific crews and surveyors. The Army could not be everywhere. "This meant that UP's workers would, in most cases, have to protect themselves. [Grenville] Dodge ordered it. He wanted every man armed." "They had to keep their rifles within easy reach--life on the frontier."

The excavation and earth moving was all done by muscle power, hard to even imagine today.

On the Central Pacific (working eastwards from Sacramento) the required tunneling in the Sierra Nevada progressed at inches per day, using black power and muscle power with sledge hammers for drilling. The recently developed nitro glycerin (two words then) was tried, but was generally too dangerous.

The work was all done with muscle power with no power tools or excavators.

In winter all workers sometimes had to be employed in simply shoveling snow out of the way, sometimes in near constant blizzards. "In the High Sierra in the winter of 1866-67, there were 44 storms". "Even the tops of telegraph polls were covered by drifts."

Even after getting out of the mountains, conditions for the Central Pacific were heartless. From the Truckee River to the Humbolt Sink was 100 miles alkali desert without water or trees, so harsh that "a jack rabbit had to carry a canteen and haversack to get across it".

At the end, as a stunt, the Central Pacific crews built just over 10 miles of track in one day. That was about 240 feet of track every 75 seconds, again all done by muscle power. That's about the same speed of movement as a horse walking.

Reading this book I was constantly amazed at the dedication and endurance of the all people involved -- including the both the financiers, promoters, stockholders, and executives (including all the many extrordinary scoundrels), as well as all the managers, supervisors and all the the work crews.

The changes in the USA were enormous, much more rapid than is the case now. In a little more than a decade the U.S. fought a Civil War, freed the slaves, built a transcontinental telegraph, built a transcontinental railroad, started the commercial use of electricity, and greatly expanded steel production, oil production and the use of steamships for ocean travel and transport of goods.

Before it took immigrants an entire season of 6 - 9 months of very dangerous arduous travel to move from Independence Missouri or Council Bluffs Iowa to Oregon or California. After the completion of the railroad 1869 it took a little more than a week, at perhaps a tenth of the financial cost. With the simultaneous completion of the telegraph communication became instantaneous. The change was enormous, something that's hard to appreciate today, and not often even thought about.

I recommend this book. You can tell that I am enthusiastic about the book, usually my reviews are just one or two sentences.

Edits for grammar, punctuation and spelling.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

Concur, RA. I read that one several years ago when I was reading a great many of Ambrose's books, most all of which are highly recommended. I especially enjoyed his work on Lewis & Clark and two or three of his books on WWII.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Blue Lightening, by Ann Cleeves.

This mystery is set on tiny Fair Isle in the Shetland Islands, the most remote island in the United Kingdom, population 55. A major business on the island is hosting birdwatchers, the famous scientist and Program Director whom everyone dislikes is murdered. Motives are everywhere, some go back for decades. You didn't know that some people take birdwatching so seriously.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

Just finished Lee Child's "Night School", his most recent Jack Reacher book set in 1998 in Germany. Certainly readable and enjoyable, but not his best. I've liked the stories of Reacher while still in the army, this one included. It fleshes out Sergeant Frances Neagley, his subordinate in the MPs. It also continues the sex scenes of at least one recent book, and certainly the fights and general violence, plus other topics relating to assassination or preventive removal. I note that there's a small theme of looking down on the German's by Reacher that I've had mentioned to me by ex-army vets who served there in the same or earlier times after the war.

I've got both MIchael Connelly's "The Wrong Side of Goodbye" and John Sandford's "Escape Clause" available next. Plus several I've started and paused to read others.

As an aside, I looked at the NYT best books of 2016 list as well as the WSJ's list. Concentrating on the fiction works I'm not impressed.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Jd1006 »

Read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt.

Reads like a high school senior paper. Interesting concept of trying to explain the polarization of American political thought, and moral reasoning. Haidt spends most of this book on a long winded literature review, adding a tiny bit of substance. How the book got such great reviews befuddles me. It reads like a text book and never delivers a novel thought or idea. Waste of time.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Kitty Telltales »

New York by Edward Rutherfurd -- It's quite poignant to read about the emotionally charged political atmosphere throughout the history of the city! We feel like political polarisation is so acute at the moment, but imagine that NYC was under British rule for most of the Revolutionary War dividing families.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by itstoomuch »

E=MC2
Amazing how C was determined by, when of IOS appeared from behind Jupiter and Earth's distance from Jupiter.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

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The Undoing Project

... about the work of Kahneman and Tversky, including interesting information about their lives before they even met.

Michael Lewis is, again, a great writer.
(or so I think...)

RM
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by PortAlice »

Currently reading A Truck Full of Money by Tracy Kidder. If you enjoyed The Soul of a New Machine (as I did, thirty years ago), you should consider checking this one out. Kidder can't be beat for writing beautifully on non-fiction subjects.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Geneyus »

"One Ranger", the autobiography of Joaquin Jackson (Texas Ranger)

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

It is a series of short stories about his life, and he's one of those guys who's done it all. He signed a copy for me and wrote me a nice note a year before I started my law enforcement career a decade ago. I tried to reach out to him on Facebook this month to thank him and let him know I've been an officer for a while, only to find out he passed away this summer. I'm not a big reader, so I'm somewhat ashamed I'm just now finishing my personalized copy all these years later. I wish I could have told him I made it.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Fallible »

ResearchMed wrote:The Undoing Project

... about the work of Kahneman and Tversky, including interesting information about their lives before they even met.

Michael Lewis is, again, a great writer.
(or so I think...)
RM
Agree about Lewis and while this latest psychology-based book, which I just finished, departs rom his prevous blockbusters on investing and sports, his ability to write with depth and clarity about the complexities of human nature is as able as ever.

I do think it will be difficult for those already familiar with the work of Tverky and Kahneman (and also Richard Thaler) to feel the full impact of this book, especially if they've read Kahneman's best seller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, or Thaler's latest book, Misbehaving (or even the chapter on emotions and behavioral economics in The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing and the “Behavioral Pitfalls” page in our wiki). But throughout, Lewis has gone deeper and brought out more, in particular the war backgrounds and eventual intense friendship of Kahneman and Tversky (the “one mind,” as Kahneman put it) that led to their groundbreaking work on decision-making, on uncertainty, heuristics, and biases.

Sadly, of the two, we have only Kahneman’s look back now on this period, but not that of Tversky, who died in 1996 at 59. One can only imagine what insight might have come from a Michael Lewis interview with the larger-than-life Amos Tversky, who I thought was the book’s dominant figure.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Saphomd »

I am currently reading two books:

How a second grader beats Wall Street, by Allen Roth

The investors manifesto, by William Bernstein.


I should have read both these two books years ago. Better late than never. :happy
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Blues »

"The Constant Soldier" by William Ryan.
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quantAndHold
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by quantAndHold »

ResearchMed wrote:The Undoing Project

... about the work of Kahneman and Tversky, including interesting information about their lives before they even met.

Michael Lewis is, again, a great writer.
(or so I think...)

RM
Lewis is, indeed, a great storyteller. I always enjoy his books. I'll have to read that one.

I'm reading The Thorn Birds right now. Great story. I can't believe that I waited 40 years to read it.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by snowshoes »

Timing the market: by Deborah Weir. :wink: This is non-fiction :wink:
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heartwood
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by heartwood »

Finished MIchael Connelly's "The Wrong Side of Goodbye". IMO, one of the best Harry Bosch books with walk-ons and shout-outs by the usual suspects: Mickey Haller and Harry's daughter. Harry gets called by an old billionaire to find out if he fathered a child many years ago so he can leave his fortune to a related heir rather than to the corporation. Michael Connelly is one of my favorites and very consistent.

I'm a third into John Sandford's "Escape Clause", a Virgil Flowers story. Two Amur tigers are stolen from the zoo. Virgil starts tracking them down with some side action with his girl friend. That let's Sanford do his usual plot device of having his characters drive around a lot, at least once per chapter. I'm so sorry I notice that many books ago (Lee Child does the same in many of his stories though he sometimes flies them around alot). Start here, drive there. Drive back, then drive there ... There's also a diversion(?) with the girl friend's sister and her summer amour, a Catholic priest. Readable, enjoyable.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Riprap »

The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945 by James D. Hornfischer.

Currently 4.5 stars from Amazon reviewers.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Riprap wrote:The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945 by James D. Hornfischer.

Currently 4.5 stars from Amazon reviewers.
This is an excellent history of the last years of the war in the Pacific -- Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the bombing of Japan.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gkaplan »

heartwood wrote:Finished MIchael Connelly's "The Wrong Side of Goodbye". IMO, one of the best Harry Bosch books with walk-ons and shout-outs by the usual suspects: Mickey Haller and Harry's daughter. Harry gets called by an old billionaire to find out if he fathered a child many years ago so he can leave his fortune to a related heir rather than to the corporation. Michael Connelly is one of my favorites and very consistent. . . .
Michael Connelly is one of my favorites, as well. I've read all his books. I placed a hold for The Wrong Side of Goodbye at my library about six weeks ago. I'm still far down the queue. My number probably won't come up for at least another month.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Broken Man 1999 »

I just finished The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047. Interesting, and perhaps not so far fetched. I imagine it (the book) might strike a responsive chord in one (or perhaps more) of the countries in South America.

Me, I can't see the book's economic situation happening in the US, but then perhaps I am blinded to our own country's perils. Kinda like Black Swans. If you knew about them, they wouldn't be Black Swans.

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by steve roy »

"Oral History: The Daily Show"

A fast and entertaining read of the entire history of The Daily Show, though it is 98% focused on the Jon Stewart era. All the talent that worked on the show, the correspondents, producers, writers, and Mr. Stewart himself, talk about the evolution of the show, how people came to be hired, who fought with who and why. And how the focus of "The Daily Show" shifted over the years.

One of the most interesting bits for me was finding out that contract talks between Viacom and Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert were fairly tense and contentious in the final years of the Stewart era. Both management and Colbert/Stewart give their takes of what happened, and the narratives conflict just a little.

A terrific read if you're a "Daily Show" fan.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by hudson »

heartwood wrote:Just finished Lee Child's "Night School", his most recent Jack Reacher book set in 1998 in Germany. Certainly readable and enjoyable, but not his best. I've liked the stories of Reacher while still in the army, this one included. It fleshes out Sergeant Frances Neagley, his subordinate in the MPs. It also continues the sex scenes of at least one recent book, and certainly the fights and general violence, plus other topics relating to assassination or preventive removal. I note that there's a small theme of looking down on the German's by Reacher that I've had mentioned to me by ex-army vets who served there in the same or earlier times after the war.

I've got both MIchael Connelly's "The Wrong Side of Goodbye" and John Sandford's "Escape Clause" available next. Plus several I've started and paused to read others.

As an aside, I looked at the NYT best books of 2016 list as well as the WSJ's list. Concentrating on the fiction works I'm not impressed.
I thought that Night School was good. It took place in 1997. Reacher was still in the army unlike many of the other later Reacher books where he is roaming the US. I like the Reacher books better when Reacher remains on active duty.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by gkaplan »

I just finished Inherit the Bones by Emily Littlejohn.

Secrets and lies can't stay buried forever in Cedar Valley. In the summer, hikers and campers pack the small Colorado town's meadows and fields. In the winter, skiers and snowboarders take over the mountains. Season by season, year after year, time passes and the lies, like the aspens and evergreens that surround the town, take root and spread deep. Now, someone has uncovered the lies, and it is his murder that continues a chain of events that began almost forty years ago. Detective Gemma Monroe's investigation takes her from the seedy grounds of a traveling circus to the powerful homes of those who would control Cedar Valley's future. Six-months pregnant, with a partner she can't trust and colleagues who know more than they're saying, Gemma tracks a killer who will stop at nothing to keep those secrets buried.

(Synopsis and comment provided by the publisher.)

Very good. Her website says the second novel in "Cedar Valley" series will be out in the fall of 2017. Title as yet unknown.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by LifeIsGood »

I just finished "Shoe Dog" by Phil Knight. It's the story of how he and his U. of Oregon coach started Nike. Very interesting, well written read.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by JEC »

One More Thing by B.J. Novak (Ryan from The Office)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

Dead Water, by Ann Cleeves.

This is a mystery set in the Shetland Islands, on North Mainland. Two men are murdered within a few days of each other. This is a small community so there are many obvious issues, relationships and people which connect the two victims. But which connection is the one which explains the motive and leads to the murderer?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by Ricola »

Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
Just starting but so far an easy and interesting read, a quick summary of the key battles and events of the war with Japan.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by market timer »

Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline

I used to spend my Christmas holidays in the 1980s playing video games, so figured this book (basically a trip down 1980s memory lane for late Gen X) would be an interesting read over this holiday break. Imagine watching a geeky man-child play video games and read Wikipedia entries about the 1980s--that's kind of how I feel reading this. I see it has a fairly large following, but I would not recommend it.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by sixtyforty »

438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea. Amazing story that happened in 2012/2013.
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo Da Vinci
moshe
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by moshe »

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel.

I found this ~200 page book book to be fascinating, controversial and thought provoking. Well worth the time IMO.

~Moshe
My money has no emotions. ~Moshe | | I'm the world's greatest expert on my own opinion. ~Bruce Williams
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ruralavalon
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by ruralavalon »

The Edge of the World, by Michael Pye.

This history discusses development of fishing, land reclamation, social changes, commerce, finances, education and art in port cities and towns around the North Sea, and asserts that these cultural developments transformed Europe.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MJW »

LifeIsGood wrote:I just finished "Shoe Dog" by Phil Knight. It's the story of how he and his U. of Oregon coach started Nike. Very interesting, well written read.
I read this recently as well and enjoyed it. It was clear how much he cherishes the memories of those early days and the people that were part of it.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading? Part VI

Post by MJW »

I am in the middle of Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey, who also wrote One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. It is widely considered to be one of the great American novels.

It was given to me by a friend, and I initially started reading it as somewhat of an aside. About 60 pages in I realized I had absolutely no idea what was going on, as the writing style is difficult to follow if you aren't paying close enough attention. I decided to start over and reread from the beginning -- this time more seriously -- and I am enjoying it much more giving it the attention it deserves.
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