Official 2012 Recommend a Book Thread (can be published any year)

BrianSD_42

BrianSD_42

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Official Recommend a Book Thread (can be published any year)

:boink:

I will try to keep this simple and from spiraling down the rabbit hole.

Recommend 1 or mors books, preferrably one you *recently* read (or Audible.com)



Rule: You must have actually read / listened to the fracking book!

Request: Post the cover as well.



I will start.


I recently listened to "America's Secret War" by George Friedman.

It was very good. The author is also the CEO and Chief Intel Officer for STRATFOR.

Amazon.com: America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America and Its Enemies (9780385512459): George Friedman: Books


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:peace:
 
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Blink By: Malcolm Gladwell

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Has always been a favorite of mine. In short, it discusses how our brain can 'think' or make decisions in split second scenarios before we have a chance to cognitively process what's going on in a situation. He is also a writer for the New Yorker, so you know his reads will be quality work.
 
Not a big book reader, but my favorite books are about the outdoors.

Some of my favorites are Into Thin Air, Into The Wild and others by Jon Krakauer.

Roughing It by Mark Twain is another personal favorite.
 
Quitting

I love to read books about quitting my job. Good books would be from Tina Seelig "what I wish I knew when I was 20". Its about entrepreneurship or gambling. Another book is "delivering happiness" by tony hsieh.

I agree with Stockwell45 "into the wild" is a bad donkey book. My dream adventure would be with Alex the "super tramp" and have the belt to prove it. I have a partial belt, but I haven't gone to Mexico in a canoe yet.

This day will come when my boss/wife finishes school, then I can beef up my T4R.
I drool at everyone's posted pictures, but mine is still hail damaged stock:(
 
Tough holding it to just one, except in this respect: It seemed like every book I was reading over the last few years included significant reference to this author and his late collaborator's work.

Among other things, the two laid much of the groundwork for what is known today as behavioral economics.

I view it as kind of a manual for updating the human OS.

Amazon.com: Thinking, Fast and Slow (9780374275631): Daniel Kahneman: Books

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Thomas Woods - The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

Worth a read through.
 

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Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker

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(There is a paperback version being released 4-24-2012)

Amazon.com: Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker (9780316037723): Kevin Mitnick, Steve Wozniak, William L. Simon: Books

345 reviews, 5 stars on Amazon.

This guy is the greatest computer hacker in history. I read this book, and it was awesome. I would give it 5 stars too. You don't need to be a computer guy to enjoy this either.

Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world's biggest companies--and however fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. He spent years skipping through cyberspace, always three steps ahead and labeled unstoppable. But for Kevin, hacking wasn't just about technological feats-it was an old fashioned confidence game that required guile and deception to trick the unwitting out of valuable information.

Driven by a powerful urge to accomplish the impossible, Mitnick bypassed security systems and blazed into major organizations including Motorola, Sun Microsystems, and Pacific Bell. But as the FBI's net began to tighten, Kevin went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated cat and mouse game that led through false identities, a host of cities, plenty of close shaves, and an ultimate showdown with the Feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down.

Ghost in the Wires is a thrilling true story of intrigue, suspense, and unbelievable escape, and a portrait of a visionary whose creativity, skills, and persistence forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued him, inspiring ripples that brought permanent changes in the way people and companies protect their most sensitive information.
 
I read and enjoy a lot of Southern Gothic fiction (think Deliverance, not emo.)

I've ready many great ones from Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men, Suttree, Outer Dark, Blood Meridian, etc.

Blood Meridian:

An epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, Blood Meridian brilliantly subverts the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the "wild west." Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into the nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.

I also like Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter's Bone. Great film too, btw.

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Larry Brown is another excellent writer, books like Father and Son, Joe, and Big Bad Love are all excellent but I'd start with Fay.

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Picked up this to read during vacation last week.

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"Matt Crawford has written a brave and indispensable book. By making a powerful case for the enduring value of the manual trades, Shop Class as Soulcraft offers a bracing alternative to the techno-babble that passes for conventional wisdom, and points the way to a profoundly necessary reconnection with the material world. No one who cares about the future of human work can afford to ignore this book."
 
Lone Survivor

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I could not set this book down, and it's a pretty fast read. Anyone who likes military novels at all should definitely get this book.
 
When I opened this thread I expected twenty recommendations for "The Fountainhead." There are some good suggestions here. I think "Ghost In the Wires" sounds like a great gift for my programmer son. "Winter's Bone" is excellent. I read "The Fatal Shore" about twenty years ago. I believe it was a best seller at that time. It really stayed with me. The book "Into the Wild" was expanded from a series in the New Yorker I read a long time ago.
 
more

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, Stieg Larsson. Great characters, plot, imagery. Perfect vacation read. You will tear through this thing.
The Road, Cormac McCarthy. Surprisingly life affirming.
The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe. Great vacation read by the best chronicler of contemporary American society. Spot on narrative of the emotional, social, financial, and political life of NYC.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers. Non fiction. The story of his relationship with his younger brother, whom he took stewardship of after both parents died of cancer.
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. An extraordinary story of a WWII soldier captured by the Japanese. An extraordinary story, because it is true.
Fastnet Force 10, John Rousmaniere. Non fiction. A force 10 storm devastates the fleet of sailboats participating in the 1979 Fastnet race. An interesting story well told.
 
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