What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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Well, I didn't exactly read it since it was an audio book--but, it is out in book form: "Naked in Baghad" by Annie Garrels who was working for NPR. Anyhow, she's sort of covering the war with Iraq, the one where the USA is looking for WMD. She's not exactly where the fighting is. But, her experiences in Baghdad were just incredible. The people she comes into contact with are fascinating. Most everyone she comes talks with are conflicted about the war. Nothing just falls into place for her, everything is difficult. Paying off everyone in sight makes her life bit easier. And, she just has a great voice.
 
Just finished reading "In the Empire of Ice" by Gretel Ehrlich. It documents the lives of indigenous Artic people in this time of climate change. It conveys lots of facts about the uncertainties of ice and the unimaginable changes taking place on the land and livelihood around Artic Ocean and how that life is also affected by global warming. I like the way it is written - very engaging and hands on.
 
The Corps Series by WEB Griffin. Currently half way thru Line of Fire. Next up gotta finish the Brotherhood of War Series.
 
Moemg said:
I finished "The girl with the dragon tattoo " and thought it was great . Has anybody read the other books in the trilogy and are they as good ?
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I just finished The Girl Who Played with Fire yesterday. I really enjoyed it. I thought it was better than the first. I still need to get the third one.
 
Jusy back from Maui where I read a few good books. Among them the most recent version of A Random Walk down Wall Street. Malkiel's most recent version is as good a read as ever. A good thriller - Dead Like You, by Peter James follows a British detective's investigation of the "shoe man" serial rapist. It is a good 8.5-9.0 read.

And for those who like a little reality (or unreality depending on your perspective) In Search of the Multiverse, John Gribbin is a very readable addition to the growing list of books covering the modern views on cosmology. I still agree with Feynman who said, "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics."
 
Just finished Moby Dick. I checked my previous post in this thread for a start date.
It took me a few days over a year to complete. I am a ponderous reader.
Reading season will be ending soon (I hope).

Free to canoe
 
I've been reading some Roald Dahl books (Matilda, BFG) with my daughters (aged 7 and 5) - I'm not sure which of us enjoyed them the most. :LOL:

I also re-read The Richest Man In Babylon and am wondering when to ask my daughters to read it.
 
Just finished "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis. Highly recommended for anyone who wants a better understanding of the sub-prime mortgage mess and the ensuing Wall Street bailouts.
 
Free To Canoe said:
Just finished Moby Dick. I checked my previous post in this thread for a start date.
It took me a few days over a year to complete. I am a ponderous reader.
Reading season will be ending soon (I hope).

Free to canoe
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You'll enjoy Three Years Before the Mast
 
Feel Free by David S. Viscott, M.D.

This book was written in 1971, so while some of the references to the early days of women's liberation and the sexual revolution may seem not applicable to our present day situation, it is remarkable how the basic struggle for self knowledge, happiness, and the ways society and one self create barriers have not changed one iota. Here is an excerpt from pp. 71-73. I typed the quote, so any spelling error unless otherwise indicated are entirely mine.

What the rat race offered you as a youngster was an escape from your insecurity, your fears of facing he world alone and also facing yourself. Many of the needs that made you choose that safe direction in the first place do no exists any more. Your ability to hold a job or run a home has been proven. You have shown people that you can fulfill your role. If you fell into the rat race during the Great Depression you may have felt that it was impossible to get a job, that any job was good and that you should fee grateful for it and not complain.

Your needs in the beginning were the needs over young person at the beginning of the quest for identity and fulfillment. your fears were the fears of being rejected, of being worthless as a businessman, as a mother or whatever. If you look you will see that somehow during the years many of these feelings have been mellowed by age, even if they haven't gone away. Sure, maybe you aren't the wonder child who was going to tear the world apart -- but you didn't do so badly either. Really you didn't. In the old days you were afraid you couldn't survive. The point is: why stay on at what you are doing just because you are trying to prove you can survive? You've already done that. It's time to do something else. You've grown up and your decisions about yourself have to grow up, too.

You've survived. Maybe now it's time to live.

It should be obvious that when you decide to change that the people around you, who are in the same boat as you, are going to be enormously threatened by your move. More than likely they have not reevaluated themselves, and so they regard your leaving the old ways as a dire threat. Perhaps they fear that they, too, have been doing the wrong thing all their lives. You must be stopped before you upset their lives. Your compatriots are going to be jealous. Don't expect any of them, except the most open of them, to express feelings of warmth toward you. They have to put you down because what you are doing is something they may not even be able to think of. Most likely they will agree that things could be better. Since they are not doing any better themselves, the idea of a change is something they don't really want to cope with. If you were merely talking about a change of homes or a job in a different company, it would be a different story. It would be less of a threat to others, though still upsetting. To make a real change, to give up something and start fresh somewhere, is thought to be the idea of a dreamer, a kook. In a flash you will hear all of the arguments you have been struggling with, and they'll be presented to you as if they are absolutes pointing only in one direction, the one opposite your choice.

Whether your change involves your family, your job, or just your attitude toward work, pleasure and what you consider to be important to your life, the people you will speak to will react with fear and offer you very little comfort. What you will hear is a recitation of the reasons and rationalizations they use to keep their own minds in place. This is a very tiresome business.

Why can't they let you go? The answer is simple. Society fears a free man. Whenever society sees someone who is truly free, it feels compelled to bind him up again. The person must be branded as an outcast and categorized as odd and unconforming (s.i.c.). Society must do this merely because, by definition, society is an arrangement of rules to be conformed to. Not to conform is not to belong in society. But you'll do well to remember: the greatest accomplishments do not necessarily happen within the confines of the usual social restrictions.

(paragraph on artists skipped)

A person who is truly free to follow the dictates of his own conscience and heart threatens that part of society that depends on reliable productivity and consumption. If a person had the right to choose whether the will or will not serve in the army, stay at a boring job because he is told he is supposed to, drive a dozen screaming Cub Scouts to the zoo, then the entire distribution of labor may be upset. When people leave the rat race, they become more whole and less of a cog in some giant apparatus of gears grinding ceaselessly toward a goal that the individual worker doesn't see or understand. once someone is free, it becomes increasingly difficult to find meaning in attaching the same bolt to a thousand different cars every day, or to sweep the same floors each morning. The person who breaks away and becomes free, feels whole and wants to see the entire operation from beginning to end. He wants to be in control himself. He wants to feel that his entire world is his. it is a feeling of self-sustenance, increased self-worth, and self-assuredness. It is the ability to say "no" to nonsense. It is being free.
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How I Found Freedom in An Unfree World by Harry Browne

Here is another classic from the 1970s. The entire Harry Browne collection can be bought as ebooks from his site www.harrybrowne.org.

The Future

Another way many people keep themselves on the treadmill is by being preoccupied with the future. It’s easy to justify a rigorous schedule in the present as an investment in the future. Many people work long hours, put up with disagreeable effects of their work, and forego enjoyments — all because it promises a brighter future. But what if the future never comes? Who knows what will happen to the economy, to your ability to enjoy yourself, to the things you’d planned to spend your money for?

I don’t believe in committing my future to pay for indulgences of the present. But neither will I sacrifice today for a vague, indefinite tomorrow. I could die next week. What then would be the worth of my well-laid plans for 20 years from now?

It makes sense to enjoy yourself at the time when you’re best able to do so mentally and physically. At 65, the luscious dreams of today may not be so attractive. So leave 65 to be handled at 65. Do what you can to be sure you can provide for yourself then — but don’t put off your dreams until then.

The time to be free, to start living, to enjoy yourself, is right now. Now is the time when you can best appreciate the unplanned hours that can be enjoyed as you choose at each moment.

If you don’t have any free time or money, do something about that. If you don’t know where your time and money are going, stop everything and check your expenditures and activities carefully. Find out how you’re spending your life. Get rid of all the nonessentials — especially those that are vague investments in the future.

Don’t feel that you have to give sixty hours a week to your work unless that’s what you enjoy most. Be free — free to act upon opportunities as they arise, free to take advantage of the things you’ve wanted to do. Find ways to satisfy your dreams. After all, what is life for? If it’s really just a vale of tears, what’s the point in being alive?

I believe that life is to be enjoyed, to be tasted — or there isn’t any point to it. I’ve found ways to live freely and joyously — because I am convinced there is no other reason for living.

I didn’t become free by working 60 hours a week — except during very brief
periods when there were immediate and important rewards for doing so. I didn’t become free by accepting the routine that others expected of me.

There will be plenty of people to tell you that you must go along with things as they are, that you have no right to expect a happier, easier life, that there are other people who have less than you do. But so what?

There’s so much to be had from life. There’s pleasure and satisfaction and love and entertainment and excitement. And there are enjoyable ways of earning a living, and there are adventures, uncommitted hours, challenges, and happy surprises.

Use your imagination. Look for alternatives. Don’t settle for less than the kind of life you need to make it worth having lived.
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Buns, that last one really resonated with me. I'll have to check out his books! Thanks for the excerpts (especially the one you had to type out)!
This was my fave:
It makes sense to enjoy yourself at the time when you’re best able to do so mentally and physically. At 65, the luscious dreams of today may not be so attractive. So leave 65 to be handled at 65. Do what you can to be sure you can provide for yourself then — but don’t put off your dreams until then.
 
Sarah in SC said:
Buns, that last one really resonated with me. I'll have to check out his books! Thanks for the excerpts (especially the one you had to type out)!
This was my fave:
It makes sense to enjoy yourself at the time when you’re best able to do so mentally and physically. At 65, the luscious dreams of today may not be so attractive. So leave 65 to be handled at 65. Do what you can to be sure you can provide for yourself then — but don’t put off your dreams until then.
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Hey, I'm only 62 instead of 65, but from my point of view I would add the footnote "But then again you may have dreams at 65 that are pretty attractive too at that age, even if they are different from your dreams at younger ages." I don't sit around wishing that I could climb Mount Everest, but it is nice to be able to have some luxuries that make life easier.
 
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Hi

I am glad someone else found these authors' words to be enlightening. Note that these are excerpts meant to jar the conventional way of thinking that not only prevents many from taking action but also prevents the examination of what cause the dissatisfaction in many's lives. Neither author was an impulsive human being. One was an M.D., and the other was the author of numerous finance books. Harry Browne also was the author of the Permanent Portfolio, so while both advocated reflection followed by concrete action, neither said jump on the first thing that comes to your mind. You'll discover in the chapters on actually taking action, the authors advocated that you note the bad feelings, note what caused them, try out corrective actions in the direction you want to move, make course corrections, and when both the monetary and psychic rewards of your actions mesh with your imagination of the new course, then commit to the new course. Viscott went as far as pointing out specifically when to hand in one's resignation letter (as late as possible).
 
Free To Canoe said:
Just finished Moby Dick. I checked my previous post in this thread for a start date.
It took me a few days over a year to complete. I am a ponderous reader.
Reading season will be ending soon (I hope).

Free to canoe
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Good for you!. I've read it twice. Once in high school. Once as part of the Great Books Discussion club. It's a classic for good reason. It can be difficult to get through but is ultimately worth it.
 
How I Found Freedom in An Unfree World by Harry Browne

Here is another excerpt from pp. 264-265. Here you'll see that Browne was not advocating throwing caution to the wind and burning your 401(k) on a Ferraris and nose candy. What most see as courage is really the result of having weighed action vs. inaction and finding the logical conclusion supported by the weight of evidence even if the conclusion may be contrary to the popular opinion.

Courage

You may feel that you don’t have the courage to make big changes in your life.
But courage is too often thought of as blind, thoughtless bravado. It usually isn’t.
People who seem to act “courageously” usually have specific consequences in
mind; they know the consequences both of acting and not acting. They’ve decided
that the consequences of not acting are worse than the consequences of what we
consider to be their courageous acts.
We don’t necessarily know what their motivations are (they might be expectations
of good things to come, fear of being thought a coward, desire for attention, etc.), but the person acting believes he knows.

When you’re convinced you know the consequences of either course, you’ll take
action. If you have to walk through a dangerous mob to get to safety on the other
side of the street, you’ll do so only when you’re convinced that the consequences of
standing still are more dangerous than moving. Until then, any talk of bravery is
meaningless.

That’s why it’s important to think things out in advance. Recognize the problems
involved and how you’ll cope with them. And recognize the benefits that await you;
focus on them and remember them when things get difficult.
Once you can see and almost taste the good consequences of being free, once you
know how to handle the prices you’ll have to pay to get there, you’ll be impatient to start. You won’t lack the courage.

Certainly there will be many unknowns — and they can be frightening. But they
don’t have to remain unknowns. Identify the elements that are mysterious to you and then try to get the information necessary to take the mystery out of them.
If someone’s attitude is an unknown factor, ask him what his attitude is. If an
unknown factor is the motivation of someone who’s causing problems for you, go to him and get it out into the open. Find out what he’s trying to accomplish. He may not be articulate enough to explain it, so cultivate the art of asking enough questions to get the answers you need.

It’s amazing how many mysteries of life can be dissolved just by asking questions.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions like “How would you feel if I were to make some
changes?” “What’s the matter with our situation?” “Are you upset with me?” Develop the technique of asking for what you want to know.
Often someone will tell you that the answer will depend upon circumstances. If
so, find out what circumstances. Keep asking until you know what standard he’s using to determine the circumstances.

For example, suppose you’re considering changing jobs but there’s a possibility of
a big raise coming soon — only you don’t know when or how big the raise will be.
Find out. Keep asking questions until you know what the circumstances must be in
order to get your raise. “Do you intend to give me a raise? . . . How much? . . .
When? . . . What does it depend upon? . . . What must happen to permit the raise?”
Have him define such vague terms as “substantial raise,” “increased business,”
“soon,” “better quality work,” etc. Then you can determine if it’s worth your while to wait for it.

When you clear up all the mysteries, it will be much easier to act. You’ll know
why you’re acting.
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I just finished "The girl who kicked the hornet's nest " . I have read all three of the books and IMHO the first and the third book were the best but you have to read the second book to understand the third .
 
Free To Canoe said:
Thanks for the tip Al. I have read it and it is excellent.

I found Moby Dick to be a deep and poetic read. It is a masterpiece and I am glad that I read it.

Free to canoe
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It is my favorite book, and I have read it slowly and thoughtfully a number of times. It is in fact poetry, and the fact that you realize that tells me that you understand the beauty of this book. The quote in my sig line is one that I noticed during one of those reads and found to be meaningful for me in many different times of my life.
 
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Free To Canoe said:
Thanks for the tip Al. I have read it and it is excellent.

I found Moby Dick to be a deep and poetic read. It is a masterpiece and I am glad that I read it.

Free to canoe
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W2R said:
It is my favorite book, and I have read it slowly and thoughtfully a number of times. It is in fact poetry, and the fact that you realize that tells me that you understand the beauty of this book. The quote in my sig line is one that I noticed during one of those reads and found to be meaningful for me in many different times of my life.
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I read Moby Dick almost 50 years ago I remember it fondly. 100 Years of Solitude remains my all time fav. But I am reluctant to re-read them for fear of spoiling the magic.
 
Finished The Quantum World by Ford. This covers the basics of QM in a qualitative fashion (no equations). Good discussions of wave/particle duality, Feynman diagrams, etc. Some physics history too. I think this is a good reference book when you are done. Some nice tables in the appendix summarize particle properties so one can see some of the order appearing out of the many particle types and properties.

Some discussion of black holes, dark energy, etc. but most of the book is about all that boring stuff that everyone already knows about and cannot get into at cocktail parties. :rolleyes: :)

Reviews here: Amazon.com: The Quantum World: Quantum Physics for Everyone (9780674018327): Kenneth W. Ford, Diane Goldstein: Books
 
Warrior Politics by Robert Kaplan. You either love him or hate him, I love him.

It is my belief that most of us and most of our leaders tend to operate too much from "principle", and not enough from a careful analysis of what will be most useful to us. Kaplan gives a lot of the history to this idea.

Ha
 
Finished reading another interesting book which I borrowed from the public library (you see, am trying to enjoy public benefits which I've contributed via tax). The book is called GREAT IKEA! by Elen Lewis. This is indeed a lively book and written very well. Do you know what IKEA stands for? How come the pricing can be so low? How come swedish designed furniture appeals globally (apparently, except Japan)? It invented flat pack furniture, etc etc. The book starts off with this paragraph "Life is like assembling Ikea furniture: it's hard to understand what the purpose is, you are unable to put the pieces together, an important part is always missing and the final result is never at all what you'd hoped for." Highly recommended reading.
 
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