What have you read recently? 2009 -2020

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CoolRich59 said:
Uhh. :ermm:

:D
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Like a lot of biographers, Chernow seemed pretty sympathetic toward his subject. Grant was an honest man, but blind to the avarice of others and too hard-headed to recognize when he was on the wrong track. That stubborn streak served him well in the Wilderness, but I think it was a weakness in an executive role. Even during the war, he was ready to cashier George Thomas just before Thomas demolished the Confederacy's Army of Tennessee.
 
I recently ran across this site. If you like a certain author, enter the author's name and you'll be shown other's who may interest you.

https://www.literature-map.com/
The closer two writers are, the more likely someone will like both of them. Click on any name to travel along.
 
Holistic Management, third edition by Alan Savory with Jody Butterfield.

'Much more than just Poop and Stomp.'

heh heh heh - still a city boy though. Pretty much. :rolleyes:
 
Avalon said:
I recently ran across this site. If you like a certain author, enter the author's name and you'll be shown other's who may interest you.

https://www.literature-map.com/
The closer two writers are, the more likely someone will like both of them. Click on any name to travel along.
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That is the cool site of the day.
 
I just finished The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves by Eric R. Kandel. Dr. Kandel does a great job describing current knowledge about our brain function, malfunction, and potential treatments to malfunction. He also explores an explanation of the source of consciousness.


I enjoyed the book and recommend it.
 
jimbee said:
I just finished The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves by Eric R. Kandel. Dr. Kandel does a great job describing current knowledge about our brain function, malfunction, and potential treatments to malfunction. He also explores an explanation of the source of consciousness.


I enjoyed the book and recommend it.
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I might order this book to read. I’m surprised what my unconscious mind has been telling me through my dreams. Surprisingly very accurate.
 
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan . Do yourself a favor and unless you have problems sleeping do not read this book . It rambles and rambles . I am amazed that I actually finished it .
 
Just finished Truman. Enjoyed it immensely, as with all David McCullough's other books. Learned quite a bit of history while reading it; Truman's life spanned an amazing period (1884-1972).

I remember being in Independence MO on a tour in 1960 when they got us up early one morning and parked the bus on a street waiting for HST to take his daily morning walk around the neighborhood. Right on schedule, he came down the block, jaunty as ever (he was 76 at the time). That was before ex-Presidents had Secret Service protection.
 
I am reading Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, third book in the Outlander series, and very much enjoying it. I am looking forward to reading the other books and also when Series 4 starts on TV in November.
 
I used the app that another poster mentioned here (https://www.literature-map.com/) to find authors that are somehow linked to one I liked. This led me to Denise Mina. Read Garnethill, the first in her 3 book Garnethill series: https://smile.amazon.com/Garnethill...084&sr=8-1&keywords=garnethill+by+denise+mina

From the link:

Eight months after spending almost half a year in a Glasgow psychiatric hospital devoted to treating sex abuse victims, Maureen O'Donnell is desperately trying to hold together her shattered life. Bored with her job at a theater ticket office and depressed because her affair with one of the hospital's doctors, Douglas Brady, is over, Maureen and a friend get drunk. The next morning Maureen finds Brady's body in her living room, his throat cut. With bloody footprints matching Maureen's slippers at the scene, Detective Chief Inspector Joe McEwan sets out to prove the woman's guilt. He's not alone in thinking her the culprit: to Maureen's shock, both her alcoholic mum and Douglas's politician mother also think she's the killer.
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I'll be trying another Denise Mina book as she has a few other series. See Wikipedia for her bio and the ordered list of books.
 
braumeister said:
Just finished Truman. Enjoyed it immensely, as with all David McCullough's other books. Learned quite a bit of history while reading it; Truman's life spanned an amazing period (1884-1972).

I remember being in Independence MO on a tour in 1960 when they got us up early one morning and parked the bus on a street waiting for HST to take his daily morning walk around the neighborhood. Right on schedule, he came down the block, jaunty as ever (he was 76 at the time). That was before ex-Presidents had Secret Service protection.
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If you liked Truman, may I suggest American Caesar, William Manchester's biography of Douglas MacArthur. It's interesting to read the different narratives of the ultimate clash between MacArthur and Truman. Plus, MacArthur is a fascinating character study. The bio is really excellent.
 
Reading Howard Marks' "The Most Important Thing" while waiting for his new book to get to the library "Mastering the Market Cycle".


He found himself telling clients that the most important thing is "X", but X was changing, so he collected all of these things and gives a chapter to each. The premise is to beat the average, so the book might not be of interest to index investors that don't do anything different, no matter what the environment looks like.



Also almost done with "Giants In The Earth", which is about Norwegians setting in the Dakota Territory. My mom's family did exactly that, so that's the hook for me reading this public domain book.
 
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Mr._Graybeard said:
If you liked Truman, may I suggest American Caesar, William Manchester's biography of Douglas MacArthur. It's interesting to read the different narratives of the ultimate clash between MacArthur and Truman. Plus, MacArthur is a fascinating character study. The bio is really excellent.
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Completely agree. Both Truman and MacArthur are excellent.

What I like most about authors like Manchester, McCullough, Chernow, Hastings, et al is that, while they are generally sympathetic to their subjects, they're not writing hagiographies.

A great example I think is Chernow's biography of Rockefeller, Titan. He spent a lot of time showing both the genius and philanthropy of Rockefeller, but also his ruthlessness and avarice.
 
Just rated Two Kinds of Truth as five stars.

I'm not sure how Connelly does it (and I'm trying to figure it out), but his books just flow and are always satisfying.
 
I just finished "Rising Out of Hatred, the Awakening of a Former White Nationalist," by Eli Saslow. It's a fantastic book about how Derek Black, the son of White Nationalist Don Black, renounced his role in White Nationalism a few years ago.


The book reads like a slow-motion intervention by Derek's college classmates at Sarasota's New College, especially his girlfriend Allison, after they learned of his background. I saw Saslow talking about his book last week on C-Span. It's a real page turner.
 
Finished two books by Michael Lewis and I like them both.

The Undoing Project
The story of how Kahneman and Tversky came to write their pioneering research on human behavior. If you recognize the names you will enjoy hearing their story.

The Fifth Risk
It is about what some of the departments of the US government do and how they impact our life. Most of what the Energy department does has little to do with energy production. Most of what the Agriculture does has little to do with food production. The purpose and benefits of long term research and planning are explained clearly. Some of the heroes of these Departments are biographed.
Everyone should know this stuff and almost no one does.
 
Free To Canoe said:
Finished two books by Michael Lewis and I like them both.
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I've read The Undoing Project and I've almost finished The Fifth Risk now. Agree both are well worth buying if your library doesn't have them.

ETA:

While my ex was irresponsible with money, she was very responsible about her job. She was a nautical cartographer (she drew ocean charts, then done by hand) for NOAA and was well aware that people's lives depended on the accuracy of those charts.
 
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I am reading now, Seeker, by Douglas E Richards. He writes a lot of near-future science fiction books. I really like his books.
 
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Story of a multi-generational Koean family and the treatment of Korea/Koeans by the Japanese. My daughter gave it to me and when I read the summary I didn't think I would like it. Au contraire, I couldn't put it down even though it's 500 pages.
 
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