Books
Reading lists:
Reviews:
-
Sea Star : Orphan Of Chincoteague
- OK children's tale of horses and life on an ocean island. Good exposure to a life outside [sub]urban environs, and a touch of religion. Being a sequel to Misty,
spends much time wrapping up that tale's aftermath before addressing this books namesake.
-
Winnie The Pooh
(A.A. Milne) - The original adventures, before Disney bought & mangled it. Wonderful little tales; a staple for children, a reminder of childhood for adults.
Observing carefully, there are some rather politically incorrect behaviors therein.
-
The Brethren
(John Grisham) - Low-key drama surrounding a scam. Three imprisoned judges implement
an extortion plot against random subjects ... and very interesting prey bites.
Hardly exciting, this is a subdued yet taut thriller. Easy entertaining read.
- Six
Easy Pieces (Richard P. Feynman) - Brilliant and notorious modern
physicist explains six basic principles of physics: atoms, basic physics,
relationship of physics to other topics, energy, gravitation, and quantum
force. A remarkable attempt at making core concepts accessable to beginners
in a quick-read book.
- Unintended
Consequences (John Ross) - Comprehensive tale of protagonist Henry Bowman as several lifetimes of characters, some fiction
and some real, come together to unintentionally and inevitably collide, pitting
upstanding and heavily armed citizens (minding their own business) against
government agents out to disarm citizens at all costs. Extensive detail and
suggestions resulted in author Ross getting a life-imitates-art visit from
the BATF.
- Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior (Richard Marcinko) -
An analysis of the Ten
Commandments of SpecWar and their application to the business world. One
of the better motivational books I've read, as it views life from an angle
of stark survival.
- Letters to Philip (Charlie W. Shedd) - How to love a woman.
Not a sex manual, not a guide to successful selfishness, but a guide to caring
for one's beloved and helping her grow into a satisfied, radiant, Godly woman.
Lots of fine tips on satisfying her as a whole person.
I read this every couple years.
- Rogue Warrior: Detatchment Bravo (Richard Marcinko) - One of
his better re-treadings of the standard Rogue Warrior plot.
- The Four Loves (C. S. Lewis) - A fine analysis of the difference
between different forms of love. Particularly good for those who confuse these
forms IF they are willing to consider another view.
- The CEO of the Sofa (P.J.O'Rourke) - Meandering and cynical
ramblings of one of the better political comedians of today. Much of it seems
just filler between insightful political commentaries. Give War A Chance
and Parliment of Whores were superior.
- Bridget Jones' Diary - An insightful (if fictional) view into
the mind of the single thirtysomething. May help those who weren't understand
those who are. Movie version is seriously abridged, yet a worthwhile companion.
- Rogue Warrior: Echo Platoon - Like a James Bond movie: more
of the same, just the way we like it.
- Black
Hawk Down (Mark Bowden) - A rare, detailed, honest view of combat.
When peacekeepers start shooting, life gets ugly for everyone in the vicinity
- especially when lots of people are shooting (but not all) and few understand
why. The UN mission to feed the starving in Somalia sent in peacekeeping troops
without fully realizing that the purpose of soldiers is to kill people and
break things - and once they start, the peace mission is over. This fiction-like
nonfiction book details the moment-to-moment accounts of many of those involved
on all sides. VERY sobering.
- The
Rants (Dennis Miller) - P.J. O'Rourke and Dennis Miller are remarkably
similar: both are successful white middle-class male comedians whose humor
style is steeped in pervasive (excessive?) use of metaphor and colorful adjectives.
Both write chapter-sized rants on largely the same topics: politics, social
concerns, current events, alcohol, and women. Both write in a fast-paced
easy-to-read style. Both are sociopolitical centrists (Dennis is a hard-core
moderate, P.J. is a right-wing convert with rich left-wing roots). The difference
is that when one strips away the humor and common rhetoric, O'Rourke actually
has ideas worth listening to.
- Age
and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut (P.J. O'Rourke)
- Mostly interesting to fans of offbeat reporter O'Rourke, an ex-liberal turned
right-winger who retained his wild streak, and is noted for insightful social
& political commentary stuffed with overstatement and colorful adjectives,
all managed even if he is writing about cars or golf. Contains un- or under-published
material from his hippie-wannabee days (even he admits it's bad, just included
for posterity) through his time covering the Gulf War. Read Give War A
Chance and Parliament of Whoresfirst.
- Ideals
of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors (translations by William
Scott Wilson) - Similar to the aphorism style of Hagakure, this collects
passages from the writings of other samurai, showing general consensus -
and occasional striking disagreement - on how a warrior and leader should
conduct his life.
- Hagakure:
The Book of the Samurai (Yamamoto Tsunetomo, translated by William
Scott Wilson) - This is a translation of selections from a much larger work,
made of aphorisms, proverbs, anecdotes and admonitions intended to guide
one in the way of the samurai warrior. Beyond the expected comments on combat
and tactics, it admonishes one to balance one's life with arts and polite
behavior.
This book was used as the basis for the interesting film Ghost Dog: The
Way of the Samurai which explored what happens when an unguided person
devotes himself to this ancient Japanese way, and is the only person to do
so in the modern 'hood.- You Can't Do Business With Hitler (Douglas
Miller) - The author is an American businessman who worked in Berlin during
the rise of the Third Reich. Through his extensive involvement in German
business at the time, he became very familiar with Nazi business and government
practices, and gained insight about their methods and ultimate goals. Published
in 1941, this book is a warning to law-and-order-and-freedom Americans, warning
them of the profound degree of win-at-all-costs of the German business/government
culture. The two most important aspects, so hard for Americans to understand,
was cultural narcissism (total love of enthic country) and total embracing
of beneficial evil ("truth is anything which will help the German cause").
Miller expands greatly on these and related points, and predicts where they
will lead whether or not the USA enters WWII. An interesting aspect, not
widely taught today, is how influential Germany was in manipulating foreign
markets into submission despite a lack of adequate goods to trade.
The lesson to the modern reader, a thought which prompted me to read this,
is to observe the growth of such organized evil within our own country. Our
current leader and his minions think nothing of blatantly lying to advance
their agenda, and show no concern when confronted with their deceit. Their
narcissim is so profound that they see nothing wrong with doing wrong, be
it lying under oath, lying about and obfuscating issues, launching distractive
campaigns on imaginary opponents, oppressing and disarming their opponents
through libel, obfuscation, and indirect legislation, de-sensitizing the public
to excessively violent handling of the uncooperative, etc. etc. The only
thing they lack - at least as apparent to outsiders and oppressees - is a
clear purpose. Germany's modus operandi, according to Miller, was to become
a superior race served by inferior races as part of a nearly worldwide scientific
slave state. Our own current power-mongers have not yet revealed their own
ultimate purpose beyond undirected megalomania. Or, perhaps as the victims
of the Nazis, my own paradigm of good prevents me from seeing the obvious
evil. (5-1-00)- Rogue
Warrior: Seal Force Alpha
Rogue
Warrior: Option Delta (Richard Marcinko and John Weisman) - Volumes
6 and 7 in the Rogue Warrior series. I list them together because,
like the previous four volumes, they are the same: hero and narrator Richard
Marcinko starts in some secret special-forces military operation, discovers
a big nation/world-threatening conspiracy, pursues the bad guys while fending
off supposedly friendly superior officers, gets lots of people mad enough
to either try destroying his career or eliminating him completely, and has
a two-part grand showdown with opposing forces and his arch enemy. Only difference
between the books (other than volume 1, which is his fascinating autobiography)
is location, bad guys, and consipiracy. Read one, and you'll know what's
coming next...and it's all such delightful manly pulp that I keep going back
for more. Watch for Echo Platoon, coming soon...and like James Bond,
nothing will be different yet the public will lap it up.- Sun
Tzu: The Art Of War (Samuel B. Griffith, translator) - An excellent,
ancient book of conducting war. Everything seems so obvious, yet so many military
leaders have failed to follow its principles and thus been vanquished. (Why
is common sense neither?) While superbly written for and intended for military
applications, the philosphy is obviously rather applicable to everyday life.
This translation includes a rather complete history of the book, its translations,
and commentary. It would be advantageous to find a companion copy which provides
only Sun Tzu's text, without the valuable yet distracting history
and commentary.
- The
Looking Glass War (John Le Carre) - The detailed tale of a British
spy agency preparing to send a spy into East Germany. The bulk of the text
is indeed about preparations, showing the tremendous amount of dull
work needed to prepare a simple spy mission that can go very wrong very easily.
While clearly a well-written book, it failed to engage me and I had to force
myself to finish it.
- Lucifer's
Hammer - Exact opposite of Deep Impact (comet is gonna kill
us all, everyone mope for a week, it hits, and survivors are all happy happy
joy joy). Comet is discovered, and the chance of Earth impact keeps getting
higher until...BOOM. Long, interesting, detailed account of the impact event
takes up the second third (the ultimate-wave bit was a nice touch). Finally
settles into a survivalist wannabe's dream scenario, with society reborn.
The technical details greatly improve the tale beyond 1998's spate of big-things-hitting-earth
movies.
- Another
Fine Myth - Amusing tale about a magician's apprentice. Takes many
of the standard fantasy concepts and presents them in comedic forms (ex.:
devils are actually simply money-grubbing residents of the land/dimension
of Devia). Ending is a bit contrived, more deus ex machina than not. Much
of story is setup (ex.: acquisition of a juvinile dragon) for subsequent books
in the Myth series.
- Chaos
In Wonderland (Clifford Pickover) - Three books in one. First, a
technical description of a hypothetical non-carbon-based race obsessed with
chaos mathematics. Second, a rapid and eventful trip of two humans(?) thru
this hypothetical world. Third, a miscellaneous collection of lots of really
neat thought-provoking mathematical puzzles, games, equations and other ideas.
Next in the logical sequence of math-world books (The Dot and the Line, Flatland,
Sphereland, Planiverse).