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A Good Read

Arya66

Arya66

Well-Known Member
I am always looking for a good book to read. What are you currently reading? Would you recommend it?

I am reading Great Expectations - honestly, I am not impressed.
 

DeletedUser6892

I'm rereading "Cook & Peary: The Polar Controversy Resolved" by Robert M. Bryce.

I'd recommend it if you are into early Arctic exploration or if you enjoy historical accounts of voyages and expeditions or survival stories etc.
 

DeletedUser31440

I'm reading, "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. If you like fantasy/sci fi books it's a good read so far.
 

DeletedUser9930

Reading two political books, All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren and Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror by Victor Sebestyen. The former, published in 1949, is about a wonk who becomes a populist and, eventually, boss of a political machine. The latter does a good job of answering Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig's question, “How could this obstinate little man … Lenin, have become so important?” It includes new material on the private Lenin. Both quite absorbing.
 

DeletedUser33003

Walk with Warriors is really good, if you like veteran's nonfiction, they compiled short stories from 22 veterans, in memory of the loss of 22 veterans daily to suicide. Winding Up Strangers In Bars by Barf Loko is a fantastic read, if you like pulp fiction, Tarantino films, or just like to read something far outside your normal reads.
 

DeletedUser33003

Partly because I'm restless, I'm going to try and change the theme of this thread.

I have a few reasons why I'm doing this.

1) Reading is important to the fabric of life. If none of us read, we will all die. It's truly that dire. I know I'm going to hear from a pack of nay-sayers, because we've made life in nearly half the world so comfortable that many can get away with not reading and survive, but there's a whole other world out there, and their reasons for not reading stretch from grotesque dictatorships that are threatened by smart people, to no support for formal education. We, that live in any civilized society, owe those people the discipline of reading, if nothing else.

2) Suggesting a book here and there is great and all, but like anything in life, humans tend to be attracted to projects that involve goal setting. Whether it's a step-by-step guide to writing a nonsensical proposal, to learning how to fund the retirement of everyone's envy, people like being in on a project, if only to experience vicariously.

3) These forums could sure use some activity.

With that, I'm going to start, likely tomorrow (even I am taken back by my procrastination!), by presenting my 2018 reading list. It's not that big, my goal is to read 24 books this year, I've completed four, and have 12 in the queue. A few I've already waded through opening chapters.

My intent is to motivate everyone who reads the forums to do something their brain starves for, and usually never gets: information, ideas, truly spectacular narrative, well-crafted sentences, and structure.....lots and lots of structure.

I hope you'll join, and I hope you'll take this seriously. I take reading very seriously, because I write, and there would be no point to my writing pursuits, if I didn't read.

See you tomorrow.
 
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DeletedUser33003

My 2018 Reading List (Goal: 24 Books)

Completed

1. The Path of The Warrior - Larry Jetmore
2. Write to Market - Chris Fox
3. Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind - Jocelyn Glei
4. The United States Constitution

Next Up

1. The 10X Rule - Grant Cardone
2. Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University - Dave Ramsey
3. The Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith
4. The Book of the Dead - E.A Wallis Budge
5. 50 Core American Documents: Required Reading for Students, Teachers, and Citizens - Christopher Burkett
6. 10-Minute Declutter: The Stress-Free Habit for Simplifying Your Home - S.J. Scott
7. SMART Goal Setting Made Simple - 10 Steps to Master Your Personal and Career Goals - S.J. Scott
8. Fast Focus: A Quick Start Guide To Mastering Your Attention, Ignoring Distractions, and Getting More Done In Less Time - Damon Zahariades
9. The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It - Kelly McGonial
10. Men Without Work: America's Invisible Crisis - Nicholas Eberstadt
11. Equal is Unfair: America's Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality - Don Watkins
12. Mind Gym: An Athelete's Guide to Inner Excellence - Gary Mack

Third Stage

1. Written Out of History: The Forgotten Founders Who Fought Big Government - Mike Lee
2. More Than Enough - Dave Ramsey
3. The Art of Short Selling -Kathryn F. Staley
4. The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual - US Army (Gen. Petraeus & Gen. Mattis)
5. City of God - St. Augustine
6. The Small-Mart Revolution - How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition - Michael H. Shuman
7. Deep Nutrition - Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food - Catherine Shanahan
8. The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell: An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq - John Crawford


This is it, my 2018 reading list. It's a bit more challenging than my 2017 list, which was a mere 18 books, but I also finished 47 last year, which is my all-time record! I've found that reading a book a week, which is the Alex Rodriguez method to reading, though ambitious, is not quite the pace anyone should advance at. If I surpass 30 this year, it will feel like too much.

I'll slowly write some briefs about the four I completed already, and then I'll transition to writing what interests me about the books on my list, and as I complete them, I'll write the same briefs as a I did for the other four.
 
Graviton

Graviton

Well-Known Member
I read mostly sci-fi, with some history and humor sprinkled in. To round out last year I re-read all of the Jack McDevitt Academy novels, as well as his Alex Benedict series.

I don't have a reading list for this year, but I've got a Terry Pratchett Discworld book I've not read yet, so that's first.
 

DeletedUser33003

The Path of The Warrior
by Larry Jetmore

Larry Jetmore is a former police officer, who left the Hartford Police Department at the rank of Captain. He also obtained his Doctorate in Institutional Organization. He's runs a company that develops testing protocol for applicants across numerous fields, and is a well-respected research analyst.

His book, The Path of The Warrior, is an ode to the career of law enforcement, but told in a very present way. It's about ethics. Dr. Jetmore is aware that of the many things taught to law enforcement, there is a disconnect between that tenets of that training, and ethics. He acknowledges that literally all facets of life are generally absent of ethics.

But by having a thorough discussion of the things you'll face in law enforcement, and presenting those problems by way of a book, it causes one to have a deeper discussion internally about those problems, and how they might address them.

I've read Jetmore's book a dozen times.

In reading it, as a manager in a technology firm, I recognize the similarities in ethical discourse that happens in the work place, sometimes in pursuit of the goal, and sometimes in pursuit of personal gratification. I'm still glad I haven't found a reason to violate the ethics I employ, but I'm all too familiar with discovering people who have.

Jetmore makes a point of saying, when you find others at their darkest moment, even your patrol partner (as a civilian, think your spouse), how will you navigate your future with that person? Holding them responsible is a no-brainer. But do you remain in contact with this person, or do you cut them off completely?

Jetmore believes that, especially in the case of your most closest relationships, staying present with that person is not only permissable, but mandatory. The concept can be uncomfortable, but point he makes is as true as I've experienced it: lost people only become more lost, and we owe it to not just them, but to ourselves, and what we built with them, to take due care of them the best we can. You can't give up on your friends, your spouse, your co-worker, your boss, just because they've done something horrible. If we all incorporated this thinking into our lives, the results would be nothing short of remarkable.

Jetmore's book is centered on the law enforcement community, so I don't recommend this book for someone who is anti-law enforcement, or has no frame of reference. But, if you've spent a career in management, if you work in a public office of some kind, there are great lessons on ethics to be had in Jetmore's presentation.
 

DeletedUser33003

Write To Market
Chris Fox

Chris Fox is a manager for a technology firm in the Bay Area, who also writes science fiction novels, direct to press via Amazon. He's built a strong reputation in the Sci-Fi market, and has become an expert on crafting stories for niche markets, even beyond Sci-Fi.

He's very much in demand to instruct other writers on how to accomplish goals, how to achieve success, and how to handle the business aspects of writing.

Write To Market covers the topic of constructing story, characters, plot, and structure that answer the market expectations of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and other strongly-developed writing markets.

If you're a writer, Chris' take on these topics is quite interesting, because a fair bit of his views run against traditional logic. But, he's proven his model throug his own sales volume, and with an ever-increasing demand for his product, it would appear he's found a formula that stands the test of time.

I recommend this if you're a writer, and have interest in writing stories that are not necessarily your most honest offerings, but are the kinds of stories that can have strong sales potential from launch.
 

DeletedUser33003

Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind
Jocelyn Glei

99U is a 'culture wave' business founded by Neil Blumenthal and Aaron Dignan. It is also financially backed by Adobe. The concept is to take lessons from truly creative people, as a brand, as a business leader, and provide that information to people who are like them, but at lesser stages in their career.

99U has blossomed quickly into conferences, where their contirbutors are also guest speakers, so it goes without saying that these seminars are becoming career makers, and not just idea sessions.

As a manager in technology, we get a lot of folks like this knocking on our door, wanting us to take on their products, because their intent is gain businesses as customers, not mere people.

Business-to-Business is a channel that gets over-emphasized in most business plans and financial statements, but that's a topic for a different thread.

I've read a couple of the offerings from 99U, and I'm not entirely impressed. While I appreciate that creative types have a different view of business, there's too much in these books that presents as experimental, rather than truly tested. My fear is that someone looking to invest in themselves may take these lessons and apply them, and because they don't have the resources to sustain the risk, will watch their business fall apart, and then never attempt to try again.

It's true that new ideas engage us, and propel us into the future, but there is such a thing as 're-inventing the wheel,' and 99U seems to be injecting some truth to businesses that break the mold, with ideas that may be working internally at some of the more creative type businesses, but are so niche, that applying them elsewhere is not advisable.

With that said, 99U is certainly saturating the creative industry, and they work hard to only address that audience. Read at your own risk.
 

DeletedUser33003

The United States Constitution
Our Forefathers

I have been reading The Constitution every year since I was 31. It became clear to me while reading Dr. Ron Paul's The Revolution: The Manifesto, that there is a lot of disconnect between us, and those that wrote the documents that governed us.

It makes sense that in a society that is very dismissive of history, that we would experience such a disconnect.

I decided I didn't want to have that disconnect in my life. It's far too important to understand what was happening in the 1760/1770's in the United States, to understand how we got to where we are today.

The Constitution is relatively short in length, if you're motivated, you could read it in two days. I suggest taking about two weeks to carefully read through it. You'll find yourself aksing a lot of questions about language choice, syntax, meaning, and that's where the Consitution can seem murky.

Like The Bible, there are other sources to read along the way, in order to make more sense of what is written. The Constitution needs this same type of care, and probably even more of it than The Bible.

The Constitution is a framework, a working arrangement of guarantees. All frameworks have insulation, coverings, and inner workings, to achieve the complete working idea. So if you choose to read it, in the manner that I do, I recommend reading the letters of George Washington, that he issued to various people involved in the process. I recommend the Articles of Confederation, as a pre-text, to a degree. And I also recommend Pauline Maier's Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution 1787-1788.

Understanding where this most important document stemmed from, and knowing all those people that exercised influence over it, tells you the robust desire that existed for it's creation, in the manner it was adopted. Sure, there has been many new technologies, and ideas since then. But The Constitution remains as valid today, as it was in 1776. I urge you to read it often.
 

DeletedUser33003

Grant Cardone is a real SOB, to most people. Cardone is a guy that fits into the entrepreneur/self-help/guru types. He has an education company that trains sales staff in almost every consumable product category known. He's also a social media personality, routinely updating his content to remain in focus with his intended audience.

He was already well on his way in life when he decided to get into the professional education business, and then published the 10X Rule.

The book has become a guide to every salesperson, entrepreneur, investor, or business owner in start-up phase. And consequently, it captured my attention when it was front and center at Detroit International Airport, while on a layover, and looking for lunch.

I've already started this up, and I suspect it will be valuable. Cardone, to his credit, is not a "follow my system" type, which there are too many of. Instead, he focuses on motivating within the person, what they've truly always wanted to do, and then placing maximum effort in those pursuits. It's pretty straight-forward, but he presents these ideas in good enough detail.

I'll fill you in on the rest when I've finished.
 
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