What are you reading?

ptrlcop

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Minuteman
Aug 17, 2012
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Janesville, WI
So whenever my wife is watching teenmomhouswifekardashianwhogivesashit I rock out on my kindle reading. Unfortunately, the suggested for you algorithm used by amazon sucks a big one and I am currently not sure what I should read next. I thought maybe we could start a 'hide reading list. Does not need to be shooting/sniping specific fiction/nonfiction I don't care.

Here are some suggestions off the top of my head:

Nonfiction :
I recently finished A Rifleman Went to War and the Emma Gees.
The easy day was yesterday
Counter strike: the untold story of Americas secret campaign against al qaeda
With winning in mind
Lions of Kandahar
The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership
The men, the mission, and me
How cops live, and why they die
In the company of heroes
The gift of fear
American Sniper

Fiction:
Starship troopers and Sixth Column by heinlein
The profession, gates of fire and virtues of war by pressfield
The Jungle Book by Kipling
The Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle
All of Vince flynn's books
John Sandfords prey novels



So great minds of the hide..... What are you reading?(or what should I be reading)




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Empire of the Summer Moon. Excellent history of Comanche Indians and Quanah Parker's rise to power. Prior to that, another Texan's rise to power-Charlie Wilson's War. Really interesting look at the guts of political process and fall of the Russians in Afghanistan
 
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Empire of the Summer Moon. Excellent history of Comanche Indians and Quanah Parker's rise to power. Prior that, another Texan's rise to power-Charlie Wilson's War. Really interesting look at the guts of political process and fall Russian's in Afghanistan

I read this last year. Very strong history book and a must for Texans.

I'm currently reading the graphic novel East of West. It's a good series, blending Western themes with some sci-fi tones.
 
All non fiction...

Jon Krakauer: Where Men Win Glory – The Odyssey of Pat Tillman

Jon Krakauer: Eiger Dreams

Richard Proenneke: One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

Andy Andrews: How Do You Kill 11 Million People? – Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think

Ayn Rand: Atlas Shrugged ( is not just politics, it really is an excellent read)

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alistair Smith: The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics

Is Davis a Traitor: Or Was Secession a Constitutional Right Previous to the War

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I like this topic. Here's my contribution.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (sequel to above mentioned)
Foundation series by Isaac Asimov
Call of Cthulu ethos by H.P. Lovecraft
Unintended Consequences by John Ross
Winds of War & War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Ghost of Onyx by Eric Nylund (takes place in the Halo universe, however you don't need to have any prior knowledge going into it. This is the best SciFi I've read other than the Old Man's War series.)
Dune by Frank Herbert
 
Last few months I've read IT, Insomnia, the Dark Tower Series, The Tommyknockers, The Stand, The Talisman, Starship Troopers, and Atlas Shrugged. I have the Fountainhead that I should start soon.

Also got a number of books on Physics, mechanical engineering, strength of materials, metallurgy, stuff like that. All on my tablet. prior to this deployment I hadn't read a lot in a long time, last books being Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men, The Road, and Under the Dome (lost that one to an Ex)
 
For non-fiction, I'll defer to the offerings that others have made above. There's no point in repeating the same things over and over.

For fiction, I'll add:
Stephen Hunter's series,
Tom Clancy's (Jack Ryan) series,
Clive Cussler,
David Baldacci,
John Grisham,
Brad Thor,
Dan Brown,
Robert Ludlum,
and even
Louis L'Amour.

On a totally other venue, I'm currently reading "Charcuterie", and have enjoyed a number of books by Heston Blumenthal. They are regarding cooking, and the sciences involved in such.

And nobody has mentions Bryan Litz's books yet? I'm surprised....
 
Steven Pressfield. Interesting stuff, even if it is a little overblown on the "warrior ethos" idea. I'd like to see The Profession made into a miniseries so long as they dont fuck it up and make it like a season of 24.
 
Just finished The Nature of Blood by Caryl Phillips. Very good. Someone else mentioned McCarthy; read them all. Start with No Country For Old Men if you want to ease in. Then The Border Trilogy before you go full bore disturbing with Outer Dark and Child of God. Cap it with Blood Meridian and then watch a Disney movie.

If you like Sci-fi try A Canticle for Liebowitz, late Philip k. Dick, definitely Dune (but stop there).
 
Looking for a copy of The Chrysalides by John Wyndham.

For those who love Heinlein, try one of his earlier works, and my personal favorite, 'Have Spacesuit Will Travel'.
 
Not on my current list, Liebowitz falls deep within my enjoyment for Science Fiction. I can dimly recall reading it within the first few years after it came out in 1960. Time for rereading, thanks for reminding me.

Greg

PS Dang, but Liebowitz and the sequel both are unavailable on Kindle. Five Miller short stories are available as free downloads.
 
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"Stalin's Curse; Fighting for Communism in War and Cold War", "Six Months in 1945: From World War to Cold War", "Iron Curtain; The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1943-1953", and "Stalin's Secret Agents; The Subversion of Roosevelt's Government". All good, all recommended, especially "Iron Curtain."
 
Into the Fire
1984
On Killing (This is hard to read...real dry and statistical)
A Cody Lundin book I can't remember the name of
Survive

Just finished Ender's Game for the umpteenth time. Listened to it with my son on the way to and from DC. Good audio book
 
I have just restarted both The Art of War(Sun Tzu), and The Military Method(Sun Pin) over again...makes for relaxing reading that IS NOT associated with chemistry, biology, genetics, etc. They offer a nice look into the thoughts of old style fighting and especially how it relates to current fightis around the globe conventional, unconventional and otherwise.
 
I finished Outliers. I was so impressed with Gladwell's work I downloaded his book Blink, I'm two chapters in and I am already loving it.

I also read a few more of the Sherlock Holmes stories(FYI you can download the entire collection on kindle for $.99)


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Just finished the kyle swanson series by jack caughlin, fun read good suspense and action. The down side is technical inaccuracies, and one of the book didn't quite match the rest of the series but eventually tied in. Overall good read.

Currently I'm reading The Eye of Moulch by Glen beck
 
Alas Babylon by Pat Frank.
It's a book I always like to recommend to people who are asking "what's a good book?"
It was written back in the 50s. It is THE only book I had to read in high school that I actually enjoyed.
I bet I've read it 5 times.

Another good read (non-fiction) is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It is about a WWII B-24 Liberator crew member who survived a crash and POW camp. AMAZING....almost unbelievable story.

If you PM me your email address, I can email you a file for both books (.mobi) that works on a Kindle.
 
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Looks like I may have stuffed up. I thought I had read books other than the Reacher series by him but maybe not. One thing I do find interesting about him is that he only moved to the US in 1998, he was born in England not far from me but 5 months later. I moved to Australia about 47 years ago and served in the military for almost 27 of those years. I am familiar with California, Nevada and Arizona from several visits and his descriptions of those areas exactly match my memories.
 
Reading Mutiny- The inside story of the TRUE events that inspire The Hunt For Red October by David Hagberg and Boris Gindin. Boris is a personal friend of mine and the X Soviet who lived the story. He and I work together and he is a great guy! Check it out!

I'm also finishing up Accuracy and Precision by Litz.
 
Just finished "A desert called Peace" it had a few good points.

I have been following David Webbers Safehold series. Cannot wait for the next installment.
 
From a thrift store, I recently found "Moonlight Hotel" by Scott Anderson. A good fiction read concerning imperialism and is clearly based upon actual places and countries.
I also like Michael Crichton, Clancy, Ayn Rand, Hemmingway, Robert Ludlum, and have inadvertently become a Robin Cook fan (Toxin, Outbreak, Vital Signs). Growing up, my dad owned (literally) every novel and collection of short stories ever written by Louis L'amour and Zane Grey. I read them all, and some more than once, but I always preferred L'amour. My favorites tended toward the non western flavors, especially The Walking Drum, Fair Blows the Wind, Jubal Sackett, and probably some others. I bought some John LeCarre recently (A Delicate Truth) and am finding it really hard to follow, I think due to the decidedly British word selections and punctuation conventions. I finished graduate school a few months ago and realized that I forgot how enjoyable reading something other than peer-reviewed scientific literature can be.
 
Check out "The Book Thief". I had A.D.D. before anyone knew what it was so being still long enough to read a book was hard. But "The Book Thief" really grabs ahold of you.
 
Start off with "Game of Thrones" the first book in the Fire and Ice series of books.
Not for people who like their books short and to the point.
Each book in the series is nearly 1000 pages of small print, which is a good reason to read them on a tablet.

I read the five books over a three month period earlier this year and then proceeded to start over.
Made it thru the first book but am trying to pace myself this time around.

The series is incomplete with at least one more book coming out in the future. The writer claims book #6 will finish off the series but I don't see how he can effectively finish up so many story lines in just one book so I expect at least a couple more.
Also, it is a series on HBO that just finished up the third season with the first two seasons available on DVD.

Outstanding reading and about 20 hours on DVD that is like nothing else I have watched so far.
 
Empire of the Summer Moon. Excellent history of Comanche Indians and Quanah Parker's rise to power. Prior to that, another Texan's rise to power-Charlie Wilson's War. Really interesting look at the guts of political process and fall of the Russians in Afghanistan

If you go that route, read "The Bear Went Over The Mountain" too.

I'm a bit of a sci-fi nerd, so I suggest the book I'm reading- "Consider Phlebas" by Iain Banks

Or, bit of a throwback here, "Days of Atonement"

Here's a link: Days of Atonement: Walter Jon Williams: 9780312851187: Amazon.com: Books

I found it in the trashcan of a hangar in Rhine Ordinance Base just before I got on the plane to AfghanLand. Best dumpster dive find I have ever made.