What book are you reading?

[letabrotherspeak]

Looking for a good book or two read...not big on fiction...any good new releases?

[cch5432]

Looking for a good book or two read...not big on fiction...any good new releases?

 

I am in the middle of Leave Us Alone: Keeping the Government's Hands of Our Money, Our Guns, and Our Lives by Grover Norquist on some advice by AcesFull.

 

If you have a bone in your body that opposes government control, then I would advise reading it.

 

Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You) is funny as well.

[rockmom]

You probably won't like mine, but it is extremely enlightening and intersting:

 

Muhammad Ali His Life and Times by Thomas Hauser

 

If it's any incentive, it was the winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award.

[20/20Hindsight]

I am currently reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. Very eye-opening. Here's a synopsis I found online:

"In this shocking memoir, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins tells of his own inner journey from willing servant of empire to impassioned advocate for the rights of oppressed people. Covertly recruited by the United States National Security Agency and on the payroll of an international consulting firm, he traveled the world—to Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other strategically important countries. His job was to implement policies that promoted the interests of the U.S. corporatocracy (a coalition of government, banks, and corporations) while professing to alleviate poverty—policies that alienated many nations and ultimately led to September 11 and growing anti-Americanism."

[bugatti]

I am reading, "The Rhythm of Life: Living Each Day with Passion and Purpose" by Matthew Kelly.

 

I am not normally in to motivational books, but this one is pretty cool, I guess. Plus I saw him speak a few months ago

[swamprat]

Programming Microsoft .Net XML Web Services

[bugatti]

Programming Microsoft .Net XML Web Services

Great summer reading right there!

 

[02Ram54]

The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by Mearsheimer and Walt, which I would recommend especially to cch, considering his disdain for conspiracy theories involving oil, as this work largely discounts them.

[AcesFull]

I am currently reading Leave Us Alone by Grover Norquist. I just finished The Great Beyond: Higher Dimensions, Parallel Universes and the Extraordinary Search for a Theory of Everything by Paul Halpern and I have finished about half of Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes by Alex Vilenkin (tough reading - I may not finish it).

 

If you like science fiction and have an interest in theoretical physics, I highly recommend Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku. The book is very readable and it is amazing how many gizmos from the pages of science fiction have not been found to violate the laws or popular theories of physics.

 

A book that is short on the theory side but interesting from the history perspective is The Hunt for Zero Point: Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology by Nick Cook. The author really never uncovers any solid evidence that antigravity technology has ever been developed, but the book does include some interesting facts about the race to seize advanced technology from German labs in the closing days of World War II. The US removed truckloads of research papers and prototypes from Germany.

 

I have also started 'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out by Kinky Friedman, former country singer and unsuccessful Texas gubernatorial candidate who claims to be good friends with George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings, among others. I saw this guy on some talk show chewing on a cigar and giving political commentary...strange character.

[kygirl]

A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America

by Jim Webb

[ColonelCrazy]

I am currently reading (and have been reading for a long time ), "Can I Keep My Jersey", by Paul Shirley.

 

Some of you may know who Shirley is - we've had a few threads about his blog on ESPN. He's a big guy with a college degree who jumps around from NBA team to NBA team to European basketball teams. He's very funny and tells it like it is. He also played for EA Sports for a while (kind of like Athletes in Action) and he spends some time talking about their preseason game against Kentucky. Pretty good stuff and an easy read.

 

I bought "Moneyball" a few days ago, and am waiting on it to arrive at my house.

[UmayBright*but]

"Freakonomics"

[Gunner11]

Judgment of Paris by George M. Taber

 

If you like wine and are interested in how California wine won its place in the market, this is a good read.

[ram2003]

I am currently reading 'Treasure Island'. Hold Your laughs, though... as a pirate, it is necessary for me to be well versed in my literature. I never read Treasure Island as a child, so I'm simply late to the party.

 

Oddly enough, however, the last book I read was also considered (though at some points I'm not sure why) a children's novel called 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams. It's a book that was a favorite of the main character in MY favorite book, The Stand, as well as a the favorite book of a guy I went to college with who described it as changing his life. With reviews like that, I new I had to read it eventually. And while I don't know if it has changed my world views, I certainly was glad I read it.

[ram2003]

I am currently reading Leave Us Alone by Grover Norquist. I just finished The Great Beyond: Higher Dimensions, Parallel Universes and the Extraordinary Search for a Theory of Everything by Paul Halpern and I have finished about half of Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes by Alex Vilenkin (tough reading - I may not finish it).

 

If you like science fiction and have an interest in theoretical physics, I highly recommend Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku. The book is very readable and it is amazing how many gizmos from the pages of science fiction have not been found to violate the laws or popular theories of physics.

 

A book that is short on the theory side but interesting from the history perspective is The Hunt for Zero Point: Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology by Nick Cook. The author really never uncovers any solid evidence that antigravity technology has ever been developed, but the book does include some interesting facts about the race to seize advanced technology from German labs in the closing days of World War II. The US removed truckloads of research papers and prototypes from Germany.

 

I have also started 'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out by Kinky Friedman, former country singer and unsuccessful Texas gubernatorial candidate who claims to be good friends with George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings, among others. I saw this guy on some talk show chewing on a cigar and giving political commentary...strange character.

 

I'm a fan of quantum physics, and a lot of those you listed sound interesting. I may pick those up at some point down the road. Years ago I read an interesting book called 'I'm Not Really Here' by, oddly enough, Tim Allen, about quantum physics and I think that's what got me started. I was only a kid when I read it so I don't remember much of it.