Recent Books you have enjoyed

[MU82]

Thought “Sooley” was good, not great.

Agree 100%.

[BM1090]

Just finished the Giannis biography by Mirin Fader, and holy Hell, if you haven't read this book, you don't know anything about what he has overcome to make it to where he is, or the extent of his humility.

The Giannis biography is next on my list after I finish up How the Word is Passed. Not sure I’ve heard a bad review from anyone.

[Scoop Snoop]

Alex Trebek's And the Answer Is... is an easy and fun read. He was a real down to earth type of guy and he offered plenty of great stories from his life.

 My favorite story was when he was MC for the packages of performances- music, athletic events, etc.- that were put on to celebrate Canada's 100th anniversary as a Dominion in 1967. With Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip present and, afterward, thanking the performers ("That was a wonderful performance. I enjoyed it very much. Please tell me your name and where you are from."). Rinse and repeat. Phillip's job was to stay just slightly behind Elizabeth in the receiving line as they thanked everyone. Just before the queen came up to Alex, she glanced over her shoulder and noticed that Phillip was not behind her. She was not going to exit the stage alone, so when she spoke to Alex (he was at the end of the line) , she engaged him in conversation for quite a while after finding that he had an interest in horses, a subject in which she is very knowledgeable. And why was Prince Phillip delayed? Apparently he was quite interested in a gymnastic team and not anxious to move on. Alex described the team as "20 year old blond girls in bright blue tights".   

Alex's phone rang often that night. His friends, having seen the events on TV, wanted to know how he managed to get such special treatment from the queen. The next day Alex was MC again and wondered what his new best friend would choose to talk about when she came to him at the end of the line. Queen Elizabeth approached Alex, smiled, and said " Wonderful performance. I really enjoyed it. Please tell me your name and where you are from."

[BM1090]

Just finished the Giannis biography by Mirin Fader, and holy Hell, if you haven't read this book, you don't know anything about what he has overcome to make it to where he is, or the extent of his humility.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through. It's an incredible book. Fader truly seems to have left no stone unturned. She had to have interviewed close to 1,000 people.

It's a shame that the book wasn't finished a year or two later.

[4everwarriors]

Open your eyes and mind and read "The Real Anthony Fauci." As a lifelong democratic, the author, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says, challenge his findings if you disagree.
Regardless, the book is extremely well done and exposes Fauci, the media, and big pharma, hey?

[Uncle Rico]

Open your eyes and mind and read "The Real Anthony Fauci." As a lifelong democratic, the author, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says, challenge his findings if you disagree.
Regardless, the book is extremely well done and exposes Fauci, the media, and big pharma, hey?

You should read Michael Lewis “The Preminition” and open your mind and eyes and exposes Trump, hey?

[Hards Alumni]

Open your eyes and mind and read "The Real Anthony Fauci." As a lifelong democratic, the author, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says, challenge his findings if you disagree.
Regardless, the book is extremely well done and exposes Fauci, the media, and big pharma, hey?

I'm sure it's eye opening.  For you.

His politics are irrelevant.  He is an anti-vax moron who shouldn't be taken seriously, and is only relevant because of his surname.  The only reason folks like you like him is because you hate Dr. Fauci.  It's quite pathetic, really.

[🏀]

The only reason people like 4ever hate Fauci is because he’s an absolute expert in his field and was tasked with telling people what to do during a pandemic that crippled the entire world.


Anywho…

Tom Coyne’s A Course Called America is a great gift for that golfer in your family.

Met him up at Sand Valley in July, great guy, even though he’s a Domer.

[SERocks]

I have found a couple of books interesting lately. 

The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy - What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny, by Stauss and Howe

and

The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy, by Kelton.

[jficke13]

Open your eyes and mind and read "The Real Anthony Fauci." As a lifelong democratic, the author, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says, challenge his findings if you disagree.
Regardless, the book is extremely well done and exposes Fauci, the media, and big pharma, hey?

<long slow whistling> you gotta log off dude.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I have found a couple of books interesting lately. 

The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy - What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny, by Stauss and Howe

Looked this up on goodreads. 

1st review: ugh. Steve Bannon, he's evil and trump and do you want to live in a world of Bannon, and so on.

2nd review:  al gore likes this guy, so watch  out, I don't trust these authors, and so on.

God bless America.

[Herman Cain]

This is a book I have enjoyed reading . 

William Bartram:
Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy and Country of The Chactaws :Contains an Account of the Soil and natural productions of those regions. Together with observations of the manners of the Indians ,embellished with copper plates

This long titled book was written in 1791 as Bartram traveled through these territories and has some very interesting unedited insights about his interactions with the inhabitants .

I like this version below, but it is available in hard copy etc.


https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/bartram/bartram.html

[jficke13]

Recent Nonfiction I've read:

The Verge - Patrick Wyman - Fantastic read of a world in flux. One of the hinge points in history in ways that we're not used to considering. Military revolution in gunpowder, tactics, and the increasing scale of nation-state/financed warfare, information revolution, accounting and financial evolutions, and with an exceptional writing to keep it gripping.

Hero of Two Worlds - Mike Duncan - Spectacular biography of the Marquis de Lafayette. Do yourselves a favor and grab this to round out the knowledge you gained during Hamilton. When you're done do The History of Rome and Revolutions podcasts, each of which are incredible and free.

Caesar: Life of a Collosus - Adrian Goldworthy - a comprehensive biography of Julius Ceasar. A little heavy on detailed minutae, especially during the sections reviewing his Gallic Wars, but that's what you get when you sign up for a comprehensive biography.

The Monster of Florence - Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi - a great true crime serial killer story from the picturesque Florentine countryside. Compellingly written too. One of those truth-is-weirder-than-fiction tales.

[MuggsyB]

Recent Nonfiction I've read:

The Verge - Patrick Wyman - Fantastic read of a world in flux. One of the hinge points in history in ways that we're not used to considering. Military revolution in gunpowder, tactics, and the increasing scale of nation-state/financed warfare, information revolution, accounting and financial evolutions, and with an exceptional writing to keep it gripping.

Hero of Two Worlds - Mike Duncan - Spectacular biography of the Marquis de Lafayette. Do yourselves a favor and grab this to round out the knowledge you gained during Hamilton. When you're done do The History of Rome and Revolutions podcasts, each of which are incredible and free.

Caesar: Life of a Collosus - Adrian Goldworthy - a comprehensive biography of Julius Ceasar. A little heavy on detailed minutae, especially during the sections reviewing his Gallic Wars, but that's what you get when you sign up for a comprehensive biography.

The Monster of Florence - Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi - a great true crime serial killer story from the picturesque Florentine countryside. Compellingly written too. One of those truth-is-weirder-than-fiction tales.

Great stuff!!  Have you ever read I Claudius?  I'm a little weak in Roman History.

[jficke13]

Great stuff!!  Have you ever read I Claudius?  I'm a little weak in Roman History.

I haven't read I Claudius, it's been low on my radar for a while though.

On the Roman History Front:

For the non-enthusiasts the podcast histories are fantastic. Hardcore History is gripping and worth the small cost for the "Punic Nightmares" series and the "Death Throes of the Republic" series, Mike Duncan's "The History of Rome" is great with short, bite-sized episodes (he really hits his stride round about when Augustus enters the stage). Patrick Wyman's first podcast: "The Fall of Rome" is a really good look at the late Western Empire and challenges the entire concept of "fall."

I would also recommend Mike Duncan's first book: The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic. It's the story about the two generations preceding Julius Caesar, the Grachhi, Marius and Sulla, how the norms that governed the Republic were weakened to the point that Caesar could shred them entirely.

Adrian Goldsworthy - The Fall of Carthage - Super-detailed look at the Punic Wars. Goldworthy is always going to be very comprehenisve.

Robert L. O'Connell - The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Goldsworthy is the gold standard (no pun intended) on roman history,IMO.

[jficke13]

Goldsworthy is the gold standard (no pun intended) on roman history,IMO.

Agreed, reading his work does give you a way more minute-detail-oriented view. I'll admit that I started to lose the thread somewhere during the LONG review of Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, but that's sort of what you pick him up for. There are others who will give a higher-level review and those aren't necessarily bad either. Just depends what you're looking for.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

For the less well known events of Rome, I like to read historical fiction first, to get an idea of the cast of characters, what is going on, etc., in a less academic lens.  Then I'll read the non fiction to learn the true side of things.

Ben Kane and Colleen McCullough are 2 roman historical fiction authors that I've enjoyed.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

For the less well known events of Rome, I like to read historical fiction first, to get an idea of the cast of characters, what is going on, etc., in a less academic lens.  Then I'll read the non fiction to learn the true side of things.

Ben Kane and Colleen McCullough are 2 roman historical fiction authors that I've enjoyed.

A friend recommended author Steven Saylor to me.  He has a series of books about Gordianus the Finder who is a bad ass detective in ancient Rome. 
I have not read yet, but the series of books sounded intriguing. 

[jficke13]

A friend recommended author Steven Saylor to me.  He has a series of books about Gordianus the Finder who is a bad ass detective in ancient Rome. 
I have not read yet, but the series of books sounded intriguing.

Just looked him up, didn't realize he had a piece in that series placed in a GRRM antho a while back. Seems intriguing.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Open your eyes and mind and read "The Real Anthony Fauci." As a lifelong democratic, the author, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says, challenge his findings if you disagree.
Regardless, the book is extremely well done and exposes Fauci, the media, and big pharma, hey?

LOL. What a dupe.

[MuggsyB]

I just started Apeirogon by Colum McCann.    I guess you would call it a hybrid-fictional work as it's based on the lives of two men who lost their young daughters  (One Isaeli, one Palestinian) and the friendship they have developed from their sorrow.  McCann is an exceptional writer if you haven't read his stuff.  I'm talking one of the very best contemporary writers we have and of course he has that classc Irish lyricism in his prose.

The subject matter in parts requires a bit more  knowledge than I have about specific areas in present day Israel  as well as customs among the populations.  But it reads as a novel, and the intermittent stories within the primary story are absolutely brilliant.  Honestly this guy could have made our game against UCLA sound fascinating, he's that gifted.  I would recommend all of his stuff.

[Jables1604]

“Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties” by Tom O’Neill. Came out in 2019 but someone just recommended it. Really interesting. Changed my mind as to what actually happened 3 or 4 times while reading the book. Still insure.

[jficke13]

Fiction:

The Hand of the Sun King - J.T. Greathouse

Absolutely stunning debut in the vein of Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind. Lush prose, coming of age, fantasy, wild magic. One of the best books I've read in a long long time. I was lucky enough to beta read the sequel, Garden of Empire, and know he's already started Book 3 even though Book 2 isn't out yet, so you're not signing up for a Rothfuss-esque wait.

Jade City, Jade War, Jade Legacy - Fonda Lee

Like the Godfather if it were a Bruce Lee movie. Full disclosure, have not read Legacy yet as it just came out, but City and War were awesome.

[Scoop Snoop]

Just finished reading The Medici by Paul Strathern. Nice blend of history in a novel format. Covers the beginning of the Rennaissance in Florence with of course the Medicis front and center. This was a turning point in European history from the Medieval Ages to an entirely different way of looking at the world. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo and others make appearances as the Medici family's rise to power is narrated. Beginning as bankers, then infiltrating the Church with family members becoming Cardinals and two Medici buying and bribing their way to becoming Popes, the family amasses enormous power. Next, they marry into royalty and two Medici become queens of France.

The author brings the characters to life and also sprinkles in a little humor occasionally. when the subject of prohibiting priests from gambling arises, one Medici suggests just getting them to stop using loaded dice. When the Gregorian calendar is instituted, jumping ahead of the Julian by ten days, there were some dim-witted protestors who demanded their ten days back. The domineering mother of one Medici ruler presented her son with a list of high officials who were gay. The son reviewed the list, added his own name and asked his mother what should happen to the men. "They should be burned!" "As you wish" replied the son as he threw the list into the fire.