Last three books you've read?

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"Triggered" by the great Donald Trump Jr.
"Art of the Deal" by Donald Trump Sr.
"Hyperspace" by Michio Kaku.
 

AdamLewis

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Empire of the Summer Moon by SC Gwynne
Across Atlantic Ice by Dennis Stanford
Pessimism by Joshua Dinestag
 
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mtnkid85

mtnkid85

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Im talking actually reading, I haven't gotten into audio books yet. I keep busy with podcasts when I have time to listen to something. And yea, I do always make a note of Rinella's recommendations.

I really only get through maybe 5-8 books a year. But recently thats picked up as I find it really helps reduce my stress levels and helps with my ability to sleep. Both of which Ive been struggling with lately.

I read until my eyes get heavy in bed each night.
 

ahhyut

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Maine
Nine Mile Bridge by Helen Hamlin - a book about a game warden's wife when they lived in the North Maine Woods
That Wild Country by Mark Kenyon - he tries to walk as independent as he can, but makes some completely false and politically charged comments not related to the PL movement.
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose - fast-moving account of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
 

ahhyut

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I came here to see what people read, I guess. I don’t think I have ever read a book. The closest I have come is clan of the cave bear, and I don’t think I made it half way. Oh I do remember reading death in the long grass. And I believe that is truly the only book I started and finished.

I read a book or two in high school and didn't read a single book through college. I hated it. Now that I read my own topics at my own pace - and there is not test after it, I really enjoy it. It took a decade after college to get me to willingly open a book.
 

zacattack

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I read a book or two in high school and didn't read a single book through college. I hated it. Now that I read my own topics at my own pace - and there is not test after it, I really enjoy it. It took a decade after college to get me to willingly open a book.

A lot of this is because you have to read what is considered the “classics” in school. Most written decades or centuries ago in another time for a different set of people and they often don’t resonate well with today’s culture. Some are just shitty books that somehow have become great works of literature; for example Moby Dick was a monumental disaster when published, but a movie came out and made the story popular and unfortunately is taught in many schools, while the book is still horrific. Same for Shakespeare, no body understands Victorian English any more and it’s only good for Jeopardy but it’s all crammed down our throats.
 

Danomite

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Apache Wars - About the US/Apache interactions in New Mexico and Arizona in the 1800s.
Undaunted Courage - Lewis and Clarke expedition.
Blood and Thunder - Kit Carson's life.
 

Kilboars

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Very good. Everyone I've recommended it to loved it.

I listened to it twice. I't a real eye opener of what the Pioneers before us suffered through to create this country we love.
 

ODB

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A lot of this is because you have to read what is considered the “classics” in school. Most written decades or centuries ago in another time for a different set of people and they often don’t resonate well with today’s culture. Some are just shitty books that somehow have become great works of literature; for example Moby Dick was a monumental disaster when published, but a movie came out and made the story popular and unfortunately is taught in many schools, while the book is still horrific. Same for Shakespeare, no body understands Victorian English any more and it’s only good for Jeopardy but it’s all crammed down our throats.

The failure isn’t the books, it’s the teachers who did not put into proper context where the writing started and how it changed. Studying English isn’t about just reading and talking about the content of a book, it’s about knowing how the language progressed over time and how the way writers expressed their ideas changed based on what was going on at the time.

Studying English is as much history as anything. if you are complaining a book is irrelevant because the language, people, and events are not the same as today, well, you must not have an interest in history, because that pretty much describes everything before today.
 

Ulfhedinn

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Meditations on Violence - Rory Miller
Deadly Force - Massad Ayoob
Living the Braveheart Life - William Wallace
 

RazAlGhoul

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How to Analyze People: Dark Psychology
Atwood
A Fire Sparkling Julianne MacLean, Rosalyn Landor, Sarah Zimmerman
 
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A lot of this is because you have to read what is considered the “classics” in school. Most written decades or centuries ago in another time for a different set of people and they often don’t resonate well with today’s culture. Some are just shitty books that somehow have become great works of literature; for example Moby Dick was a monumental disaster when published, but a movie came out and made the story popular and unfortunately is taught in many schools, while the book is still horrific. Same for Shakespeare, no body understands Victorian English any more and it’s only good for Jeopardy but it’s all crammed down our throats.

There is some truth to this, but also some of it just age/maturity. Over the past couple years, I have revisited a lot of the "classics" I was forced to read in HS. Some of what you say applies, but some is the opposite. For example, I thought Grapes of Wrath was the most insufferable POS when I had to read it in HS. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult (read it last year I believe). Moby Dick I'm with you--have tried two or three different times as an adult and have yet to get more than 50 pages into it before abandoning it each time. Not a big Shakespeare guy either--I enjoy reading or listening to someone EXPLAIN Shakespeare more than the guy himself. I just can't pull much from the original works.

Currently reading Labryinth of Ice--recap of the Greely polar expedition in 1881. I'm a little over halfway and it's fantastic. Read Meat Eater & American Buffalo before that. Have 'Jim Bridger-Mountain Man', 'Crow Killer' and 'Hugh Glass' stacked on the nightstand next.

I go in fiction/nonfiction spurts. Anyone reading this that wants a great fiction read, I think a lot of guys on this forum would love Pat Conroy's "Lords of Discipline." I recently reread it and it feels as fresh as ever (written mid 80s I believe). He's my favorite fiction writer and all of his stuff is amazing, but I think that one particularly would be the most appealing to this crowd.

Thanks to everyone all for the reco's!
 

Oregonboy

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That will never work by Marc Randolph - story on how Netflix made it, very light and fun

Defeding Beef by Nicolette Hahn Niman - on why Cattle and beef are good for humans and the environment

Ameican Buffalo by Steven Rinella - incredible book, will read again

Coyote America by Dan Flores - gave me a whole new perspective and appreciation for critters

ShoeDog by Phil Knight - currently reading and can't put it down.
 

P Carter

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So I read the heart of all that is and American Buffalo. Good stuff, thanks for the thread and the suggestions. Will have to work my way through some more now.

While I’m at it, Indian Creek Chronicles is a good one about a student’s winter in the bitterroot wilderness. Another is “Unconquered,” about an expedition to reconnoiter (but not contact) I contacted tribes in the Amazon. And “Lost in Shangri La,” about a bomber that crashed in a remote crater in Papua New Guinea among a previously uncontacted tribe.
 
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AndyB

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Mar 8, 2013
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North Wales UK
'Rise and Fall of the British empire', Lawrence James.
History of the world really from around 1600.

'Crow killer'. the saga of liver- eatin Johnson.

Pemulwuy, The Rainbow warrior.
Led the resistance against the British invaders, hemmed them in and stopped them expanding for 12 years at Sydney from around 1790. Quite an achievement for a stone age man, understood the use of fire in habitat management and as a weapon. Must have been like 'Dante's inferno' for the Brits when he attacked. ( Modern day Australians could learn a thing or two re fire management if they adopted Aboriginal 'Cold Burning' techniques.)

…and one I keep going back to like the top one is 'A sand county almanac' by Aldo Leopold.
 
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Hunter Killer-Inside America's Unmanned war. Book about drone warfare, very interesting.
Barbara Bush:A Memoir. Great read
Moby Dick. I realized this is one of those all time classics, and I had never read it. So I am doing it now.
 
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