OT: Let's hear your (non-UM) book recommendations for quarntine.
Been blasting through books during this quarantine, and I'm looking for new suggestions. Figured I'd bring it back to the community and see what others are recommending.
As for me, here's my recommendation:
Picked up this book randomly on vacation last year, and then knocked it out in about 3 days. There's a lot of background on how regimes (not just the on in North Korea) plot to hold power, what motivates them to do so, and how the Kim family has managed to hold onto it for so long. It then goes into the history of the regime, which reads like a real life 007 novel, and how acting crazy is very different from being crazy.
Let's hear yours.
The Boys in the Boat. If you read it and don’t enjoy it, let me know and I’ll eat a lemon. Moving, entertaining, and a large dose of perspective.
I agree with this one.
double post
I read your title but I’m going to list 2 UofM books and you can’t stop me. MDen had books on clearance recently so I bought the Rob Lytle book and another book about 125 years of editorial freedom at the Michigan Daily.
I’m looking forward to reading both as soon as I am finished reading a book about the French Revolution. That’s unless George RR Martin surprises us all and finishes book 6. Last night’s revelation from the French Revolution book is that people were still being killed “on the wheel” in the late 18th century. (Actually more recent than that as I later learned.) Martin’s world is disturbing, but it’s not that different from actual human history.
What French Revolution book are you reading?
I've been wanting to find a good one ever since I listened to the Revolutions podcast on the French Revolution. But finding a decent overview in one volume has been challenging. I don't mind if it's 1000 pages but I'm looking for something going from before the Estates General until... whenever that author thinks the revolution ended. I've already read a biography of Napoleon so it doesn't have to go all the way Napoleon's Consulate.
This is the book: https://www.amazon.com/New-World-Begins-History-Revolution/dp/0465096662
I'm a complete novice regarding the subject, but I've found the book interesting so far. I'm about 1/3 through the book. He starts with a discussion about Louis XVI's upbringing, so that's fairly early, but he doesn't exhaust that subject.
The author spends a fair amount of time writing about the inherent conflicts of espousing liberty while having colonies where slavery was legal. The efforts to nationalize the Catholic church and take power from the Bishops is also interesting to me as a Catholic.
One of the suppliers I work with is a French company. I've been to France twice. That sparked my interest.
Good recommendation, might have to pick that one up. If you like world history, try Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. One of the best books I've read this year.
I like to reread 1984 every few years. The last couple times I didn't enjoy it so much since we seem to be using it as an instruction manual.
On a lighter note, I really enjoyed Winston Churchill's war diaries. Although I think even the abridged version is like 1k pages.
The Last Good Kiss or The Mexican Tree Duck by James Crumley. Good detective/western novels.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre - Good and entertaining spy thrillers.
Just started Dune.
Absolutely Dune. It is to science fiction what Lord of the Rings is to fantasy.
Seconded
Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (sci-fi). Anything by David Gemmell (fantasy).
If you like sci-fi read The Expanse.
Expanse is great, just waiting in the final novel.
Just started Persepolis Rising - the forward jump in time made me sad because I'm expecting it means no more Avasarala. Never thought I'd get into a series like this but it's great writing and storytelling with deeply fascinating worldbuilding.
"Ready Player One" is such a great and fun read, especially if you are into 80's movies, music and video games mixed in with near-term Sci-Fi (eg - "Black Mirror').
The movie wasn't too bad - but the book is absolutely terrific.
LOVED this book. One of the few books I have recommended to others.
The movie wasn't nearly as good.
If you like Roman history then I've got a ton. The most accessible and interesting of those would be:
Caesar: Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy
Goldsworthy is a historian specializing in Roman history and military history. He gives you all the background you need to fully understand what how Caesar could be merciful to his Roman enemies (to the point of letting them go rejoin armies fighting against him) while also slaughtering villages of Gauls in no small part to increase his prestige back in Italy. Through the book you can see how Caesar caused a chain of events that led to the world today. Without Caesar there would be no August, and without Augusts the Roman empire as we think of it would never have existed.
For light fiction, try the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.
Extraordinarily readable and engrossing, each book in the trilogy manages to have a unique feel while maintaining characters and an overarching story. The books are all set in a world where certain people can ingest small bits of metal to give themselves relatively basic powers - push up against metal, pull towards metal, sense emotions, enflame emotions, etc. And some people can do it all. The setting is effectively a world where the big bad guy already won. And what's more, the big bad guy is immortal and has ruled for a thousand years. Try overthrowing that! And maybe overthrowing that guy isn't automatically a positive for the world...
If you want some DENSE fiction, then you can read book 1 of 10 of the Malazan Empire: Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.
Erikson throws you right into a world and offers nearly no explanation for anything. You're left to figure it out. The first book focuses on a group of soldiers trying to do their best for their empire, even if that means rebelling against it. Oh, and there are gods each trying to mettle in the mortal world for their own purposes and magic and... words. So many words. It's enjoyable but tough. Only finished it because I was listening on Audible.
If American history if your preference then I recommend reading Washington and Hamilton, both by Ron Chernow.
This is the biography of Hamilton that inspired the musical. Together they tell of the genius of both men in creating the United States of America, warts and all. I knew about Washington from classes throughout school, but this book made me truly appreciate his many sacrifices. As a fan of Roman history, I agree with others that calling him the American Cincinnatus is true and the highest of honors. Washington's character allowed a government to form.
And the government formed was greatly of Hamilton's design. Although he might have wanted a different government, once the Constitution was written nobody was more diligent in ensuring its passage. Indeed, the government we live under now very much feels like the natural extension of how Hamilton grew the various cabinet positions around him.
The Hamilton biography can get long and somewhat dry. But both are still very well written regardless of how well versed you are (or not) in the history of both men.
Prefer something fast that'll make you feel a lot of emotions? Then try Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.
I'm sure many of us read this when we were kids. I recommend rereading it as an adult and appreciating the different perspective you have while also letting it transport you back to your youth.
Chernow's stuff is basically must-read now. Grant, his latest, is also outstanding.
I read Hamilton and now reading Grant. It is excellent.
I absolutely love Chernow's works. Top-notch biographer.
I also need to admit that I read Where the Red Fern Grows to my kids a few years ago when they were younger. I cried like I did when I read the book as a tween. One of my all time faves.
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. A cross between an Agatha Christie style murder mystery with the groundhog day concept where the protagonist wakes up each morning given another attempt at solving the mystery.
Factfulness by Hans Rosling (RIP). I quite decidedly do not share his abiding worldview (secular humanism) but this book is more about measurable, objective realities of humankind and how pervasively misunderstood they are. It is not a treatise on the "why" behind the story arc of humanity, but it has a lot to say about the direction it is headed.
It is both useful knowledge and enjoyable to read. If you want something that's genuinely uplifting (regardless of your philsophical or (a)theological bent), there's plenty of that in these pages!
"Annihilation" by Jeff VanderMeer
Bad Blood about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos.
Elizabeth Holmes did NOT voice Thanos in the Avengers movies, though confusing her voice for Josh Brolin's is understandable.
The Shining by Stephen King is extremely relevant right now.
I'm currently about 2/3 of the way through American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I'm pleasantly surprised with what a great book it is.
If The Shining and The Stand had a baby...
“Dear Reader” is also good on Kim il-sung and the NK story.
“Sapiens” is an awesome “History of Mankind” which covers every step in our history from proto-homo species to banking/industry to now basically.
I’ll hang up and listen now
Careful with your “Dear Reader” recommendation. I once recommended Michael Malice’s other book “The New Right” on here and was accused of being a fascist.
The girlfriend is currently reading Sapiens, so I'm going to give it a read when she's done.
Sapiens is a phenomenal read.
Okay, you got my attention with The Great Successor. Anything by Nathaniel Philbrick is generally a good read. I believe he grew up on Nantucket so writes a lot of nonfiction related to the sea. In the Heart of the Sea and Sea of Glory are a couple examples. A couple of his non-nautical works I’ve enjoyed were The Last Stand and Bunker Hill.
The news yesterday definitely reminded me of this book. Especially because right now, there's almost no viable successor for him. Un basically killed most of his inner circle and his half brother. His sister is currently thought to be his 2nd in command, but it's assumed that his actual successor can not be a woman, which rules her out. His older brother is there, but has stayed completely out of politics (which is why he's still alive) and is also thought to be mentally feeble.
A mix of fiction. A fix of miction? Fixion?:
Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere or Good Omen (both lots of fun, fantasy-ish)
Thorton Wilder, The Eighth Day
Kate Chopin, The Awakening (quick read, way ahead of its time)
Patrick O'Brian, the Aubrey Maturin series, historical fiction set during Napoleonic wars)
Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate (lonnnng, said to be the greatest Russian 20C novel)
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (more readable than its early rep)
Charles Dickens, Hard Times ( a MUCH better writer than the syrupy rep of his books)
Milan Kundera, Unbearable Lightness of Being (sexy, at least when I first read it)
Jeff Shaara, The Steel Wave (historical fiction, D-Day, surprisingly suspenseful)
Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See (another WW II movie, a more personal scale)
Michael Shaara, Killer Angels (Battle of Gettysburg, Pulitzer, source of movie Gettysburg)
Jim Harrison, Brown Dog (a book, also a series, by a Michigan guy about a Michigan guy)
J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter (if you didn't read them, or read them to your kids, she spins a great tale)
Re-reading the Harry Potter series right now (just started the 4th, Goblet of Fire) and listening to the Binge Mode Podcast that goes along with it. Has been quite enjoyable.
Killer Angels was a great, great book. If you’re going that route, I’d suggest including the prequel and sequels as well (Gods and Generals, The Last Full Measure). Great writing. Back in the days when national parks were open, those books inspired a trip to Gettysburg 7 years after reading them. It’s one thing to go and see the magnitude of the place going in relatively blind. Going there after reading those books was like feeling history.
Agree that the Killer Angels is very good. When you were in Gettysburg did they still have the electric map presentation that showed the strategy and troop movements?
April 22nd, 2020 at 12:09 AM ^
The giant, round/rotunda painting that had lights turned on/off in series to show the progression of the battle? Indeed, did see that. Otherwise, spent most of my time out in the fields and taking a guided bus tour. Obviously it’s a very historical place but I wouldn’t have appreciated it nearly to the degree I did without those books.
Also concur on Killer Angels. Makes history come to life. It still amazes me that Buford's cavalry had the fate of the entire country in its hands as they battled to secure the high ground before the Battle of Gettysburg even commenced.
I too took a trip to Gettysburg after reading the novel and watching the excellent film based on it. Most memorable for me was climbing up onto Little Round Top and imagining Chamberlain and his men digging in, charging, retreating (and many dying) as they protected the Union flank. Little Round Top is a small, inconspicuous rocky hill and it awesome to think that so much of consequence could happen right there.
Little Round Top you say? While I was there, I made sure to find this monument and snap this picture. 16th Michigan Infantry help hold the top. And, to make this slightly less off topic, they were led by Norval Welch, an Ann Arbor lawyer and member of the first graduating class of UofM law school. Wherever you go, Go Blue (even Gettysburg).
https://www.law.umich.edu/historyandtraditions/students/Pages/ProfilePage.aspx?SID=23&Year=1860
I'm reading Pauling's Chemistry textbook right now and I love it. General Chemistry is the 69th book I'll have read this year and my favorites have been Factfulness, Superheavy, Behave, Why Don't Students Like School, How to be an Antiracist, and The No Teacher Left Behind Club.
Some interesting science ones were The World in a Grain, Rust, Flavor, The Poison Squad, and The Hidden Lives of Trees.
I've been unable to find any good cognitive science books for kids if anyone knows of one. Also if anyone knows of a literary agent for science nonfiction I'm writing a book on teaching chemistry but have no clue how to connect with a publisher.
Can’t Hurt Me - David Goggins
Bitcoin Billionaires- Ben Mezrich
The Phenomenon - Tim Brown
all three are really good
I got 50-100k in bitcoin in some account I can’t find. It’s a damn shame.
I’m not 500 years old so don’t read books.
Also, you have to know how to read.
Shart of the Deal
If you dig the office, there's an excellent oral history of the show that was published last month. Also a really good oral history of the wire that came out a couple years ago. If you want something quick and pulpy and violent grab almost any book published by hard case crime. Beautiful old school painted covers with hardboiled men, women with torn negligee's and plenty of dark twists and noir sensibilities.