Read This and That

I started a little experiment in January of 2007. I decided to keep track of the books I read throughout the year. Didn’t do it for bragging rights or anything, just to track where my tastes took me and exactly how much I read. So it goes as follows:

The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London. Finally got around to reading that high school American Lit required reading. Not too bad, but for my money The Sea Wolf is much better.

The Man in the High Castle by Phillip Dick. Interesting exercise in alternative history. For a more thorough shakedown reference this post.

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk. “People who would never throw litter from their car will drive past you with their radio blaring. People who’d never blow cigar smoke at you in a crowded restaurant will bellow into their cell phone. They’ll shout at each other across the space of a dinner plate…….You turn up your music to hide the noise. Other people turn up their music to hide yours. You turn yours up again. Everyone buys a bigger stereo system. This is the arms race of sound. You don’t win with a lot of treble.” This was actually my second read through of what is probably my favorite book by my favorite author. Not for the faint of heart, but Chuck never is.

The Edge of Disaster by Stephen Flynn. Decent look into the sorry, decrepit state of critical infrastructure in this country. A little “We’re all gonna die!”, but not too bad.

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Another attempt to cross a ‘classic’ of my mental list. I think the movie was actually better.

Global Brain by Howard Bloom. A little thick and chunky but truly excellent. Again, reference this post.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. Concise and to the point. A good explanation of the new market dynamics at work in our world. Previous post here.

The One Percent Doctrine by Ron Suskind. Really good, if a bit over the top at times. I almost have to believe some of the dialogue he’s quoting in the book is embellished, it feels a little too slick at times. Also a few factual flubs that don’t take away from the overall work. Worth the time.

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. Cold war doomsday that depressed the shit out of me. On the Beach without the beach, only some of the people live. Recommended by Mrs. Ares. Not a bad read, but heavy like a cancer screening.

To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway. Flaming piece of shit. If this had been his first it would have been his last. With this one he fell pretty far from A Moveable Feast and The Sun Also Rises. I wanted my time back when I finished this one.

Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. You’d be hard-pressed to get me to say something negative about Chuck’s work. Sort of Invisible Monsters-like in the gross out factor. He’s a modern master of labeling and texturing the hidden in plain sight aspects of our society. Hemingway for Generation X.

Brave New War by John Robb. Excellent primer on the migration of 4^th Generation Warfare onto the next battlefield and its meld into 5^th Generation Warfare. Must read for anyone attempting to understand the realities on the ground in the War on Terror.

Leadership: The Warrior’s Art edited by Christopher Kolenda. Good collection of leadership essays written mostly by current or prior army brass. As with most leadership books, there are little bits to be harvested here and there.

Terror at Beslan by John Giduck. One of the best accounts yet constructed of the school siege in Russia in 2004. Gives quite a bit of back story about prior attacks that never got much play over here. If America had endured what the Russians had by the fall of 2004 we’d be coming apart at the seams. As I’ve written earlier, this book is real heart of darkness stuff. Incredible and I mean that in the worst possible way. Plan on having nightmares if you pick this one up.

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Like trying to eat a filet mignon the size of a sofa. Both excellent and dense at times, though the latter was a result of Taleb not low-browing it. His pitching was a bit above my swing, but I fouled off most of it. At some point I’m going to reread it so I can soak in more. Good material though. For the After School Special version you can watch his presentation at PopTech! here.

Boots on the Ground by Karl Zinsmeister. Quick read by a reporter that was embedded with the 82^nd Airborne during the march up to Baghdad in 2003. Passed along by a coworker who was in the unit. It’s a bit brief and shallow, with an obvious prejudice towards the soldiers he was with. Not that I have the tiniest problem with that, but that’s my own personal bias riding along.

On the Wild Edge by David Peterson. Well written piece by a guy that went off the grid without going around the bend. Good nature writing, he needs to write more.

Make Love* The Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell. Funny self-deprecating near fiction by Cheese Theater’s leading man. Gotta love any guy that doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Microbrewed Adventures by Charlie Papazian. Beer around the world from the godfather of home brewing. Made me really, really thirsty.

Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. Excellent, tough read. Part autobiography, part homage to his team mates. If you don’t choke up a few times during this you don’t have a pulse.

Removing Managerial Barriers to Effective Leadership by Norm Stamper. Read it mainly for work, plus a title that I fell in love with. I dare you to try and find a copy of this in the wild.

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. Great, stellar, well-done work about the Dust Bowl. Shows how the “Greatest Generation” got its start in low-grade hell. Very much worth the time and the National Book Award that it received.

The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. Excellent read. For more on the book slide over to this post. Very deserving of the Pulitzer it received.

Leadership and Self-Deception by The Arbinger Institute. Thin little read about ‘getting it’ leadership. Would probably be lost on leaders that don’t think anything is ever wrong or other people are always the problem.

U-Turn by Bruce Grierson. Very interesting collection of stories about people that woke up mid-life and called a “Do Over”. Gets a bit introspective and navel-gazing at times, but it doesn’t hurt the journey. Very worth the time.

Unconquerable Nation by Brian Jenkins. Jenkins is one of the smartest guys in the room when it comes to terrorism. Pay attention to what he has to say. Also has the distinction of being the rare academic that has seen combat. Good temperature taking of the War on Terror. Bonus: Free on the internet.

No True Glory by Bing West. Excellent look into the problem that was Falluja. Starting with the murder of 4 U.S. contractors in April of 2004 and culminating with the retaking of the city by Marines in November of that year. West scales up and down effortlessly; from the macro political to the micro combat. He also makes it hard not to love grunts.

Overblown by John Mueller. Academic dissection of the domestic consequences and play of the war on terror. It gets a bit long and dry at times, but there are some genuine sparklers to be found. Book doesn’t try to call bogus on the entire apparatus but tries to place it into context, something that is sorely needed.

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. Not bad, but I finished and wondered exactly what I was supposed to take away.

The Grid by Phillip Schewe. Fun look into the evolution of what’s been called the most complex thing ever created by man: Our national power grid.

We the Living by Ayn Rand. I promised myself another Rand when I gave up on The Fountainhead 2/3 of the way through. Rand was a talented story teller that desperately needed an editor. (Case in point: In Fountainhead I don’t need 5 pages of how great Ellsworth Toohey was as kid. I get the f****** point!) The book is a harsh indictment of the Russian revolution of 1917 and its aftermath. Being Rand, everyone dies and no one is happy.

Leadership and Training for the Fight by Paul Howe. Howe is a retired career soldier and former Delta member. I thought there might be some good work to mine, but it turned out to be largely a manual for first time NCOs.

Overall I was a little surprised at the final tally. Part of this was aided by taking over a month off work. Everybody should take at least a month away from work with the sole purpose of being a lazy bum. Those Europeans are on to something. Out of the above list I would strongly recommend Lone Survivor and The Worst Hard Time. If you’re any kind of reader it will be time well spent.

Ares