What are you reading now?

[Brian in Mesa]

The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler (it is the 5th John Rain book). Great series.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

Obama's Wars - by Bob Woodward

 

[mrbyte]

A history of modern Britain

Mustang Ace memioers of a fighter pilot

The American west a history of the american west

Attack state red. The Royal Anglicans in Afgahnistan

 

[Louis]

I just bought...

1. The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World's Most Endangered Languages by K. David Harrison

2. The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant

Deep in the frigid Siberian wilderness, an Amur tiger hunts. Fearsome strength is at the command of a calculating mind that relentlessly stalks its newest prey: man. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the taiga, John Vaillant provides an unforgettable true account of a lethal collision between man and beast in a remote Russian village during the late 1990's. At its core, The Tiger is the story of a desperate poacher who picked the wrong tiger to accost. Yet it engages the reader on political, socioeconomic, and conservation fronts in order to explain how the stage was set for a deadly showdown. It's a gutsy approach that could easily lead to chaotic storytelling, but Vaillant is careful to keep the bone-chilling storyline taut by capturing the intensity of an animal worthy of our greatest respect and deepest fears. --Dave Callanan

3. Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Stephen Johnson

Johnson--writer, Web guru, and bestselling author of Everything Bad Is Good for You--delivers a sweeping look at innovation spanning nearly the whole of human history. What sparks our great ideas? Johnson breaks down the cultural, biological, and environmental fuel into seven broad "patterns," each packed with diverse, at times almost disjointed anecdotes that Johnson synthesizes into a recipe for success. A section on "slow hunches" captivates, taking readers from the FBI's work on 9/11 to Google's development of Google News. A section on error takes us through a litany of accidental innovations, including the one that eventually led to the invention of the computer. "Being right keeps you in place," Johnson reminds us. "eing wrong forces us to explore." It's eye-opening stuff--although it does require an investment from the reader. But as fans of the author's previous work know, an investment in Johnson pays off, and those who stick with the author as he meanders through an occasional intellectual digression will come away enlightened and entertained, and with something perhaps even more useful--how to recognize the conditions that could spark their own creativity and innovation. Another mind-opening work from the author of Mind Wide Open.

Just started The Last Speakers and it has been a very good read thus far.

 

[AZZenny]

The Mission, The Men, and Me by Pete Blaber, a former Delta Force commander. This is in many ways like my favorite entrepreneurial strategy book, In Hostile Territory, except instead of sharing Mossad's covert ops guidelines, MMM presents Delta Force undercover ops guidelines for how to make the most of a situation.

Both use specific missions, described anecdotally, to illustrate creative, focused, flexible, rational ways of looking at people and situations. They of course share many of the same principles, as you would expect of books written by top undercover ops leaders. Both books are very well-written, the points are clearly made, and the read is often suspensful -- and at times hysterically funny. Both openly share the action-man's frustration with up-tight bureaucracies, office-based long-distance decision-makers, and political posturing.

MMM gets the nod because IHT is once again out of print, and going for an exorbitant price used. Plus, Americans will be familiar with the missions and issues Blaber discusses, and will already know something about the agencies and players, and that will make it easily accessible to readers.

Really a very entertaining and insightful read. However, I guarantee you will be grinding your teeth at the recurring political interference and sheer idiocy of bureaucratized decision-making as you see over and over how it has screwed our national security interests.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Requiem for an Assassin by Barry Eisler (it is the 6th John Rain book).

 

[DemsMyBoys]

However, I guarantee you will be grinding your teeth at the recurring political interference and sheer idiocy of bureaucratized decision-making as you see over and over how it has screwed our national security interests.

Pretty much what I am going through with "Obama's Wars". I can only read a chapter or two at a time before I put it down in disgust.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

I'm on the last book of the Mistborn trilogy from Brandon Sanderson. Good stuff if you like fantasy.

 

[Louis]

The Last Speakers was an outstanding read. Not really interested in linguistics type stuff but the underlying stories of the different cultures and issues surrounding the existence of their language was very interesting.

Tiger and Where Good Ideas Come From were pretty decent reads.

I will be starting the Obama's War book in the next few days but I also purchased two books I am especially looking forward to reading...

1. "I Am a Man": Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice by Joe Starita

In 1879, Ponca chief Standing Bear challenged decades of Indian policy when he stood in a federal courthouse in Omaha, Neb., and demanded to be recognized as a person by the U.S. government. Journalist Starita masterfully portrays the chief's story in this compelling narrative of injustices finally righted. The Ponca, relocated from their beloved Niobrara River valley to the harsh plains of Oklahoma, found unlikely allies in a Nebraska newspaper man and a lifelong Indian fighter. Thomas Henry Tibbles, an ex-preacher and editor, filed a writ of habeas corpus on Standing Bear's behalf, demanding the government show good reason why the Ponca should be deprived of their property, homeland and their very lives without due process, an unprecedented act that forced the government to grapple head-on with whether Native Americans, like the recently emancipated black slaves, were persons entitled to equal protection under the law. Gen. George Crook, an accomplished Indian fighter, supported Standing Bear and Tibbles with a harsh indictment of the very policies he had spent his career implementing. Starita transforms what could have been a dry academic survey of U.S. Indian policy into an engaging yarn, full of drama and sudden revelations. (Jan.)

2. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience 1875-1928 by David Wallace Adams

The last "Indian War" was fought against Native American children in the dormitories and classrooms of government boarding schools. Only by removing Indian children from their homes for extended periods of time, policymakers reasoned, could white "civilization" take root while childhood memories of "savagism" gradually faded to the point of extinction. In the words of one official: "Kill the Indian and save the man."


Education for Extinction offers the first comprehensive account of this dispiriting effort. Much more than a study of federal Indian policy, this book vividly details the day-to-day experiences of Indian youth living in a "total institution" designed to reconstruct them both psychologically and culturally. The assault on identity came in many forms: the shearing off of braids, the assignment of new names, uniformed drill routines, humiliating punishments, relentless attacks on native religious beliefs, patriotic indoctrinations, suppression of tribal languages, Victorian gender rituals, football contests, and industrial training.

Especially poignant is Adams's description of the ways in which students resisted or accommodated themselves to forced assimilation. Many converted to varying degrees, but others plotted escapes, committed arson, and devised ingenious strategies of passive resistance. Adams also argues that many of those who seemingly cooperated with the system were more than passive players in this drama, that the response of accommodation was not synonymous with cultural surrender. This is especially apparent in his analysis of students who returned to the reservation. He reveals the various ways in which graduates struggled to make sense of their lives and selectively drew upon their school experience in negotiating personal and tribal survival in a world increasingly dominated by white men.

The discussion comes full circle when Adams reviews the government's gradual retreat from the assimilationist vision. Partly because of persistent student resistence, but also partly because of a complex and sometimes contradictory set of progressive, humanitarian, and racist motivations, policymakers did eventually come to view boarding schools less enthusiastically.
Based upon extensive use of government archives, Indian and teacher autobiographies, and school newspapers, Adams's moving account is essential reading for scholars and general readers alike interested in Western history, Native American studies, American race relations, education history, and multiculturalism.

 

[Mulli]

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[Pariah]

How is it, Mulli? I'm big on judging a book by it's cover, and that looks interesting.

 

[Mulli]

How is it, Mulli? I'm big on judging a book by it's cover, and that looks interesting.

It is a good read. The coding stuff gets confusing, but the author is funny. I recommend.

 

[Pariah]

I'm reading "The Lost City of Z." Just started it last night.

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From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

 

[AZZenny]

Just finished my first Kindle book -- Gavin DeBecker's "2 Seconds" -- for the most part, an excellent read. It's based on the observation that the vast majority of assassination attempts take about 2-5 seconds start to finish -- that's all -- and so protectors have hundredths of a second to intervene, meaning that action has to be pre-emptive, and instinctive. That leads to a discussion of training your intuition and awareness, as well as specific skills and tactics, and structuring the protective task itself to prevent distractions. It's as clear and concise an explanation of Zen -- real old-style Zen -- as I've ever read, and I'd want my bodyguard steeped in this approach (if I ever had one).

The book then lists hundreds and hundreds of assassinations and attempts in the US and worldwide as a compendium, but that's probably the weakest part of the book.

The hardcover isn't worth the $50 price tag, but the Kindle, at half that, is.

 

[Pariah]

The hardcover isn't worth the $50 price tag, but the Kindle, at half that, is.

Dang. a $25 kindle book? I was hooked right up until this.

I'll keep it on a "watch" list and hope it comes down in price over the next couple of years.

 

[AZZenny]

LOL- yeah, this was definitely a '50% off? Wow!' sucker move, when if it was just the book for $25 I would have probably not bought it. But I'd just gotten the Kindle, wanted to get something to read on it... and it seemed like such a deal. So I'd say wait until it's out there used for a lot less.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

LOL- yeah, this was definitely a '50% off? Wow!' sucker move, when if it was just the book for $25 I would have probably not bought it. But I'd just gotten the Kindle, wanted to get something to read on it... and it seemed like such a deal. So I'd say wait until it's out there used for a lot less.

I just read that later this year, Amazon will let people share their Kindle books. I think it will let you send an e-book to someone for 14 days. You won't be able to read a book while you're lending (just like a regular book), but your friend will have the full two weeks to read it.

Maybe we could organize an ASFN Kindle book club? I know a lot of people on here are reading books that I am interested in, so it probably is the same for a lot of us. I don't know if Amazon will have a tool to let you see what your friends have on their Kindles, but we could probably use Shelfari or LibraryThing or something if they don't.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

"The Confession" - John Grisham's new novel.

I read very little fiction but am a huge Grisham fan. Started it yesterday evening. He had me hooked by page 5 and I nearly missed "Modern Family". (Oh No, Mr. Bill!)

 

[Louis]

Finished "I Am a Man" over the weekend and what an incredible read. For history buffs it provides a good look at the Ponca Tribe and the government's treatment of indians in the 1800s. The look back at history is humanized through the story of Standing Bear and his struggle to keep his land. The lawsuit and debate of whether or not indians were persons subject to the 14th Amendment was a great read.

I've just started reading Matt Taibbi's "Griftopia". The first 2 chapters were great reads (as is all of his work IMO) and the book is written to provide an overview and investigation into the financial collapse of this country.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

"The Kennedy Detail - JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence" by Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin.

Very interesting book. It goes over a lot of old ground, re: the assassination, but it also talks about how the agents coped (or didn't) in the years following JFK's death. They also discuss how they felt about JFK, Jackie and their children.

There will be a special on The Discovery Channel on this on 11/22/10.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

"The Complete Short Stories of Truman Capote" Introduction by Reynolds Price.

I love Truman Capote. Every Autumn, when the days get shorter, it's a ritual for me to sit down, turn off the TV and the radio and the phone and just enjoy and appreciate how beautifully he wrote.To anybody having a lousy day: Read his short story "My Side of the Matter". By today's standard it is as un-PC as "Little Black Sambo" and/but is a story that will make you laugh out loud. (Truman is just as capable of making you weep. That's what was so wonderful about the man.)

 

[Bucaguy]

Lee Childs 61 hours

 

[Bada0Bing]

"What the Dog Saw," Malcolm Gladwell

I recently finished this. I was slightly disappointed due to my lofty expectations of Gladwell. I loved his other three books, but this one just didn't fascinate me as much.

 

[Mulli]

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Great book.

 

[jf-08]

I just finished "The Hunger Games"

it was great.

Reading this now. Very interesting and original book. The just got off the train in Capital City.