Several times over the years, I have thought about starting a monthly thread about what people are reading. I am always looking for good reading material. For different reasons, I have never done this.
Since their is so much acrimony about politics on the list, this might be a diversion. Though, I am sure with a little effort, it can devolve into another political flame thrower match. So, here are the books I have read over the last two months (July and August). Robert Parker - Pastime - A Spenser detective novel. Spenser takes on case of missing woman. William Shirer - The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - Excellent novel. Probably the longest book I have ever read. It is not a war history in that it does not talk about strategies and such. It talks about the impact of battles on the Nazi Party and Germany in whole and how the Nazi's gained power. Hitler was not a great military leader it seems. His ability seemed to be in politics alone. He had an uncanny ability to know how other governments would react to Germany's political moves. With this ability, he was able to annex three countries with out firing a shot and divide Poland without resistance from France and England. M Beaton - Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham, Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden , Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam - These are all murder mysteries. Imagine combining a middle aged Bridget Jones with Barney Fife. You would then have the protagonist. Very humorous. Robert Parker - Double Deuce - Another Spenser Novel. - Spenser and Hawke take on the job of cleaning up a project. Milton Friedman - Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History - An interesting book. It talks a lot about how the US used to be on a bimetallic standard (silver and gold) and how that became a gold standard, and then a fiat standard. It also links how changes in the standard effected different parts of the world. For example, The US implemented a huge silver buying program. At the time, China was the only country on a silver standard. Silver fled the country leading to mass inflation. This lead to Chiang Kai Shek's early departure and the beginning of communism in China. Interestingly enough, now is the only time in recorded history when all money around the world is issued by fiat. There is material base to any money anymore. Glenn Beck - The Overton Window - A very short book that is conspiracy centered. It's less controversial than I thought it would be. In terms of conspiracy or writing, it's no worse than a Steve Berry or David Baldacci Novel. Robert Ludlum - Trevayne - Another conspiracy novel. Written around the Watergate time. This one centers on the defense industry and government being so intertwined that it's hard to tell where one ends and one begins. Robert Parker - Paper Doll - Another Spenser novel. Spenser investigates the apparently random murder of a well off mother. But is anything really random? Agatha Christie - The Listerdale Mystery - A collection of short stories. Agatha Christie - The Sittaford Mystery - An interesting locked room mystery. It does not contain any of the Christie standards like Poirot or Miss Marples. Daniel Silva - The Defector - A Gabriel Allon novel. Very well written spy story. Allon works for the Israeli intelligence service. In this novel, he is trying to save a Russian defector who was kidnapped by Russia. Michael Crichton - Pirate Latitudes - not a very good Crichton story. One of his worse. I would say everything from Timeline on was bad. This book centers on a group of privateers in the Caribbean during the 1600's. As usual for Crichton, all kinds of stuff goes haywire. Dick Morris - Catastrophe - A book that got pushed way down in my stack. It would have been better if I would have read it last year. Anyway, as you would expect, there is a lot of Obama bashing in the book. A lot of you would not appreciate that. However, there is a lot of other interesting sections as well. There is a part on the neglect in treatment of Post Traumatic Stress in returning soldiers. There is a good section on how lobbyist skirt lobbying laws. Another section on some corrupt politicians with the gory details. Those parts would be a good read for anyone, but I think some couldn't get past the Obama bashing. J - No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. - Mark Twain The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy. - Thomas Jefferson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:326347 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
