Anybody read a good book lately?

[BrewCrewLeader]

Was it Sunday Warriors ?  A good historical of the Birds from 1939 - 1995....

[Sgt PSN]

As previously stated in another thread, I just read Sun Tzu: The Art of War.  Excellent book.  Another great book is One Tough Marine.  It's the biography of a Marine who served in Korea and then lost his leg below the knee.  Despite that he still met all the physical standards for Recon and served 3 tours in Vietnam.  Very inspirational.  Most of the reading I do revolves around the Marine Corps or American History.  On a sports related topic, Hoop Dreams was great.  I read it a few years ago, but it's one of my all time favorites.  Oh, January's Playboy is pretty good too.  

[JackStraw]

Unfortunately, the pressure to remain competitive in the workplace requires that periodicals and research occupy my eyeballs most of the time.

That said, five books are currently in the nightstand rotation:

"Antietam, by James McPherson. There are more exhaustive accounts of Antietam, (or Sharpsburg depending upon your geography!) but this recent take goes beyond the battle and converges its attendant, pivotal domestic and international implications nicely. The battle was essentially for "homefield" advantage - with the results sending the participant teams into two different directions.

"A World Lit Only by Fire", William Manchester  I believe someone mentioned Manchester earlier. This is a great read about the dark ages - where life was hard, brutish and short - kinda like our Kotite era!

"Another Country, Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders" Mary Pipher Insightful reading for anyone with parents who are "getting up there".

"The Lexus and the Olive Tree - Understanding Globalization", Thomas Friedman Friedamn and the rest of his NYT ilk generally annoy me, but I've put my distaste aside to try to better understand the lefts perspective on why the Euro-wankers and most of the rest of the world dislike us.

The Real Frank Zappa Book, Frank Zappa 'Nuffsaid

(PG, I've never read Koontz, but I used to read a lot of King. The "Stand" in particular was my favorite for it's "Odyssey" styled backdrop against a battle of good vs. evil. IMO it was King's best, and I was wondering if Koontz had anything like it.)

[stillupfront]

As previously stated in another thread, I just read Sun Tzu: The Art of War.  Excellent book.  Another great book is One Tough Marine.  It's the biography of a Marine who served in Korea and then lost his leg below the knee.  Despite that he still met all the physical standards for Recon and served 3 tours in Vietnam.  Very inspirational.  Most of the reading I do revolves around the Marine Corps or American History.  On a sports related topic, Hoop Dreams was great.  I read it a few years ago, but it's one of my all time favorites.  Oh, January's Playboy is pretty good too.  

Try "The Corps" by WEB Griffin. Part of his series on WWII. Griffin books are written in series and a large cast of characters who move in and out of all the books.

[Fan_Since_64]

"Antietam, by James McPherson. There are more exhaustive accounts of Antietam, (or Sharpsburg depending upon your geography!) but this recent take goes beyond the battle and converges its attendant, pivotal domestic and international implications nicely. The battle was essentially for "homefield" advantage - with the results sending the participant teams into two different directions.

Thanks for the quick reviews, JackStraw. I'm curious, have you ever read "Landscape Turned Red" by Stephen W. Sears, which was also about Antietam/Sharpsburg? If so, how would you say the McPherson book compares? I liked the Sears book a great deal, which I read several years ago, and am familiar with McPherson (a professor at Princeton, I believe) who has done some excellent Civil War work previously.

BTW, I've mentioned William Manchester on this thread and have read several of his works (not the one you mentioned), all of which I liked. I hope to finally get around to reading "The Death of a President" in 2003.

[RomeyRome]

Hey Kuz did you hear that there is a new Dean Koontz book out?

I think it is called "By the Light of the Moon" or something.  I don't even know what it is about, but I saw something about it somewhere.

Just thought you might wanna know.

[PhillyGirl]

Just saw it while I was out.

[Sgt PSN]

Try "The Corps" by WEB Griffin. Part of his series on WWII. Griffin books are written in series and a large cast of characters who move in and out of all the books.

I've been told good things about that book.  I'll be sure to pick it up after New Year's.  Also, if any of you are curious about what it's like to go through boot camp in today's Marine Corps check out Making Marines.  It was written in 97 or 98.  Very good book.  It's funny though because I do not consider myself "old" at all but there are so many differences in bootcamp in 97 than in 94 when I went through that it almost makes me "Old Corps".  

[Fan_Since_64]

Wow, this thread really got buried!    Been a busy couple of weeks!  

Okay, I've been reading "The 1960 Philadelphia Eagles: The Team That They Said Had Nothing but a Championship" by Robert Gordon. I'm sure that a few people on the board have read it by now. While I've run across a couple of annoying factual errors (it says that Vince Lombardi was the defensive coach and Tom Landry the offensive coach for the Giants back in the late 50s - the opposite was true), the game accounts are quite good and obviously well researched, as well as the background stories on a number of the players.

I think the thing that I've enjoyed the most, though, is how well the book gets across how different the NFL culture was in 1960 than it is now. Players and coaches were part-timers who had to juggle off-season jobs with their football careers. Pro football was on the rise, but not yet the sports goliath that it has become. There was certainly less of a "big business" quality to the league, and the teams, than there is today. On the field, QBs called their own plays and were true field generals (well, unless they played for Paul Brown in Cleveland), and many of the players were more versatile and less locked into specialized roles than is the case today.

Of course, some things definitely haven't changed. The Giants and the Eagles are still fierce rivals. Cohesive teams can overachieve; teams with greater talent but less cohesion still underachieve. And it's still all about controlling the line of scrimmage.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the Eagles, specifically, or the NFL in general.

[satoshi]

Today I finished Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. I usually don't read classics, but that book drew my interest at the book store. And it was not bad. Now I'm trying to read Scott Ritter's book.

[BDCBuckCBuckRun]

I just finished the coolest book in the world.....

Frindle  

[Zanshin]

I just finished the coolest book in the world.....

Frindle  

It's the coolest book in the world, and that's all you have to say about it?

[Diomedes]

Today I finished Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.  Now I'm trying to read Scott Ritter's book.

Hawthorne can write.

Ritter, well, be careful who sees you carrying that book around.  I'd put a brown cover on it if I were you.  In these parts reading that book makes you a commie pinko fag, and anti-American, which is to say, a target.  

I'm almost finished reading Bringing the Heat.  I'm impressed.  I did not think it would be as good as it is.  I think I'll read Friday Night Lights the next time I crack open a football book.

Next up however is Gibbon's complete Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

[stillupfront]

Black House by Stephen King.

Not bad. Too sci-fi for my taste. Easy to follow. Good plot line.

[satoshi]

Ritter, well, be careful who sees you carrying that book around.  I'd put a brown cover on it if I were you.  In these parts reading that book makes you a commie pinko fag, and anti-American, which is to say, a target.  

Thanks, Dio. But don't worry I always put a cover. Whatever he writes, I think it's worse reading at least once. I'm not an anti-American and will support the attack as long as it's rational.