SDA Book Club

Temporary Duty: Ric Locke

Thomas Sowell - Economic Facts and Fallacies.

In Economic Facts and Fallacies, Thomas Sowell exposes some of the most popular fallacies about economic issues in a lively manner that does not require any prior knowledge of economics. These fallacies include many beliefs widely disseminated in the media and by politicians, such as fallacies about urban problems, income differences, male-female economic differences, as well as economic fallacies about academia, about race, and about Third World countries.

http://www.amazon.ca/Economic-Facts-Fallacies-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465022030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310445064&sr=8-1.

Atlas Shrugged.

wikinomics
not because its correct, the author goes on and on about global warming.

but its the play book that the current US government believes in. goes against conventional theory

Pj O'Rourke "All the trouble in the world"

Tyler is having trouble finding a book to read? I am having trouble deciding which book to read next.

Christ! ... go to Amazon.com and search by author, genre, title, interest ... whatever ... there are reviews too and sample pages to preview. .... c'mon ... help yourself. it's all out there. Who needs a librarian in this digital age?

If you are looking for an opinion on a book read ... remember that one person's grand read is another person's crap.

That's my suggestion.

Just finished Ann Coulter's new book "Demonic." I enjoy her writing style and sense of humor. Also recently re-read "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Last summer I first experienced Nassim Taleb's writings (Vίtruvius mentioned them in a post). Would highly recommend:
The Black Swan and
Fooled by Randomness.

One book that surprised me was Benoit Mandelbrot's
The (Mis)Behavior of Markets
which I bought primarily to try to learn a bit of economics from a mathematician whose books I've enjoyed in the past, but the book is actually an excellent introduction to fractals.

American Gods by Neil Giamon

Here's some books you should read before they're banned. Check this video out. It's more of the same from the tolerant left...
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/07/11/video-hey-lets-ban-some-conservative-books/

May I suggest some manly man books?

Post Captain series by Patrick O'Brien;
Hammer's Slammers series by David Drake;
Richard Hannay Series by John Buchan, (Green Mantle, Thirty-Nine steps, Mr. Standfast etc.);
Kim by Rudyard Kipling;
Goldfinger by Ian Flemming;
Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle;

... and while he has some very disturbing personal issues John Ringo's Last Centurion is just dripping with testosterone.

Read a few of these and you'll want to chop down trees and wrestle wild animals.

If you need to lighten up a bit, I suggest some of the older PG Wodehouse stuff.

If you're a techie type and all that flannel and gunsmoke makes you uncomfortable, you could always read:

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson;
Bigend cycle by William Gibson, (Pattern Recognition, Sppok Country, Zero History);
For the Win by Cory Doctorow, (warning, when reading books by lefties, don't give in to the temptation to think you're really smart just becaue you "get" the thesis. So what.)

If you like "hard" science fiction, I recommend Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement.

For interesting human dynamics in science fiction, I recommend some of C. J. Cherryh's Merchanter series. These are somewhat hit-and-miss, but I recommend Merchanter's Luck, Finity's End, and Tripoint.

Life by Keith Richards. An eye opener; the man's not as burned out as he looks.

That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

Okay, Okay, I will suggest that last book I read ... Andrew Breitbart's "Righteous Indignation" ... If you are interested in the main stream media's evil, this book cover's it and a lot more.

Anything by Ayaan Hirshi Ali

http://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=ayaan+hirsi+ali&tag=msncahydra-20&index=aps&hvadid=405406240&ref=pd_sl_18ckt8w7n4_p

Primetime Propaganda by Ben Shapiro.

Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
the story of a summer while telling the story of lifetime of genocide, war, art and the post modern world.

Robert Silverberg's Chronicles of Majipoor. Start with Lord Valentine's Castle.

Fantasy fiction has become an unreadable morass of Tolkien clones, D&D knockoffs, and porn. It's easy to forget that fantasy fiction used to be fantastic, and thought-provoking, and High Concept.

Lindsay Davis' Marcus Didius Falco novels. Hard-boiled private detective fiction set in early Imperial Rome.

if you are prepared to get really prepared:
One Second After
by William R. Forstchen
What if continental USA was hit with an EMP attack?
Year One...

America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It (2006, ISBN 0-89526-078-6)

Tyranny of Nice (2008, ISBN 978-0-9780490-1-0; introduction)

Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech And The Twilight Of The West (2009)

After America: Get Ready for Armageddo (2011)

Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights by Ezra Levant (Paperback - Oct 27 2009)

Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada's Oil Sands by Ezra Levant (Hardcover - Sep 14 2010)
Buy new: CDN$ 29.99 CDN$ 18.80

and the always provocative and entertaining, Michael Crichton:
State of Fear.
Read this on Xmas Day back in 2004.
first chapter, all about tsunamis.
horrific news on Boxing Day was made more chilling by my new found expertise on tsunamis.
and having spent much of my youth on those beaches in Thailand, India, well, what can be said to do any justice to that horrible day...

OK, one more:
anything by Bill Bryson but especially,
1 - A Walk in the Woods
2 - A Brief History of Nearly Everything
3 - At Home [fascinating look at how the modern household and everything in it came into being]
-
Try any of them on audio book [mp3s]
easier on the eyes in the sun, great while driving long stretches of road or vacuuming the pool, etc...

Mark Steyn's upcoming book "After America". It isn't out yet, but will be out August 8th. It's on my summer list for sure.

All good choices. I would add one I just barely finished, Reckless Endangerment by Gretchen Morgenson, and Joshua Rosner, but only if you want to know how the US economy came unglued. Warning: names have NOT been changed to protect the guilty and most of them are settled into cosy government positions for the duration of the current administration.

Just finished re-reading "Paris 1919" by Margaret MacMillan. I recommend it unreservedly. Also "At Home" by Bill Bryson.

Of Margaret Atwood's novels, I think "Cat's Eye" was pretty good, as was "Alias Grace". I'm always sorry to come to the end of anything by Alexander McCall Smith. Christie Blatchford has two books well worth your time: "Helpless" and "Fifteen Days".

Sometimes it's fun to re-read something that really impressed you when you were younger to see if it still holds up. Rudyard's "Kim" still does. Nancy Drew, not so much.

For light anarchistic summer reading nothing beats the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Start with the first one... One for the Money.

And while you wait for Steyn's book, you can always indulge in Oriana Fallaci's "The Force of Reason".

OMG: how could I forget Bill Bryson's
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
LOL page after page
great history of growing up in post war middle America aka Kid World

After only 20 or so replies we have already hit the bottom with Margaret Atwood. When you consider all the wonderful books out there, for her name to come up so soon in the hit parade is truly depressing.

"Carnage and Culture" by Victor Davis Hanson. One of the most illuminating military histories out there. Plus it's as enthralling as the best gripping, page turning, fictions out there. A must.

http://www.amazon.ca/Carnage-Culture-Landmark-Battles-Western/dp/0385720386/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310448140&sr=1-1

Economic facts and Fallacies 2nd Edition by Thomas Sowell

Read fiction -- it's summer, and your soul needs to be moved. Non-fiction political diatribes can't do that. I'll give you two recommendations, but I could go all day.

Wolf Hall -- Hilary Mantel. It's Thomas Cromwell told from his perspective and it's just a great read. Besides the fascination of the man, Henry the 8th, and the politics of the time, you also get to see, nay, feel a transformative technology at work on England and humankind (printing press). Not unlike today with the Internet.

Moor's Last Sigh - Salman Rushdie. Don't laugh, people talk down about Rushdie when they don't really know because they haven't given the time. Remember the family tree at the beginning and read that novel (sort of like you need to keep the family trees in mind for War and Peace). It's his best, better even than Midnight's Children (IMO, but not the Booker's, what do they know?). You will be amazed at the man's talent -- from pure mastery and fun with language in storytelling, I have seen no better modern writer.

BTW, I'm here to tell you that you're also allowed to say as a conservative that Atlas Shrugged sucked, at least as a novel. You can get that whole book from 1500 word Rand essay without the laboured plot and boring characters. Sorry, Kate, had to get that off my chest. BTW, I don't mind the frequent Atlas Shrugged references in this blog - definitely a cultural touchstone for us limited gov't types.

If you're looking for something more in the escapist category I'd suggest you try David Weber or John Ringo. If you are using your computer or an e-book reader then you should probably hop on over to Baen Books and check out their Free (that's right - FREE!) Library. http://www.baen.com/library/
Of course, if you don't like science fiction...

I was kind of pulling your chain with the Atwood suggestions. However, of her novels, I think the ones I mentioned were her better ones. I have yet to detect the slenderest thread of humor in anything she has ever written though. Even the gloomiest writers usually manage to be funny, even if only by accident.

America Alone by Mark Steyn,
Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan,
The Black Book of Communism by Stephane Courtois,
Ethical Oil by Ezra Levant,
The Red Flag by David Priestland,
Left Out by John Gormely.

All great books and not necessarily in order of preference. You can tell I'm retired, well mostly.

Rita your reply was gracious. I myself can't stand the woman, but I shouldn't be such a critic of the selections people are offering.

"Starship Troopers" by Robert A. Heinlein.

So many things to be learned in one entertaining tome....

TJ, Atwood doesn't appear to have any sense of humor, but Luba Goy reading (as Margaret Atwood) to some patient in the hospital (I believe the patient eventually expired) is one of my treasured memories of the Air Farce. That Ms. Atwood was the source of inspiration for that sketch redeems her somewhat.

Stay away from her poems. They will suck all the joy out of your life.

Londonistan by Melanie Phillips
Winter's Tale and
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin

"Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.

If you are looking for something more lighthearted, I'd recommend "In 50 Years we'll all be Chicks", by Adam Carolla.

Try Douglas Adams:

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

'Fearful Symmetry: The Fall and Rise of Canada's Founding Values' - Brian Crowley
'Crowley believes that our government needs to shrink in size and where its presence is necessary, policies need to be adopted that actually reward people for doing the "right things" (working, having families, faith, duty, honour, commitment and responsibility and so on...)'
'Oh, Oh, Canada! a Voice from the Conservative Resistance' - William D. Gairdner
'The conservative resistor can only delight in the impudence with which Gairdner interrogates the dull adherents of these dogmas. In "On Atheism", he asks his generic anti-theist, "How did you come by your faith?", before proceeding to demonstrate that atheistic certitudes about the coming into being of an unfathomably complex and ordered universe by spontaneous happenstance are tantamount to a belief in magic, and hardly less fideistic than the traditional postulate of a prior Cause.
The Book of Absolutes: A Critique of Relativism and a Defence of Universals' - William D. Gairdner
'In The Book of Absolutes, Gairdner trains his sights on the philosophy of relativism, the intellectual (more accurately, anti-intellectual) matrix out of which many of the most odorous orthodoxies of the day have arisen.'
'The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth, and Power' - Melanie Phillips
'In The World Turned Upside Down, Melanie Phillips explains that the basic cause of this explosion of irrationality is the slow but steady marginalization of religion. We tell ourselves that faith and reason are incompatible, but the opposite is the case. It was Christianity and the Hebrew Bible, Phillips asserts, that gave us our concepts of reason, progress, and an orderly world on which science and modernity are based.'
'Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future' - Robert Bryce
In Power Hungry, Bryce crushes a phalanx of energy myths, showing why renewables are not green, carbon capture and sequestration won't work, and even--surprise!--that the U.S. is leading the world in energy efficiency. Power Hungry delivers a clear-eyed view of what's needed to transform the gargantuan global energy sector.
'United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror' - Jamie Glazov
'"United in Hate" analyzes the Left's contemporary romance with militant Islam as a continuation of the Left's love affair with communist totalitarianism in the twentieth century. Just as the Left was drawn to the communist killing machines of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Castro, so too it is now attracted to radical Islam.'
'Canada and Other Matters of Opinion' - Rex Murphy
He rarely gets it wrong and he is one of the two reasons that the CBC still exists - Hockey Night in Canada is the other by the way.
I have others but enough said - enjoy your Summer - read, relax and rejuvinate - engage and be kind to others... enjoy.

Any Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout

Anything by Dorothy Sayers

Fascinating question, but not really that helpful because it lacks context. What does one want to do? Learn? Be challenged? Laugh?

In any case, as a Canadian, my WWII knowledge has always been formulated by the fighting in Europe. I found "Ripples of Battle" by Victor Davis Hanson one of the most compelling books I've read in a long time. Anything by VDH is good, but after a while I must admit some of his thoughts blend together a bit and I find a bit of redundancy.

"Gone With the Wind" - Margaret Mitchel
"We The Living" - Ayn Rand
"Trinity, Redemption, The Haj, Mila 18, Exodus" - Leon Uris
"Broke" or anything else by Glenn Beck
"1492" - the world of North/South America before the arrival of Columbus
'Archipelago Gulag I (and II) - extremely depressing but these two tombs give the western mind a first hand look into the gulags of the Soviet Union. You will never not fear Communism ever again if you can get through these two books! You will find yourself drawn in by the never ending horror and brutality of life as a state slave. You will thank your lucky stars (The Good Lord), every day, that you were not born in a Communist country and you will find yourself outraged that people are willing to even listen to someone peddling anything resembling Communism.

Don Winslow: "The Winter of Frankie Machine." (Men, mostly.) Also, "The Power of the Dog." Same author. Anything by George MacDonald Fraser.

"The Art of War" Sun Tzu
"The Book of Five Rings" Miyamoto Musashi

If you're looking for fiction,I'd highly recommend anything by Neal Stephenson. I was almost put off by him when I started reading Snowcrash and the main characters name was Hiero Protagonist. That seems to be one of Stephenson's quirks; despite having a seeming endless supply of ideas and knowledge of minutae, he seems to draw a blank when it comes to naming characters and often recycles names between books.

If SF is not your staple fare, I'd recommend his The Baroque Trilogy which is set in the late 1600's primarily in England and Europe and is a fascinating view of that time with Isaac Newton and other natural philosphers as significant characters in the book. It's long so be warned.

Just finished re-reading The Diamond Age which is set in a future Hong Kong in a world where nanotechnology rules.

Mad Mike, I've enjoyed Starship Troopers several times and would also recommend Revolt in 2100. Just about any early Heinlein is great. I've got just about everything Heinlein wrote but his final works weren't nearly as easy to read as his initial books.

Posted by: Mad Mike at July 12, 2011 1:40 AM

I'm with Mike on this one.

Please don't let that horrid movie stop you from reading this incredible book. As an added bonus there a pile of references in the book to Canadian Victoria Cross recipients.

Gotta go download it to my Kindle now that I have been reminded!