Books you read in 2019

1. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History -- Sidney Mintz (6/10)
2. Popularity: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World -- Mitch Prinstein (9/10)
3. Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets / Sudhir Venkatesh (10/10)
4. Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War / Mary Roach (4/10)

5. Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose / Deirdre Barrett. (10/10)
Less than 200 pages, super fascinating and easy to read. Uses evolutionary psychology to explain all kinds of stuff from why people get obsessed with "cute" stuffed animals to why people love shitty movies and tv shows so much. Lots of interesting examples from the animal kingdom as well. This one guy that was a pioneer in this field figured out how wasps navigate by moving around pinecones to fuck with them. Mother birds would feed a fake beak attached to a stick over a real baby bird if the fake beak was redder and wider. Book has a whole list of human children that were raised by different types of animals which was super fascinating. Tells about a Russian scientist that created domesticated foxes for the first time to prove one of Darwin's theories. Etc, book's just full of interesting stuff.

Next Up --

 

1) The Force by Don Winslow 3/10
2) The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks 8/10
3) Shadow’s Edge (Night Angel #2) by Brent Weeks 9.5/10
4) Beyond the Shadows (Night Angel #3) by Brent Weeks 9/10

 

1. Marine Sniper 93 Confirmed Kills by Charles Henderson 6/10
2. Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy by Eric D. Weitz 8/10
3. Operator Down (Pike Logan #12) by Brad Taylor 7/10
4. The Confessor (Gabriel Allon #3) by Daniel Silva 8/10 This book was another good one in this series that I have really enjoyed the beginnings of. I can tell that part of the reason I enjoy these books so much is that they take place in Europe and have significant parts in cities that I have visited in the recent past. I've also enjoyed the ties back to World War II in the last couple of books. Already ordered the next book in the series but probably won't read it until about the end of this month.

 

I am loving "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man." Also loved "Blowback". Anybody have recommendations for similar books? Kinda like the dark/secret side of US international relations, global empire, etc. I know there's a book called "Way of the Knife" which is a CIA history and "Ghost Wars" about Afghanistan; both looked pretty long and dense when I skimmed though.

 

1) The Force by Don Winslow 3/10
2) The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks 8/10
3) Shadow’s Edge (Night Angel #2) by Brent Weeks 9.5/10
4) Beyond the Shadows (Night Angel #3) by Brent Weeks 9/10
5) Broken Lands by Jonathan Maberry 6/10

 

1. Marine Sniper 93 Confirmed Kills by Charles Henderson 6/10
2. Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy by Eric D. Weitz 8/10
3. Operator Down (Pike Logan #12) by Brad Taylor 7/10
4. The Confessor (Gabriel Allon #3) by Daniel Silva 8/10
5. Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins 4/10 This by far the worst of the series and not really enjoyable at all. Glad I finished the series just wish it had a better ending and that the last book was much stronger, because I enjoyed the first two books.

 

1. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History -- Sidney Mintz (6/10)
2. Popularity: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World -- Mitch Prinstein (9/10)
3. Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets / Sudhir Venkatesh (10/10)
4. Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War / Mary Roach (4/10)
5. Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose / Deirdre Barrett. (10/10)

6. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man / John Perkins. (10/10)
This book was highly appealing on two levels -- one for the info I picked up about the US's role in the economic situations of Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and some other places. The other was vicariously enjoying reading about someone with a job that involves so much international travel, living among different cultures, doing cool shit. Nothing I read was completely earth-shattering as far as what I knew about globalization and such, but it filled in a lot of details and was interesting to read.

Up Next --
Haven't decided yet

 

Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" would probably work here.

I read Confessions when it came out and don't remember a ton about it. Should probably revisit. Some critics have charged that he embellished certain things but I can't name anything specific rn.

 

From reading up on Wiki, the main thing that was doubted is how he describes his initial recruitment to his job and the supposed involvement of the NSA in vetting him. NSA people say that's ridiculous and nothing to do with their agency. He describes these untraceable meetings with a beautiful woman at a house in the 1960s in Boston where she lays out these secrets to him and fucks with him psychologically to see what kind of material he is. Some think that sounds made up for the book.

Other than that, I think he's pretty much credible. The best part about his argument is he repeats over and over that he's not alleging some kind of vast conspiracy. He's just pointing out the ways that banks, governments and corporations naturally scratch each others' backs and have snowballed into an unstoppable force.

 

Up Next/Currently Reading --

 

1. Marine Sniper 93 Confirmed Kills by Charles Henderson 6/10
2. Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy by Eric D. Weitz 8/10
3. Operator Down (Pike Logan #12) by Brad Taylor 7/10
4. The Confessor (Gabriel Allon #3) by Daniel Silva 8/10
5. Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins 4/10
6. Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945 by Stephen E. Ambrose 9/10 I'll expand on this a little more in the thread about the book, but I thought it was very good and the focus on the the soldiers actually fighting and usage of so many memories and interviews made it a very interesting read.

 

1) The Force by Don Winslow 3/10
2) The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks 8/10
3) Shadow’s Edge (Night Angel #2) by Brent Weeks 9.5/10
4) Beyond the Shadows (Night Angel #3) by Brent Weeks 9/10
5) Broken Lands by Jonathan Maberry 6/10
6) Vicious (Villains #1) by V.E. Schwab 8/10

 

1. Consent to Kill (Mitch Rapp #7) by Vince Flynn (9/10)
2. Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabell Wilkerson (9.5/10)
3. Act of Treason (Mitch Rapp #8) by Vince Flynn (9/10)
4. Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose (8.5/10)
5. No Exit by Taylor Adams (7.5/10)
6. An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendrick (6.5/10)
7. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (8.5/10)
8. The Mastermind: Drugs, Empire, Murder, Betrayal by Evan Rattliff (10/10)
9. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (6.5/10)
10-13 Orphan X Series 1-4 by Gregg Hurwitz (8/10)

The Mastermind - This book was incredible. It's one of those stories Im shocked it's not more well known. It's about this guy, one of the biggest super criminals and sociopaths in the world. Also a genius. Could be a bond villain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux

There's another book on this coming out next week that I will read also. Its already been optioned for a movie. Unreal true story.

Washington Black - Eh it was aight. More thoughts in the book club thread. Glad I read it. Didnt love it.

Orphan X - At first I thought it was a bit iffy, but grew to really like it. It's a good secret agent/action series. Scratches the Mitch Rapp itch, but in a different way.

I looked to see if anyone had read these. Looks like lhprop1 read the first one a few years ago.

 

Big Chernow fan. Titan on Rockeller is one of my favorite biographies.

 

1. The Future of Humanity by Machio Kaku ****
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry ***
3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes *****
4. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess ****
5. An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena **
6. Grain Brain by David Perlmutter ***
7. Beartown by Fredrik Backman *****
8. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller ***
9. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks **
10. Us Against You by Fredrik Backman *****
11. Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, a s Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S.C. Gwynne *****

 

1) The Force by Don Winslow 3/10
2) The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks 8/10
3) Shadow’s Edge (Night Angel #2) by Brent Weeks 9.5/10
4) Beyond the Shadows (Night Angel #3) by Brent Weeks 9/10
5) Broken Lands by Jonathan Maberry 6/10
6) Vicious (Villains #1) by V.E. Schwab 8/10
7) Vengeful (Villians #2) by V.E. Schwab 9/10

 

1) The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 5/10
2) The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington by Brad Meltzer 9/10

 

1. Citizen Soldiers: The US Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany - Stephen E. Ambrose (7.5/10)
2. Uprooted - Naomi Novik (6.5/10)
3. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics - Daniel James Brown (9/10)
4. The Twelve (The Passage #2) - Justin Cronin (8/10)

 

1) The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 5/10
2) The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington by Brad Meltzer 9/10
3) Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson 8/10

 

1. Citizen Soldiers: The US Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany (Stephen E. Ambrose) - 8/10
2. The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov - Burgin/O'Connor Translation) - 9.5/10
3. The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing (Merve Emre) - 6.5/10 - This one was a little disappointing to me though part of that may be due to me hoping for a different book than the one the author set out to write. This one was really more of a bio on the mother-daughter team (Briggs and Myers) that birthed the idea of the commonly-used MBTI. Interesting lives for sure but I was hoping for more on how corporations and governments have used it to manage personnel. TC this book does briefly mention that USC used Myers-Briggs to match up roommates in the '90s. She does rightfully criticize the indicator for the pseudoscience that it is but again I could have used more on that topic as well. Not bad at all but I just think that there's a more comprehensive book that could have been written.
4. Washington Black (Esi Edugyan) - 6/10 - Shared more in the book club thread on this if you're interested. I liked it ok but frankly was surprised to see how much hype it received after reading it. Really not much in the way of character development and I found both the story and Washington's internal thoughts somewhat implausible at times. It is well-written, though, and the first 3rd or so of the book is pretty strong.

Up Next - 1) Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms 2) SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

 

Thanks for the tidbit Tangman, didn't know that. Wonder if there's anybody on campus still that remembers any stories from that. Your 2 up nexts both sound phenomenal; I added them both to my list

 

SPQR

 

I assume it's long af from the presence of the word "magisterial" in the description

 

I like to crank out the 200-300 pager. With some door stops thrown in here and there

 

indeed it's long AF. Also a bit dry at parts but good, if youre into Rome.

 

I read SPQR last year. It’s long, but nothing out of the ordinary. I liked it but the author hopped around a bit. Would’ve liked a more linear timeline.

 

Has anyone ever read Edward Gibbon "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"?

 

Nope.

I think the only books on Rome Ive read are SPQR and The Storm Before the Storm

 

No but I want to. Figured SPQR would be a good primer first.

 

The other long ass literary classic history I've wanted to read like that is Thomas Carlyle's one about the French Revolution. Anybody read that? It's supposed to unfold with the drama of a novel and it's thousands of pages

 

Looks interesting. I've looked around and there doesn't appear to be a comprehensive book on the French Revolution written for non-academics.

 

That's because it's almost impossible to cover the French Revolution in a complete way without getting into the weeds.

 

1. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History -- Sidney Mintz (6/10)
2. Popularity: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World -- Mitch Prinstein (9/10)
3. Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets / Sudhir Venkatesh (10/10)
4. Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War / Mary Roach (4/10)
5. Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose / Deirdre Barrett. (10/10)
6. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man / John Perkins. (10/10)

7. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain / Oliver Sacks (8/10)
Second Oliver Sacks book I've read. Don't really dig the case files like way he writes them where each chapter is some guy named Rob P. or Alice T. that we're never gonna remember. The conditions he writes about are fascinating though. As a musician I was super interested to read this book, which is focused on all the crazy things that can happen to the brain as a result of music. It can help people with Parkinson's learn how to walk straight again. It can help people who strokes have rendered mute learn how to talk again. People with profound amnesia/dementia/Alzheimer's who can't remember anything more than 60 seconds can sometimes perfectly sing (or play on piano) songs from their youth. It's crazy the elemental power music has and the mysterious nature of it where we still don't have good answers on stuff like how it originally evolved or if it may have been around before speech even.

Up Next --

Super pumped because "Sapiens" was one of my all time favs

 

I didnt care for Homo Deus nearly as much. I liked the historical analysis of Sapiens, but didnt care for the purely speculative nature of Deus.

 

I've read 10 pages so far though and really liked it

 

Probably true. Mike Duncan did about as good a job as possible.

 

1. Marine Sniper 93 Confirmed Kills by Charles Henderson 6/10
2. Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy by Eric D. Weitz 8/10
3. Operator Down (Pike Logan #12) by Brad Taylor 7/10
4. The Confessor (Gabriel Allon #3) by Daniel Silva 8/10
5. Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins 4/10
6. Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945 by Stephen E. Ambrose 9/10
7. The Enemy (Jack Reacher #8) by Lee Child 7/10 This was another good book in the Reacher series though I didn't think it was great. Easy read that was enjoyable though and moved quick.

Next Up: I'm a little more than halfway through Washington Black and am finishing a book on Terrorism

 

Truman I'm liking the book so far fwiw.

"For the first time in history, more people die today from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals combined."

 

Im glad you like it. Like I said its the same general theme. I was just a lot less invested in all the speculation about the future.

 

Give me a couple hundred more pages and we'll see. I do love this guy's writing style though. I've read a lot of books on similar subjects but this guy knows how to word things really well. His books are like 20 other books distilled and fused into simple statements about very complex topics like what it means to be human.

 

1) The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 5/10
2) The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington by Brad Meltzer 9/10
3) Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson 8/10
4) Beartown by Fredrik Backman 10/10

 

Im going to have to read Beartown. It gets so much praise.

 

1) The Force by Don Winslow 3/10
2) The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks 8/10
3) Shadow’s Edge (Night Angel #2) by Brent Weeks 9.5/10
4) Beyond the Shadows (Night Angel #3) by Brent Weeks 9/10
5) Broken Lands by Jonathan Maberry 6/10
6) Vicious (Villains #1) by V.E. Schwab 8/10
7) Vengeful (Villians #2) by V.E. Schwab 9/10
8) Daughter of War (Pike Logan #13) by Brad Taylor 7/10

 

1. The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead 6.5/10
2. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - Hank Green 2/10
3. The New Geography of Jobs - Enrico Moretti 7/10
4. My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Otessa Moshfegh 9/10
5. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood - Trevor Noah 8.5/10
6. Homesick for Another World - Ottesa Moshfegh 7/10
7. Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World - Adam Tooze 9.5/10
8. Less - Andrew Sean Greer 5.5/10
9. Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association 8/10
10. Heavy: An American Memoir - Kiese Laymon 10/10
11. The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed it - Scott Patterson 5/10
12. The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good in Politics - Bruce Bueno de Mesquita 8.5/10
13. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World - Michael Lewis 7.5/10
14. SuperFreakonomics - Steven Levitt 6/10
15. Only Child - Rhiannon Navin 6/10
16. Seven Bad Ideas: How Mainstream Economics Have Damaged America and the World - Jeff Madrick 8/10
17. The Ticket Out: Darryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw 6/10