Books: What's a good read?

[cascadesoccer]

Just finished American Sniper and Lone Survivor. Solid reads and both were good films.

American Sniper: Amazing collection of first hand experiences that we didn't get to hear about in the movie. Enjoyable read and more interesting than the movie.

Lone Survior: The details of SEAL training and the descriptions of operation redwing was incredibly intense and informative. A rollercoaster of a read.

 

[cascadesoccer]

The Infiltrator: A good read and much more detailed than the movie starring Bryan Cranston. A special agent goes undercover as a money launderer and infiltrates Pablo Escobars cartel. It's not an action packed read but a very interesting one. Set in the 1980s in Miami.

 

[akslop]

I dont have anything recent to contribute to this thread. Last thing I read was one of those choose your own adventure books about 25 years ago.

 

[djones]

Sports books I read over the summer that were good:

"I am Zlatan" - about you know who

"Breaking Away" - the Patrick O'Sullivan book about his tortured road to the NHL. Pretty gripping.

"Roy Keane: The Second Half" - about Roy's transition into management and pundentry. Not as good as his first but still insightful


Books that have been recommended and are on my "to read" list:

The Red Notice - true story about an investor in Russia.

Sport Gene - cool book exploring what makes athletes good at what they do.

Anyone read these ones?

 

[Dude]

If you are into fact based fiction, highly recommend you pick up anything by Conn Iggulden, but specifically:

The Conqueror Series: http://www.conniggulden.com/books/series/the-conqueror-series . This takes you 5 books from Genghis Khan's birth and very humble beginnings, through to how he built the empire in such a short time, and finishes off w/ Kublai Khan, his grandson. Ingulden could have easily written a couple of more books just on Kublai Khan. If you are a war history buff, you really need to read this stuff, as Ingulden is excellent at merging the relevant factual history with great story telling. From a historical standpoint, the Mongolians killed millions as a nomadic tribe. Literally, they rarely had an army bigger than 100,000 strong, and they'd slaughter armies 5-10 times that size, and still have 80,000 standing for the next battle. Their battle tactics were advanced for the era, the organization of the army far advanced, communication well advanced for the time, their skill with horse and bow unmatched, and of course they were ruthless.

The reality is, the world was whisker close to having a very different history than what has been. The books spend a fair bit of time focused on Tsubodai, Ghengis' Orlok (General of generals).

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

History has it that Tsubodai was poised to enter Roman territory when Ogedei Khan (Gehghis' son, who inherited leadership upon Gehghis' death) died, and as tradition has it, when a Khan dies, the 'Nation' returns home to pledge their fealty to the new Khan. "By late 1241, Subutai was discussing plans to invade the Holy Roman Empire, when news came of the death of Ögedei Khan. Over the objections of Subutai, the Mongol Princes withdrew the army to Mongolia for the election of a new Great Khan."

Historians feel that there is little doubt that Tsubodai's army would have mowed down the Romans just as easily as they had the rest of Eastern Europe. It would have been epic; the Roman army was, well, the Roman army. After reading all I have on the Mongolian history (obviously fascinated by it), I believe they would have taken all of Western Europe.

Also, after you get through all the books, it dovetail's nicely into Netflix' Marco Polo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_(TV_series). "...inspired by Marco Polo's early years in the court of Kublai Khan, the Khagan of the Mongol Empire and the founder of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)."

What's crazy, as impressive as Tsubodai laying waste to Eastern Europe was, reading how Kublai conquered China in his early years is even more impressive. In Europe, Tsubodai had everything on his side...numbers (well, enough to beat any one army at any time), formations, organization, resources, and a constant line back to the home nation for replenishment, etc. In short, for Tsubodai's march on Eastern Europe, he had it all going for him, most importantly his own experience as a blooded warrior and a man who came up through the ranks, and of course a tactically brilliant mind.

Kublai had none of that. He was a scholar when his brother, Mongke Kahn (took over from Ogedai) sent him to China with a task. He had zero battle experience, and was a prince handed the reigns of an army. Once in enemy territory, he was able to blood himself and, tactically, win over the respect of his army. He also turned into a great warrior in his own right, due to his training and bloodline. Unlike Tsubodai in Europe, Kublai had no outside resources in China. He had to build the territory himself, as well as the economy (one of his earliest conquests was to take control of silver mining in the South), and unlike in Europe, where it was one army at a time, Kublai's army had to fight waves and waves of Chineese, who simply threw hundreds of thousands of men at him.

Truly fascinating...

I also read the full Emperor Series, based on Julius Caesar's life: http://www.conniggulden.com/books/series/the-emperor-series

It's very good, too...but I just found the Conqueror Series more gripping.

I started Wars of the Roses- http://www.conniggulden.com/books/series/wars-of-the-roses - got through Stormbird, but that's it. Did not grab me.

 

[The Franchise]

Billy Bean, Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life in and out of Major League Baseball (2003).
Arnold Rampersad, Jackie Robinson: A Biography (1997).
The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
Slash (autobiography)
Scar Tissue Book by Anthony Kiedis and Larry Sloman

Zach Assian (autobiography) a haiku poem about his career.

 

[cascadesoccer]

Nice choices gents, some interesting topics to look at here. I'm looking at Pablo Escobar: My Father. Written by his son and his life growing up with the biggest drug lord in the world, but waiting for the paperback version, I find hardcovers difficult to enjoy.

 

[akslop]

Your obsesion with Zacks ass is alarming and should be addressed ass soon as possible

Billy Bean, Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life in and out of Major League Baseball (2003).
Arnold Rampersad, Jackie Robinson: A Biography (1997).
The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
Slash (autobiography)
Scar Tissue Book by Anthony Kiedis and Larry Sloman

Zach Assian (autobiography) a haiku poem about his career.

 

[freddy]

The best series I have read is by John Maxim. I believe there are 8 books in the Bannerman series - about a retired set of special government assassins that try to stay retired, but . . .

They must be read in order. The trick is finding them these days. I had all 8, and loaned them out a bunch of times, and then they came back with the first one missing - and the series must be read sequentially.

 

[Dude]

The best series I have read is by John Maxim. I believe there are 8 books in the Bannerman series - about a retired set of special government assassins that try to stay retired, but . . .

They must be read in order. The trick is finding them these days. I had all 8, and loaned them out a bunch of times, and then they came back with the first one missing - and the series must be read sequentially.

My kind of read, I'll look this up.