Favorite Books
- Thread starter Charles E
- Start date
Bill Wynne
Active member
Almost any book by Stephen E. Ambrose. The guy could tell a story about real people and real events and it would be more interesting than any fiction.
Read "Nothing Like It In The World" about the men who built the first Transcontinental railroad. (Did you know they built over ten miles of track in one day?)
Read "Undaunted Courage" about Lewis and Clark and Thomas Jefferson. That was about sixty years before the first transcontinental railroad.
Several of his books were about ordinary young men who were called to defend freedom in WWII. "Band of Brothers" comes to mind.
His books tie a lot of the events of our history together.
Bill
Read "Nothing Like It In The World" about the men who built the first Transcontinental railroad. (Did you know they built over ten miles of track in one day?)
Read "Undaunted Courage" about Lewis and Clark and Thomas Jefferson. That was about sixty years before the first transcontinental railroad.
Several of his books were about ordinary young men who were called to defend freedom in WWII. "Band of Brothers" comes to mind.
His books tie a lot of the events of our history together.
Bill
Bob Brushingham
Member
My favorite authors are Robert Ruark along with his biography by Foster, Bob Hagel, Jack OConner, Gene Hill, Cory Ford and Pat McManus.
Pretty well.
Another great read is Life by Keith Richards.
"People say 'why don't you give it up?' I don't think they quite understand. I'm not doing it just for the money, or for you. I'm doing it for me." – Keith Richards
A
abintx
Guest
All of Tom Clancy's Novels.
Charles, here's a great one most never heard about, "The Great Buffalo Hunt" by Wayne Gard, Kansas U press 1951. A magnificen chronicle of the Govt. led policy to eliminate the Buffalo from the western plains and subdue the current residents, probably the most interesting chronicle of those events.
B
benenglish
Guest
There are far too many in my library to list so I'll do two things.
First, two recommendations -
"The Social History of the Machinegun" by John Ellis. We all know that machineguns changed warfare. What I find fascinating is how they radically altered the structure of civil society, most notably in England and France.
Any of those encyclopedic cookbooks that were so popular in the 1950s through the mid-1960s. "A Treasury of Great Recipes" by Mary and Vincent Price (yes, *that* Vincent Price) is one of my favorites but there are dozens of classics in that genre; everyone should own several instead of just having that one, lonely copy of "The Joy of Cooking" that seems to reside in the corner of everyone's kitchen.
Second, I'll hold back on insulting the choices of others.
As much as I'm tempted, my parents taught me that books are somehow sacred, the repositories of knowledge upon which educations and civilizations are built. In that spirit, I never throw away books (with just one exception in my entire life) but prefer to donate them. I figure someone can get some use out of it, no matter how little it appealed to me. Because of that attitude, I'll refrain from commenting on at least one previous choice in this thread.
I will, however, make one pre-emptive snark attack. Anyone who mentions "50 Shades of Grey" in a positive light goes on my ignore list. I've read better erotica written by 14-year-old virgins.
First, two recommendations -
"The Social History of the Machinegun" by John Ellis. We all know that machineguns changed warfare. What I find fascinating is how they radically altered the structure of civil society, most notably in England and France.
Any of those encyclopedic cookbooks that were so popular in the 1950s through the mid-1960s. "A Treasury of Great Recipes" by Mary and Vincent Price (yes, *that* Vincent Price) is one of my favorites but there are dozens of classics in that genre; everyone should own several instead of just having that one, lonely copy of "The Joy of Cooking" that seems to reside in the corner of everyone's kitchen.
Second, I'll hold back on insulting the choices of others.
As much as I'm tempted, my parents taught me that books are somehow sacred, the repositories of knowledge upon which educations and civilizations are built. In that spirit, I never throw away books (with just one exception in my entire life) but prefer to donate them. I figure someone can get some use out of it, no matter how little it appealed to me. Because of that attitude, I'll refrain from commenting on at least one previous choice in this thread.
I will, however, make one pre-emptive snark attack. Anyone who mentions "50 Shades of Grey" in a positive light goes on my ignore list. I've read better erotica written by 14-year-old virgins.
V
Varmint Al
Guest
Earth Abides
Only a few people are left on earth after a plague. It is interesting reading and one keeps thinking what he would do in the same conditions.
Also the Obama 2016 movie is still available for download here:
http://www.varmintal.net/file-in-mp4.zip
It is 277Mb and will take a few minutes to download. Once the file is downloaded you can unzip it and view the video.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
Only a few people are left on earth after a plague. It is interesting reading and one keeps thinking what he would do in the same conditions.
Also the Obama 2016 movie is still available for download here:
http://www.varmintal.net/file-in-mp4.zip
It is 277Mb and will take a few minutes to download. Once the file is downloaded you can unzip it and view the video.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
Gents,
Fiction: Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter
Non Fiction: Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
Humor: Republican Party Reptile, Modern Manners, etc. by PJ O'Rourke
Any golfers out there? If so, check out The Pro by Claude Harmon, Jr. and The Match by Mark Frost
Shooting: A book by Warren Page that I can't remember the name of right now.
FWIW
Justin
Fiction: Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter
Non Fiction: Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
Humor: Republican Party Reptile, Modern Manners, etc. by PJ O'Rourke
Any golfers out there? If so, check out The Pro by Claude Harmon, Jr. and The Match by Mark Frost
Shooting: A book by Warren Page that I can't remember the name of right now.
FWIW
Justin
Nor Cal Mikie
Active member
Already mentioned but it will suck you in till you finish it.
Unintended Consequences by John Ross.
Unintended Consequences by John Ross.
glynn angle
Member
Speaking of TOM HORN, I have a new book by Bob Jourdan. (Precision Shooting writer. I haven't read it yet. DIAMOND FIELDS AND DEATH. Sub title "The framing of Tom Horn". I also thought Steve McQueen did a great job in the movie. Right now I'm reading HORN OF THE HUNTER by Ruark.
I mentioned the Tom Horn book because I found it interesting, not because it's a favorite. Not sure I have "favorites," but if I do, generally, they have to be well written.
As Al remarked about John McPhee, he's a bright man. He's also a writer for the New Yorker, and those guys aren't on deadline, and are not required to find some topical subject to help their employers boost circulation & push pills (unlike the Evening News).
There was one writer for the New Yorker, Joseph Mitchell, whose output was miniscule, but talent enormous. See Up in the Old Hotel,
http://www.amazon.com/Up-Old-Hotel-Joseph-Mitchell/dp/0679746315
Sadly, the idiot book designer chose Perpetua as the typeface for the book. Perpetua would never have been right for the book, but worse, the photocomposition and digital versions of the type were never brought up to snuff. The fine lines are so fine they seem to float off the page. (It could be that the Amazon edition shown was shot from tearsheets, in which case the type isn't so thin, but all that really changes is the overall weight of the type, not the contrast between thick and thin strokes. Hard to tell from the screen.)
Anyway, if you can put up with the type, you might like the stories.
* * *
As to Tom Horn:
We'll probably never know whether or not Horn killed Willie Nickell. That Horn was a hired killer in his later years seems beyond doubt.
From the Lake City Press edition of Life of Tom Horn:
These "victims" were supposedly cattle rustlers, and they probably were. The Wyoming juries were mainly made up of the small ranchers, a certain portion of whom who were also the rustlers. There were also more small ranchers than large, and elected officials such as sheriffs could count votes. In response, the land barons of Wyoming developed their own brand of justice. Not to excuse Horn; all he required was a name, not evidence.
I'm not terribly interested in Horn himself, beyond the "I was there" reporting, and that has to be taken with a grain of salt. Horn drank overmuch, and like to brag. The very cattlemen that hired him knew they might have to bump him off because he talked too freely.
The one interesting thing about Horn was his remarkable ability to take the people he was fighting (mainly the Cibicu and Chiricahua Apaches) as individuals, and see things from their point of view. Not in the modern, sociological sense, but as fellow frontiersmen.
As Al remarked about John McPhee, he's a bright man. He's also a writer for the New Yorker, and those guys aren't on deadline, and are not required to find some topical subject to help their employers boost circulation & push pills (unlike the Evening News).
There was one writer for the New Yorker, Joseph Mitchell, whose output was miniscule, but talent enormous. See Up in the Old Hotel,
http://www.amazon.com/Up-Old-Hotel-Joseph-Mitchell/dp/0679746315
Sadly, the idiot book designer chose Perpetua as the typeface for the book. Perpetua would never have been right for the book, but worse, the photocomposition and digital versions of the type were never brought up to snuff. The fine lines are so fine they seem to float off the page. (It could be that the Amazon edition shown was shot from tearsheets, in which case the type isn't so thin, but all that really changes is the overall weight of the type, not the contrast between thick and thin strokes. Hard to tell from the screen.)
Anyway, if you can put up with the type, you might like the stories.
* * *
As to Tom Horn:
We'll probably never know whether or not Horn killed Willie Nickell. That Horn was a hired killer in his later years seems beyond doubt.
From the Lake City Press edition of Life of Tom Horn:
These "victims" were supposedly cattle rustlers, and they probably were. The Wyoming juries were mainly made up of the small ranchers, a certain portion of whom who were also the rustlers. There were also more small ranchers than large, and elected officials such as sheriffs could count votes. In response, the land barons of Wyoming developed their own brand of justice. Not to excuse Horn; all he required was a name, not evidence.
I'm not terribly interested in Horn himself, beyond the "I was there" reporting, and that has to be taken with a grain of salt. Horn drank overmuch, and like to brag. The very cattlemen that hired him knew they might have to bump him off because he talked too freely.
The one interesting thing about Horn was his remarkable ability to take the people he was fighting (mainly the Cibicu and Chiricahua Apaches) as individuals, and see things from their point of view. Not in the modern, sociological sense, but as fellow frontiersmen.
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Hey thanks Charles your use of "'I was there" reporting' reminded me of one of the best autobiographies of all time......
I'll add Elmer Keith as a favorite author. Keith and Aagard managed to stay true to their faith even when vilified publicly, they put the sting into "didn't suffer fools gladly."
I'll add Elmer Keith as a favorite author. Keith and Aagard managed to stay true to their faith even when vilified publicly, they put the sting into "didn't suffer fools gladly."
Ohh and BTW, I've never met nor read of a real fighting man (nor a real businessman, nor a real athlete etc) who didn't look at his "enemies" as fellows. IMO the pap fed to the masses back home and to the cannon fodder is just that, pap. Real achievers are pragmatic realists, assessing, judging, comparing, even admiring those against whom they strive.
Of course this is just my opinion
al
Of course this is just my opinion
al
D
Dan Conzo
Guest
Anything written by Whelen, (Reloading, optics, etc) but mostly The Ultimate in Rifle Precision (4 or 5 of them), he was The Greatest Gun Writer IMHO, plain talk, facts and humble. and was a competitor. The Bullets Flight by Mann. The Accurate Rifle by Page isn't bad. The first comprehensive Reloading Manual by Sierra (around 1970) with more understanding of ballistics at your fingertips (trajectories, drops, retained velocities and energies, B.C.'s, etc), Ben Lilly by Dobbie. Also someone said they feel sorry for people who only list Gun related books, technical and reloading manuals, I believe the question was Your Favorite, which doesn't necessarily mean that is all they read.
D
Dan Conzo
Guest
I forgot to mention anything C.S. Landis wrote-Woodchuck & Woodchuck Rifles, 22 Caliber Varmint Rifles and others.
M
mike in co
Guest
i believe the second to last book of the jack ryan series by tom clancy.....
very appropriate today
mike in co
very appropriate today
mike in co