I posted the books I’d read from Sept 15th to March 30th, but since then I have been struggling a bit. I keep getting bogged down in some less than interesting stuff or distracted by school and work. I’d appreciate it if anyone has any recommendations (and I don’t mean that patronizingly, I almost ALWAYS read what people suggest, first throwing them up on my Amazon Wishlist to track what’s next. Check it here.
Anyways, here’s what I’ve done since the last list:
‘Till Death Do Us Part–Vincent Bugliosi
Helter Skelter–Vincent Bugliosi
Man’s Search for Meaning–Viktor Frankl (Again)
Words that Work :It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear–Frank Luntz
Unhooked: Why young women pursue sex, delay love and lose at both–Laura Sessions Stepp
Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning–Viktor Frankl
The Prince–Machiavelli (2x)
What Makes Sammy Run–Bud Schulberg
And the Sea Will Tell–Vincent Bugliosi
Reveille for Radicals–Saul D. Alinsky
The Predator’s Ball–Connie Bruck
The Republic–Plato
Leviathan–Thomas Hobbes (large chunk)
Notes:
-I recommend just about all of these.
-Unless you’re really dedicated, you can probably get just as much out of the Hobbes wikipedia page as you do out of the book
-Luntz–Words that Work–is a really interesting guy. He actually wrote The Contract With America. Problem is, the book is boring and dry. He so wants to be liked by the media that he castrates himself and wants you to desperately believe that everything he does it motivated by true belief. The book’s value suffers under the constant rationalization, but the guy still has a lot to say.
-Bugliosi is AMAZING. Read at least one of them. These came Tucker recommended and I would call Bugliosi the greatest lawyer since Clarence Darrow.
-Unhooked would be better if it focused more on the reasons why the college sex scene is bad–as opposed to merely asserting it is bad because it offends Christian morality.
-The Predator’s Ball is good too, if you have the time and energy to suffer through the first 100 or so pages. Again, this is why financial books are often difficult to read. The author assumes we want to know HOW Milken accomplished everything in terms of mathematics and numbers as opposed to WHY and WHAT for. Other than that it’s fascinating and a good picture of the 80’s.
So hit me with your recommendations.
Edit: I read American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis too. And it’s really good but the movie sucks.
