Robert E. Howard’s original Conan(as in the barbarian) stuff. 2 volumes available on Amazon. Real T-man literature.
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. It’s about the battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartan soldiers held off a 2 million strong Persian army for over 2 days. Incredible.
By Steven Pressfield. Best T-Man book I can think of. READ IT.
Totally different genre but Hannibal by Thomas Harris. I thought the movie sucked but the book is amazing.
Anything by Deepak Chopra or Dan Brown. I have yet to be dissatified with any of their works.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is grotesque, disturbing and incredible graphic. Basically, it rocks!
[quote]Grey Area wrote:
Godel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter is my favourite “make you think” book. Its main idea is consciousness through recursion and it looks at a range of topics in maths, computing, biology, music, art and philosophy. It’s also not as pretentious as it sounds! Very, very, very interesting if you’re at all interested in any of this stuff. [/quote]
Good God! I never met anyone else who’s actually read this book.
You too must be a social outcast!
On another subject, Shugs and I are trying to compile a list of Top Ten Testosterone Books for a future edition of the print mag.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Remember, if you suggest autobiographies or biographies, T-Men are not just brawn but brains, too. Likewise, suggested books should probably have some literary merit, too.
Thanks!
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.
[quote]NateN wrote:
I forget the author but I believe the title is “Gates Of Fire” which is about the small group of Spartans that held back the whole Persian army. Tres Macho.
By Steven Pressfield. Best T-Man book I can think of. READ IT.
Totally different genre but Hannibal by Thomas Harris. I thought the movie sucked but the book is amazing.[/quote]
I agree, on both counts. Also, “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card (I think I’ve mentioned it about 5 times on this forum).
I’m a Hemingway fan…people either seem to love him or hate him. “Islands in the Stream” is my favorite.
“The World According to Garp” by John Irving (a great character-based story)
“The Thanatos Syndrome” by Walker Percy (a thinking novel)
“On the Road” by Jack Kerouac (a must read-must go type book)
“Band of Brothers” by Stephen Ambrose (the TV series is also great)
“Trust Me” (short stories) by John Updike ( his short stories are often regarded as some of his best works)
“A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn (A good read, a long read…may be boring to some after a while)
Training for the brain :
“surely your joking Mr. Feynmann”
“Ishmael” or by danialle Quin
“Nudist on the late shift”, or “What should I do With My Life” By Po Bronson
Enjoyment:
Tom Clancy–feel like I got my moneys worth when I get over 1000pgs of good read for $6.99
hate to admit it but the harry potter series, friend got me hooked when I flew to hong kong.
P.S. Phillip K Dick can sure mess with your head, “Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich”, I had to put it down.
Deepak Shopra runs me up the walls, arrgh! I read a book of his in psychology class and I don’t remember much about it. What really bothered me was how he tried to convince the reader that when people piss you off it’s your own fault.
another good book is gulag archipelago by solzhenitsyn. kind of a chore to read but it’s important stuff.
[quote]Atomic Dog wrote:
You too must be a social outcast!
[/quote]
Well, I’m a maths undergrad, so probably!
biggieben: “Surely you’re joking, Mr Feynman” is very interesting, but as it’s a book of anecdotes it’s not a mental workout as you said. His “Six easy pieces” and “Six not so easy pieces” discuss some of his physics in an interesting way and require very little previous knowledge.
Anything by J.R.R. Tolkien; the guy was a genius. And I’m not just talking about “The Hobbit” or “The Lord of the Rings.” Nor am I talking about all the hype that was generated by the three films, which were incredible as well. Professor Tolkien (also a WWI veteran he fought at the Battle of the Somme in France) created a whole alternate history in an attempt to not only give England its own mythology (theirs were essentially destroyed and replaced by the invading Angles and Saxons), but also to tie all other world myths together. And the books, including the 12 volume History of Middle Earth edited by his son Christopher delve so deeply into a realm full of cultural, historical, and linguistic (he wrote the books simply to give a foundation for the over 25 languages he created) significance that it seems too real to be true. If this world were destroyed and those were the only books to survive, they could pretty much be taken as fact. Tolkien gave the fantasy genre a kick in the ass, and his books are the benchmark by which all others are measured. Yet, none will ever be able to compare. His complete works continue to sell in excess of 4 million copies a year. When I last checked the Guinness Book of World Records, I believe it was second only to the Bible in sales ever. Great author, great books.
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden, IMHO, fits the description of a T-Man book nicely. It is much better than the movie (which was a good movie, but c’mon… has the movie EVER been better than the book upon which it’s based?). The writing is excellent and you would swear you are on the streets of Mogadishu with those brave Rangers and Delta Force troops as they battle their way out of that Somalian hell. It’s also a very powerful testament to the level of brotherhood those soliders have for each other. Just a great read. The series of newspaper articles from the Phildelphia Inquirer on which the book is based are also available on-line at http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/somalia/sitemap.asp
Kuz
Grey Area,
“Surely your Joking Mr. Feynmann” didn’t go into any kind of detail about the science behind Feynmann’s work but I really liked how it showed him as a person and some of the things he went through while working on the bomb. so in that way it definately got oyu to think maybe look at things a bit differently. I enjoyed the way he portrayed things and thats what made me want to go on to read his other more scientific work.
another great one was “Hyperspace” By Miku Kaku(sp?) really interesting and he did a great job of explaining things well to the lay person.
A few good ones for thinking:
Ripples of Battle by Victor Davis Hanson.
(Link is for the summary, as I think Amazon is currently sold out of this one – generally the links are for summaries/descriptions)
The Sanctions Paradox: Economic statecraft and international relations by Daniel Drezner
Fooled by Randomness: The hidden role of chance in life and in the markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas F. Madden
And one for general enjoyment, particularly if you enjoy satirical writing:
No Way to Treat a First Lady: A Novel by Christopher Buckley
Charles Dickens’ Bleak House is a favorite.
If you’re into comparative mythology, try Heinrich Zimmer’s The King and the Corpse.
You might also tackle Steps to an Ecology of Mind by Gregory Bateson.
I recently enjoyed John Stossel’s book, “Gimme a Break”. Stossel’s the man.
But if you’re scientifically inclined and you really want something to make you think, try “Evolution of Physics” by Einstein & Infeld. Or “In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat” and “Schrodinger’s Kittens and the Search for Reality” by John Gribbin. All of those books will absolutely blow your mind.
A few people have mentioned “Surely your joking mr. feymann”, I will just add that only read it if you have 10 hours to spare because you won’t want to put it down!
But probably my current favorite book is “In the Lake of the Woods” by Tim O’Brien. It is a murder-mystery novel, mixed with vietnam war stories (O’Brien has a few other books more specically about the war). The way it is written is incredible, definitely will be hard to stop reading until you finish.
I forgot to add, in the general reads, that I’ve heard very good things about the new Tom Wolfe book, I Am Charlotte Simmons.
http://www.nrbookservice.com/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c6574
I plan to buy this if I don’t get it for Christmas – I really like Tom Wolfe’s writing. He does a very good job with characters and capturing “voices”, and his plots are always interesting.
[quote]Squeak wrote:
The Fountainhead/Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Great books.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence by Robert Pirsig. (haven’t finished it yet but it’s quite good so far)
All three are classics and deservingly so.[/quote]
Atlas Shrugged, definitely.