what are you reading currently

[FVR]

Finished the The Raggedy *** Marines by Capt. William C. Moore.

One chapt. left on Tales of the Mountain Men.

Pulled out The Dangerous Book for Boys and just picked up In Harms Way aka the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Then on to The Godfather.

[mountain mama]

FVR if you have any sons, nephews, or whatnot, you will LOVE the Dangerous Book for Boys!

[tacticalguy]

Now I am reading "Temple of the Winds" by Terry Goodkind. It's the fourth book of the Sword of truth series. There's also a show on the books, called "Legend of the Seeker. You might of heard of it.

[Lorna]

I'm getting ready to read Going to Seed. It's receipes for wild plants and a identifying book with color photos.

[endurance]

The Survivor's Club is turning out to be a pretty kick butt book on the psychology of survival. I'm thoroughly impressed. It starts very similarly to Deep Survival, but turns in a different direction about 1/3 in. I personally really liked Deep Survival, so I enjoyed the first part immensely. Then, rather than getting into all the neuropsychology stuff that Gonzales does, he goes into why luck isn't necessarily luck. Very interesting stuff with actually solid, double blind, peer reviewed research on luck. I'm not done with it yet, but I did want to update the group as I think it's a very valuable book on the subject.

I also finished We Die Alone. Another WWII escape survival story along the same lines as The Long Walk, but rather than being about his group's independence and periless journey to get to safety, he has a long list of people to be thankful for. He really did depend entirely on others to survive for much of his journey. Good, but if you have a choice between We Die Alone and The Long Walk, The Long Walk wins.

I've ordered several more books that were recommended by a friend who I recently discovered reads a lot of the same kind of books. I'll keep you updated as I get the chance.

I do a lot of audiobooks on my commute, does anyone else here? If so, any interest in an exchange of audiobooks at any point? I'm more than willing to loan and possibly sell some of mine. Not all are on topic here, but many are or are in some way. Here's a partial list of what I have on CD or tape (with format and my grade):

We Die Alone (currently loaned out so I don't have the author's name) CD B
The Long Walk, Slavomir Rawicz- CD A
Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell- CD F (sorry, too far right & too much exaggeration/gloating for me)
Red Sky in Mourning, Tami Ashcroft- CD B+ (great story, kind of a bad reading)
Mind Body Mastery, Dan Millman- Tape B
Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Dan Millman- CD B+
Lucifer's Hammer, Larry Niven- Tape A
Great World Religions: Islam, John Swanson- Tape C+ (research for work)
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini-CD B (not on topic)
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini- CD A- (not necessarily on topic, but good)
Blink, Malcolm Gladwell-CD B
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell-CD C
I Am America (and so can you), Stephen Colbert-CD B-
Sway: the irresistable pull of irrational behavior, Ori Brafman- CD B
The Post American World, Fareed Zakaria-CD D
The World Without Us, Alan Weisman-CD B

I have a lot more but that's what's within reach at the moment. PM me if you're interested. Right now I'm trying to track down a copy of Touching The Void on CD or Tape.

[mountain mama]

I just picked up "MUSHROOMS of Idaho and the Pacific Northwest" by Edmund E. Tylutki
and "Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants" at the library

[Schleprok]

Rereading some old favorites
The Foxfire book series and
Old Mother Earth News Magazines

[chiangmaimav]

Lord of the Bow, which is about Genghis Khan, and a Vietnam war novel called Up Country.

[Rick]

Wait!? Two books at once? Doesn't that sort of read like, "Genghis Khan stood before his people and said, 'Attack the Viet Cong!". Or something like that?

[talon]

The Nazis: A warning from history..

Next on the list is

Angels and Demons and Mein Kampf

[Lorna]

I'm in the process of reading Complete Guide to Herbal Medicines and also the Camping and Woodcraft book by Horace Kephart. Both books very good so far.

[talon]

mein kampf + picture of you = scary.

Are you adhering to neo-nazi sentiments or something ?

Is it Talon as in the talons of an eagle ?

Haha, yeah' as in the Talons of an eagle.. No i'm not a neo-nazi, although I am a blonde hair blue eyed German.

I'm guessing you saw the picture of me holding the baby on the motorcycle? Well the baby's name is Talon.. Mines Tommy (Thomas Frederick).. I assumed Tommy would be taken, so I chose his name as my username. I just like reading about history and find my German history to be very interesting.. Hitler was a brilliant man it's interesting learning about how he thought and some of the meaning in his antics.

[Rick]

Hmmm. Define brilliant. As in let's cause a world war and slaughter millions of innocent folks brilliant or let's see if we can dominate the world for 1000 years brilliant?

[crashdive123]

I just like reading about history and find my German history to be very interesting.. Hitler was a brilliant man it's interesting learning about how he thought and some of the meaning in his antics.

I find German history very interesting as well. Because of the man that you call brilliant, I never met most of my family. They were executed by this brilliant man.

[Rick]

See, you sorta have to define it from the outset. I think I'll go with I'm going to start an army and have them march funny brilliant. But I also like I'm going to wear a stupid mustache brilliant. This is so hard. Oh, I know, I'll have everyone talk in German brilliant. That's a good one.

[Ken]

Hitler was a brilliant man it's interesting learning about how he thought and some of the meaning in his antics.

You gotta' be sh*ttin' me!!!! He was a psychopath. Evil and depraved to the core of his existence. How he thought? Anyone who thinks the way he did is one sick b@stard and deserves nothing more than painful execution. I only wish we had the BOMB six years earlier........

Wars start when cultures, nations, and religions believe that they are superior to everyone else who they view as mere animals.

Want my idea of who should be eliminated? The answer is simple: anyone who believes that he/she is better than the rest of us and feels it's their right to take our lives, liberty, or property. End of rant.

[talon]

Even though it was evil look what he accomplished. Just the way he took power as chancelor was brilliant. The way he manipulated the German people was brilliant. Hitlers rise in power is part of our history. A bad part, but so was the Genghis Kahn which I also find interesting.

I define him brilliant because of his success. I agree what he did was terrible, but trying to understand his madness is something I find interesting.

Mein Kampf may not be for you, but I would still recomend the first book i mention "Nazis: A lesson from History" It's a very good read.

please dont mistake my curiosity for something it's not I am in no way trying to justify anything he did or say he was a better man than he was.

[Ken]

Even though it was evil look what he accomplished. Just the way he took power as chancelor was brilliant. The way he manipulated the German people was brilliant. Hitlers rise in power is part of our history. A bad part, but so was the Genghis Kahn which I also find interesting.

I define him brilliant because of his success. I agree what he did was terrible, but trying to understand his madness is something I find interesting.

Mein Kampf may not be for you, but I would still recomend the first book i mention "Nazis: A lesson from History" It's a very good read.

please dont mistake my curiosity for something it's not I am in no way trying to justify anything he did or say he was a better man than he was.

I've read Mein Kampf. I've read the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels. I've read Mao's Red Book. I've read My Life by Castro. Why? Not because I buy into that crap, but because I WANT TO KNOW HOW MY ENEMY THINKS.

I suppose that you believe Charles Manson was brilliant too, huh?

Learn your history. Understand WHY Germany "accepted" that madman as it's leader. Understand the Treaty of Versailles. Understand that Hitler persuaded the hungry minority and intimidated the rest. Understand that he ruled using murdering thugs and not reason.

Success? You think Hitler was successful??? Then after you find an acceptable definition of "Brilliant" look up the word "Successful."

When you're done, look up the Balfour Declaration.

Look at what that madman destroyed!!!

"I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations … They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern." John Adams, Second President of the United States (From a letter to F. A. Van der Kemp [Feb. 16, 1808] Pennsylvania Historical Society)

[Ken]

Talon, here's just one thing Hitler destroyed - LIVES!

Did you know that the global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000. Only FOURTEEN MILLION or about 0.02% of the world's population. They have received the following Nobel Prizes:

Literature:
1910 - Paul Heyse
1927 - Henri Bergson
1958 - Boris Pasternak
1966 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon
1966 - Nelly Sachs
1976 - Saul Bellow
1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
1981 - Elias Canetti
1987 - Joseph Brodsky
1991 - Nadine Gordimer

World Peace:
1911 - Alfred Fried
1911 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser
1968 - Rene Cassin
1973 - Henry Kissinger
1978 - Menachem Begin
1986 - Elie Wiesel
1994 - Shimon Peres
1994 - Yitzhak Rabin

Physics:
1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
1906 - Henri Moissan
1907 - Albert Abraham Michelson
1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
1910 - Otto Wallach
1915 - Richard Willstaetter
1918 - Fritz Haber
1921 - Albert Einstein
1922 - Niels Bohr
1925 - James Franck
1925 - Gustav Hertz
1943 - Gustav Stern
1943 - George Charles de Hevesy
1944 - Isidor Issac Rabi
1952 - Felix Bloch
1954 - Max Born
1958 - Igor Tamm
1959 - Emilio Segre
1960 - Donald A. Glaser
1961 - Robert Hofstadter
1961 - Melvin Calvin
1962 - Lev Davidovich Landau
1962 - Max Ferdinand Perutz
1965 - Richard Phillips Feynman
1965 - Julian Schwinger
1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
1971 - Dennis Gabor
1972 - William Howard Stein
1973 - Brian David Josephson
1975 - Benjamin Mottleson
1976 - Burton Richter
1977 - Ilya Prigogine
1978 - Arno Allan Penzias
1978 - P eter L Kapitza
1979 - Stephen Weinberg
1979 - Sheldon Glashow
1979 - Herbert Charles Brown
1980 - Paul Berg
1980 - Walter Gilbert
1981 - Roald Hoffmann
1982 - Aaron Klug
1985 - Albert A. Hauptman
1985 - Jerome Karle
1986 - Dudley R. Herschbach
1988 - Robert Huber
1988 - Leon Lederman
1988 - Melvin Schwartz
1988 - Jack Steinberger
1989 - Sidney Altman
1990 - Jerome Friedman
1992 - Rudolph Marcus
1995 - Martin Perl
2000 - Alan J. Heeger

Economics:
1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 - Simon Kuznets
1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 - Leonid Kantorovich
1976 - Milton Friedman
1978 - Herbert A. Simon
1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 - Franco Modigliani
1987 - Robert M. Solow
1990 - Harry Markowitz
1990 - Merton Miller
1992 - Gary Becker
1993 - Robert Fogel

Medicine:
1908 - Elie Metchnikoff
1908 - Paul Erlich
1914 - Robert Barany
1922 - Otto Meyerhof
1930 - Karl Landsteiner
1931 - Otto Warburg
1936 - Otto Loewi
1944 - Joseph Erlanger
1944 - Herb ert Spencer Gasser
1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
1950 - Tadeus Reichstein
1952 - Selman Abraham Waksman
1953 - Hans Krebs
1953 - Fritz Albert Lipmann
1958 - Joshua Lederberg
1959 - Arthur Kornberg
1964 - Konrad Bloch
1965 - Francois Jacob
1965 - Andre Lwoff
1967 - George Wald
1968 - Marshall W. Nirenberg
1969 - Salvador Luria
1970 - Julius Axelrod
1970 - Sir Bernard Katz
1972 - Gerald Maurice Edelman
1975 - Howard Martin Temin
1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg
1977 - Roselyn Sussman Yalow
1978 - Daniel Nathans
1980 - Baruj Benacerraf
1984 - Cesar Milstein
1985 - Michael Stuart Brown
1985 - Joseph L. Goldstein
1986 - Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
1988 - Gertrude Elion
1989 - Harold Varmus
1991 - Erwin Neher
1991 - Bert Sakmann
1993 - Richard J. Robert s
1993 - Phillip Sharp
1994 - Alfred Gilman
1995 - Edward B. Lewis

TOTAL: 129 ONE HUNDRED TWENTY NINE! And still counting.........

[Ken]

Talon,

regardless of your feelings about Hitler in the last century or the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors today, and even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel 's part, the following two sentences really say it all:

If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence.

If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.