Post: #626

The Power Broker by Robert Caro

Post: #627

Messi by Guilleme Balague.

Post: #628

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #629

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Been on my must read list a long time and feel excited to finally get to it

Post: #630

Metaphysics of love/ Metaphysics of death by Arthur Schopenhauer

Post: #631

Glad to see so many classics on this forum. Orwell, Divine Comedy, its all here.

Currently reading Government Zero by Michael Savage. All of his books are great. Some are better than others but Trump seems to be following this book like a manuscript.

Post: #632

Just started reading Quiet by Susan Cain.

I've also been reading the The First Law fantasy series by Joe Abercrombie the past couple of months. I'm halfway through the third and final book in the series. Highly recommended.

Post: #633

Today I started reading 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

Post: #634

How to Fight Presidents: Defending Yourself Against the Badasses Who Ran This Country - Daniel O'Brien

Very informative, yet funny book describing each US president's toughness and essentially arguing who's the baddest motherfucker to be elected in the US presidency.

Post: #635

^^^ That "How To Fight Presidents" got the Cracked offices visited by the Secret Service. Apparently, they hadn't read the book.

I just started "The Man Who Killed Kennedy- A Case Against LBJ" by Roger Stone. I'm probably going to have to get more of Stone's books. From what I already know of the man, he's been around for a long time, known a lot of people, and knows where many (hopefully metaphorical) bodies are buried.

Post: #636

Gave up on Anna Karenina. I was trying to read it for technique, but not knowing Russian and relying even on the best translator I'm not going to get all the nuances.

I binge-read another book today, but I've started on The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. So far it's entertaining at least.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #637

Been reading The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson for almost six months now. It's several thousand pages long. Great book and haven't gotten bored with it at all. Really makes history come alive.

Post: #638

Just finished reading The Art of the Deal. Great book. Trumps' charisma really shines through the text. It amazes me how he came up on the scene in his late 20's and instantly starting swinging massive deals. My dad works in commercial real estate so I've been pushing him to read it but he's pro-Hilary and his ego won't allow it One of my favorite quotes that's relevant to how he's dominating the media..

"The other thing I do when I talk with reporters is to be straight. I try not to deceive them or to be defensive, because those are precisely the ways most people get themselves into trouble with the press. Instead, when a reporter asks me a tough question, I try to frame a positive answer, even if it means shifting the ground. For example, if somehow asks me what negative effects the world's tallest building might have on the West Side, I turn the tables and talk about how New Yorkers deserve the world's tallest building, and what a boost it will give the city to have that honor again. When a reporter asks why I build only for the rich, I note the rich aren't the only ones that benefit from my buildings. I explain that I put thousands of people to work who might otherwise be collecting unemployment, and that I add to the city's tax base every time I build a new project. I also point out that buildings like Trump Tower have helped spark New York's renaissance. The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people's fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That's why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It's an innocent form of exaggeration-and a very effective form of promotion."

Post: #639

Started reading The Personal MBA after a recommendation from d'Herblay in the other thread

Post: #640

Currently reading the Art of Seduction by Robert Greene

Post: #641

I just read, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz


1) Be a man who is impeccable with his word.

2) Be a man who does not take anything personally.

3) Be a man who does not make assumptions.

4) Be a man who does his best.


These four agreements are with yourself. In Toltec wisdom, the purpose of the warrior (the ideal person in the Toltec tradition) is to transcend social conditioning as he discovers his personal power and learn to live with clear intent and impeccability.


1) We honor our commitments and only make commitments we intend to follow through on.

2) Very often what other people do is not because of you; rather it is because of themselves. Marcus Aurelius in Notes on Meditations writes: “The approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.” He reminds us not to worry about the opinion of other people who don’t even have a good opinion of themselves.

3) The problem with making assumptions is that we often believe they are the truth. ¨The way to keep yourself from making assumptions is to ask questions. Make sure the communication is clear. If you don’t understand, ask. Have the courage to ask questions until you are as clear as you can be.¨

4) This is akin to the Greek notion of Areté (virtue or excellence). It is the quality embodied by the hero. Ruiz notes, that “Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less. But keep in mind that your best is never going to be the same from one moment to the next. Everything is alive and changing all the time, so your best will sometimes be high quality, and other times it will not be as good.”



You can download the 33 page book here: http://wtf.tw/ref/ruiz.pdf

Post: #642

(03-30-2016 08:37 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  Gave up on Anna Karenina. I was trying to read it for technique, but not knowing Russian and relying even on the best translator I'm not going to get all the nuances.

I binge-read another book today, but I've started on The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. So far it's entertaining at least.

You were reading it in Russian?!

Dude, us Russians can barely get through it! It was part of the school curriculum back in Soviet days but nowadays I'd be surprised if anyone had read it.

Post: #643

Tai-Pan by James Clavell. Read Shogun last year and it's one of my favorite books of all time. Tai-Pan is amazing as well.

Post: #644

(04-05-2016 11:28 AM)TigerMandingo Wrote:  

(03-30-2016 08:37 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  Gave up on Anna Karenina. I was trying to read it for technique, but not knowing Russian and relying even on the best translator I'm not going to get all the nuances.

I binge-read another book today, but I've started on The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. So far it's entertaining at least.

You were reading it in Russian?!

Dude, us Russians can barely get through it! It was part of the school curriculum back in Soviet days but nowadays I'd be surprised if anyone had read it.

God, no - I was trying to read the translation of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (the P&V translation, it's apparently called). I gave up because I was reading to try and pick up some of Tolstoy's technique ... and that's when I realised I'm not really reading Tolstory, I'm reading P&V's best approximation of Tolstoy. Sort of like trying to read Shakespeare in the original Klingon

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #645

(04-04-2016 06:37 PM)NASA Test Pilot Wrote:  I just read, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz


1) Be a man who is impeccable with his word.

2) Be a man who does not take anything personally.

3) Be a man who does not make assumptions.

4) Be a man who does his best.


These four agreements are with yourself. In Toltec wisdom, the purpose of the warrior (the ideal person in the Toltec tradition) is to transcend social conditioning as he discovers his personal power and learn to live with clear intent and impeccability.


1) We honor our commitments and only make commitments we intend to follow through on.

2) Very often what other people do is not because of you; rather it is because of themselves. Marcus Aurelius in Notes on Meditations writes: “The approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.” He reminds us not to worry about the opinion of other people who don’t even have a good opinion of themselves.

3) The problem with making assumptions is that we often believe they are the truth. ¨The way to keep yourself from making assumptions is to ask questions. Make sure the communication is clear. If you don’t understand, ask. Have the courage to ask questions until you are as clear as you can be.¨

4) This is akin to the Greek notion of Areté (virtue or excellence). It is the quality embodied by the hero. Ruiz notes, that “Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less. But keep in mind that your best is never going to be the same from one moment to the next. Everything is alive and changing all the time, so your best will sometimes be high quality, and other times it will not be as good.”



You can download the 33 page book here: http://wtf.tw/ref/ruiz.pdf

I read this. It was pressed into my hands by a woman who likes her self help books. I had low expectations. Great. Another "Wisdom of Exotic Cultures" book. I was pleasantly surprised by its simplicity and integrity.

Post: #646

Shantaram

Stopped a quarter of the way through a couple years ago.

900+pages

Always hate when I have to start from the beginning of books I've already started, but this is an amazing story, I just stopped it at a busy time and couldn't progress.

Post: #647

Antifragile by Nassim Taleb.

Why is this guy not more widely recognized, I dont know.

He even lifts.

Post: #648

(04-06-2016 11:40 PM)germanico Wrote:  Antifragile by Nassim Taleb.

Why is this guy not more widely recognized, I dont know.

He even lifts.

Also see his book "The Black Swan" if you haven't already.

I love this guy, hes definitely a thinker. Very intelligent and also has a large ball sack. He calls people out in his field all the time.

Post: #649

(04-06-2016 03:06 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  

(04-05-2016 11:28 AM)TigerMandingo Wrote:  

(03-30-2016 08:37 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  Gave up on Anna Karenina. I was trying to read it for technique, but not knowing Russian and relying even on the best translator I'm not going to get all the nuances.

I binge-read another book today, but I've started on The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. So far it's entertaining at least.

You were reading it in Russian?!

Dude, us Russians can barely get through it! It was part of the school curriculum back in Soviet days but nowadays I'd be surprised if anyone had read it.

God, no - I was trying to read the translation of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (the P&V translation, it's apparently called). I gave up because I was reading to try and pick up some of Tolstoy's technique ... and that's when I realised I'm not really reading Tolstory, I'm reading P&V's best approximation of Tolstoy. Sort of like trying to read Shakespeare in the original Klingon

Give the Maude translation a try. They knew Tolstoy, and he endorsed their work.

This is the version I have, and it makes for a very enjoyable read. Obviously can't say how faithful it is to the original.

Post: #650

Jim Harrison died recently so I finally quit procrastinating and picked up Legends of the Fall.

I found this paragraph particularly interesting.

"He lived as a victim, albeit prosperous, of those dreams he built at age nineteen when all of us reach our zenith of idealistic nonsense. Nineteen is the age of the perfect foot soldier who will die without a murmur, his heart aflame with patriotism. Nineteen is the age at which the brain of a nascent poet in his rented room soars the highest, suffering gladly the assault of what he thinks is the god in him. Nineteen is the last year that a young woman will marry purely for love."