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Festina Lente
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quote:
Originally posted by walkinghorse:
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein
As a young man, most anything by Andre Norton.
Science fiction novel about a young man marooned with a knife, cannot remember the author or the title? Frown
Takes place on another planet in the future, and a group of young people go on a camp, and various adventures about how important a good knfe allows one to survive and proper!


Tunnel in the Sky, also by Heinlein. One of my favorite authors



NRA Life Member - "Fear God and Dreadnaught"
 
Posts: 8295 | Location: in the red zone of the blue state, CT | Registered: October 15, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Legalize the Constitution
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I’ve been looking at this thread for a couple of days, deciding whether or not to partake. I have a personal library of books that mean a lot to me for various reasons. Typically, I keep the books of authors that I really value.

Jack Schaefer: Shane and Monte Walsh. Especially, Monte Walsh. The story of the life of a cowboy, and quite a life—the movies didn’t touch this book.
Mari Sandoz: Old Jules, Crazy Horse; Strange Man of the Oglalas, and several more. Non-fiction and historical novels about a part of the country she was born and raised in.
C.S. Forester’s Hornblower Series. I seem to be among the few here who prefers this series over the Aubrey/Maturin books of O’Brien.
Everything by Arturo Perez-Reverte. He’s a great storyteller, and he writes stories that I want to read. Kudos to the translators he works with; Perez-Reverte writes in Spanish. The translators do a terrific job of moving the beauty of that language over into English.
Ed Abbey—really important books during the most important time in my life.
Earnest Hemingway—The Sun Also Rises in particular, but I really like his writing style, timeless.
Cormac McCarthy—in particular, The Border Trilogy


_______________________________________________________
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Posts: 13164 | Location: Wyoming | Registered: January 10, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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When I was younger I read a ton of books by folks who had various jobs in the service during Vietnam. These books left quite an impression on me. I was only 14-16 and I literally had to stop reading them because they were giving me nightmares. I can only imagine actually having been there... Here is my list in no particular order.

Book #1: Chickenhawk
- Great book about a Huey pilot in Vietnam.

Book #2: About Face
- Great book about one of the most decorated Army veterans ever David Hackworth. Admittedly he eventually turned against the Vietnam war but at the very least you can say he was there. Very, very there. The book covers his time in Korea as well.

Book #3: Any book by Adam Carolla.
- Hey, it's Adam. Undeniable common sense and a no bullshit delivery.

Book #4: Will to Live
- Les Stroud's book about the human spirit's desire to survive.

Book #5: Charlie Mike (Continue Mission)
- Great book about Vietnam

Book #6: Rogue Warrior
- By Richard Marcinko who founded Seal Team 6

Book #7: Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills
- The story of Carlos Hathcock. A must read!



Pissed off beats scared every time…

- Frank Castle
 
Posts: 3810 | Registered: March 03, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I believe in the
principle of
Due Process
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I avoid fiction, at least intentional fiction anyway.

My all time favorite is Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. I’ve read and enjoyed it so many times over the last more than 60 years I have some of it memorized.

The Intelligent Investor is a favorite. I’m never far away from my dog eared copy and now have it on my Kindle as well.

The only exception to my avoidance of fiction is Mark Twain. I think I have read every word he wrote, even letters to his mom and sisters if they were published.

I have read Winston Churchill’s account of WWII, 6 volumes, several times over the years and enjoyed them immensely. The History of the English Speaking Peoples, 4 volumes is another.

I got the multi volume biography of Churchill, by his son Randolph to start and later by Martin Gilbert and enjoyed that very much.

This spring I read The Complete Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant, 11 volumes, ~12,000 pages. It was tedious in places, but exceedingly worthwhile in total.

I have dozens of biographies that I really enjoy. Sam Houston, LBJ, G. Washington, Calvin Coolidge, T. Roosevelt, John Connally, Ben Graham, and many more. I also enjoy the books about financial successes and debacles, the mortgage crisis, Long Term Capital Management, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds among others.

Right now, I am in the process of reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.




Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown
 
Posts: 48369 | Location: Texas hill country | Registered: July 04, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Little ray
of sunshine
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Many, but here are a few:

Catch-22

Huck Finn

Moby Dick (Really - I tried this book several times as a young person, and didn't get it. At about 40 or so, I tried again, and realized why this has the reputation it has.)

Leaving Cheyenne, Larry McMurtry

Blood Meridian

O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin series




The fish is mute, expressionless. The fish doesn't think because the fish knows everything.
 
Posts: 53117 | Location: Texas | Registered: February 10, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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The Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam
Moby Dick by Melville
On War by Clausewitz
The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner

The list of favorite books for me is very long. The classics are classic for a very good reason and it is very hard to discount one over another.


Regards,
arlen

======================
Some days, it's just not worth the effort of chewing through the leather straps.
======================
 
Posts: 408 | Location: Colorado | Registered: August 13, 2016Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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“The Source”, by James Michner, which I first read as a young teen is one of the only books I have reread. Prob the best historical fiction I have ever read. Tremendous account of the history of Israel up to the 48 war. Starts from primative times. More like a chronilogical progrssion of short stories.

“A Soldier Of The Great War” by Helperin. One of the best fiction books I have read. Despite the title, the focus is not the war.

I recommend authors Larry Brown, Carmac McCarthy and Walker Percy. Any of their books won’t disappoint.
 
Posts: 1605 | Location: Texas Hill Country | Registered: April 07, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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a great new (for me) author i found last year: Peter Clines. started reading Ex-Heros (5 book series) and when i got through with those, quickly read 14, The Fold, and Paradox Bound. the only one left that i could find was The Junkie Quatrain, short story collection, which i've ordered.
 
Posts: 10665 | Location: NV | Registered: July 04, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Hah. Just realized this was an older topic that I responded to a while ago. At least I was going to have the same answer this time...


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Posts: 3477 | Location: Central California | Registered: April 12, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
We gonna get some
oojima in this house!
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Red Storm Rising. Could be done on Netflix now. Too big and epic to be a standard length movie.

Atlas Shrugged

Enders Game

Pillars of the Earth

Quite entertained by John Grisham’s work. Many of his characters reminds me of a good friend who was somewhat of a street lawyer with a ramshackle office right by the courthouse. The floors were so crooked that you felt drunk walking around in it.

He’s now an international business lawyer working for a Middle Eastern oil company, but he earned his chops.


-----------------------------------------------------------
TCB all the time...
 
Posts: 6501 | Location: Cantonment/Perdido Key, Florida | Registered: September 28, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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My favorite all time is Dune. But I really liked all the westerns that Louis L'Amour wrote. I read a bunch of those over the years.
 
Posts: 994 | Location: South Texas | Registered: August 28, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Experienced Slacker
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Unintended Consequences

Will (G. Gordon Liddy's Autobiography)

The Art of War

Death in a Lonely Land (my favorite of Peter Capstick's works)
 
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Ready player one and Enders game
 
Posts: 840 | Location: DFW | Registered: January 04, 2017Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by apprentice:
Unintended Consequences

Will (G. Gordon Liddy's Autobiography)

The Art of War

Death in a Lonely Land (my favorite of Peter Capstick's works)


Was Liddy really "Daddy Gee?"

Ah gots to know!
 
Posts: 2520 | Location: High Sierra & Low Desert | Registered: February 03, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Political Cynic
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Unintended Consequences
Atlas Shrugged
Enemies Foreign and Domestic
Truman



[B] Against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC


 
Posts: 53085 | Location: Tucson Arizona | Registered: January 16, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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My all-time favorite is The Old Man and the Boy, by Robert Ruark. The back drop for this semi-fictional collection of short stories involving Robert and his grandfather is the woods and waters of North Carolina in the 1920's & 30's. He followed it up a few year later with, The Old Man's Boy Grows Older, which in my opinion is every bit as good as the first book.

Last year Sig Forum member Ed Fowler recommended a great book in an interesting thread concerning coyotes called, Alaska's Wolf Man: The 1915-55 Wilderness Adventures of Frank Glaser
This was one of the most interesting books I have read in years and I'm thankful to Ed for mentioning it. To say Frank Glaser was tough is an understatement.

Here's a link to the coyote thread:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...935/m/9230024914/p/1


Here are a couple links to the books:

https://www.amazon.com/Old-Man...-Ruark/dp/080502669X

https://www.amazon.com/Alaskas...ntures/dp/1575100479




Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.
- 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

 
Posts: 884 | Location: Southwest Michigan | Registered: March 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Ice Station Zebra by Alistair MacLean - was my first book (required reading in Jr. High School) that turned me on to the idea that there are books I could really enjoy reading.

Others that were great:

Shibumi

Anything by Leon Uris

Anything by Edward Ellsberg (USN, marine salvage)

A Rifleman Goes to War

Unintended Consequences

Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, Gary Kinder
 
Posts: 2130 | Location: south central Pennsylvania | Registered: November 05, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Legalize the Constitution
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Originally posted by Chris42:

Anything by Leon Uris

I was given a first edition copy of “The Haj” for Christmas. I started it a couple of days ago. I know I read “Trinity,” and will likely read it again soon since we went to Ireland this past spring. Honestly can’t remember if I read “Exodus,” confusion probably comes from seeing the movie in the last year—better read it too.


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Posts: 13164 | Location: Wyoming | Registered: January 10, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Res ipsa loquitur
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Originally
Takes place on another planet in the future, and a group of young people go on a camp, and various adventures about how important a good knfe allows one to survive and proper!
]]

You are referencing Tunnel in Sky also by Heinlein; one of my favorites. My favorite is Heinlein’s Sixth Column.


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Posts: 12434 | Registered: October 13, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Originally posted by JALLEN:
Right now, I am in the process of reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
Reading this now. A page turner.
 
Posts: 10665 | Location: NV | Registered: July 04, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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