When I consider this question, I think of books I've actually bought and given to close friends. Which is not many (for me, of either).

Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences by Abraham Maslow meets that test.

Six Frigates, The epic history of the founding of the US Navy

1776 by David McCullough

Seven Roads to Hell, A screaming eagle at Bastogne

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors

Neptun's inferno: The US Navy at Guadalcanal

Nelson: The Admiral

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Originally posted by Palm:

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Originally posted by ibexsig:
The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The original is three large volumes and I highly recommend it.

Anybody who reads the whole trilogy and can still defend communism/socialism/Marxism has a heart of stone.

Plus, you will gain a great understanding of the unbelievable suffering the Russian people have suffered over the past 100 years.

+1 on this.

Thannks for the recommendation. It looks like a heavy read, so I’m going with the Audible version. I’ll have all three volumes finished in 75 hours or so.

Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss is very enlightening if you want to know why it’s so hard to stay trim on a modern diet.

“The Kings of Creation”; Lissen and Sibbick. A book about recent paleontology and the latest discoveries. Entertaining, factual, a good bit of adventure. I have given out several copies and it has been a real eye-opener for some.

"The Boys in the Boat" is one of those books that I started to read and by the third chapter I'd bought nine copies and sent to my children and close friends. It's just a great story!

"Endurance" the story of Shackleton's adventure in the Antarctic has stayed with me for most of my life. It's a great story.

"On Combat" by Dave Grossman has provided an insight into violence and the way it affects people that has been very helpful to me as I've dealt with two friends.

Haven’t read it yet but a coworker recommended Freakonimics, and there’s a follow up Superfreakonimics. Hard for me to explain but they looked at all sorts of social issues and solved them through patterns and incentives. Quite interesting.

Probably my favorite non-fiction book of all time is Generation Kill which details the Marines push into Baghdad early in the Iraq war. It was made into a mini-series for HBO but I’ve not watched that. Lone Survivor is another must read.

Other than those I’m pretty big into biographies and autobiographies about almost anyone but especially military men.

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Originally posted by mrw:
Six Frigates, The epic history of the founding of the US Navy


The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors

Beat me to it with these 2.

I'm just starting The story of civilization based of some posts by jallen as he worked his way through the 11 volumes.

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Originally posted by Wasabibill:
"On Combat" by Dave Grossman has provided an insight into violence and the way it affects people that has been very helpful to me as I've dealt with two friends.

I can't believe I neglected to mention these.

Grossman's "On Killing" and "On Combat" are must-reads for anyone in the military or law enforcement, as well as anyone with an interest in personal self-defense.

The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw

Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose

We Were Soldiers Once by Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway.

Three of my favorite non-fiction titles. I've read them many times.

I am an avid non fiction reader.

Recent reads

Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson

Grant Ron Chernow

Hue 1968 Mark Bowden (killing pablo and guests of the ayatollah also good)

1453 The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West Rodger Crowley

Napoleon A Life Andrew Robert's

Legacy of Ashes history of the CIA Tim Weiner

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

quote:

Originally posted by ibexsig:
The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Thannks for the recommendation. It looks like a heavy read, so I’m going with the Audible version. I’ll have all three volumes finished in 75 hours or so.

The abridged version is still very good and probably all you need.

I don’t read a lot of non-fiction outside of text books, but thoroughly enjoyed both Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden and Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose.

Defend the Reqlm. The secret history of mi5

The president and the assasin. Mckinley and leon. Cholgash (sp)

Those two books lay out the invasive nature of communism from the 1870's on.

The fall and Rise of china by richard baum


The black count, by tom reiss. The father of alexander dumas

Black gun silver star. The life of bass reeves. By art t burton

Indispensable? I think for me there is only one, The Bible.

That said, the only book other than The Bible I have ever given to others (and have given it to several people I care for) is The Gift of Fear. I think the information presented is invaluable and thus a worthy response to your question.

If you have anything to do with coaching
Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

If you're in the Fire Service
Report from Engine Co 82 by Dennis Smith

Indispensable is a tall order - but here are four I can wholeheartedly recommend:

Paris 1919:6 Months That Changed The World - Margaret MacMillan
Strategy - Basil Liddell Hart
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal - Ayn Rand
The 100:A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History - Michael Hart

The first goes a very long way to explaining how and why the victors of WWI failed to stick the landing, and created messes which presaged WWII and with which we are still trying to grapple.

The second looks gives a lot of military history background going back to antiquity, gives a few concepts useful in analyzing the campaigns, and applies the concepts in historical context.

The third gives one the intellectual ammunition to destroy the logic of the communist/collectivist/socialist arguments against what has been the most successful and beneficial way to organize society ever developed.

And the fourth gives short historical biographies of what the author believes are the 100 people who had the most impact on history (note, not the 'greatest' - the most influential.)

The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop

Indispensible? None I can think of off the top of my head.

Say what you will about Rush Limbaugh, but when I read these (admittedly about 20 years ago) they held my attention and they were a quick and easy read...and a little of an education.

"The Way Things Ought To Be"

"See, I Told You So"

Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr.