Swarm Book Club

[RonJohn]

I read mostly sci-fi. Daemon and The Martian were outstanding first books by the respective authors.(Daniel Suarez and Andy Weir). I haven't read anything else by Weir. I enjoyed the second book to Daemon(Freedom TM), but didn't really enjoy the other Suarez books.

My non-fiction books are mostly nerdy also. One of my favorites is The Ultimate History of Video Games. It is a 624 page book, all about games. The beginning is about arcade games before video games and how they created the market for video arcades later.

I read a lot of Tom Clancy when I was younger. I also read a lot of military books many years ago.(Franklin Miller, David Hackworth, Richard Marcinko)

 

[Milwaukee]

Speaking of nerdy, I've kept a log of the books I've read since 2012 with my own 1-5 scoring. Looks like I remembered to record 68 books in that time.

It's probably 85% non-fiction, which seems to be your preference. Are there specific topics you like?

Sapiens is on my list but haven't gotten there yet.

I am currently reading Dreamland which is a pretty damn interesting book on how the opioid crisis came to be, backtracking and tying everything from Mexican towns, interviews with individual dealers who detail their reasons for getting into it, their marketing strategy and operations, pharma, faulty scientific research and conclusions, etc.

I haven't read Sapiens either but it was recommended to me by a colleague recently. Dreamland sounds right up my alley, I will add it to the list.

 

[MWBATL]

I read mostly sci-fi. Daemon and The Martian were outstanding first books by the respective authors.(Daniel Suarez and Andy Weir). I haven't read anything else by Weir. I enjoyed the second book to Daemon(Freedom TM), but didn't really enjoy the other Suarez books.

I read Weir's follow up to The Martian. I was uninspired. Not terrible, but certainly not up to the first book.

 

[awbuzz]

Has anyone read Sapiens?

Good read, definitely recommend it for everyone. I don't read books often, but this one was a suggestion from a friend. Intriguing for sure.
Some topics might fluster some due to personal beliefs, but I got through that. If you can't understand why you might believe certain things or accept there is a past that has amalgamated things (religion) into what we believe/practice.

 

[awbuzz]

I read Weir's follow up to The Martian. I was uninspired. Not terrible, but certainly not up to the first book.

That bites, because The Martin was darn good m

 

[Jim Prather]

Theodor Giesel’s Horton Hears A Who. Okay, at this point I am just checking to see if anyone is still reading this...

Did you need to break out the dictionary for that last one?

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Did you need to break out the dictionary for that last one?

We only need dictionaries around here to help us out with @AE 87’s words of the day.

 

[CuseJacket]

I haven't read Sapiens either but it was recommended to me by a colleague recently. Dreamland sounds right up my alley, I will add it to the list.

Update: Dreamland was solid; just got a little redundant at the end. Still very interesting read. Receives a 4* on the @CuseJacket rating scale.

About 40% into Sapiens now. Feels headed to a 4* rating. Pretty cool book, though it feels a little too academic for my personal preferences and is not one I'm fighting to stay awake to keep reading, the latter of which is my criteria to earn a 5th star.

 

[Milwaukee]

I plan on starting Sapiens tonight, just arrived yesterday. I have about 60 pages of Sex Money Murder I hope to finish this evening. Absolutely fantastic book, highly recommend.

Really excited about Sapiens.

 

[slugboy]

Just got through with Howl’s Moving Castle (really liked the Miyazaki movie and thought I’d give the book a try).
Fine book. I give it 3 out of 5. Fits into the young adult category, I’d guess.
Reading the sequel, “Castle in the Air” now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Milwaukee]

Finished up SMM and about 30 pages into Sapiens. This is gonna be a wild read I can tell already.

 

[Peacone36]

somehow I missed this thread.
I read mostly true crime and biographies myself.
I read the GoT books as well but I am not a huge fantasy guy.

If mafia interests you (my favorite) Id recommend any of the Philip Carlo books, though I have not read the Richard Ramirez one, my dad says its pretty good. A lot of people bagged on Carlo but I thought his books were entertaining, Specifically Gaspipe, The Butcher and Confessions of a Mafia Hitman (even though Kuklinksi is known to be full of ****).

Right now I am reading Vagos, Mongols and Outlaws: My Infiltration of Americas Deadliest Biker Gangs
It's fairly mediocre.

The Black Hand by Chris Blatchford is pretty good as well. If focuses on La eMe gangster Boxer Enriquez.

Im also a big HST fan. I just rcvd Freak Kingdom a couple weeks ago. I have yet to crack it. My favorite book of his is The Rum Diary. The movie was a ****ing disaster.

 

[Technut1990]

I figure since we're all nerds anyway we may as well act like it. I just finished Bad Blood tonight and plan on starting Sex Money Murder, by Jonathan Green, tomorrow.

Any book recommendations or negative reviews as well would be nice. I finished Billion Dollar Whale last month and thought it was crazy good. True story, he was known as the Malaysian Wolf of Wall Street. Very good book.

The Bad Blood story just came out on HBO as a documentary titled The Inventor. It's on the dvr so now I can finally watch it now that I'm finished with the book.

I'm still in denial -- I'M NOT A NERD !

 

[HurricaneJacket]

So I mostly read sci fi and fantasy, but I have some recommendations for fun engaging reads.

1. Anything by Larry Correia, especially the Monster Hunter International (mercenary company hunts b grade movie monsters) and Grimnoir Chronicles (magic is real in a film noir setting of the 30s) series. He also has books in the Warmachine universe and a action/spy thriller series.

2. I've really enjoyed the litRPG genre, my favorite of which is probably the Dark Herbalist series, but there are tons out there.

3. The All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness (now a TV show called Discovery of Witches on AMC). A really well written paranormal romance that my wife introduced me too.

4. For non-fiction I really like Simon Sinek's "Start with the Why" and "Good Leaders Eat Last".

I'm currently working on "3 mages and a margarita" on audio book, "Guns Germs and Steel" (nonfiction) and David Weber's latest Safehold book.

I really want to read American Nations, but can't find a copy anywhere

 

[GT_EE78]

Win Bigly
Scott Adams

 

[Peacone36]

So I mostly read sci fi and fantasy, but I have some recommendations for fun engaging reads.

1. Anything by Larry Correia, especially the Monster Hunter International (mercenary company hunts b grade movie monsters) and Grimnoir Chronicles (magic is real in a film noir setting of the 30s) series. He also has books in the Warmachine universe and a action/spy thriller series.

2. I've really enjoyed the litRPG genre, my favorite of which is probably the Dark Herbalist series, but there are tons out there.

3. The All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness (now a TV show called Discovery of Witches on AMC). A really well written paranormal romance that my wife introduced me too.

4. For non-fiction I really like Simon Sinek's "Start with the Why" and "Good Leaders Eat Last".

I'm currently working on "3 mages and a margarita" on audio book, "Guns Germs and Steel" (nonfiction) and David Weber's latest Safehold book.

I really want to read American Nations, but can't find a copy anywhere

This?

 

[Milwaukee]

Has anyone read "Black Flags: The Rise of Isis"?

It was recommended to me from someone who usually gives stellar book recommendations.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Once a voracious reader, I guess I burned myself out, because I haven't read any book to completion in possibly 5 years (shameful, I know). Two of the last really good books I read before I burned out were Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End". Both were extremely fascinating, entertaining, and educational historical novels which I simply could not put down once I started reading them. There is (as of 2017) a 3rd book in what is now called the "Kingsbridge Trilogy", Kingsbridge being the fictional city where the stories take place. The new one is called "A Column of Fire". I need to buy that and hope that reading it will whet my appetite for reading again. I decided to try a classic novel 2 years ago, so I bought an unabridged copy of "Les Miserables". I really got hooked on that too, but with about 100 pages to go, I just couldn't take any more, and I still haven't finished reading it. Pathetic !!!
To indicate just how voracious a reader I once was, I have a library of 400 leather bound books (mostly classics) that I purchased in groups of 100 from the Franklin Mint. They sure look good on my custom-made bookcase, but sadly, that's all they are now --- something to look at.

 

[jacketup]

I'll just rattle some stuff off my "5" scores that I would read again...

• Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania... same author as Devil in the White City which was mentioned by @Tech93
• Unbroken... ignore the Angelina Jolie trash movie... book is legit
• Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us
  
• Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
  
• I am Malala
  
• The Wright Brothers
• A Long Way Home
• One Second After... fiction... it'll freak you out
  
• The Stranger in the Woods
• The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row
  
• Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

Several of those were on bestseller lists for stretches of time.

Unbroken and The Wright Brothers are two of the best books I've ever read. Dead Wake is also excellent and very well researched by the author.

One Second After was interesting, but some of the factual information is incorrect, which made a lot of it seem far fetched.

Good list. I'll have to try some of the others.

 

[Jim Prather]

Once a voracious reader, I guess I burned myself out, because I haven't read any book to completion in possibly 5 years (shameful, I know). Two of the last really good books I read before I burned out were Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End". Both were extremely fascinating, entertaining, and educational historical novels which I simply could not put down once I started reading them. There is (as of 2017) a 3rd book in what is now called the "Kingsbridge Trilogy", Kingsbridge being the fictional city where the stories take place. The new one is called "A Column of Fire". I need to buy that and hope that reading it will whet my appetite for reading again. I decided to try a classic novel 2 years ago, so I bought an unabridged copy of "Les Miserables". I really got hooked on that too, but with about 100 pages to go, I just couldn't take any more, and I still haven't finished reading it. Pathetic !!!
To indicate just how voracious a reader I once was, I have a library of 400 leather bound books (mostly classics) that I purchased in groups of 100 from the Franklin Mint. They sure look good on my custom-made bookcase, but sadly, that's all they are now --- something to look at.

There is a trick to reading Les Miserables.... Read every other chapter... One chapter will be story and the next will be the author's commentary on the politics of the day... The story chapters are really interesting, but the soapbox chapters are a tough slog... Give the every other chapter method a try and you may be surprised...