What are you reading?

[COLOR="Red"]Mark Twain's Autobiography . . .

From Wikipedia:

[QUOTE]Autobiography of Mark Twain or Mark TwainÔÇÖs Autobiography refers to a lengthy set of reminiscences, dictated, for the most part, in the last few years of American author Mark Twain's life and left in typescript and manuscript at his death. The Autobiography comprises a rambling collection of anecdotes and ruminations rather than a conventional autobiography.[/QUOTE]

BIG book. I'll have to wait 25 years for Volume 2 . . .

Voni
sMiling[/COLOR]

Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda

I recently read a lenghty article about him now I have an extensive biography. There is an interesting podcast on Amazon about the work [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Life-Legend-Lawrence-Arabia/dp/0061712612"]here.[/URL]

I always admired his love of motorcycling. Even in the 1920-30's he rode 500 mile days in England and on one of my all time favorite motorcycles, the Brough Superior.

Just finished Liberty And Tyranny by Mark Levin. Now reading Contempoary Europe A History. By H. Stuart Hughes It's European history from 1914-1970.

[QUOTE=barryg;642011]Just finished Liberty And Tyranny by Mark Levin. Now reading Contempoary Europe A History. By H. Stuart Hughes It's European history from 1914-1970.[/QUOTE]

Along those lines I would recommend The Guns of August. Pretty interesting read on how WWI changed the european political landscape, which ultimately led to WWII.

Shadows In The Jungle: The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines in WW II, by Larry Alexander.

The stories are worth telling but the writer Isn't a historian, he's a newspaper writer. The book reads like he didn't have an editor. There are too frequent grammatical errors and I often had to read for what he meant as opposed to what he said.

Other than a "Selected Bibliography" of eight books, there is no demonstration of scholarly effort. I don't expect the voluminous notes section of a Rick Atkinson work, but there were statements of fact that needed to be cited.

Now for the tough decision of what to read next from my stack of unread books.

10-4 Criminalbydesign. Just studying the rise of socialism, fasism, communism, and national socialism. And the results of those isms on Europe and the rest of the world.

[QUOTE=barryg;642095]10-4 Criminalbydesign. Just studying the rise of socialism, fasism, communism, and national socialism. And the results of those isms on Europe and the rest of the world.[/QUOTE]

To do that, you have to start with a real read of Adam Smith. The talk show Cliffs Notes version is a bit flawed.

[I]Eaters of the Dead, [/I] Michael Crichton. A fun, fast, entertaining read.

I Am My Father's Son, by Dan Hill (One of my Christmas books). Not too far in yet, but interesting so far.

I just finished, for the first time, "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance". Never knew it was a philosophy text. I was much more interested in the "throwback" details of the ride than how to define quality, but it also made a lot of sense. When you're over 40 you already understand a lot of his ramblings. So my college philosophy prof said many, many years ago...

Have fun,
Jer

Barbarians - by Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) and Alan Ereira. It's an interesting look at the impact (mostly negative) the Roman Empire had on the world.

[SIZE="3"]Decision Points by George W. Bush So far so good.[/SIZE]

[I]The March[/I] by Doctorow
A fictionalized account of Sherman's march through the South during the Civil War. Tells the story through the eyes of various characters. making it very entertaining.

Two books I got for Christmas.

[I][B]Year Of Meteors[/B]: Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, And The Election That Brought On The Civil War.[/I] Dougals R Egerton

[I][B]Driven West[/B]: Andrew Jackson And The Trail Of Tears To the Civil War.[/I] A.J. Langguth.

My family knows what a Civil War history buff I am, makes Christmas shopping easy.

[QUOTE=36654;642110]To do that, you have to start with a real read of Adam Smith. The talk show Cliffs Notes version is a bit flawed.[/QUOTE]

Or you can read [I]The Worldly Philosophers[/I], by Robert L. Heilbroner. It is an older book, but gives a good look at the basic ideas of economics as they have evolved, up to middle of the last century. By covering in brief, but highly readable precis, the ideas of the major philosophers, he gives you a basic understanding of how the discipline has grown.