OFFICIAL Misc 2020 52 books in 52 weeks thread - All Kinds of Brain Gainz

[sl_17b]

9 - #1 in Customer Service This is the third and final "Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent" novel by Larry Correia. Larry's one of my favorite authors (his Grimnoir Chronicles are an outstanding alternate-history WWII with superheroes). These books are short and very, very silly. Interdimensional insurance is protection when dimensions collide, so basically Tom goes around the multiverse beating up the horsemen of the apocalypse, dolphins, and robot space hitler. These are probably not your thing, but I laughed my ass off.


11 - Satori Written by Don Winslow, this is the prequel to the novel "Shibumi" written by another author back in the 70s who died a few years ago. Apparently there's some controversy around the book, as the original author's descendants sold the character rights to a publisher who brought Winslow in to write it - it's been 40 years since the first one came out so the original author obviously didn't see the need to revisit the story, seems like a cash grab built on his legacy. Whatever the story behind how it came to be, Winslow is up to the task and wrote a quick-moving spy thriller. I'll be reading Shibumi soon.

Glad to hear about these two. I read Shibumi about 30 years ago and it is a great book. I found out about Satori about 2 or 3 weeks ago and was debating getting it. I didn't want to spoil the memory of Shibumi.

The Tom Strange stories are fun reads. I need to read the latest one.

[Jhuth13]

Heads up to anyone who likes Erik Larson (Devil in the White City) - his new novel dropped yesterday: The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

Its amazing how well he crafts accurate history into a story. Gonna pick it up as soon as I finish Orphan X: Into the Fire

[Zavil]

I will look at reading Phoenix Project, thank you both for the recommendation.

Zavil, you should look into the book "Your Money or Your Life". It's an older book but very popular with those looking to gain financial independence. I have probably given away 10 copies of it at this point. Rich Dad, Poor Dad was a good place to start. After Your Money or Your Life, if you want more, read "I Will Teach You To Be Rich"

Those weren't on my radar yet. Great, thanks for the suggestion. Currently reading The Simple Path to Wealth, will pick up those after.

10. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern - 1/5
This being the runner-up to last years Goodreads choice awards, I had high expectations and went in blind. Turned out that wasn't the best decision. The story just couldn't grab me at all. The pace was very, very slow. The characters dull and the story just didn't seem to go anywhere. Unfortunate. On to the next one.

On the upside, I started The Lies of Locke Lamora yesterday. Fully into it right from the start. In for a good one. Thanks for the recommendation for this one bookbrahs.

[NVious]

38.Does Terrorism Work (No FBI)
39.How To Build a Universe
40.Magic of Reality
41.Limitless Mind
42.Oxford Behavioral Econ

And a pic from today on why I read so much:



You can only eat, **** and snort so much.....but you can always turn another page

[NVious]

43.Autobiophilosophy
44.One Thing
45.Intelligence Trap
46.12 Rules Of Life
47.Managing Oneself

[TheBodfather94]

Spoiler!

1.Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison by Michel Foucault - 7/10
2.One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 6.5/10
3. Fascinating Footnotes from History by Giles Milton - 8/10
4. All American Murder: The Rise and Fall of Aaron Hernandez by Patterson, Abramovich & Harvey - 7/10
5. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (Edited by Otto Frank and Mirjam Pressler) - 7/10
6. The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life by Andy Miller - 6/10
7. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari - 10/10
8. Presumed Innocent (Kindle County Legal Thriller #1) by Scott Turow - 9.25/10
9. The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Dr Oliver Sacks - 8/10
10. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything - 8/10
11. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality - 8.5/10
12. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane - 9/10

13. The Kings of Cool by Don Winslow:

Published in 2012, this is the prequel to his 2010 book "Savages." It's unusual to read TKoC before Savages, but my library only had the former and I thought: why not? Anyway, I'm glad I went ahead with this because it was a solid read with a very strong final third. The story focuses on the illicit drug market in California, spans 40+ years and is structured very well. Ben and "Chon", two of the drug market's present day players, only truly understand the market they're dealing in once they're in DEEP.

14. Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell:

Pretty interesting book on the widespread inability to understand/read strangers; an inability that can have (and has had) profound effects in a range of scenarios (ranging from high profile espionage to Bernie Madoff's huge Ponzi scheme). Gladwell presents some very damning statistics and stories and tries to align them with his theories on our aforementioned inability. I found some parts much more interesting/useful than others, but this was a decent, worthwhile read all-round.

15. David and Goliath:Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell:

Interesting and inspiring book which, among other things, looks at how underdogs and misfits can find (and have found) success against the odds. Gladwell also looked at the flipside: the understated disadvantages of apparent advantages, and challenged some common conceptions of success. Solid, balanced read (at least after his fairly ridiculous commentary on the eponymous fight).

---

Currently reading Savages and The Germans and Europe: A Personal Frontline History

[maori-rap]

6. Plain Tales from the Hills - Rudyard Kipling

A collection of short stories written by both Rudyard and members of his family, focusing on life in 19th Century "Anglo-India" where Kipling spent years of his life. Kipling was no older than 22 when he wrote his share of the stories, which is amazing given the wisdom, humanity and insight within them.

[Payton1221]

1 The First Commandment (Scot Harvath #6) by Brad Thor (7.5/10)
2 Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (8/10)
3 The One Man by Andrew Gross (8/10)
4 The Last Patriot (Scot Harvath #7) by Brad Thor (6/10)
5 Invisible by James Patterson (5/10)
6 The Apostle (Scot Harvath #8) by Brad Thor (9/10)
7 The Second Life Of Nick Mason (Nick Mason #1) by Steve Hamilton (6/10)
8 The Strenuous Life by Ryan Swanson (5/10)
9 The Institute by Stephen King (8/10)**

** King's passion lies with stories of the supernatural but he could have been just a great (non-supernatural) storyteller too. The beginning of The Institute is just that: the story of a guy who was a cop and then loses his job and tries to find himself as he hitchhikes north. This portion of the story gets put on hold as the supernatural story is told and the two meet at the end of the story. I liked it (8/10) then not so much (probably a 5/10) but then he summarizes things up nicely so I rate it 8/10 overall. And I don't particularly care for the supernatural stories, so if you do, then you'll probably like it better.

[Jdizzlean]

I'm a voracious reader. it helps that right now i'm on night shift and have sometimes 10 hours a day to read.

Spoiler!

1. the entire wheel of time series, 15 books
2. rise of the warrior cop, by Radley Balko
3. With the Old Breed at Pelileu and Okinawa, by E.B. Sledge
4. A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, by James Comey (i didn't like it)
5. Tiger Force, by Micheal Sallah and Mitch Weiss, book was in 2006, but they won a Pulitzer in 2004 for this story
6. US Army Field Manual 6-22: Leader Development

currently reading both of these
7. Long Road to Mercy, by David Baldacci.
8. The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson, 2013 Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction

new books on the list

[spikyhunter]

I finished over the last month:

1. Witcher: The Last Wish 4/5
2. Power of the Dog 5/5

Both were really good! thanks for the PotD rec! Grabbed the next book from the library right away. Also if you're a fan of the Witcher games I really recommend the books

[Ayz33]

Pretty heavy class schedule with senior projects and such. Almost all Audible with the exception of Shakespeare for my class.

1- A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
2- The Godfather - Mario Puzo
3- Guns Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
4- Lumping 3 Shakespeare plays and calling it one book. King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Othello.

Working on War and Peace so I won't have another to add for a while...

[Legz422]

6th book finished and already started the 7th.

Spoiler!

1. The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz
2. Dark Witch (Cousin O'Dwyer Trilogy book #1) by Nora Roberts
3. Twisted 26 (Stephanie Plum series) by Janet Evanovitch
4. Under Currents by Nora Roberts
5. Shadow Spell (Cousin O'Dwyer Trilogy book #2) by Nora Roberts
6. Blood Magick (Cousin O'Dywer Trilogy book #3) by Nora Roberts
6. Indulgence in Death (In Death series book 31) by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts)
7. Treachery in Death (In Death Series book 32) by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts)

[Samraiwise]

Year 2020:

Spoiler!

1. "Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow" (2005) by David Gemmell(Kindle)
2. "Devil's Waltz" (1993) - Alex Delaware #7 - by Jonathan Kellerman (Audiobook) *Mystery*
3. "Tunnel Vision" (1994) - V.I. Warshawski book VIII by Sara Paretsky(Audiobook) *Mystery*
4. "Bad Love" (1994)) - Alex Delaware #8 - by Jonathan Kellerman (Audiobook) *Mystery*
5. "Hard Time" (1999) - V.I. Warshawski book IV by Sara Paretsky(Audiobook) *Mystery*
6. "Total Recall" (2001) - V.I. Warshawski book V by Sara Paretsky(Audiobook) *Mystery*
7. "Self-Defense" (1995) - Alex Delaware #9 - by Jonathan Kellerman (Audiobook) *Mystery*
8. "Blacklist" (2003)) - V.I. Warshawski book V by Sara Paretsky(Audiobook) *Mystery*

9. "Archmage" (2015) - Dark Elf - Homecoming Book I by R. A. Salvatore
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐-⭐⭐⭐/10

This series is my most favorite fantasy. Salvatore and I are the same age both 60 and he lifts weight too.

10. "You Wanna Build a Tesseract?: A Collection of Stories" by Jeremy David Stevens
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐-⭐⭐⭐⭐/10

This book was written by a fellow miscer whom some of you know very well.

I'm very partial to space colony pioneer kinda stories, like Ender series (Orson Scott Card) and Old Man's War series (John Scalzi). The book includes such, a novella titled, "Jamey Jones and the Sons of Noah" which is very promising prologue of his future novel. I can hardly wait for it!!

The other is a collection of short stories. The above book is actually included in the collection.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0XCAPU

Currently Reading:
"The Web" (1996) - Alex Delaware #10 - by Jonathan Kellerman (Audiobook) *Mystery*

[TravelinJhwkFan]

6. Orange Crush - Tim Dorsey

With a lot going on, I really struggled with this one. Training for new certification and life in general distracted throughout this one. I should be back on the reading bus soon though.

[Chazb0]

A few more:

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
The Devops Handbook. This is more a continuation of the Phoenix Project, but this deals with case studies from successful companies utilizing tools to progress their infrastructure and company goals.

#Side note, any tech people out there, Pluralsight is a great site for learning new technologies and tools. They have deals constantly, and if you have the means, you can build test environments and follow along by doing all the things in the courses. I think I took 15 or so courses over the last quarter of 2019 with my Visual Studio subscription on a trial basis, but I convinced my old boss to get me a yearly subscription. He liked it so much that he bought himself a subscription as well. I am not trying to plug this in any way, just trying to spread the word. It's that good.

If anyone here is into CI/CD I would love to hear what tech you are using for your source control/delivery of your applications.

next up is probably Turn the Ship Around. I want to get back to fiction, but career comes first, I guess.

[TheIronAsylum]

been reading og magic the gathering lore books yay

[GoldStorm]

14. The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories

Eh i gave it a 3/5. My review on Goodreads here:

A single book dedicated to Lovecraft seems like far too many short stories that are all so similar. Every story begins to blend into one another and read the same. It becomes a chore to read the whole book. I would read the stories over a long period of time so as not to get tired of the same structure over and over. He can only write about how something cant be described so many times. With that being said my favorite of the stories in this book are as follows:

Dagon
The Outsider
He
Cool Air
The Picture in the house
The Colour out of Space

Least Favorite:
The Hound
Herbert West-Reanimater
The Haunter in the Dark

[MrBourbon]

I finished over the last month:

1. Witcher: The Last Wish 4/5
2. Power of the Dog 5/5

Both were really good! thanks for the PotD rec! Grabbed the next book from the library right away. Also if you're a fan of the Witcher games I really recommend the books

The sequel to PotD is incredibly good, but it's one of the most grim, depressing and brutal books I've ever read. I'm not kidding.

It's the book that cemented Winslow as one of my favorite authors, but brace yourself srs.

[Payton1221]

1 The First Commandment (Scot Harvath #6) by Brad Thor (7.5/10)
2 Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (8/10)
3 The One Man by Andrew Gross (8/10)
4 The Last Patriot (Scot Harvath #7) by Brad Thor (6/10)
5 Invisible by James Patterson (5/10)
6 The Apostle (Scot Harvath #8) by Brad Thor (9/10)
7 The Second Life Of Nick Mason (Nick Mason #1) by Steve Hamilton (6/10)
8 The Strenuous Life by Ryan Swanson (5/10)
9 The Institute by Stephen King (8/10)
10 Walk of Ages by Jim Reisler (4/10)**

** Walk of Ages is about the long distance walking feats of Edward Payson Weston from his days as a young man just after the civil war up to when he was in his 80's in the 1920's. I used walking as my primary mode of non-lifting exercise years ago, and the book has challenged me to want to try a few long walks this year, but it's just hard to make walking exciting.

[TheBodfather94]

16. Savages (Savages #2) by Don Winslow

After making millions from their unique product, Ben--by far the milder man in the business partnership--starts thinking about quitting the drug game. Unfortunately though, word of his product's potency got around, and the formidable Baja Cartel try to strong-arm him into producing "hydro" for them. After Ben's initial refusal, the Cartel escalates its threat, and the plot kicks on from there.This one is more similar to Winslow's Power of the Dog books; just on a considerably smaller scale. TKoC had its fair share of bloodshed, but this is definitely the more brutal book (not just due to the plot expansion and number of deaths, but also because of how and why people meet their end. On top of the higher death toll and more graphic scenes, this has much more scheming and collateral damage). The "Savages" books aren't nearly as good as Power of the Dog ones (which I'd recommend to all readers) IMO, but I thoroughly enjoyed them and think all Winslow fans should check them out.

17. The Body by Bill Bryson

This is a brilliant book on the human body, its functions and its capacities. The biological overview is complimented by a whole host of incredible facts and stories and Bryson's typically entertaining commentary/accessible approach. It really makes you marvel as well - fuark... Universal must-read material IMO. 

A few of those facts and stories:

Spoiler!

- On average, university educated British women have their first child at 35 (the general average is 28.5)
- Two strains of E Coli have more genetic variability than all the mammals on earth put together
- Leafy greens are by far the most common culprit of food related illness; they account for one in five cases
- Heinz ketchup is almost 1/4 sugar
- Stories on Unit 731 (a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) of World War II.
- Erika Nordby's survival story (she was revived after spending 2 hours without a heartbeat due to hypothermia)
- Even after short missions (5-11 days), astronauts can lose up to 20% of their muscle mass (and a fair bit of bone density too)
- Today, the average American women weighs as much as the average man did in 1960 (73.5KG/162lbs)

---

Currently reading The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler and The Germans and Europe: A Personal Frontline History by Peter Millar

[MrBourbon]

16. Savages (Savages #2) by Don Winslow

After making millions from their unique product, Ben--by far the milder man in the business partnership--starts thinking about quitting the drug game. Unfortunately though, word of his product's potency got around, and the formidable Baja Cartel try to strong-arm him into producing "hydro" for them. After Ben's initial refusal, the Cartel escalates its threat, and the plot kicks on from there.This one is more similar to Winslow's Power of the Dog books; just on a considerably smaller scale. TKoC had its fair share of bloodshed, but this is definitely the more brutal book (not just due to the plot expansion and number of deaths, but also because of how and why people meet their end. On top of the higher death toll and more graphic scenes, this has much more scheming and collateral damage). The "Savages" books aren't nearly as good as Power of the Dog ones (which I'd recommend to all readers) IMO, but I thoroughly enjoyed them and think all Winslow fans should check them out.

17. The Body by Bill Bryson

This is a brilliant book on the human body, its functions and its capacities. The biological overview is complimented by a whole host of incredible facts and stories and Bryson's typically entertaining commentary/accessible approach. It really makes you marvel as well - fuark... Universal must-read material IMO. 

A few of those facts and stories:

Spoiler!

- On average, university educated British women have their first child at 35 (the general average is 28.5)
- Two strains of E Coli have more genetic variability than all the mammals on earth put together
- Leafy greens are by far the most common culprit of food related illness; they account for one in five cases
- Heinz ketchup is almost 1/4 sugar
- Stories on Unit 731 (a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) of World War II.
- Erika Nordby's survival story (she was revived after spending 2 hours without a heartbeat due to hypothermia)
- Even after short missions (5-11 days), astronauts can lose up to 20% of their muscle mass (and a fair bit of bone density too)
- Today, the average American women weighs as much as the average man did in 1960 (73.5KG/162lbs)

---

Currently reading The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler and The Germans and Europe: A Personal Frontline History by Peter Millar

You should read Mary Roach's books. She does the Bryson "learn about a random topic alongside an enjoyable narrator companion" thing better than Bryson.

Pick the topic you find most appealing.

[Avalanche3319]

[QUOTE=Avalanche3319;1597548651]

** King's passion lies with stories of the supernatural but he could have been just a great (non-supernatural) storyteller too. The beginning of The Institute is just that: the story of a guy who was a cop and then loses his job and tries to find himself as he hitchhikes north. This portion of the story gets put on hold as the supernatural story is told and the two meet at the end of the story. I liked it (8/10) then not so much (probably a 5/10) but then he summarizes things up nicely so I rate it 8/10 overall. And I don't particularly care for the supernatural stories, so if you do, then you'll probably like it better.

I could not agree with this more. The beginning is awesome, it lags during the middle and the ending is actually satisfiying. There are parts, not even the supernatural, that are practically unbelievable, but overall it was a fun King novel. 8/10.

[serevei]

1. The Death of Ivan Ilych (Tolstoy) 3/5
2. Lincoln in the Bardo (Saunders) 2/5
3. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Harari) 3/5
4. Talking to Strangers (Gladwell) 4/5
5. I'll Be Gone in the Dark (McNamara) 3/5
6. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (Carreyrou) 4/5
7. The Tipping Point (Gladwell) 3/5
8. Digital Minimalism (Newport) 4/5
9. Asymmetry (Halliday) 3/5
10. Weapons of Math Destruction (O'Neil) 3/5
11. Blink (Gladwell) 3/5

[NVious]

48.Lucky Blue Smith
49.Writers And Their Lives
50.Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms

[feck]

In on bookworm thread.

Most recent read is Volker Kutscher's Babylon Berlin. Currently on Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman. Pretty fascinating autobiography.


Any book brahs ITT got recs for good nonfiction stuff? I like Oliver Sacks' work and anything about human interaction/psychology/society etc. Business and finance stuff as well.

[NVious]

In on bookworm thread.

Most recent read is Volker Kutscher's Babylon Berlin. Currently on Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman. Pretty fascinating autobiography.


Any book brahs ITT got recs for good nonfiction stuff? I like Oliver Sacks' work and anything about human interaction/psychology/society etc. Business and finance stuff as well.

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1598858291

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1598861121

[TheBodfather94]

18. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

This is a well-written, well-rounded crime classic--the sixth novel featuring the iconic Private Investigator Philip Marlowe (you don't need to read the books in any particular order; this is my first). It gets underway when Terry Lennox--an enigmatic alcoholic and recently acquired friend of Marlowe's--tries to disappear just hours after his wealthy wife was murdered. Despite how damning it looks for his friend, Marlowe doesn't think he did it, and he makes great sacrifices in protecting his friend/investigating the murder. His investigations take him deep into the concealed seedy world of LA's elite, and of course, the violence/surprises don't stop after the aforementioned murder. I wasn't crazy about the ending, but I was engrossed in most of the journey. It shouldn't be too long before I read another Marlowe book.

You should read Mary Roach's books. She does the Bryson "learn about a random topic alongside an enjoyable narrator companion" thing better than Bryson.

Pick the topic you find most appealing.

Interesting (If I've ever heard of her, I don't recall it. Srs). Will check her work out - thanks mane.

[Payton1221]

Spoiler!

1 The First Commandment (Scot Harvath #6) by Brad Thor (7.5/10)
2 Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (8/10)
3 The One Man by Andrew Gross (8/10)
4 The Last Patriot (Scot Harvath #7) by Brad Thor (6/10)
5 Invisible by James Patterson (5/10)
6 The Apostle (Scot Harvath #8) by Brad Thor (9/10)
7 The Second Life Of Nick Mason (Nick Mason #1) by Steve Hamilton (6/10)
8 The Strenuous Life by Ryan Swanson (5/10)

9 The Institute by Stephen King (8/10)
10 Walk of Ages by Jim Reisler (4/10)
11 Wild at Heart by John Eldridge (9/10)**

Christian lecturer John Eldridge says men in today's church mistakenly think they were made exclusively to be nice and with a desire to live stress-free lives, but instead, men carry within them the desire for a life of intimacy and adventure.

[feck]

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1598858291

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1598861121

Ty mane, reps on spread.

18. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

This is a well-written, well-rounded crime classic--the sixth novel featuring the iconic Private Investigator Philip Marlowe (you don't need to read the books in any particular order; this is my first). It gets underway when Terry Lennox--an enigmatic alcoholic and recently acquired friend of Marlowe's--tries to disappear just hours after his wealthy wife was murdered. Despite how damning it looks for his friend, Marlowe doesn't think he did it, and he makes great sacrifices in protecting his friend/investigating the murder. His investigations take him deep into the concealed seedy world of LA's elite, and of course, the violence/surprises don't stop after the aforementioned murder. I wasn't crazy about the ending, but I was engrossed in most of the journey. It shouldn't be too long before I read another Marlowe book.

Chandler has some great noirs. Good read.

[NVious]

51.Five Star Communication
52.50 Ideas About Chemistry
53.50 Ideas About Astronomy