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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: 240 is Back on October 14, 2007, 10:23:31 PM

Title: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: 240 is Back on October 14, 2007, 10:23:31 PM
Has anyone ready any good books lately?

(related to politics, economy, or corporations)

We should all recommend a good book we have on our shelf.



Would anyone like to start?
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Purple Aki on October 15, 2007, 01:06:49 AM
Ghost Wars by Steve Coll is a good read:

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wars-Afghanistan-Invasion-September/dp/1594200076 (http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wars-Afghanistan-Invasion-September/dp/1594200076)

It charts the history of the C.I.A's involvement in Afghanistan- there is lot of interesting info re. the I.S.I and Saudi funding of the Taleban. The author comes across as politically unbiased and it reads more like a political thriller.

One of the best books I've read in the last couple of years.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Al-Gebra on October 15, 2007, 01:08:02 AM
Ghost Wars by Steve Coll is a good read:

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wars-Afghanistan-Invasion-September/dp/1594200076 (http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wars-Afghanistan-Invasion-September/dp/1594200076)

It charts the history of the C.I.A's involvement in Afghanistan- there is lot of interesting info re. the I.S.I and Saudi funding of the Taleban. The author comes across as politically unbiased and it reads more like a political thriller.

One of the best books I've read in the last couple of years.

do you read as you put the boys through their paces?
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Purple Aki on October 15, 2007, 01:12:56 AM
Well it can get a bit boring being sat on their shoulders as they do the Aki squats, old chap.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: JBGRAY on October 15, 2007, 05:41:46 PM
Here are a few of the many I've read. Most of these are political, value-based, and/or opinionated.

The Death of Right and Wrong
by Tammy Bruce

The Great Gold Comeback
by James R. Cook

The Death of the West
by Pat Buchanan

Londonistan
by Melanie Philipps

Can We Trust the BBC?
by Robin Aitken

Here a couple of Fiction pieces that I thought were relevant.....of course, everyone knows(and hope to have the read) the first two.  The third, Utopia X, is more of a modern 1984 with a multicultural twist and is of course nowhere near as well written.....one of the more recent Dystopian novels.

1984
by George Orwell (real name Eric Blair)

Atlas Shrugged
by Ayn Rand (real name Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum)

Utopia X
by Scott Wilson (his first novel)
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: youandme on October 16, 2007, 08:14:26 AM
I've read some books that swing far left, anyone got some that swing right and are good reads?

Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Nordic Superman on October 17, 2007, 05:58:52 AM
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within

http://www.amazon.com/While-Europe-Slept-Radical-Destroying/dp/0767920058/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6933057-7862265?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192625886&sr=8-1
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Purple Aki on October 17, 2007, 07:26:44 AM
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within

http://www.amazon.com/While-Europe-Slept-Radical-Destroying/dp/0767920058/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6933057-7862265?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192625886&sr=8-1

Have you read "Londonistan", Nordic?:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Londonistan-NEW-UPDATED-Britain-Creating/dp/1903933900/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-1858793-0629445?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192630765&sr=8-1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Londonistan-NEW-UPDATED-Britain-Creating/dp/1903933900/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-1858793-0629445?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192630765&sr=8-1)

I've been meaning to get it for ages, but just haven't got round to buying it.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Nordic Superman on October 17, 2007, 07:34:42 AM
No mate, but I had heard of it.

Think I'll give it a whirl! 8)
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: JBGRAY on October 18, 2007, 07:48:01 AM
I've read some books that swing far left, anyone got some that swing right and are good reads?



The ones I've listed pretty much swing Right on a variety of topics, aside from perhaps the Fiction works I've listed. 

And yes, Londonistan was a damn good read and recent enough to still be very relevant.  The comparison between the weak and insipid British culture and the tenacious, self-preserving, and expansive Muslim one is Social Darwinism at its best.

Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Hedgehog on October 22, 2007, 12:35:32 AM
Has anyone ready any good books lately?

(related to politics, economy, or corporations)

We should all recommend a good book we have on our shelf.



Would anyone like to start?


What about you bro?

What book do you recommend and why?
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: loco on October 22, 2007, 08:30:03 AM
Not a book, but a very informative, must see political/historical documentary:

The 50 Years War - Israel & The Arabs (2000)
http://www.amazon.com/50-Years-War-Israel-Arabs/dp/B00004TX2W/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0766461-9035267?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1193066774&sr=1-1
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511PD4E6AFL._SS500_.jpg)

Product Description
Leading statesmen, generals, terrorists and others who made the headlines in one of history's most bitter and enduring struggles tell the story of the Arab-Israeli conflict in The 50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs. Opening with the U.N decision to partition Palestine in 1947, the program charts the ensuing half-century of enmity, warfare, mediation and negotiation.

Among the current and former heads of state and prime ministers interviewed or featured in the series are Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir of Israel; King Hussein of Jordan; Yasir Arafat of the Palestine Authority; Hafez al-Assad of Syria; Jafaar Numeiry of Sudan; and U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush and Jimmy Carter. Also appearing are foreign ministers, defense ministers, commanders in the field, heads of intelligence and guerrilla leaders, as well as high-ranking officials in the United States and the former Soviet Union.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Dos Equis on October 27, 2007, 02:26:46 AM
Column by a friend of mine.  This part is just sad:  "Currently, less than half of the nation’s adults read a book in the course of a year - any book, on any subject. And when broken down by age group, young people are reading the least."


Mostly Politics
Finding Time For The Big Read
By Dan Boylan
Wednesday - October 24, 2007

"Some people read for instruction, which is praiseworthy, and some for pleasure, which is innocent, but not a few read from habit, and I suppose that is neither innocent nor praiseworthy. Conversation after a time bores me, games tire me, and my own thoughts, which we are told are the unfailing resource of a sensible man, have a tendency to run dry. Then I fly to my book as the opium-smoker to his pipe.

“… to read in this way is as reprehensible as doping, and I never cease to wonder at the impertinence of great readers who, because they are such, look down on the illiterate. From the standpoint of what eternity is it better to have read a thousands books than to have ploughed a million furrows?

“Let us admit that reading with us is just a drug that we cannot do without - who of this band does not know the restlessness that attacks him when he has been severed from reading too long, the apprehension and irritability, and the sigh of relief which the sight of a printed page extracts from him? - and so let us be no more vainglorious than the poor slaves of the hypodermic needle or the pint-pot.”

This famous bibliophiles’confessional begins The Book-Bag, a short story by the English writer Somerset Maugham. All of us who’ve spent too many hours in libraries or too many dollars in bookstores - all who’ve snarled at wife, children, friend or neighbor who has interrupted our embrace of a book or article - know the truth of Maugham’s words.

I certainly do. I like people who laugh. And I like people who read. When I stumble on people who do both - abundantly - I fall in love, show admiration and downright reverence, seek out their company, buy them drinks and give them books.

But readers are increasingly hard to find. According to a recent study of the National Endowment for the Arts, reading - as a pastime, habit, addiction, whatever - is in serious decline among us.

Currently, less than half of the nation’s adults read a book in the course of a year - any book, on any subject. And when broken down by age group, young people are reading the least.

Every teacher, from kindergarten to Ph.D., knows this. Getting students to read the text - any text on any subject - is hard, hard, hard.

Not that teachers don’t try. From Kau to Kapaa, they urge their students on: “Read 25 books a year and we will celebrate, have a day of games, contests, water sports - you name it. Just please read.”

And for a while, many will. But, oh gawd, the distractions are endless. From the day our darlings are potty trained, we have them in youth soccer leagues, youth football, youth baseball-bowling-paddling-and martial arts. Not to mention the hula halau.

Then, when we bring them home, near total exhaustion, we prod them to do their homework - which involves reading, of course, and is called “-work.” They balk, and they avoid: in front of the TV, in MySpace, with their iPod or on their cellphone in their ear. Seldom, if ever, with a good book.

This month Hawaii is taking part in “The Big Read,” a National Endowment for the Arts effort to stop the decline in reading in the United States. The local effort is urging us all to read Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, a story about Chinese women and their Chinese-American daughters.

I’ve never read it - seen the movie, of course, but never read the book. I think I will before this October is gone.

But I fear that I’m not optimistic about “The Big Read” effort. Inculcating the love for, addiction to, or even passing interest in reading may well be a lost cause.

http://www.midweek.com/content/columns/mostlypolitics_article/finding_time_for_the_big_read/
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: 240 is Back on June 03, 2008, 12:23:20 PM
anyone read anything good lately?
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: War-Horse on June 03, 2008, 01:15:01 PM
I like louis la mour books.  Right now im in Kings "Blaze".    I might see what Henry waxman has out there....(Head of govermental insight or something or other)
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: stormshadow on June 03, 2008, 02:24:36 PM
The Oil Factor - by: Stephen Leeb

Crash Proof - by: Peter Schiff

Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: headhuntersix on June 03, 2008, 03:53:40 PM
Good thread...Wars of Oil and Blood by LTC(RET) Ralp Peters

Also for all u guys left and right....The Nightingales Song by Robert Timberg
about McCain/Robert McFarlane/James Webb/Oliver North/John Poindexter...and traces them all from Annapolis through their various careers.

Killer Elite by Michael Smith..about the super secret guys above Delta/CAG and Seal Team 6/Dev Grp. Unbelievable shit on what these guys have done or tried to do since Desert 1.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Brixtonbulldog on June 03, 2008, 04:12:17 PM
Ten Things You Can't Say in America by Larry Elder

.. and anything by Niel Boortz

Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: headhuntersix on June 03, 2008, 04:13:39 PM
Bortz is pretty fair.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Deicide on June 03, 2008, 08:45:05 PM
Has anyone ready any good books lately?

(related to politics, economy, or corporations)

We should all recommend a good book we have on our shelf.



Would anyone like to start?

Read this shit: very, very good...

Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project) (Paperback)

http://www.amazon.com/Nemesis-American-Republic-Empire-Project/dp/0805087281/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212551043&sr=1-1
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: headhuntersix on June 04, 2008, 07:02:21 AM
More left wing bullshit. I guess this drivel explains ur world view.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: MRDUMPLING on June 04, 2008, 07:19:26 AM
Rouge Warrior: Richard Marcinko-the guy who developed Seal Team six.

Don't Start the Revolution Without Me - Jesse Ventura

Blowback: Chalmers Johnson - very good...really shows how our own foreign policy mimicks the Roman Empire's. You should read it HH6 just to get a different point of view if you really think it's left wing bullshit. 

The Fair Tax: Neil Boortz(and another author I can't remember at the moment)

I have many more I have read recently...one of my favorite hobbies is to read books regarding politics/history. 
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: headhuntersix on June 04, 2008, 07:28:26 AM
I read some on your list and I read a review of that book/series some time ago. I don't agree with his world view of this country in any way. I'd like to see more of your list.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: MRDUMPLING on June 04, 2008, 07:56:51 AM
I can understand that...

Here's some more:

The Fall of Berlin 1945: Antony Beevor-a little hard to read at times, though looking at the maps while you read you get to see the military strategy used mainly by the Russians while they surrounded Berlin.  Very interesting and sad, he hold nothing back about the horrors of war and what the civilians and soldiers went through during that time. 

War on the Middle Class: Lou Dobbs-not the greatest, but meh.  I don't care for the whole "class warfare", but he does get his point across so you know where he is coming from. 

The War on Truth: Neil McVay- about the spread of false information leading up to the Iraq invasion.  Very good, a little odd as the author is British so he uses British slang(he hammers the British government too).  I really liked this book, very informative with info that is public knowledge. 

I'm going to start reading a book on Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger soon.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: headhuntersix on June 04, 2008, 08:02:12 AM
Cool. I don't read alot of books on the current war. I pick and choose carefully based on how non-biased things appear to be. I liked Tom Rick's book. He's well respected aqnd I think he sums up the mistakes pretty damm well. As far as WW2. I read anything from a soldiers eye view, especially from the German point of view. I would suggest "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: youandme on June 04, 2008, 08:10:10 AM
Cool. I don't read alot of books on the current war. I pick and choose carefully based on how non-biased things appear to be. I liked Tom Rick's book. He's well respected aqnd I think he sums up the mistakes pretty damm well. As far as WW2. I read anything from a soldiers eye view, especially from the German point of view. I would suggest "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer.

I suggest WWI then and go with Ernst Junger "Storm of Steel"

awesome
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Brixtonbulldog on June 04, 2008, 08:11:27 AM
Rouge Warrior: Richard Marcinko-the guy who developed Seal Team six.


you mean rogue warrior, right?
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Bindare_Dundat on June 04, 2008, 08:15:59 AM
Does PCGamer count as a book?
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: headhuntersix on June 04, 2008, 08:30:53 AM
Yes depending on what games ur playing.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: MRDUMPLING on June 04, 2008, 08:33:24 AM
you mean rogue warrior, right?

Yes, I'm sorry for the typo. 

HH6, I will definately pick up that, I am just getting back into reading about WWII.  I haven't found anything else that has caught my attention regarding that. 

Anybody have any other suggestions for WWII reading?
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: headhuntersix on June 04, 2008, 08:42:20 AM
Willful Blindness
A Memoir of the Jihad
by Andrew C. McCarthy.....great book about how we dropped the ball as far back as 1989. I just got it.

Not on WW2

I've read Forgotten Soldier several times...if u want to be depressed and stay that way..this book will do it. Its about a soldier on the Eastern Front. Don't read it in a cold climate.

Band of Brothers...Pegesus Bridge...
I'll look on my shelves when I get home
Title: What BOOK are you currently reading?
Post by: The True Adonis on July 25, 2009, 01:21:06 PM
I have had this on my shelf for a while and am getting to it since I just finished the eight books of Gore Vidal in his American Chronicle series (counting Washington D.C.) and a few Science books, Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin, and Death By Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

H.W. Brands has a wonderful writing style and certainly offers a much better and in-depth treatment of Andrew Jackson than Meacham`s American Lion, which is a short read and does not deal in great details as Brands work.

If you want the best Biography on Andrew Jackson, go with H.W. Brands Andrew Jackson, His Life and Times.  Meacham`s American Lion does not even compare.
(http://images.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/73/932/169/0739321692.jpg)
Title: Re: What BOOK are you currently reading?
Post by: ToxicAvenger on July 25, 2009, 05:26:03 PM
to study
(http://image-1.verycd.com/e45940136a75915fe380a0b152d426ba25311(600x)/thumb.jpg)

for fun

(http://www.thecinemasource.com/moviesdb/images/Nightmares_and_Dreamscapes%20-%20Stephen_King.jpg)
Title: Re: What BOOK are you currently reading?
Post by: IFBBwannaB on July 25, 2009, 08:52:06 PM
to study
(http://image-1.verycd.com/e45940136a75915fe380a0b152d426ba25311(600x)/thumb.jpg)

for fun

(http://www.thecinemasource.com/moviesdb/images/Nightmares_and_Dreamscapes%20-%20Stephen_King.jpg)

I still to Riemann famous article printed out and waiting for me to read it but I don't have the time to finish the book I'm reading and I have about another 30 research articles printed out and on my read list  :'(

When are they going to invent some brain plug to download info! Reading takes too much time!  >:(

Anyway....am I the only one that thinks this is another attempt by 240 to make us think he's smart....kind of hard to think that on a man who have a tinfoil hat and lives in a trailer  :-\
Title: Re: What BOOK are you currently reading?
Post by: ToxicAvenger on July 26, 2009, 06:39:56 AM
I still to Riemann famous article printed out and waiting for me to read it but I don't have the time to finish the book I'm reading and I have about another 30 research articles printed out and on my read list  :'(

When are they going to invent some brain plug to download info! Reading takes too much time!  >:(

Anyway....am I the only one that thinks this is another attempt by 240 to make us think he's smart....kind of hard to think that on a man who have a tinfoil hat and lives in a trailer  :-\

this is a merged thread...i posted my responce on the " what r you currently reading" thread started by adonis...why would i post a SK and a cisco book on a politix book thread  :-\



Studying thru Osmosis...lol I WISH!  ...unfortunately..we still hafta to do it the old fashioned way...and i NEVER want the technology to be able to Download stuff directly into our brains...then EVERYONE will be able to be a ccie = less $ for the likes of me
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: 240 is Back on July 26, 2009, 08:51:55 AM
mannnn those cisco books bring back nightmares.  computer certs were stressful.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: IFBBwannaB on July 26, 2009, 08:59:41 AM
mannnn those cisco books bring back nightmares.  computer certs were stressful.

LOL@ the fears of the ignorant.
I thought you have multiple degrees...aren't you a studying phenomena ::) ?
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: ToxicAvenger on July 26, 2009, 09:03:11 AM
mannnn those cisco books bring back nightmares.  computer certs were stressful.

nah...i got it in the bag this time Rob...

last time i attempted the CCIE lab i ws a damn drunk...hell i even walked into the lab with a hangover...

this time i'm putting in an honest 10hrs/day (weekdays) on studying...i should have it in about 4 to 6 months 8)..besides..that Karl Solie book is extremly well written...Mr solie actually had the damn thing proof read...and i hardly found any mistakes in it...other cisco authors.. :-X >:(

only thing is..the books are expensive and so is the lab rental...about $1500 for every 700 hrs i spend in the lab  >:(   .....but i figure...everyone has to do it soooo..thats the breaks
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Hugo Chavez on July 26, 2009, 09:04:28 AM
LOL@ the fears of the ignorant.
I thought you have multiple degrees...aren't you a studying phenomena ::) ?
I hope you feel better now ::)
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: IFBBwannaB on July 26, 2009, 09:59:26 AM
I hope you feel better now ::)

Actually I feel great today, I have a nice new group of students under me  ;D
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Hugo Chavez on July 26, 2009, 10:34:50 AM
Actually I feel great today, I have a nice new group of students under me  ;D
I thought only catholics pulled that shit... Jews too? >:(
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: ToxicAvenger on July 26, 2009, 11:07:09 AM
Actually I feel great today, I have a nice new group of students under me  ;D

watcha teach man?

i'm a (now) ex ;D CCSI (cisco cert systems instructor..used ta teach CCNA, CCNP)

i never minded teaching the corporate crowd...and the govt crowd...both groups were fairly to really smart...and a pleasure to teach..
and then ya had the..walk off the street..i'm an accounting major and decided to switch up yadayada sorta students that make me wanna slam a sharp pencil into my brain thru my eye ball and itch it  >:(
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: 240 is Back on July 26, 2009, 02:31:06 PM
i passed the microsofts and the comptias on first try, but the CCNA fail the first time was a tough one to swallow. 

studying is hard no matter how many degrees you earn.  It doesn't get any easier.  If anything, as you get older, you forget more stuff :)
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: ToxicAvenger on July 26, 2009, 04:04:10 PM
Quote
i passed the microsofts and the comptias on first try, but the CCNA fail the first time was a tough one to swallow. 


hardly anyone passes the CCNA first try without a fully functional lab...especially now a days since there r simulation labs on the test where you actually have to configure stuff...its NOT an entry level test ..which soo many people seem to think so..its a tough test...

Quote
studying is hard no matter how many degrees you earn.  It doesn't get any easier.  If anything, as you get older, you forget more stuff :)
studying gets easier as you train your mind to do it...as with muscles...with time it does get easier..
concepts that would take me 2 or 3 readings a few weeks ago i can handle now in a single read..you get acclimated to it...however initially you have to force yourself to sit in that chair no matter what and concentrate  :(
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 26, 2009, 05:21:49 PM
The Oil Factor - by: Stephen Leeb

Crash Proof - by: Peter Schiff



I just finished Crash Proof by Schiff.  GREAT BOOK!

I also read his book Bull Moves in Bear Markets.  Good, but not as good as Crash Proof.

I also read Catastrophe by Dick Morris.  I knew most of the info in there already.

Economics in one Lesson by Hazlitt was a great book too.  THIS IS A MUST READ!

I read War and Power both by Robert Greene which together are brilliant lessons of history.   
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: IFBBwannaB on July 26, 2009, 06:57:47 PM
watcha teach man?

i'm a (now) ex ;D CCSI (cisco cert systems instructor..used ta teach CCNA, CCNP)

i never minded teaching the corporate crowd...and the govt crowd...both groups were fairly to really smart...and a pleasure to teach..
and then ya had the..walk off the street..i'm an accounting major and decided to switch up yadayada sorta students that make me wanna slam a sharp pencil into my brain thru my eye ball and itch it  >:(


I'm teaching the first EE lab of B.Sc students, it's a nice small gig on the side.
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: ToxicAvenger on July 26, 2009, 07:33:45 PM

I'm teaching the first EE lab of B.Sc students, it's a nice small gig on the side.

awesome!

good for you! 8)
Title: Re: GetBig Political Book Club
Post by: Soul Crusher on October 13, 2010, 12:18:22 PM
Has anyone ready any good books lately?

(related to politics, economy, or corporations)

We should all recommend a good book we have on our shelf.



Would anyone like to start?