Book recommendations

[Darrell KSR]

I looked--I thought we had a thread on this once, and was just going to resurrect it, but couldn't find it. I love to read, but rarely do so anymore. I have several books that my father-in-law has given me, my colleague at work has loaned me, etc., and just haven't gotten around to it.

Here's a book I thought I'd recommend that I did read that is a pretty cool book--

Burn Your Goals: The Counter Cultural Approach to Achieving Your Greatest Potential

It's sort of a servant leadership kind of thing that I thought was really good. I did enjoy it a little more, perhaps, because there's a little soccer involved in it, but it's mainly about impacting your own life, and how to positively impact anyone. Great for teaching, coaching, parenting, just about anything.

It reminds me a lot of the "process" that Nick Saban refers to in coaching. Don't worry about the end result, just take care of the process. Book was recommended to me by the Samford women's soccer coach (just set their all-time school record last night with 11 consecutive wins. He's a 7-time conference or state high school coach of the year, so he knows how to coach/teach).

4.8 stars out of 5 on Amazon, 127 customer reviews.

Kindle version is only $3.82.

https://www.amazon.com/Burn-Your-Goals-Achieving-Potential-ebook/dp/B00L38H5DS

OK--there's my contribution. Now you give your own book review (Kindle recommendations also appreciated when applicable), tell a little about the book, and why you'd recommend it, or to whom.

[UKFlounder]

Lincoln and the Power of the Press by Harold Holzer.

Here’s a link to my formal review http://www.civilwarobsession.com/2017/10/book-review-lincoln-and-power-of-press.html

But to (try to) keep it short, I thought it was well-written and very interesting. It’s over 500 pages but still a fairly quick read with a good flow to it. It’s an especially nice book to think about when you read modern complaints about biased coverage or “fake news.” Modern editors or publishers are fairly tame compared to their predecessors, and newspapers in the mid 1800s were a bit like blogs today, in terms of how many ambitious many started them and often struggled to keep them afloat.

The emphasis that politicians like Lincoln put on press coverage was a key point of the book and the use of the patronage system to reward loyal editors was as well. (Editors with obvious political aspirations were also not uncommon.)

Any other Civil War or history nerds would possibly like it, but part of the early section of the book discussed New York’s importance in the newspaper industry, and as we sometimes hear about “east coast bias” in sports coverage today, other people might be interested in that as well. Anyone interested in journalism might like some of its discussions about technological and news delivery improvements of the era.

[Catfan73]

Reminds me of one of my favorite books, Lincoln by Gore Vidal. Historical fiction and engrossing.

[KSRBEvans]

I'm currently listening to Petty: The Biography (https://www.audible.com/pd/Bios-Memoirs/Petty-The-Biography-Audiobook/B017OD6XTW) by Warren Zanes on Audible. It's an "authorized/unauthorized" biography. Petty had agreed to the author's request for access, but only if the author printed anything and everything he thought needed discussing. Petty had permitted some access before (like in Peter Bogdonavich's documentary Tom Petty: Running Down A Dream) but had demanded certain things be cut. Here, Petty decided he wanted it all out there, and Zanes gives it all a full accounting, including Petty's heroin addiction in the late 90s. Very interesting "read."

Before that I read John Grisham's The Whistler. It's typical Grisham fluff, but he's a guilty pleasure of mine. Real page-turner, as I find most of his books to be.

[Darrell KSR]

Before that I read John Grisham's The Whistler. It's typical Grisham fluff, but he's a guilty pleasure of mine. Real page-turner, as I find most of his books to be.

I usually read all of Grisham's books, too, and have the same thoughts. I read them very quickly, and often if you asked me six months later to discuss it, I would have forgotten much of the book. That tells me it's bubble gum for the mind, which I have no problem with, but they're not that memorable.

The only one that was for me was The Pelican Brief. It referenced too many things at my law school, even with some hidden references to real live people (my law school prof who was living with a student, the Con Law prof who smoked grass with students, the parts of the library that were referenced, etc.) But overall, I didn't particularly care for that book as much as others he did, sadly.

(The one exception: A Time to Kill. Still love that book tremendously.)

[KSRBEvans]

I usually read all of Grisham's books, too, and have the same thoughts. I read them very quickly, and often if you asked me six months later to discuss it, I would have forgotten much of the book. That tells me it's bubble gum for the mind, which I have no problem with, but they're not that memorable.

The only one that was for me was The Pelican Brief. It referenced too many things at my law school, even with some hidden references to real live people (my law school prof who was living with a student, the Con Law prof who smoked grass with students, the parts of the library that were referenced, etc.) But overall, I didn't particularly care for that book as much as others he did, sadly.

(The one exception: A Time to Kill. Still love that book tremendously.)

The Firm was his first book I read, but I think A Time To Kill was his first book. Yes, a great book that's different from his other works IMHO. And I like the movie version, too.

Quick story: there was a time in the late 90s when I was thinking about giving up the practice of law and trying something else. I was doing insurance defense litigation and hating just about every minute of it. I just happened to come across A Time To Kill on TV and sat down and watched it. Then I read the book, and it reminded me why I wanted to be a lawyer in the first place. So I decided to stick with it, albeit with a shift in the type of law I practice, and I'm happy I did. So I guess I owe some credit (or blame, as my clients may see it :evilgrin0007: ) for still being an attorney to John Grisham.

[Doc]

Kama Sutra?

[CitizenBBN]

Kama Sutra?

Could be dangerous. How do you think Darrell tore his rotator cuff?

[MickintheHam]

I usually read all of Grisham's books, too, and have the same thoughts. I read them very quickly, and often if you asked me six months later to discuss it, I would have forgotten much of the book. That tells me it's bubble gum for the mind, which I have no problem with, but they're not that memorable.

The only one that was for me was The Pelican Brief. It referenced too many things at my law school, even with some hidden references to real live people (my law school prof who was living with a student, the Con Law prof who smoked grass with students, the parts of the library that were referenced, etc.) But overall, I didn't particularly care for that book as much as others he did, sadly.

(The one exception: A Time to Kill. Still love that book tremendously.)

The Firm, Painted House, A Time to Kill and possibly the Client are the only ones of his books that seem to stand out from the crowd. Really liked Painted House.

[Darrell KSR]

I LOVED Painted House. It's funny how Grisham can "up his game" when he wants to.