The Institute (協会)

I'm trying to get a bit more holistic view of things, so on your recommendation, I'm trying to read Sowell's Basic Economics.

"Ritalin Nation" nf
"Freakanomics" nf
"The Neocon Reader" nf
"Epistemology: The Debate btwn Internalism vs. Externalism"
"The Bible" F

I'm in kind of a peculiar reading mood lately, so it's interesting you ask.

I'm reading:
1. Uncle Tom's Cabin (no lie, I've never read it and wanted to scope it to see if it's something my kids should read)

2. Eric Clapton's Autobiography

3. Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence

STork, I very much enjoyed Freakonomics.

When school isn't screaming at me:

An Inconvenient Book- Glenn Beck (nf) written like a text book. Really fun format.

next on my hit list is "The Forgotten Man" by Amity Shlaes. (nf) It's another look at the great depression and why our depression lasted so long after the stock market fell when other countries recovered much quicker.

Born Standing Up - Steve Martin (nf)
The Forgotten Ways - Alan Hirsch (nf)

Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. This is a follow up to his Guns, Germs and Steel.
Authenticity by Gilmore and Pine a follow up to The Experience Economy

kevin...theres a podcast with schlaes over at econtalk on 'forgotten man'. awesome to see how its the govt's screwups that fed/prolonged the depression.

looking over at my bedside table:
concise encyclopedia of economics ed. david henderson - nf
a game of thrones - f (fantasy...apparently some of the best...just started)
throne of jade - f (fantasy...dont waste your time)
atlas shrugged - f....but so prescient as to almost be nf
nicholas nickelby - f (one of my least favorite dickens books so far...can not get excited about it)

Let's see....
1. Just finished "Prince Caspian" (F)
2. I brought with me to Brazil: "Christianity's Dangerous Idea" by Allister McGratdh
3. I recently re-read Michael Crichton's "Disclosure" (F)
4. I will be buying here in Brazil two books:
*Receber Sem Stress (Hosting without stress...amazing book for throwing parties and stuff)
*Diccionario di Humor Infantil (Child Humor Dictionary)...good stuff...how children define common things like: Friend...a little boy said: "A friend is someone that even though he's at the goal line about to score, passes the ball to you so you make the goal instead"...AMAZING

May I also recommend the DVD "Doutores da Alegria" (Doctors of Happiness)...a documentary about a clown troop here in Brazil that visits sick children in hospitals....a true lesson in life...especially on what it really means to be "like a child"....

Anthony...we should think of studying the "clown" archetype....deep well to draw from.

Hey Shawn! I'm also slooooowly working my way through Atlas Shrugged.....keep your friends close and your enemies closer I guess....

oh...and...todd: basic economics was awesome. if you want a quicker read to whet your appetite, try out 'applied economics' or probably his new 'economic facts and fallacies', though I've not read that yet.

From the list so far:
“Freakonomics,” fun economics.
“Forgotten Man” Excellent book. I interviewed Amity when she was in town for my weekly radio show. What a gracious and intelligent lady! Especially interesting was her telling of the Schekter’s story. Chicken wholesalers who shut down the NRA.
Oh, and do listen to the econtalk podcast. Great stuff. Hi, Shawn!
Atlas Shrugged took me a whole summer, but well worth the effort.

Me, right now:
Now, Discover Your Strengths
The Myth of the Rational Voter – Bryan Caplan
The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Great Awakening – Jim Wallis (what a statist!)
Critique of Pure Reason – Immanuel Kant (via audiobook at Librivox) the Anti-Rand
Conceived in Liberty – Murray Rothbard (audiobook from mises.org)

And lots of Linear Algebra… ugh

Nathanael Snow
ndsnow@gmail.com

Shawn - A Game of Thrones (and the rest of its series, which only gets better) is certainly among the best in recent fantasy, but I hope you were forewarned that Martin is rather graphic in more ways than one...

Other than that, I'm reading a lot of theology and playing through Chrono Trigger, which is narrative enough for now.

Benjamin Franklin (NF) bio by Walter Isaacson. Franklin was a practical genius, scientist, writer, inventor, statesman. Helping me connect to my inner Philadelphian.

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott (NF)--i'm fascinated with implications for how we do ministry

Gunny--I loved Primal Leadership. Have you read Emotional Intelligence or Social Intelligence?

Made to stick (nf) - Heath brothers. Great discussion of why ideas thrive or die. Applicable to theology and to business life (and just about every other sphere)
Monsignor Quixote (f) - Graham Green. Reminds me why I love Spain so much, and the wonderful interaction of theology and Marxism.

BTW: What about the dying discipline of book reading in a blog world. I find myself reading books so much less than I used to - while the volume of my reading is so much greater because of all the internet media. I'm sure the quantity doesn't equate with the quality - but its a fascinating transition.

Rob, good point. I find myself reading less books and more blogs. But the really good stuff is in books. It takes that much content to get deep into an issue and deal with it comprehensively.
That said, there may be a good correlation between blogging and book writing. The GMU economists are a big blogging lot, but they are also a book writing lot. The same with Sowell, who writes columns and books, and also Buckley, etc.
I have had to purge my RSS reader of subscriptions regularly to maintain something of a balance.
NS

Screwtape Leters by C.S. Lewsis (f)

The Road to Serfdom (thanks TFAVS!) -nf
Dialogue on Good, Evil, and the Existence of God - (are dialogues fiction?)
God and the Problem of Evil - nf

Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, by Chuck Klostermann (NF)
The Starfish and the Spider, by Ori Braffman and Another dude (NF)
Generation Me, by Dr. Twenge (NF)

Just finished Tolkein's "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" - F
The Eldest -F

Cormac McCarthy's works, esp The Road; No Country for Old Men; The Sunset Limited; The Border Trilogy

and

John Steinbeck's East of Eden

and

Billy Collins' "Sailing Around the Room" (poetry)

Steve,

I'm really enjoying Primal Leadership, very much so. I've not read those others, but will put them on my to do list based on your recommendation.

Thanks,
Gunny

Undaunted Courage (NF) - Ambrose

Harry Potter (F)
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Marx (nf)
…for school, of course…talk about some fun economics.

Freakonomics was great!

I've heard great things about Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs...

Recently I just finished A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I’m not sure I’ve ever laughed harder in my life over a book. If you’re not into the outdoors (hiking and such) that’s fine he wasn’t either before he hiked that Appalachian Trail. That’s what makes it so funny. You guys have to read it!

Matt

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon (nf)
Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck (f)
When People Are Big and God is Small (nf)
The Essential Reinhold Niebuhr (nf)
The Holiness of God (nf)

adam...thanks for the heads-up...

yes, the first place i heard of george r.r. martin was on digg...and if you've ever spent time on digg, you know the sort of things that are popular there. However, other fantasy fiends have repeatedly been martin-gaga, so here I am.

Unfortunately, "rather graphic" is not going to offend me...it probably should, somewhat, but it won't.

declining and falling!! (our mutual friend...fun dickens, one of my favorite non-standard dickens, along with bleak house)

Halfway through my first attempt at Dostoevsky:

Crime and Punishment . . . f

That Distant Land - Wendell Berry
Remembrance Rock - Carl Sandburg
Twelve Mighty Orphans - Jim Dent
Mississippi Writings - Mark Twain
Mississippi Solo - Eddy Harris
Redneck Blacks, White Liberals - Thomas Sowell (smile)
J. Peterman catalogue

That Distant Land - Wendell Berry (F)
Remembrance Rock - Carl Sandburg (F)
Twelve Mighty Orphans - Jim Dent (NF)
Mississippi Writings - Mark Twain (F/NF)
Mississippi Solo - Eddy Harris (NF)
Redneck Blacks, White Liberals - Thomas Sowell (NF)(smile)
J. Peterman catalogue (?)

Inside the Third Reich - Albert Speer (NF)
Until the Final Hour - Tradl Junge (NF)
Brand Simple - ??? (NF)

"I'm not a racist, but..."-Lawrence Blum (NF)
"Racist Culture"-David Theo Goldberg (NF)
"Beyond Aesthetics"-Noel Carroll (NF)
"Taking Laughter Seriously"-John Morreall (NF)
"Context and Content"-Robert Stalnaker (NF)

"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" (NF)
"Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" (NF)
"Globalization: A Very Short Introduction" (NF)
"Vitals" by Greg Bear (F)

"The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan. Really amazing books. Highly recommend.

Kyle,
Is that Boudreaux's Globalization book? If so, did you get a grant or something to pay for it?!?

The Thirteenth Tribe by Arthur Koestler(nf). A history of a turkic tribe(that resided in what is now the general area of Ukraine) that converted to Judism in the first millenium and may well be a major contributor to the Jews of eastern Europe. Harry

Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" - F
Jon Krakauer's "Into The Wild"- NF
Victor Hugo "Les Miserables" - F

"The Last American Man" -Elizabeth Gilbert
Read this a while back, but I should re-read it. A good work of nonfiction. Challenging. Good stuff.

Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal by Randall Kennedy (non-fiction)

"Graceland", by Chris Igbani. About a boy growing up in Lagos, Nigeria. Haven't gotten into it too hard yet.