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  • #1

    Need Some Book Recommendations

    My dad is turning 80, and each of his three children will get him a book for his birthday. I'm in charge of selecting the books. He likes popular history, biography, and world affairs. For example, he enjoyed David McCullough's John Adams, and David Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace (thanks to Rufus for that recommendation.)

    My ideas at this point (some of which are the result of Poly discussions over the years) include
    Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel
    Ray Huang, 1587, A Year of No Significance
    (I'm a bit concerned that this one might be too specialized)
    Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers
    McCain and Salter, Faith of My Fathers
    (Dad's cousin was a POW with McCain)
    David McCullough, The Great Bridge
    David McCullough, The Johnstown Flood
    David McCullough, The Path Between The Seas
    (He may already have this)
    Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror
    Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August

    Any thoughts from people who have read these books?
    Any other books people might recommend?
    Length is no particular concern, since he has plenty of time to read winter nights.
    Old posters never die.
    They j.u.s.t..f..a..d..e...a...w...a...y....
    Tags: None
  • #2
    John Dean, Conservatives Without Conscience.
    I'm consitently stupid- Japher
    I think that opinion in the United States is decidedly different from the rest of the world because we have a free press -- by free, I mean a virgorously presented right wing point of view on the air and available to all.- Ned

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    • #3
      Re: Need Some Book Recommendations

      Originally posted by Adam Smith
      Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel
      I'm sure I'll be the only one, but I found this vastly overrated. Might just be from listening to years of people saying it was the greatest book ever written, though.
      "In the beginning was the Word. Then came the ******* word processor." -Dan Simmons, Hyperion

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      • #4
        David McCullough, The Johnstown Flood

        I read it.
        Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
        "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
        He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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        • #5
          Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and its sequel Theodore Rex. The first won the pulitzer, and is the better of the two.
          <Reverend> IRC is just multiplayer notepad.
          I like your SNOOPY POSTER! - While you Wait quote.

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          • #6
            Re: Re: Need Some Book Recommendations

            Originally posted by Koyaanisqatsi


            I'm sure I'll be the only one, but I found this vastly overrated. Might just be from listening to years of people saying it was the greatest book ever written, though.
            Everyone I know who has tried to read it say that it is mostly horrible.

            JM
            Jon Miller-
            I AM.CANADIAN
            GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

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            • #7
              Get him a book by Adam Smith.
              Graffiti in a public toilet
              Do not require skill or wit
              Among the **** we all are poets
              Among the poets we are ****.

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              • #8
                William Taubman, Khrushchev: the man and his era
                Blah

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                • #9
                  Re: Re: Re: Need Some Book Recommendations

                  Originally posted by Jon Miller


                  Everyone I know who has tried to read it say that it is mostly horrible.

                  JM
                  Try it yourself - it's not the greatest book ever, but it's still very good read.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by snoopy369
                    Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and its sequel Theodore Rex. The first won the pulitzer, and is the better of the two.
                    Excellent choices
                    We need seperate human-only games for MP/PBEM that dont include the over-simplifications required to have a good AI
                    If any man be thirsty, let him come unto me and drink. Vampire 7:37
                    Just one old soldiers opinion. E Tenebris Lux. Pax quaeritur bello.

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                    • #11
                      Taubman's book has won teh Pulitzer Prize (2004) too
                      Blah

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                      • #12
                        80, eh? Does he still have good eyesight, and if not, are all of these books available in large print?
                        1011 1100
                        Pyrebound--a free online serial fantasy novel

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                        • #13
                          Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers
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                          • #14
                            William Taubman, Khrushchev: the man and his era
                            Blah

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                            • #15
                              Did you ghostwrite his book or something, BeBro? Get a kickback?
                              I'm consitently stupid- Japher
                              I think that opinion in the United States is decidedly different from the rest of the world because we have a free press -- by free, I mean a virgorously presented right wing point of view on the air and available to all.- Ned

                              Comment

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