<p>So I am looking to read a few books over the winter intersession as I won’t be taking a class this year. I am looking for some good book recommendations. I really liked Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat. I read Michael Laitman’s Attaining The Worlds Beyond and enjoyed that as well. I have always loved reading about the Nazi Holocaust but I feel like I need a break from that stuff for now. Maybe some Business or Economics books. Something education as opposed to a novel. I prefer to read something informative as opposed to a novel. Maybe something regarding the political careers of the front running presidential candidates. I need a break from math & physics. Any suggestions? Thanks.</p>
<p>The Bankers: The Next Generation The New Worlds Money Credit Banking Electronic Age by Martin Mayer (Paperback - May 1, 1998) why we are in Trouble. </p>
<p>The Fed : The Inside Story How World’s Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives Markets by Martin Mayer. Why we can’t do too much about The Trouble. </p>
<p>The Bankers by Martin MAYER (1978) background </p>
<p>The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession by Peter L. Bernstein</p>
<p>All easy reads and very interesting foundational along with macro econ. Start at the Gold book and work yourself to the top.</p>
<p>Greenspan’ The Age of Turbulence is actually readable (and intersting) unlike his “greenspeak” you might have heard on TV.</p>
<p>Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk (Paperback)
by Peter L. Bernstein (Author) “Why is the mastery of risk such a uniquely modern concept?..” and why we do the things we do.
(like going to SA)</p>
<p>Start with AtG, go to Gold, then Bankers, then Fed, then Bankers, Next Gen.</p>
<p>“The Tipping Point” is interesting because it gives you a model to apply to all new current trends in society, politics and so forth. I was thinking it’s an interestng crossover for a math mind, and lets you think and apply as new trends develop.</p>
<p>I’m picking up where you mentioned Holocaust reading recently, but wanted to move on somewhat. I applaud your interest and equally understand you need a break there, too. Consider Donna Rosenthal, The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land </p>
<p>Alan Dershowitz always interests me, and he keeps writing new books. I’ve read Chutzpah and The Vanishing American Jew but haven’t kept up with him lately. </p>
<p>Sometimes I like a crossover between fiction and history, where I feel like I’m reading a novel but it wades into historical areas. Phillip Roth’s The Plot Against America imagines what it would have been like if the antiSemitic Charles Lindbergh had become President of the U.S. That’s not exactly a break from reading about Holocaust, though; it’s more of a fictional variation. </p>
<p>In history, try “1776” or the AutoBiography of Benjamin Franklin, which I recommend because they’re very well written, recent, and dynamic.</p>
<p>timed out: haha, I meant The BIOgraphy of Benjamin Franklin! Many inventions, and WHAT a personality! </p>
<p>For presidential candidates, Barak Obama published an Autobiography and there are a few bios of Hillary but you have to watch for which one is official to avoid the cheese factor by the biographers. </p>
<p>I noticed US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has a new autobiography,
“My Grandfather’s Son.” He’s a very private person, so even though I don’t usually agree with how he votes, I’m curious to understand what makes him tick.</p>
<p>For sheer beauty, try reading the old speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King on the internet. Nobody can compare. Or his Letters from a Birmingham Jail, which were written in dark moments before he had a national audience. Especially relevant reading in January during MLK weekend.</p>
<p>I love recommending books to young people. Thanks for asking.</p>
<p>Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy! Son gave me this to read during the summer.</p>
<p>Freakonmics if you haven’t already read it. Lots of fun and a different look at the dismal science. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. I enjoyed hearing the author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court interviewed.</p>
<p>My husband is a nonfiction fan too. Currently, he is reading “Guns, Germs and Steel” and “Killing Pablo”. Neither are new, but he says both are good.</p>
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<p>No other topic interests me as much as the holocaust, I’ve read over 100 books and have seen nearly every english film regarding the Nazi Holocaust. I enjoy it very much but have been reading holocaust books profusely, and after recently reading Carol Ann Lee’s Anne Frank and the children of the holocaust find myself emotionally distressed, I really need to read something else as I do volunteer a lot with children and reading such tragedies among children breaks my heart.</p>
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<p>Sound like a good recommendation for Dubya :-)</p>
<p>Perhaps for your list for future reading, since it is related to the Holocaust: The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn – quite a gripping read.</p>
<p>I just read a book about the Supreme Court - “Supreme Conflict”, sorry don’t remember the author, but it is relatively new. Got a little hard to follow in the middle, as it skipped around from past to present (maybe I was just tired), but very interesting inside story of the last few Supreme Court nominees. Emphasizes how soon recent events become history.</p>
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<p>I’ve read it, quite captivating. I found If This Is a Man to be quite good as well. I really enjoy Primo Levi’s work. My mother actually met him while she was a student at Columbia.</p>
<p>A few days ago I read The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hanh Beer. As a matter of fact I read it in one sitting. Just a little over 300 pages. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a beautiful story of survival, an inspiring tale of overcoming fear.</p>
<p>You appear to share similar interests in reading with my S. He just finished The Greatest Story Ever Sold by NYT columnist Frank Rich. He also enjoyed Freakonomics and Guns, Germs and Steel.</p>
<p>thisoldman - Thanks for the list! I think there are some great ideas for Christmas gifts on it!</p>
<p>I haven’t read it, but “The Greatest Generation” by Tom Brokaw became a fast bestseller. It describes the era of his father, and the ethic of young men and women in the U.S. during Depression and WWII. It probably relates to your great-grandparent’s generation. It is a big contrast to the economics after WWII. There was more collective (as compared to competitive) grassroots solutions to problems than today. If you can understand the relationship between war, economics, manufacturing defense industries and how famiilies responded…then compare that to the post-WWII more materialist society we see today, you pretty much have a good handle on the 20th century, which is the backdrop to your own times. </p>
<p>You have a fantastic base of knowledge in Holocaust studies by now. There are ways to move onward with it, too, so you don’t keep reading tragedies.
There is a field in Religion departments called post-Holocaust theology that my cousin pursues at Syracuse U. His book is called “(God) After Auschwitz.” The parenthesis are part of the title, indicated the difficulty of having faith after such a human tragedy, and yet some did, so HOW did they do it? His is a very scholarly academic book, not an easy-read even in terms of language; SAT’s north of V-700 only should attempt it (and I told him…) ;)</p>
<p>You might also study on the 'Net the kinds of event programming going on at Holocaust Studies programs (there’s one where my S attends at Chapman U, for example, but many around the country) to see the topics they include that seek to express hope, courage, rescue and bravery in all kinds of arenas today. </p>
<p>You obviously got the message there, that it’s a tragedy we want to never happen again. It will inform your thinking forever, making you alert to racism, developing hatreds, and the causes of other oppressed people around the globe. But it is the most depressing reading. My H read everything written on it in English for his rabbinic thesis in the l970’s and that was only 1,000 books. Piece of cake then. Maybe because it’s not 10 million tragedies but 1 tragedy, 10 million times; each a different and unique story. </p>
<p>Off my soapbox; I simply wanted to indicate you can take your base of knowledge and move in several directions. That’s why “The Greatest Generation” came to mind; what were the Americans doing during those years? Had we not entered WWII, I’m sure we’d all be speaking German today and I wouldn’t have been born.</p>
<p>Anyways, to carry your thread forward (some glance only at the last posting)… </p>
<p>This poster is NOT looking for more Holocaust books; he’s read a-plenty! He seeks books on economics, business, presidential candidates…something to lift his head out of math/science studies!</p>
<p>The Age of Turbulence, Alan Greenspan</p>
<p>Greenspan looks back on his role as Chairman of the Fed from Reagan through Bush the Second. The press has widely reported on Greenspan’s admiration for Bill Clinton’s engagement with the economy. Greenspan was most impressed with Clinton’s relationship with Orrin Hatch and Newt Gringrich and their bipartisan approach to fiscal policy. </p>
<p>Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, Tim Weiner</p>
<p>Based on recently de-classified internal CIA documents, Weiner writes a history of the Agency from Truman to the Bush (G.W.) administration and it’s not pretty. A litany of institutional and individual failure, the CIA‘s leadership was plagued by egotism, ignorance about foreign cultures and languages and just pure drunkenness. </p>
<p>The Nine, Jeffery Toobin</p>
<p>A terrific look at the Supreme Court and the background and personalities of the sitting justices…</p>
<p>The Coldest Winter, David Halberstam</p>
<p>An excellent review of the Korean war and the relationship of MacArthur and Truman and his Joint Chiefs.</p>
<p>I second The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin. I also loved the earlier books of 2006 on the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Rosen (The Supreme Court - it’s more of a history of the Court since its inception) and Jan Crawford Greenberg (Supreme Conflict).</p>
<p>How about some amazing travel/history/political analysis from the journalist R Kapuscinski? He recently died, but has been published for the past 40+ years, a contender for the Nobel… anyway, “Imperium” “The Soccer War” “The Emperor” are already considered classic, – his newest, the autobiography Travel with Horodutus, got rave reviews. And all of them are amazingly fast, exciting reads.</p>
<p>If you are interested in music, how about: The Rest is Noise, by Alex Ross, who writes for the New Yorker (and has a good blog about classical music – including contemporary and cross-over composers).</p>