Brett L
How Not To Piss Off Your Post-Partum Wife. TPTB can’t tell if it’s working.
mexican sharpshooter
I picked up Frontline Madrid by David Mathieson by chance at the used book store. It is a history buff’s guide to the Spanish Civil War. It is a reasonably quick read that outlines the underlying factors leading up to the war, and the major campaigns of the war. As mentioned, it is a history buff’s guide and also gives instructions on how to get to various locations/historical landmarks within the city and out, so one can visit if they are so inclined.
OMWC
One of my “hey, I remember this book!” discoveries as we unpacked after our last move was Michael Fumento’s Science Under Siege. This is now almost 30 years old, and absolutely nothing has changed- environmental panic porn is just as heavy, media is just as complicit and corrupt, and people are just as gullible. It’s remarkable to read this and realize that it wasn’t written this year.
Fumento basically disappeared some years back after a hit job on his financing (he had worked on a grant from Monsanto some years before the book was written). It is interesting and telling that it is not equally “scandalous” that scientists getting government funding then advocate for more government power and regulation.
SP
I’ve been slowly perusing some fairly mindless Welsh mysteries, mostly because I have Welsh heritage (if you do, as well, and are in the Pittsburgh area, you’re probably related to me), but you can’t really tell they are supposed to be taking place there. Ah well.
I like the main character, DI Winter Meadows, but the plots are fairly easy to suss out. However, for something to shut my brain off right before I go to sleep, they work.
Any recommendations for something in the mystery/thriller line that’s a little more challenging? I have read widely in these genres, so suggest something a little unusual, please!
SugarFree
On a reference made by Heroic Mulatto, I’ve been re-reading the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber. I had read many of them when I was younger but never revisited them after I grew tired of fantasy and basically gave up reading it for a couple of decades.
Now, reading them in publication order, it is just amazing how many types of stories Leiber was able to write using the same characters. Stories with them as the best of friends, stories with them ensorcelled to being at best frenemies, stories where they appear as characters in other people’s stories.
Leiber literally created the phrase “swords and sorcery,” but the real magic was in the writing. This huge anthology is consuming me as I consume it.
Mad Scientist
Fork-Tailed Devil: the P-38 by Martin Caidin. I’m about halfway through it. It’s chock full of information about the development history of the plane, anecdotes from various pilots, and the roles it played in the African, European, and Pacific theaters. Twin turbocharged AND supercharged engines with 1600 horsepower each. The plane was able to reach over 40,000 feet, but the cockpit was not pressurized OR heated, so the lonely pilot and his oxygen bottle were a bit chilly. There’s a lovely story about a pilot surprised by a flight of three Zeros who shoot out one of his engines. He manages to feather the stationary prop, go full power on the other engine, stand on the rudder, and slowly pull away from the Zeros pursuing him. Delightful so far. I highly recommend I finish reading it.
(Fun fact: Caiden also wrote Cyborg, the 1972 novel adapted for television as The Six Million Dollar Man.)
The weather outside…is weather. And Brochettaward is here a’Firsting. Let it weather let it weather let it weather.
Am I doing this right?
You do try, so hard.
He want’s first so bad and he firsts…so bad!
Nope, still wrong, Perhaps talk about literature and not mention anything related to the word ‘first’.
Maybe if he actually read a book, that would be a first.
I obviously wasn’t talking about the Firsting. I First when I get out of bed in the morning. I am a natural born Firster and I’d never take advice from you on being First.
One of these days you’ll figure out that’s where you’re wrong.
On that day, we’ll be here to help you.
The weather outside…is weather.
But the fire is so… fiery.
But mostly peaceful.
I didn’t manage to finish writing either book I wanted to work on this vacation.
I kept letting myself get distracted. Means I also have read anything.
My reading has been light this month. Of new books, the following:
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, Garth Nix, fun but lightweight
Walking to Aldebaran, Adrian Tchaikovsky, grim, unpleasant, under 100 pages and still too long. A failed attempt to retell the Grendel’s tale. Not worth your attention.
Blindsight, Peter Watts (Firefall series, book 1), odd, interesting, dark, full of ideas. A science fiction book with a raft of footnotes? Recommended with reservations.
Blindsight had really stuck in my head over the years. Watts’ take on how limited humans are is grim but compelling.
The problem I have with Watts, and to a greater extent Metzinger, from whom his ideas flow, is the general conflation of ‘the self’ with ‘the conscious self’. It’s neither particularly accurate nor productive.
I’ve been slowly perusing some fairly mindless Welsh mysteries, mostly because I have Welsh heritage – you Americans and your heritage
I started The Way of Kings and did not finish. Meh. Sanderson is overrated.
We already knew that what taste you have is in your ass, Pie, but do you have to keep reminding us?
I attribute this to well known American ignorance of all things good
Wrong
Buying.
Buying.
Buying.
Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive #4 dropped last week, and I’ll be reading and re-reading that through the weekend.
Just posted below. I walked into a library a few days ago looking for something else, and there is was on the new releases shelf much to my surprise. I’m about halfway through.
Just finishing up Sowell’s Wealth, Poverty and Politics, and as expected, it was excellent. Not sure what I feel like reading next.
I can’t find it now, but some Socialist asswipe began his criticism of one of Sowell’s books by saying that “it’s easy for a rich white man to advocate this kind of stuff”.
It was a guy called Aidan Byrne on the LSE blog. Coleman Hughes talks about it here:
https://www.city-journal.org/thomas-sowell-race-poverty-culture
I’ve just finished Bernard Cornwell’s final Uhtred. Really readable and hard to imitate, but also so formulaic and forgettable.
Finished “Fortitude” by Dan Crenshaw. Definitely gave me some points to ponder. Mom has been passing copies to all of her friends.
I think I’ve given up on “The Second Crusade” (suggest by someone here). Very interesting, very dry and quite rage-inducing.
I’ve had plenty of time for reading and have burned through two Clive Cussler books and almost finished an old Louis L’Amour from the 50’s. I have three more Cussler books in the pipeline from Amazon.
Yesterday my brother-in-law gave me a thumb drive with over 1400 e-books. Huge range of authors, from Aesop to Zelazny. I should be covered for reading material for quite a while.
1400 books in something the size of your thumb. We live in the future.
And even that’s a low number now now. I see amazon has a
512 GB micro-sd card for eighty bucks. According to project
gutenberg, the plain text version of Huckleberry Finn is 602 KB,
so you could fit about 800,000 copies of that on something the
size of your fingernail.
The epub with images version is 15.7 MB, but that’s still
about 30000 copies.
1465 books took up just under 1.5GB.
Decided to venture into the world of graphic novels and have read a couple of Neil Gaiman’s – Snow, Glass, Apples, a twist on Snow White, and Sandman: Overture, a prequel of sorts to his Sandman series, plus Sam Sarkar’s Caliber, Arthurian legend reset in the US Old West, with the sword now a gun.
I’d welcome recommendations for other graphic novels, though not manga – I just don’t care for that visual style.
Neil Gaiman in in my top 3 fantasy authors but I never did any of the comics. Those iz for kidz
Snow, Glass, Apples, – I read the short story of that
Hentai more your speed ?
There is always the under-rated Frank Miller book, The Dark Knight Strikes again that has one of my favorite character exchanges in all of of comics history.
Ronin
Never read it, but the movie has The Best car chase, screw Bullit.
Just watched it Wednesday night. It holds up well.
I stayed up rewatching ‘Ford v. Ferrari’ last night. That’s a damn good movie.
Not that Ronin
Ronin was definitely the last great car chase filmed. I’d have a hard time picking best, but I really appreciated Frankenheimer declining to use CGI in the chase scenes in that movie.
Ronin was definitely the last great car chase filmed. I’d have a hard time picking best, but I really appreciated Frankenheimer declining to use CGI in the chase scenes in that movie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_(comics)
It’s just amazing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fables_(comics)
All the fairy tale characters flee to our reality as refugees of interdimensional war and live in secret.
Check with your local public library. They buy and circulate a lot of graphic novels, especially non-superhero ones, to promote reading within the children’s literature-to-YA lit gap. (Although most graphic novels are quite adult in story, structure, and theme.)
Thanks! That’s where I’ve been finding them. Downloaded the Libby app so I can read them on my tablet since my Nook is B&W.
Somewhere in these boxes I have the Epic Comics adaptation of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Mike Mignola illustrates and (IIRC) Howard Chaykin scripts. They were pretty good. I’ve never read the books but have been meaning to do so, along with rereading the Elric series.
Y: The Last Man – Post apocalyptic tale in a world where every male (of every species) dies off at once. With the exception of the main character and his pet monkey. They travel while trying to find his fiancee and figure out what went on.
Preacher – A preacher gets possessed by Genesis, which allows him to force people to do anything he says. He learns that God has left heaven, and decides to find where He went to.
Fables – All of the characters from Fables exist, and were driven out of their homeland. Most are holed up in New York City,
Sin City – A series of interconnecting tales taking place in the underworld of the titular
Basin City.Transmetropolitan – Gonzo journalist set in the far distant future dealing with a presidential election and his editor.
Hellboy – The harbinger of the apocalypse gets rescued and works for a secret branch of the government that stops supernatural threats.
None of these are kid friendly.
Maus.
I love me some Gaiman. American Gods is in my queue from LIbby.
“Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser” has been on my “to-buy” list for a very long time. I have some of the AD&D “Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser” supplements/adventures. The world looks interesting.
I have not done much reading.
I finished “United States v. Members of the Armed Services: The Truth Behind the Department of Defense’s Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program “.
I started “Retief of the CDT”.
err… “Fafhrd” and the Grey Mouser” stories/omnibus editions have been on my to-buy list. Yes, I know there were many, many stories Leiber wrote.
My short review is… They’re okay.
I’m gonna have to pick up that Fumento book now. I had no idea who the guy was and read a couple things by him at the beginning of covpanic and then researched his background a bit. Back when all the héteros were being told by the mass media and Science! that they would surely catch the virus for their evil humping ways, Fumento was busy attacking that myth.
It’s a short book. Chapter 1: Shut your stupid mouth. Chapter 2: Do whatever you’re told. Chapter 3: Open your wallet. Chapter 4: You’ll still piss her off.
I’ve picked up Julius Caeser’s commentaries again. Been very interesting, I wonder if we’ll get our own Julius soon.
That is a good book, I’m slogging through Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius is excellent… I still leaf through it when I’m having a rough day.
I made an actual trip to the local library this month and picked up a couple of books.
Animal Farm by Orwell. It was some sort of anniversary edition with a couple of forwards by Orwell. He made it clear in the forward for the Ukrainian edition that he was a socialist upset with Stalin for doing socialism wrong and setting back the cause.
11/22/63 by Stephen King. A novel about time travel back to Dallas to stop the assassination of JFK. I’m only 3/4 of the way through so I don’t know if the plan works or not.
Here is the Ukrainian preface.
https://www.orwell.ru/library/novels/Animal_Farm/english/epfc_go
Let’s hope it doesn’t.
Rhythm of War by Sanderson.
Unlike Pie I’ve found the series very entertaining. This is book four of a five book series and he envisions doing another entire five-book set with another arc. This book itself is 1216 pages – the man is a machine to keep writing at that level, pace, and quality. He has built an intricate system of power that also occasionally intersects with other forms on other worlds from his earlier books.
he has good imagination/world building but can’t write good. dialogue characters and general use of language is weak.
I would agree with that assessment of some of his early works but not this series.
unlike Gaiman for example I have not found a single phrase for which I could say that is a nice bit of writing
Some people read in visual mode, by which I mean, when they read, they aren’t concentrating on the words and the writing. They’ve got a movie playing in their head. Just tell me a good story.
This.
The last Gaiman book I read (The Ocean at the End of the Lane) was well written and boring.
Agreed. Though I suspect I just don’t like Gaiman’s writing that much.
i liked that one although less than some of his other stuff
I read American Gods and was quite underwhelmed. That was enough for me.
I read American Gods – one of my fave quotes ever is in there. also in anansi boys. and in neverwhere
What’s the quote?
it was with Anubis and Thoth
“Back in my day, we had it all set up. You lined up when you died, and you’d answer for your evil deeds and your good deeds, and if your evil deeds outweighed a feather, we’d feed your soul and your heart to Ammet, the Eater of Souls”
“He must have eaten a lot of people.”
“Not as many as you’d think. It was a really heavy feather. We had it made special. You had better be pretty damn evil to tip the scales on that baby…”
for neverwhere is how the assassins answered the phone
“Croup and Vandemar, bespoke violence”
and from the anansi boys
“A voice from the creature, smooth as buttered oil. “He-llo,” is said. “Ding-dong. You look remarkably like dinner.”
I’m Charlie Nancy,” said Charlie Nancy. “Who are you?”
I am Dragon,” said the dragon. “And I shall devour you in one slow mouthful, little man in a hat.”
Charlie blinked. What would my father do? He wondered. What would Spider have done?…
Er. You’re bored with talking to me now, and you’re going to let me pass unhindered,” he told the dragon, with as much conviction as he was able to muster.
Gosh. Good try. But I’m afraid I’m not,” said the dragon, enthusiastically.
Actually, I’m going to eat you.”
You aren’t scared of limes, are you?” asked Charlie, before remembering that he’d given the lime to Daisy.
The creature laughed, scornfully. “I,” it said, “am frightened of nothing.”
Nothing?”
Nothing,” it said.
Charlie said “Are you extremely frightened of nothing?”
Absolutely terrified of it,” admitted the Dragon.
You know,” said Charlie, “Have nothing in my pockets. Would you like to see it?”
No,” said the dragon, uncomfortably, “I most definitely would not.”
There was a flapping of wings like sails, and Charlie was alone on the beach. “That,” he said, “was much too easy.”
I thin the only person who equals Gaiman for me in sf/fantasy for language is probably Douglas Adams
also ‘Bad Gaiman Challenge’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cK-8jnub5Q
De gustibus and all that.
I take that as an insult
I’ll take that as a tease.
Otherwise, I could’ve just said *yawn* because that’s what Gaiman makes me do.
Makes me wonder if there’s a difference in how one views a work when reading in their native langauge versus when it’s a second or later language.
I do often think of his choice of pleasant lies versus ugly truths.
Very much this. I’m in it for the story, not the writing.
Simple phrases strung together the right way can still be engrossing and entertaining.
I have read 26 paranormal women’s fiction and/or cozy mystery books in the last three weeks, not including the 4 I started then threw at the wall. Witches, gargoyles, vampires, ghosts, psychics, demons, elves (that was a cute one), and mysteries. So not my preferred genre, but very entertaining. I am stress eating, stress reading, stress cross stitching in addition to my normal work. I have realized I am a fast reader. My husband said, “Duh,” but to whom can I compare myself? No one, that’s who.
I am not really writing, but I am doodling. Anyway, I am tentatively sticking my toe into writing paranormal, but I want to do it under a new pen name and launch the fucker right so I can make some money. Suggestions welcome. I clearly cannot be trusted to choose an attractive and attention-getting name for myself.
Impressive. The only book I ever chucked at a wall was “The Cat Who Walked Through Walls”. Do you recall which ones got the projectile treatment? Or do you not care to share?
2 were, unbeknownst to me, YA special snowflake Mary Sues. I am not interested in reading either teen or college-kid angst. One had characters who were TSTL—too stupid to live. The last I didn’t throw. I just felt nothing for the characters.
I used to be a patient reader when I was a kid and early adult. I found some great books by giving them a chance for a good third to half. But I’m not that patient anymore.
I think the only book I’ve ever literally thrown across the room was ‘Sea of Silver Light’ by Tad Williams.
The final book of a five book series and the big reveal was so goddamn stupid that I threw the book at the opposite wall at that point.
I’m still angry about that ham-fisted deus ex machina.
Thinking about the phrase “Deus ex Machina” gave me an idea on a twist on the story where a society has powered their stuff by trapping a god in a machine. It’s still percolating, but I think it not only fits into one of my active works, but improves it and fixes one of the motivations that has been bugging me.
That’s close to what Williams did, albeit with zero foreshadowing.
I’m thinking the reveal goes near the middle of the book. The narrator finds that the enemy’s new war factory is powers by a god in the mechanism, and so he releases it, only for the now-woken entity to go “Hey! I was sleeping, don’t bother me, I want to go back to bed.” He can’t just leave the sleeping god to power this system, so he takes the core of the mechanism when he leaves. Thus the bad guys are motivated to follow to the ends of the world. While there’s a limit to the efforts they would go to for the war effort, they also want to get back their god. So it doesn’t fix the narrator’s problems, but instead exacerbates them.
Jean-Claude Mojeaux?
Try “Red Headed Stepchild” by Jaye Wells. We listened to the audiobook on a recent road trip. Good fun.
I want to do it under a new pen name and launch the fucker right so I can make some money
Be sure you include a major trans character you introduce right at the beginning, or some other similar gender bending gimmick, to get your woke creds in right away. It barely has to affect the actual story, and in fact, the less it does, the better. Ann Leckie is the master of this technique.
I’m reading another one who’s done this. Good thing I like her storytelling or I’d have thrown it too.
“Suggestions welcome. I clearly cannot be trusted to choose an attractive and attention-getting name for myself.”
I think you said your husband is a fan of Stephen King. King wrote a few books under the name Richard Bachman. I suggest Roxanne Bachman.
I kinda like that.
Music Theory in One Lesson and 100 Sight Reading Exercises For Guitar, both by Ross Trottier.
I like “intellectual” stuff, but I’ve really needed some guidance on getting back into playing guitar. These two (slim) volumes are just perfect for that, and he’s got lots of YT videos as adjuncts to what he’s written.
Other than these two, just articles on the ‘Web re: electronics for dumfuxx like me.
I mostly read and re-read books on chess in a futile quest to combat the short-term memory issues which have become increasingly annoying. Also found a copy of Eliot’s collected poems and plays which has been gathering dust in my basement for years, and there is some good stuff there. I particularly like this one:
Difficulties of a Statesman
Sounds about right.
For whatever reason, my kid went on a two year obsession about the Caro-Kann.
my kid – creepy
“Hey, kid, check out my bishop!”
Funny thing, for a long time that was considered to be one of the dullest openings. Nowadays the Advance variation produces completely crazy, random positions on a regular basis. Right up my alley.
This was a short read, but a good one.
Paywalled
I was able to see it. Maybe I just read too much of Michael Malice’s twitter feed but the more I read through the more I felt like it was somebody who understands nothing about what’s going on projecting his wishfulness upon others.
I don’t necessarily think the conclusion (quoted by juris) is wrong, but the reasoning is overwrought. Trump never was quite what some people, both fans and detractors, imagined him to be, but that’s because he was President not dictator. The comparison to Jackson is somewhat apt, but there was precisely zero analysis of where Jackson and Trump differ, both the men themselves and the governments they were nominally in charge of.
Conrads Nostromo. I am only about 80-odd pages into it, but it is both dense (wordy) and dense (ideas)
Classic Conrad.
“Conrad set his novel in the town of Sulaco”
That just filled in two bits of trivia for me regarding Alien/Aliens.
I’ve been stuck halfway through about four different books, I did finish a few Phillip Marlow short stories/novellas.
Any recommendations for something in the mystery/thriller line that’s a little more challenging?
Not sure how unusual he is since his latest book became a NYT bestseller, but Adrian McKinty’s “Dead” series is good, more crime than mystery but he’s got the poetic flair of an Irishman.
Maybe more mystery thriller-ish- The John Madden series by Rennie Airth, or the Cragg and Fidelis series by Robin Blake. The former is set between the wars Madden is a Scotland Yard Detective, The latter is set in mid 18th century england.
I’ve been stuck halfway through about four different books,
Same here. Haven’t really been motivated to continue any of them.
Thank you!
I’m reading “Mind Over Matter” which is a textbook sized history of Fortune Records. It is jam packed with Detroit history, stories of entrepreneurial spirit, hillbilly rock n roll, soul, jazz, blues, etc. Packed with photos, 45 labels graphics, concert posters, and advertising. The stories are sometimes hilarious, always interesting. Before Motown made Detroit “Hitsville USA”, there was Fortune Records. It’s a very narrow slice of American history but it’s good. http://www.nortonrecords.com/kb-mind-over-matter-the-myths-mysteries-of-detroits-fortune-records-kicks-books/
That looks interesting, will have to check it out.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/8-u-s-house-races-still-have-not-been-called-republicans-lead-all-8-races
Still counting votes.
Well, they have to keep counting until they get it right.
They have to keep counting until they get it left.
– The complete works of Epictetus
– The Science of Selling. I’m currently pondering a career move into insurance sales and decided to read a bunch of sales books to see if this is something I could do. At the very least, it’s interesting to know sales techniques so that I know when I’m being sold to.
– Children of Ash and Elm, an audiobook about the history of the Vikings. Enjoyable, but there was an entire chapter devoted to “gender norms and queer identities”. Good god, that was an awful chapter.
– The Science of Selling.
Just remember ABC: Always be closing!
AIDA ftw.
AIDA?
Aida?
+ Glenngary
I’ve always figured Alec Baldwin was playing himself.
If our local correspondent* has it correct — and I have no reason to doubt him — that as a kid he was Eddie Haskell but meaner (!).
*sorry, have forgotten who here said that
Joe Biden Pledges to ‘Root Out Systemic Racism’
Affirmative action is, in fact, racist. Good on you, Joe.
Sidney Powell files lawsuits in Georgia and Michigan.
Release the motherfucking Kraken.
Trump plans rally in Georgia.
Should be a fun affair.
Yes, my tits are cool.
The cure to implicit systemic racism is explicit systemic racism. Take how you think the world works, invert it, and force it to be so.
How Not To Piss Off Your Post-Partum Wife. TPTB can’t tell if it’s working.
You’re not dead; therefore it’s working.
The Way I Heard It by Mike Rowe. It’s basically 50% transcripts from his podcast and 50% stories about his own life. It’s a very easy and fun read. Next in the queue is How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.
Vodka, Emergen-C, and Perrier. Why the hell not? I’m on vacation, baby!
Re-Reading Clavell’s “Shogun” after some comments here.
It is both better and worse than I remember, but I can give it more of a thumbs up than I had in the past. The caveat being it really is fiction and historical accuracy is not pat of the story.
Interestingly enough I don’t believe the miniseries is available on streaming as I wanted to see if it was as campy as I remembered.
If you really want it, I can have it up in a little while; just have to throw it up to the cloud drive. It’s pretty big; just shy of 100GB, but it is about 9 hours long.
Thanks!
I’ll see if I can find some cheap dvds. If not I’ll let you know!
One of my top 5 favorite novels ever. I love, love, love Clavell’s writing.
I was greatly disappointed in the miniseries.
In the book as he becomes more Japanese he shaves the beard.
(And Anjin-San is straight too… Even clueless teenage Sensei thought Richard Chamberlain wasn’t exactly masculine, but that was it at the time.)
Finally, somebody takes it seriously
North Korea is taking increasingly harsh measures to stop the coronavirus from entering the country, including executing an official in August who violated anti-virus rules, South Korean intelligence officials told lawmakers on Friday.
In a closed-door briefing to a parliamentary intelligence committee on Friday, the officials told lawmakers that the executed North Korean had brought goods through customs in the city of Sinuiju on North Korea’s border with China, in violation of coronavirus-related quarantine measures.
North Korea has also locked down the capital, Pyongyang, and prohibited fishing and salt production in the ocean as part of its restrictions to block COVID-19, lawmakers cited the intelligence officials as saying.
Foochy moans “Pew pew!” as he blows his wad into his diaper.
Jesus, dude. Did not need that Fauci description.
We should all be emulating the Norks. They know how to deal with wrongthink.
I explain brain. Numb title. Foil moon entrapment.
Goose of Terence, beguiled with fence.
?
A good shroom season there?
You have your orders, Kenneth.
What I just read – A blast from the past, a letter-in-a-bottle from happier times, some folk I wish were still around, questionable film taste from OMWC – https://reason.com/2013/04/04/the-bad-news-bears-gets-more-disturbinga/#comments
😀
I just got a sweet Kindle paperwhite and believe it or not, story from a couple of forays on my phone, I’ve only just now ventured into the world of electronic books.
Paperwhites are awesome!
Ditto.
Reading on it now.
Finished my re-read of my Neal Stephenson collection (excepting his most recent novel which had middling to low reviews and I haven’t picked up yet). Reminded that my copy of “Diamond Age” is inexplicably missing 46 pages in the middle and I need to order a new one.
Recently started Umberto Eco’s “Baudolino” – which I’ve had on my shelf/box since I picked it up at a university book sale (hard copy) for $5 20 years ago. Seems interesting so far.
The Innovators
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
I listen to audiobooks instead of reading. I cannot remember stuff I read. I can remember stuff I hear.
My favorite book of the year was The Undoing Project.