Books?

[yankees60]

I bought Parasite Rex when it was $2 for kindle and haven’t read it. I dare not look at the kindle $2 book backlog.

Do you get the daily emails of ALL the free Kindle books available that day?

I went through it religiously every day until I got up to about 6,000 Kindle books and then stopped.

Vinny

[dualstow]

Geez, you could have bought gold instead.

I used to get that list, but when I resurrected my library card I closed the list. I’m on a really small forum online besides this one and we sometimes alert each other about good titles that are suddenly on sale.

[stuper1]

I recently finished "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough. That guy can really write. I've rarely found non-fiction books to be ones that I can barely put down, but this one was like that. I learned a lot about the Wright brothers that I never appreciated before.

[Kriegsspiel]

Biographies (or, biography-type books), rough categories...

Political/Military

• Churchill And Orwell by Ricks
• Boyd by Coram
• Alexander Hamilton by Chernow
• Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E Lee by Korda
• The Autobiography Of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
• The Fall Of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran by Cooper
• The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius
• Soldiers of God: With The Mujahidin In Afghanistan by Kaplan
• Decision Points by George W Bush
• Homage To Catalonia by George Orwell
• Unbroken by Hildenbrand
• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Weatherford
• John Adams by McCullough
• Every Knee Shall Bow by Walter
• Ronald Reagan: The Triumph Of Imagination by Reeves
• My Share of the Task by Gen. McChrystal
• Wild Bill Donovan by Waller
• The Making of a Radical by Nearing
• Where Men Win Glory by Krakauer
• No Easy Day by Owen
• The Romanovs by Massie
• Thomas Jefferson and the Art of Power by Meacham
• Theodore Rex by Morris
• American Sniper by Kyle
• Storm Of Steel by Jünger

Sports/Adventure

• Undaunted Courage by Ambrose
• Into Thin Air by Krakauer
• Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark by Geniesse
• Wild by Strayed
• Alone On The Wall by Alex Honnold
• Chuck Liddel: The Iceman by Chuck Liddell
• It’s Good To Be Gronk by Gronkowski
• The Education of a Coach by Halberstam
• Barbarian Days by Finnegan
• Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson
• Down And Out In Paris And London by Orwell
• No Angel by Dobyns

Celebrities/Humor

• Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Story by Schwarzenegger
• Angy Optimist: The Life And Times Of Jon Stewart by Rogak
• I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max
• Dirty Daddy by Bob Saget
• Mark Twain by Powers
• Kitchen Confidential by Bourdain
• Total Frat Move by Bolen
• Tarantino by Bernard

Business/Economics

• The Snowball: Warren Buffett by Schroeder
• Confessions of An Economic Hitman by Perkins
• Steve Jobs by Isaacson
• The Great Depression: A Diary by Roth
• The Wolf of Wall Street by Belfort
• Shoe Dog by Knight
• Elon Musk by Vance
• Soros by Kaufman
• Sons Of Wichita by Schulman
• Titan by Chernow
• John Maynard Keynes: Hopes Betrayed by Skidelsky
• Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School by Broughton
• Hetty: America’s First Female Tycoon by Slack
• Cod: A Biography Of The Fish That Changed The World by Kurlansky (heh)

Philosophy/Scientific/Environmental

• The Wizard And The Prophet by Mann
• Genius: Life & Times of Richard Feynman by Gleick
• No Impact Man by Colin Beavens
• Einstein by Isaacson
• One Straw Revolution by Fukuoka
• Leonardo Da Vinci by Isaacson
• Moonwalking with Einstein by Foer
• The Worldly Philosophers by Heilbroner
• Better Off by Brende

[yankees60]

Geez, you could have bought gold instead.

I used to get that list, but when I resurrected my library card I closed the list. I’m on a really small forum online besides this one and we sometimes alert each other about good titles that are suddenly on sale.

All those books were FREE! So, could not have "bought" anything else!

Vinny

[yankees60]

I recently finished "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough. That guy can really write. I've rarely found non-fiction books to be ones that I can barely put down, but this one was like that. I learned a lot about the Wright brothers that I never appreciated before.

Agree with your sentiment regarding McCullough. I'd been aware of the Wright Brothers book but had never had it in my possession to read it. Based on your recommendation I just purchased a used copy (delivered) from Amazon for the grand total price of $5.68!

The above is just one of the reasons why I reject any politician's rant that we have to break up the big corporations (such as Amazon). Some of the big corporations provide amazing services that one cannot obtain anywhere else. And, I do know from reading the book about how it was started that it was the typical American success story as starting out tiny and then becoming what it has. Before Amazon anyone (or, a ton of other people) could have created an Amazon. But most people either don't have the talent or the tremendous motivation and capacity for hard work that the people who started Amazon did.

Is the above contradictory and not consistent with my beliefs that the corporation run our country and should not be doing so?

Vinny

[yankees60]

Biographies (or, biography-type books), rough categories...

Political/Military

• Churchill And Orwell by Ricks
• Boyd by Coram
• Alexander Hamilton by Chernow
• Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E Lee by Korda
• The Autobiography Of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
• The Fall Of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran by Cooper
• The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius
• Soldiers of God: With The Mujahidin In Afghanistan by Kaplan
• Decision Points by George W Bush
• Homage To Catalonia by George Orwell
• Unbroken by Hildenbrand
• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Weatherford
• John Adams by McCullough
• Every Knee Shall Bow by Walter
• Ronald Reagan: The Triumph Of Imagination by Reeves
• My Share of the Task by Gen. McChrystal
• Wild Bill Donovan by Waller
• The Making of a Radical by Nearing
• Where Men Win Glory by Krakauer
• No Easy Day by Owen
• The Romanovs by Massie
• Thomas Jefferson and the Art of Power by Meacham
• Theodore Rex by Morris
• American Sniper by Kyle
• Storm Of Steel by Jünger

Sports/Adventure

• Undaunted Courage by Ambrose
• Into Thin Air by Krakauer
• Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark by Geniesse
• Wild by Strayed
• Alone On The Wall by Alex Honnold
• Chuck Liddel: The Iceman by Chuck Liddell
• It’s Good To Be Gronk by Gronkowski
• The Education of a Coach by Halberstam
• Barbarian Days by Finnegan
• Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson
• Down And Out In Paris And London by Orwell
• No Angel by Dobyns

Celebrities/Humor

• Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Story by Schwarzenegger
• Angy Optimist: The Life And Times Of Jon Stewart by Rogak
• I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max
• Dirty Daddy by Bob Saget
• Mark Twain by Powers
• Kitchen Confidential by Bourdain
• Total Frat Move by Bolen
• Tarantino by Bernard

Business/Economics

• The Snowball: Warren Buffett by Schroeder
• Confessions of An Economic Hitman by Perkins
• Steve Jobs by Isaacson
• The Great Depression: A Diary by Roth
• The Wolf of Wall Street by Belfort
• Shoe Dog by Knight
• Elon Musk by Vance
• Soros by Kaufman
• Sons Of Wichita by Schulman
• Titan by Chernow
• John Maynard Keynes: Hopes Betrayed by Skidelsky
• Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School by Broughton
• Hetty: America’s First Female Tycoon by Slack
• Cod: A Biography Of The Fish That Changed The World by Kurlansky (heh)

Philosophy/Scientific/Environmental

• The Wizard And The Prophet by Mann
• Genius: Life & Times of Richard Feynman by Gleick
• No Impact Man by Colin Beavens
• Einstein by Isaacson
• One Straw Revolution by Fukuoka
• Leonardo Da Vinci by Isaacson
• Moonwalking with Einstein by Foer
• The Worldly Philosophers by Heilbroner
• Better Off by Brende

Many, many thanks for providing this list! And, the time you spent doing so. To honor that time you spent doing so I will, at some point, systematically going through it.

I started my book reading Excel worksheet partly because for many books I could not remember if I had read them or not. That worksheet documents if I have or not (in the last 20 years). But there is no documentation anywhere of the books I own (over 7,000) which I have not read. Therefore, your list will motivate me to again organize the many books I have just recently acquired and to integrate them with the ones I already own. That will aid me in seeing if I already own some of the books on your list. Otherwise there is little chance of me remembering I own a book if I've not even read it.

Thanks again!

Vinny

[yankees60]

Geez, you could have bought gold instead.

I used to get that list, but when I resurrected my library card I closed the list. I’m on a really small forum online besides this one and we sometimes alert each other about good titles that are suddenly on sale.

One other response in regards to the library. My friend who seems to read a book a day says he does not use the library because they want their books back. I don't mind that as much as I don't like making "special trips" for any reason. I prefer to get things done when I'm in the area or passing by in my normal travels. And, sometimes when those books are due (and the library will charge overdue fines) I don't like having to make a special trip to get the book(s) back to the library on time.

Vinny

[yankees60]

Geez, you could have bought gold instead.

I used to get that list, but when I resurrected my library card I closed the list. I’m on a really small forum online besides this one and we sometimes alert each other about good titles that are suddenly on sale.

One other response in regards to the library. My friend who seems to read a book a day says he does not use the library because they want their books back. I don't mind that as much as I don't like making "special trips" for any reason. I prefer to get things done when I'm in the area or passing by in my normal travels. And, sometimes when those books are due (and the library will charge overdue fines) I don't like having to make a special trip to get the book(s) back to the library on time.

Vinny

We have drop boxes at many of the larger parks in our suburb of Chicago, one of which happens to be 2 blocks from my house. All of my library returns go into this box. We also have a bookmobile that comes by weekly and you can request any title to be loaded onto the truck in advance.

I'm not really that far from three choices of library. But each would take an extra 5-10 minutes of my time to return the books if they are not on my way somewhere. I generally only get the books when I am passing the library going somewhere else.

Vinny

[dualstow]

It’s funny, I like libraries because they want the books back. The converse of your friend’s outlook. I used to have a quasi-hoarding problem. I still have clutter that I need to deal with, and books are among the things I find it harder to part with...if I buy them.

I still buy some books that I don’t want to wait for, but how great is the library! They give you books and CDs for free, and they store them for you when you’re not using them. I make a donation a few times a year, but it’s way less that what I’d be paying to get these titles new.

[Xan]

I recently finished "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough. That guy can really write. I've rarely found non-fiction books to be ones that I can barely put down, but this one was like that. I learned a lot about the Wright brothers that I never appreciated before.

This describes my experience with "Hero of the Empire", a story of Churchill's time in the Boer War around the turn of the century. Absolutely fantastic.

[Kriegsspiel]

I love libraries. They maintain my book collection for me.

The last couple places I've lived, they've been a block from my gym, which is very convenient. My current one (and my gym) is a quick 10 minute walk away. I'm guessing, Vinny, that you meant 5-10 minutes driving, so maybe 30 minutes walking? Once every few weeks? That's not bad. But if you have hundreds of Kindle books in the hopper I could understand you not bothering so that you could blast through that backlog.

[yankees60]

It’s funny, I like libraries because they want the books back. The converse of your friend’s outlook. I used to have a quasi-hoarding problem. I still have clutter that I need to deal with, and books are among the things I find it harder to part with...if I buy them.

I still buy some books that I don’t want to wait for, but how great is the library! They give you books and CDs for free, and they store them for you when you’re not using them. I make a donation a few times a year, but it’s way less that what I’d be paying to get these titles new.

I am a hoarder. But less than in the past. And, books are just one of the items I've collected. As a result every single room in my house has shelves. The bathroom alone has 500 books in it.

However, as frugal as I am, I find my own personal library far superior to a library on three counts:

1) I like oftentimes like reading a follow up to a book I just read. And, even sometimes a specific time. I remember the time I had that feeling and all I had to do was walk over the next bedroom next to this one (which used to be my "library" until the books multiplied exponentially and spread all over the house), got that next book I wanted to read, and started reading it. Absent having that book I would have had to spend time going to the library plus been delayed in getting to read the book. And, that assumes that they even would have had it. Which leads me to the next point.

2) For categories of which I have specific interest like personal finance where I have over 500 books regarding it my selection of books regarding that category is going to dwarf what any public library will have in that category. Thus, I'm not going to be able to get it from one of my local libraries and even on of all the libraries in my area via inter-loan.

3) And, finally, my already mentioned issue of having to spend time returning the books on time if I'd not been able to prior return them.

Vinny

[yankees60]

how great is the library! They give you books and CDs for free, and they store them for you when you’re not using them. I make a donation a few times a year, but it’s way less that what I’d be paying to get these titles new.

They are indeed awesome....but you do know that an insane amount of property tax goes to fund them? Making an additional donation seems like voluntarily telling the IRS that you prefer to pay a higher marginal rate.

I have somewhat gone the opposite direction by donating the books to libraries that I have been able to part with and, thus, got a charitable deduction for doing so. Takes far less time and probably nets me more in the tax savings than the time I've have to invest plus the little return I'd get in actually trying to sell them.

Vinny

[yankees60]

I recently finished "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough. That guy can really write. I've rarely found non-fiction books to be ones that I can barely put down, but this one was like that. I learned a lot about the Wright brothers that I never appreciated before.

This describes my experience with "Hero of the Empire", a story of Churchill's time in the Boer War around the turn of the century. Absolutely fantastic.

Just added that to my Amazon wish list. Would have bought it because it is cheap enough but I know I recently purchased in the last several months some Churchill book but don't know if that was the one. Will know once I got through the recently purchased books pile to organize them into categories.

Vinny

[yankees60]

I love libraries. They maintain my book collection for me.

The last couple places I've lived, they've been a block from my gym, which is very convenient. My current one (and my gym) is a quick 10 minute walk away. I'm guessing, Vinny, that you meant 5-10 minutes driving, so maybe 30 minutes walking? Once every few weeks? That's not bad. But if you have hundreds of Kindle books in the hopper I could understand you not bothering so that you could blast through that backlog.

Yes. I have at least 7,000 paper type books in this house plus many more books than that in ebook form. And, generally, I just do not go out of my way for anything. Always try to fit it into my natural travels.

Vinny

[dualstow]

how great is the library! They give you books and CDs for free, and they store them for you when you’re not using them. I make a donation a few times a year, but it’s way less that what I’d be paying to get these titles new.

They are indeed awesome....but you do know that an insane amount of property tax goes to fund them? Making an additional donation seems like voluntarily telling the IRS that you prefer to pay a higher marginal rate.

Or maybe it means I like libraries.
I looked up the sources of funding for a nearby library once. I didn’t see anything that bugged me. My property taxes have more than tripled since I got my house and local taxes are pretty high, but the IRS takes very little. I don’t know, I just feel good donating to the library. (We should bump the old charity thread).

Vinny, I don’t know if you live in a castle or what, but I couldn’t fit 500 books in my entire home (and remain married). I gave a beautiful wooden bookcase, huge, with thick glass in front, to my contractor after we renovated and it didn’t look right anymore. Then I got rid of 1/5 of my book collection. Very painful. But, I have plenty of books laying around that I may very well never get to.

I pick up and return the books on foot. Walking is almost the only exercise I get.

[yankees60]

how great is the library! They give you books and CDs for free, and they store them for you when you’re not using them. I make a donation a few times a year, but it’s way less that what I’d be paying to get these titles new.

They are indeed awesome....but you do know that an insane amount of property tax goes to fund them? Making an additional donation seems like voluntarily telling the IRS that you prefer to pay a higher marginal rate.

Or maybe it means I like libraries.
I looked up the sources of funding for a nearby library once. I didn’t see anything that bugged me. My property taxes have more than tripled since I got my house and local taxes are pretty high, but the IRS takes very little. I don’t know, I just feel good donating to the library. (We should bump the old charity thread).

Vinny, I don’t know if you live in a castle or what, but I couldn’t fit 500 books in my entire home (and remain married). I gave a beautiful wooden bookcase, huge, with thick glass in front, to my contractor after we renovated and it didn’t look right anymore. Then I got rid of 1/5 of my book collection. Very painful. But, I have plenty of books laying around that I may very well never get to.

I pick up and return the books on foot. Walking is almost the only exercise I get.

I live by myself (other than 19 pets). My house is not that big - 900 square feet (with an equally sized basement below it, which is absolutely packed along with a 500 square foot garage, also packed but with my car in it). It's amazing the amount of materials that shelves can hold. Also, have 7,000 records and 5,000 CDs and 1,000 DVDs and plenty of other things.

And, my true exercise is in my living room where I have a half rack with 275 pounds of Olympic weights. Just fits my desires to get done whatever I want to in the least amount of time (with no wasted travel time) so as to leave time over for all the other things I never have enough time to do.

Vinny

[Cortopassi]

My front yard:



Love books, love reading, but am loving my Kindle a lot as well, even though not paper. We are at the library 3+ times a week. If we lived within walking distance, I'd be there every day.

[dualstow]

Corto. Nice! Used to have one of those in my neighborhood, but it has vanished.

19 pets! I hope 16 of them are goldfish.

[yankees60]

My front yard:



Love books, love reading, but am loving my Kindle a lot as well, even though not paper. We are at the library 3+ times a week. If we lived within walking distance, I'd be there every day.

Looks good! We have some of those around here but none as good looking as yours!

I am still reading books in all forms - paperback, hard cover, on this computer, on one of the various Kindles I own, my iPads, my iTouch.

I'm mainly buying the books in either paperback or hard cover form because they are cheaper from Amazon new than buying them in Kindle version (I guess there will never be a "used" Kindle version)?

I did buy Craig and Tex's book in the Kindle version as I knew it would be a book I'd want to study and take excerpts from.

Vinny

[yankees60]

Corto. Nice! Used to have one of those in my neighborhood, but it has vanished.

19 pets! I hope 16 of them are goldfish.

Never on my own have had any kind of pet fish. Way too much maintenance.

All of mine are relatively low maintenance and don't require me to be home by any time for them or for me to do anything with them ("take the dog for a walk")

3 cats
16 rodents (6 rats / 10 gerbils)

I had at least one dog from 1982 to 2005, 23 years straight, but realized my life style is far more suited to the 19 above than to dogs. Also have had rabbits, ferrets (magical little creatures), mice I catch in my house and keep until I release them in the spring, hamsters, degus. I think that might be it.

Vinny

[yankees60]

I'm mainly buying the books in either paperback or hard cover form because they are cheaper from Amazon new than buying them in Kindle version (I guess there will never be a "used" Kindle version)?

That's my main gripe with Kindle. I used to buy used paperbacks on Amazon for next to nothing, and the Kindle books cost more (why?) and can't be resold, lent out, or donated to the library.

But on the recommendation of one of the posters here (I can't remember who) I bought a Kindle and never looked back. The convenience is unmatched. I love looking up words I don't know the definition of, taking 300 books on vacation etc.

I have many ebook readers of tablets of different brands. My three favorites - the ones I like the most - are my ipad, my iPad mini (because it not that much smaller than the iPad but much lighter), and my paperwhite Kindle. The latter one was a total impulse purchase strictly because it was on sale and I even asked myself why I was buying it in the light of all I already owned. And, when it arrived I was quite disappointed because I'd not checked it's size. Generally I like reading on devices that give me about the same number of words on it as a book. But one night I took it with me to a restaurant and it was quite pleased that I could use it by holding it in my left hand while using my right hand for eating and could do all the page turning with my left hand. And, then I realized it was small enough to fit in my back pocket. So now, whenever I go to live music and not enough is going on stage to keep my interest, I pull out that Kindle and start reading it. Certainly use it all the time between sets. I'd buy a smart phone if it could give me the same reading experience that that Kindle does. From my limited search it does not seem like such a phone exists?

Vinny

[dualstow]

That's my main gripe with Kindle. I used to buy used paperbacks on Amazon for next to nothing, and the Kindle books cost more (why?) and can't be resold, lent out, or donated to the library.

cost more: The answer is publishers. They keep the price up. Not Amazon’s fault.
can’t be loaned: my library lended out kindle books, but I got tired of waiting for a digital copy. I haven’t tried in ten years.

[yankees60]

That's my main gripe with Kindle. I used to buy used paperbacks on Amazon for next to nothing, and the Kindle books cost more (why?) and can't be resold, lent out, or donated to the library.

cost more: The answer is publishers. They keep the price up. Not Amazon’s fault.
can’t be loaned: my library lended out kindle books, but I got tired of waiting for a digital copy. I haven’t tried in ten years.

Yes. The libraries treat them as if they were just like one physical book. They buy one e-version, then they only loan out one copy of it.

Vinny