Recommend A Book, Part II

StarHalo

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(The original Recommend A Book thread, started in January of 2012 with 200+ posts, mysteriously vanished as of early 2018; we will resume the thread here.)

Friendly top-of-the-page reminder:

Recommend ONE BOOK every THREE MONTHS.

If you have more than one book to recommend, post one now and wait three months to post another. Include a description; pictures and links welcome.
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I last posted in January, so I'm not up again until April; everyone else is welcome.
 
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Thank you StarHalo. I love your Avatar by the way. The black kitten is so cute!

i recommend Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, **** Beardsley, and America's Greatest Marathon by John Brant

It is an incredible suspense story on The 1982 Boston Marathon. I have no book reporting skills so please look it up on Amazon.

This book inspired me to run and complete the 26 miles, 385 yards of the 2016 Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon on February 14, 2016.

My goal was to beat Ethan Hawke's NYC Marathon time of 4hours 25 minutes. I succeeded, finishing in 4hours 11minutes 10seconds. In so doing I developed chronic inflammation in my right knee which is incurable.

I will never be able to run again but I knew this risk going in and I gave it everything knowing I would likely end up partially crippled and never be able to run again. This book inspired me big time to achieve this big goal.
 
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StarHalo

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Dr. Carl Hart of Columbia University recently placed an ad in the Village Voice for a clinical trial focusing on addiction; respondents found themselves in a hospital ward being offered one of two choices: 1) a pipe containing a rock of pharmaceutical-grade crack cocaine, or 2) a five dollar bill. Since it was a medical professional setting, and it's technically a "free sample", unsurprisingly nearly everyone went for the drug. Then later in the day, the same offer was repeated to the same people, crack or cash, and over 80% of these second round participants chose ..the cash. But wait - what about the culturally ingrained idea of the crack user who will do anything for more once they've had a taste? Aren't people who use crack supposed to go insane and start stealing and selling everything? We could check this result against the data for how addictive crack is, except there isn't any data, just the stories and cultural tales surrounding it, so how addictive is the most addictive drug if it isn't even as alluring as smoking? If these ideas are completely wrong, then what about other socially promoted ideas surrounding drugs? It turns out a significant portion of what we "know" about drugs are just that, tall tales spun to scare children away from drugs, but how can we tell what's scientifically correct and what's not if there's no data..
 
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Monocrom

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Really wish I had backed up not just mine, but all of the recommendations from the original thread. Oh well.... Look for a new recommendation coming from me in a couple of days or so.
 

xxo

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[h=1]Betrayal at Little Gibraltar: A German Fortress, a Treacherous American General, and the Battle to End World War I - By William Walker[/h]
A hundred year old cover up and mystery of why the half trained U.S. 79th division was tasked with taking the most difficult objective of the beginning of the Meuse Argonne offensive, the fortress at Montfaucon and why they were not supported as they should have been - decisions that likely extended the end of world War One by a month and cost hundreds of thousands of casualties.


https://www.betrayalww1.com/the-book.html
 

Monocrom

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"How to Win Friends and Influence People."
By: Dale Carnegie


Sorry that this recommendation took longer than expected. I honestly wasn't sure what tone to use in making it. But you know what?.... Screw it! I'm not even going to try to sugar-coat it or be at least a bit diplomatic about it. The book itself is not very diplomatic towards the reader. Honestly, unlike all of my recommendations in Part 1 of this topic, this particular book is not one I even want to recommend. But it is so important, that I have too. Despite the fact that chapter 1 put me into a horrifically angry mood.

This isn't a nice tome. In fact you have to accept certain unfortunate and downright nasty truths about Humanity in general in order to get the most from this book. Early on in the book, these truths are presented. And, historical examples are then given to drive home the fact that these truths are indeed fact. To be honest, a better title would have been "How to manipulate most people into doing what you want them to do, whether or not that manipulation is beneficial to them."

Making friends? Oh no. You will find nothing in its pages that teaches how to seek out like-minded individuals of good morals (or similar morals to yours) and become life-long friends. You WILL learn how to manipulate some to think of you as a good friend.

One example of dealing with people: Someone screws up at their job. You as boss, can either confront them or treat them with understanding. Openly and honestly confronting them for screwing up, expect one of two responses. One, just denial. Refusal on their part to accept the reality that it's their fault. Refusal to admit they did anything wrong! Or, best you can hope for, they'll just say "I don't know what else I could have done better."

That's it. The book recommends confronting no one. Trying a gentler approach. That may or may not work, but the idiot who screwed up will at least think well of you. Just one of many concepts shown in the book. And what's pointed out in the book are proven techniques that work much of the time. That's the sad part. They work! So if you want to use them, you'll likely succeed. You just have to pretty much pretend to be someone you're not. But you'll likely get results! (Now you guys know why I was so angry at the end of chapter 1.)

Again, don't want to recommend it. But if you buy only one psychology book on the market, get this one. And, that was just the first couple of chapters in the book. Didn't want to spoil the rest. It's one of those books you don't just read, but re-read and study. Highly recommended.
 
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Monocrom

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I read that one as a kid, I still recall and sometimes try to do the "sparkle in the eye" bit, gonna get it one day..

I read it only recently. So, somewhat late in Life. I think you read it too early, and I read it too late. How it's not required reading in all colleges, I'll never understand.
 

5S8Zh5

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Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, Gary Taubes 2010

The book that changed my life. Before I was finished, I cut sugar, bread, etc and started trying to limit my carbs to 20g per day. A synopsis of Dr. Eric Westman's diet (ketogenic). One of the next books I got was Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution (originally written in 1971!). Fat does not make you fat. Carbs give your pancreas a workout releasing insulin, leading to insulin resistance / type II diabetes. NAFLD (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) is a new disease. Used to be you had liver problems, you were a heavy drinking. People started coming in and doctors asked them if they drank, many said no, and the doctors didn't believe them. It was too much carbs / sugar that caused this (easily reversible) liver damage. And more.

Other references:

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease by Gary Taubes 2004 - his other book

Fatty Liver Disease and Ketogenic Diets

Lack of Saturated Fat Consumption: At least two studies, one from Duke University, and one from Cambridge University have shown that reducing carbohydrate consumption and increasing saturated fat intake helps the liver shed excess fat in as little as three days.
 
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SCEMan

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I remember seeing the Altamont & Woodstock films at the theater the year I graduated HS and was blown away by both (especially Woodstock). But although powerful, the Altamont film left out much of the details for the sake of entertainment. This book is very well-researched with many first person narratives of what transpired. After all these years, it was nice to get a comprehensive account (from numerous perspectives) of the Altamont free concert from concept to aftermath.
 

troutpool

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I believe someone recommended Henry David Thoreau's Walden in the original book thread, and I suggest it again here. No long description is necessary. This is a book for all individuals in all seasons. Read it for its wit, its wisdom, its poetry of thought--its celebration of the earth and the human spirit.
 

StarHalo

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True story: Tara Westover was born to a fundamentalist survivalist family deep in the Idaho wilderness, sibling to brothers and sisters who had no birth certificates, most of whom had never stepped foot in a classroom, and had never been to a hospital, thanks to a homeopathic herbalist energy-healer mother who was obedient to a father who gravely warned them and anyone else who would listen about the Government Illuminati program of brainwashing people into Satan's plans. So we follow our author's childhood spending days preserving food to prepare for the End Times when the so called civilized world would come crawling to their door to try to steal the provisions they'd readied, and pulling copper out of radiators and scrap iron out of the local scrap yard for income. Her course seems set, to become a subservient mother and housewife for a proper devout man, but then one day one of her older brothers announces that he's decided to go to college, that you only need a certain ACT score to get in; our narrator sits in a dark hovel in her spare moments reading a math textbook, and begins to picture what college might be like.. A dark and heartbreaking tale of life from the true fringe, from those who didn't have a choice..
 

Monocrom

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Must admit, I am curious if the book portrayed the father as a flawed human-being or as a lunatic.
 

StarHalo

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The author regards him with awe and reverence, as any devout family would follow the head of their household. And that's part of the problem..
 

Monocrom

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The author regards him with awe and reverence, as any devout family would follow the head of their household. And that's part of the problem..

Now I really am curious about that book. Honestly, in my neck of the woods, a huge problem is the utter lack of respect that children have for their fathers. Of course that's assuming there's even one in the picture to begin with. And also assuming he's not one of those types.... The ones who see themselves as their child's "friend" instead of as a parent.
 

59ride

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The Journeyer by Gary Jennings, about the life and times of Marco Polo, fantastic read
 

StarHalo

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We join Georgia Congressman John Lewis on his family's cotton farm where he was born; as a child he spends his days preaching to the chickens in his care and becoming more curious as to why his life is this way though he has only ever seen two white people. As he develops into a teen, it becomes clear to him that education is the only way out, and in a stroke of luck on being accepted to a Christian college, he discovers the teachings of Gandhi and the concepts of passive resistance. With a few other like-minded friends (who are not that impressed with the elder Martin Luther King Jr.'s execution,) he sits down at the segregated lunch counters and buses across the South, starting the now historical Sit Ins of the 60's. Strongly recommended if you're not feeling that good about politics lately and would be interested in the story of a life of true conviction and getting things done..
 

Burgess

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Hello fellow CPF'ers --

lovecpf



I want to read a book (or a Series of books)
about "Life after an EMP event", on my Kindle.


HOWEVER --

I really want it to be in the form of a
" Documentary or Overview ",
rather than a "Hero" who is caught
in the middle of the situation.

DON'T want it to be a "People" story,
but rather a WHAT HAPPENS/HAPPENED
and Why, etc.

Sorta' like watching a Discovery Channel
special on the EMP event.

Hope I'm making sense to you here.

Any suggestions ? ? ?


Thank you for your help . . . .
 
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