Brian’s Readings

This is a list of books I’ve read, as many as I can remember.

Politics

  1. From The Folks Who brought You the Weekend
    ( A History Of The Labor Movement)
  2. Secrets of the Temple, by William Greider, published 1987
    ( The History and Workings of the Federal Reserve. Monetary and Fiscal policy)
  3. The Wealth Of Nations, by Adam Smith, published 1776
    ( A foundational work to fans of laissez faire capitalism)
  4. Capitalism and Freedom, by Milton Friedman, published 1962
    ( Neoliberal capitalism)
  5. Free to Choose, by Milton and Rose Friedman, published 1980
  6. The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein, published 2006
    ( Rebuttal to Milton Friedman)
  7. The Seven Sisters, by Anthony Sampson, published 1975
    ( A History of the oil industry and the seven major oil companies)
  8. The Indochina Story, by the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars, published 1970
  9. Shadow Elite, How the World’s new Power brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market, Janine R. Wedel, published 2009
  10. Governing the Commons, The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action,
    by Elinor Ostrom, published 1990
    (Approaches to managing common resources such as water, fisheries, forests)
  11. The Geography of Nowhere, The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape, by James Howard Kunstler, published 1993
  12. Nemesis, The Last Days of the American Republic, by Chalmers Johnson, published 2006
  13. The Sorrows of Empire, Militarism, Secrecy, And The End Of The Republic, by Chalmers Johnson, published 2004
  14. Blowback, The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, by Chalmers Johnson, published 2000
  15. It Can Happen Here, Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush, by Joe Conason, published 2007
  16. Who Runs Congress? By Mark Green, James Fallows, David Zwick, The Ralph Nader Congress Project. Published 1972
  17. Our Media, Not Theirs. By Robert W. McChesney & John Nichols, published 2002
  18. 9-11, by Noam Chomsky, published 2001
  19. Media Control, The Spectaculat Achievements of Propaganda, by Noam Chomsky, published 1991
  20. War on Iraq, What Team Bush Doesn’t Want You To Know, by William Rivers Pitt with Scott Ritter, published 2002
  21. The CIA’s Greatest Hits, Mark Zepezauer, published 1994
  22. Silencing Political Dissent, by Nancy Chang, published 2002
  23. The End of America, Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, by Naomi Wolf, published 2007
  24. Last Call, the Rise and Fall of Prohibition, by Daniel Okrent, published 2010
    ( An interesting study in how a minority can impose its will on a majority in a democracy )
  25. The Long Emergency, Surviving the End of Oil…, by James Howard Kunstler, published 2005
  26. The Long Descent, by John Michael Greer, published 2008
    (The end of oil)
  27. Unjust Deserts, by Gar Alperovitz & Lew Daly, published 2008
    (Basically, why the rich should pay higher taxes. Why the base of knowledge inherited from previous generations is more relevant than present day innovation)
  28. Governing the Firm, Worker’s Control in Theory and Practice, by Gregory K. Dow, published 2003
  29. It Can’t Happen here, by Sinclair Lewis, published 1935
    (A novel of America falling to fascism)
  30. Grand Illusion, The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny, by Theresa Amato,
    published 2009
  31. The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, published in 1848
  32. Robert’s Rules of Order, The Classic Manual of Parliamentary Procedure, by General Henry Robert, published 1907
  33. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, published 1932
  34. From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend, A Short Illustrated History of Labor in the United States, by Priscilla Murolo & A.B. Chitty, published 2001
  35. All the President’s Men, by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward, published 1974
  36. Network Power, The Social Dynamics of Globalization, by David Singh Grewal, published 2008
  37. Against War In Iraq, an anti-war primer, by Michael Ratner, Jennie Green, Barbara Olshansky, of the Center for Constitutional Rights, published 2003
  38. Rogue States, The Rule of Force in World Affairs, by Noam Chomsky, published 2000
  39. Steal This Vote, Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America, by Andrew Gumbel, published 2005
  40. Secrets, A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, by Daniel Ellsberg, published 2002
  41. Oil and War, How the Deadly Struggle for Fuel in WWII Meant Victory or Defeat
    By Robert Goralski and Russell W. Freeburg, published 1987
  42. Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace, How We Got To Be So Hated, by Gore Vidal, published 2002
  43. Trilateralism, The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management,
    Edited by Holly Skar, published 1980
  44. Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond, published …?
  45. Collapse, How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond, published …
  46. Overthrow, America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. By Stephen Kinzer, published 2006
  47. TVA: Democracy on the March, by David E. Lilienthal, published 1944
    (About the Tennessee Valley Authority)
  48. The People’s History of America, by Howard Zinn
  49. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. An outline of the book can be found here (I contributed the last 15 chapters or so)
  50. The Triumph of Politics, by David Stockman (A book about Reagan’s presidency, the budget)
  51. Chavez: The Revolution will not be Televised. A Case Study of Politics and the Media, by Rod Stoneman, published 2008.
  52. All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. By Stephen Kinzer. Published 2003
  53. Twilight of the Elites. By Chris Hayes. Published 2012
  54. Fall of the Faculty. The Rise and Fall of the All-Administrative University and Why It Matters. By Benjamin Ginsberg. Published 2011
  55. The U.S. Supreme Court, A Very Short Introduction
  56. Images of America: Love Canal, by Penelope Ploughman
  57. Love Canal and the Birth of the Environmental Health Movement, by Lois Marie Gibbs
  58. Private Government, by Prof. Elizabeth Anderson
  59. The Dictator’s Handbook, by Bruce Bueno De Mesquita & Alastair Smith
  60. How Democracies Die, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
  61. The Righteous Mind, by Jonathan Haidt
  62. The Russian Revolution – Abraham Archer
  63. Utopia For Realists – Rutger Bregman
  64. No Is Not Enough – Naomi Klein

Various Genre

  1.  Mutual Aid, A Factor of Evolution, by Petr Kropotkin, published 1902
  2. The Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense, by Suzette Haden Elgin
  3. On The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin, published 1859
  4. The Evolution of Cooperation, by Robert Axelrod, 1984
  5. Trench Warfare 1914-1918, The Live and Let Live System, By Tony Ashworth, published 1980
  6. Super Cooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed, by Martin Nowak and Roger Highfield
  7. Just a Geek, by Wil Wheaton
  8. Ninety Nine Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry…”, by Rose George
  9. The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, Marc Levinson
  10. The Global Commons (partial)
  11. The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins (partial)
  12. The Making of A Chef, by Michael Ruhlman
  13. The Horatio Hornblower series (11 books)
  14. Hot Seat, The Startup CEO Guidebook, by Dan Shapiro
  15. The Bible for Dummies, by Jeffrey Geoghegan and Michael Homan
  16. The Koran for Dummies, by Sohaib Sultan
  17. Islam for Dummies, by Malcolm Clark
  18. Venture Capital Deal Terms, by Harm F. De Vries, Menno J. Van Loon, Sjoerd Mol. A great book, the one to read.
  19. Venture Capital 101, by Bill Snow
  20. The Grid – The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future – Gretchen Bakke
  21. Eating Animals, by Jonathan  Safran Foer
  22. Small Great things, by Jodi Picoult
  23. Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
  24. Zealot by Reza Aslan (Partial)
  25. Born a Crime – Tevor Noah
  26. So You Want to Talk About Race – Ijeoma Oluo
  27. The Grid – Gretchen Bakke (About the electric grid)
  28. Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
  29. Man’s Search For Meaning – Victor Frank
  30. Firefighting, Basic Skills & Techniques
  31. You’re Never Weird On The Internet (Almost) – Felicia Day

Science Fiction / Fantasy

(Too many. I’m only going to list some favorites and the most recent)

  1. The Dune series, by Frank Herbert
  2. The Flux and Anchor series, by Jack Chalker
  3. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
    (and other William Gibson books)
  4. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
  5. The Berzerker series, by Fred Saberhagen
  6. The Mad Scientist Club
  7. The Witches of Karres
  8. The Wheel of Time series, by Richard Jordan
  9. Various Isaac Asimov
  10. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
  11. Redshirts by John Scalzi
  12. Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
  13. You, by Austin Grossman
  14. Timebound (The Chronos Files Book 1)
  15. The Director: A Novel
  16. The Martian, by Andy Weir
  17. The Atlantis Gene: A Thriller (The Origin Mystery, Book 1)
  18. Avogadro Corp: The Singularity is Close Than It Appears
  19. AI Apocalypse (Singularity Series Book 2)
  20. The Last Firewall (Singularity Series Book 3)
  21. The Last Policeman: A Novel
  22. Countdown City: The Last Policeman Book II
  23. World of Trouble: The Last Policeman Book III
  24. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
  25. Shild’s Ladder, by Greg Egan
  26. (R)evolution, by PJ Manney
  27. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
  28. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
  29. The Garden of Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
  30. Rama Revealed, Arthur C. Clarke
  31. Water World – Max Allan Collins (Based On The Motion Picture)
  32. Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
  33. Silmarillion – J.R.R. Tolkien (Partial)
  34. Rendevous With Rama – Arthur Clarke
  35. Rama II – Arthur Clarke
  36. Garden of Rama – Arthur Clarke
  37. Rama Revealed – Arthur Clarke
  38. Altered Carbon – Richard K Morgan
  39. The Moon is A Harsh Mistriss – Robert A Heinlein
  40. The Martian – Andy Weir
  41. Artemis – Andy Weir
  42. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
  43. Midnight at the Well of Souls – Jack Chalker
  44. Lords of the Middle Dark – Jack Chalker
  45. Armada – Ernest Cline

Philosophy

  1. Philosophy, A Very Short Introduction, by Edward Craig, published 2002
  2. Philosophy Made Simple by Richard H Popkin and Avrum Stroll, published 1981
  3. Existentialism, A Very Short Introduction, by Thomas R. Flynn, published 2006
  4. Introducing Hegel, by Lloyd Spencer and Andrzej Krauze, published 2006
  5. History of Philosophy, Great thinkers from 600B.C. to the Present Day, by Martyn Oliver, published 1997
  6. Friedrich Nietzche, by H.L. Mencken, published 1993
  7. Kant, A Very Short Introduction, by Roger Scruton, published 1982
    (Only partially read to date)
  8. The Will To Power, by Friedrich Nietzsche, published 1906
    (partial)
  9. Indian Philosophy, A Very Short Introduction, by Sue Hamilton (partial)
  10. Malthus, A Very Short Introduction
  11. (An Illustrated Book of) Bad Arguments, Learning the Lost Art of Making Sense – Ali Almossawi
  12. Beyond Good And Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, 1886 (Partial)

Military History

Almost all of these were read between 1988 and 1992

  1. Panzer Battles, by Maj Gen F.W. Von Mellenthin, published 1956
  2. Confederate Goliath, The Battle of Fort Fisher, by Rod Gragg, published 1991
    ( A Civil War fort in North Carolina )
  3. The Killer Angels, The Classic Novel of the Civil War, by Michael Sharra, published 1974
  4. Platoon Leader, by James McDonough, published 1985
  5. Military Architecture, by E.E. Voillet-le-Due, published 1990
    (Designing Medieval Castles)
  6. Armor Attacks, The Tank Platoon, An interactive Exercise in Small-Unit Tactics and Leadership, by John F. Antal, published 1991
  7. A Quick & Dirty Guide To War, Briefings on Present and Potential Wars, by James F. Dunnigan, published 1985
  8. D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II,
    by Stephen E. Ambrose, published 1994
  9. The Long Fuse, An Interpretation of the Origins of World War I,
    by Laurence Lafore, published 1971
  10. How To Make War, A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Warfare,
    by James F. Dunnigan, published 1988
  11. The Defense of Hill 781, An Allegory of modern Mechanized Combat,
    by James R. McDonough, published 1988
  12. The Art of War in the Western World, by Archer Jones, published 1987
  13. The Art of Maneuver, Maneuver-Warfare Theory and AirLand Battle,
    by Robert Leonhard, published 1991
  14. Achtung-Panzer, The Development of Armoured Forces, Their Tactics, and Opertaional Potential, by Major-General Heinz Guderian, published in German in 1937, this English translation in 1992
  15. World War I, by S.L.A. Marshall, published 1964
  16. Strategy, The Classic Book on Military Strategy, by B.H. Liddell hart, published 1991
  17. A Military History of the Western World, Volumes I, II, and III, from the earliest times to the end of World War II, by J.F.C. Fuller, published 1954
  18. World War II Day by Day, An Illustrated Almanac 1939-1945,
    by Donald Summerville, published 1989
  19. Historical Maps of World War II, Europe, by Michale Swift and Michael Sharpe, published 2001
  20. The Civil War Day by Day, An Illustrated Almanac of America’s Bloodiest War, Edited by John S. Bowman, published 1989
  21. Battleships, United Stated Battleships in World War II,
    by Robert O. Dulin Jr., and William H. Garzke, Jr., published 1976
    (Goes into a lot of detail of how the ships worked)
  22. The Evolution of the Wooden Ship, by Basil Greenhill, published 1988
  23. Weapons, An International Encyclopedia from 5000 B.C. to 2000A.D,
    by The Diagram Group, published 1890
    (Goes into a lot of detail of how the weapons worked and were used)
  24. Infantry Combat, The Rifle Platoon, An Interactive Exercise in Small-Unit Tactics and Leadership, by John F. Antal, published 1995
  25. Campaigning With Grant, by Horace Porter, published 1991