Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond - on the last chapter now. GREAT BOOK! I highly recommend it. It looks at past societal collapses and contemporary collapses then applies those lessons to today's world. Its pretty scary actually. He does a lot of advocating, but not really along any particular party lines. I feel like I should buy this book for all my friends...just to "get the word out."

Up Next:
1776 - I hear its a great historically accurate narrative. My knowledge of that time period is sorely lacking, so I hope that I can learn a few things in an entertaining fashion (which is how I learn best).
The Origins of the Bill of Rights - see above, plus, I'm a law student, so this kinda floats my boat.
Kite Runner - Its a movie now, and given the chance, I prefer to read the book first.

Suzy, Collapse is a decent book, I was not as impressed with it as I was with Guns Germs and Steel.

Right now I am reading the following (I read multiple books at the same time):

Cataclysm: The First World War, A Political Tragedy by David Stevenson.
It gives a good overall picture of WWI and the politics that drove it. Really good information on the realtion of Austria Hungary and Germany.

Military Heritage of America Ernest Dupuy and Trevor Dupuy

The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War David Gates.
I became interested in this subject while reading Brent Nosworthy's The Bloody Crucible of Courage. Nosworthy took the study of the Napoleanic wars and applied tatics and weapons to the American Civil war. Other than a fiction story called "Rifleman Dodd" this is the first book I have read on the subject. It is quite techincal and gives good information into the order of battle, formations, and weapons.

I liked "Guns, germs, and steel" (and found some of his arguments compelling), but I have heard bad things about "Collapse"

The Kite runner movie was really good, but I don't think I will be reading the book after seeing it.

1) A Brief History of India
2) Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
3) A Peace to End All Peace

Honestly I don't know much about any of them, but I have a soft spot for history (mostly ancient) so thats why I picked them up.

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1776

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Read it, liked it.

Currently reading "George Washington, Frontiersman" Historical fiction by Zane Grey, it's okay I guess.

I am re-reading "The Brotherhood of War series." A lot of fiction tied in with historical fact. I am finishing "The Captains" which loosely follows the development of Army aviation.

i am currently reading washingtons crossing by david hackett fischer, and when finished with that i am moving on to our vietnam by aj langguth.

Federalist Papers-obvious
Team of Rivals--Lincoln's cabinet
I may try one of Harry Turtledove's books for light reading.

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Rule #76: No excuses, play like a champion!

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I am re-reading "The Brotherhood of War series." A lot of fiction tied in with historical fact. I am finishing "The Captains" which loosely follows the development of Army aviation.

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Fantastic series. Finished "Special Ops" last night. This was my second time through, as well. I've alse read his "Corps" and "Men at War" series twice each.

The "Gettysburg" re-write series by Newt Gingrich for the 3rd time.

Still hammering my way through the abridged "Decline and fall of the Roman Empire" by Ed Gibbon. Don't know what to hit up next.

Mouth that book is just about like War and Peace. I get it out meaning to read it, make it a page or so, and fall asleep. That is truely a tough read.

I'm still trying to get through The Punic Wars that I've had since January.
It's a great book... it's really raised my opinion of Rome. Hannibal & his brothers were amazing, but I'm not sure they ever had a chance after reading the information presented in this book.

It'll probably take me another week or two to finish. It's tough to read when you've got an 18th month old that likes to stay up 'til 9:00PM & you go to bed at 10:00.

I've got about 10 history books sitting on my shelf unread.... I have the problem of buying new books before I've finished the ones I own.

[This message has been edited by Apache (edited 4/7/2008 6:02p).]

Like Aggie's Revenge, I too read multiple books at once. On my desk here at work, I have "Lone Star Nation" which I believe one of you guys sent me. It's a hardback, so I only read it at work. For the rest of the time, when I go anywhere on base, I usually have a paperback stuffed in my left pocket and my pistol on my right side. Kind of a yin-yang thing there.

I can only read one fiction book at a time. Historical books I can read multiple ones, but fiction has to be separated. Right now I'm reading "Treasure Island" by R. L. Stephenson, which I never read, but was sitting on the book trade table.

The other real interesting non-fiction read from a history perspective is Arnold Toynbee's "A Study of History." This is a massive book, or actually 12 books in all. I'm reading the paperback version which is a 2-book set, with 6 of the books in each. I'm now in the first book, in what would be Vol. IV.

Here's the Wikipedia on it, which summarizes it about as well as I could:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Study_of_History

I don't buy 100 pecent of this guy's stuff, but darn close. I can honestly say that this is one of the kind of books that you read when you can clearly say when you put it down that you are significantly more intelligent than you were when you picked it up.

It's a long read, but not terribly hard. It's definitely not something you can curl up with over an evening. You kind of have to read it over a course of months. But that's good because then you can gradually absorb the concepts.

What do you think of Lone Star Nation?

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Rule #76: No excuses, play like a champion!

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I like it so far. Not sure if there's anything new in it, but it's fairly thorough. It does at least recognize some of the pre-Austin developments in Texas. Too many histories of the revolution see it as

Step 1. Anglos arrive
Step 2. Revolution happens.

This, of course, is Mexico's "pobre mio" self-whimpering version. The reality is you have to go back to the Spanish mismanagement and the consequences of a decade of revolution in Mexico to understand why Texas was probably lost before the first Anglo settler arrived.

He doesn't come to that conclusion, but he does recognize and discuss the Spanish mismanagement.

I'm not into the actual revolution yet. If I get any revelations (probably not, as I've read at least a dozen books on this topic) I'll let you know.

[This message has been edited by aalan94 (edited 4/7/2008 9:31p).]

John Graves - Goodbye to a River

1960 canoe trip down the Brazos from PK to about Lake Whitney - lots of anecdotes about his life and lots of history of the area told as he comes across locations on the river

Well worth the read for any history buff

http://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-River-John-Graves/dp/0394426908

Sheik, everyone has told me that book is great. I'm a Kayaker and really want to read it. I'd also like to take a cool trip like that one day, although with all the dams, I'd probably have to do some kayak carrying as well.

Amercer,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is lengthy and semi-difficult to read. If you like ancient stuff, though, it is worthwile. It is a an old standard by which to judge other similar works.

I'm trying to plow my way through books I should have already read, but haven't. That includes Homer's Illad and Odyssey, and other similar Greek historical works. For some reason, I find Plato an easier read, perhaps because much of what he writes is in Socratic dialogue that I've had quite an introduction to in law school.

Re: WEB Griffin

Many of you may have noticed that the central character of the "Honor Bound" series is Cletus Frade, a graduate of Texas A&M.

Also in his "Presidential Agent" series (the most recent one), the central character is Delta Force Major Charley Castillo from San Antonio (by way of Germany) and his brother is an Aggie and former Armor Officer.

Just some OT trivia...Griffin seem to like to publicize the "other" US military colleges (VMI, Norwich, Citadel, A&M, etc.).

[This message has been edited by DogCo84 (edited 4/9/2008 4:48p).]

DogCo84 - he dosen't much like the WPPA (West Point Protective Association). And, yes, I noticed his references to other military schools. I think he especially likes Norwich.

91AggieLawyer, you can always try books on tape. The Odyssey and Iliad were actually intended to be heard, not read, so that's a good way to do them.

I think for historical purposes, the Iliad is much more important, whereas the Odyssey is more interesting as literature. But when the Greeks and Romans are quoting about the heroes, they're mostly referring to the Iliad.

If you are into ancient Greek try reading Xenophon's "Anabasis"

It is a true military work of art.

I liked 1776, Kite Runner sucked.

A friend got me Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and I've been dreading reading it, but now we don't talk anymore so I don't have to worry about it and it still looks good on my shelf. Of course, she does still have my copy of Issac's Storm.

I second Xenophon. That's a great book and a fascinating read from a first-hand perspective.

The Best and the Brightest- David Halberstam
reading it now.

Power, Faith and Fantasy-- a great history of the US and our involvement in the Middle East.

Legacy of Ashes-- a history of the CIA.

The River of Doubt-- terrific account of Teddy Roosevelts exploratory trip to the jungles of South America after his presidency. A wonderful book.

All of the books above are highly recommended.

I have a few books lined up for the summer:

1) Lone Star by Fehrenbach

2) Faith in the Halls of Power

3) The World is Flat

4) The Cross of Christ

Luke 12:48

Just read the new bio of Henry Knox. Pretty easy read and well done if you are into Revolutionary books.

Steel My Soldier's Heart by Col. David Hackworth.

The Few - Alex Kershaw
I have always thought about the American pilots that went to Britain to fly for the RAF and what they went through. Its the next on the stack for me to read.

Pauley you might try Hackworth's original book, "About Face". The abridged version "Brave Men" is good but does not go into his disgruntled period with the Army in Vietnam. "About Face" really explains why he retired and never got any stars.