Book recommendations

[USAFrox]

I noticed the book Recluse has linked in his signature block, and decided that it looked interesting enough to read. I went and bought the e-book reader version and read it in one day. I quite enjoyed it! It is called "Above Reproach".

From Recluse's Signature block:

Above Reproach: A novel in which a series of mass-shootings coordinated by anti-American officials inside the U.S. government threatens not only the Second Amendment, but the entire Bill of Rights until one armed citizen finds himself with his back against the wall and fights back.

After reading and enjoying it, it got me thinking of other similar books that I enjoyed, and I thought I'd recommend them to others on this site who might like to read as much as I.

Here are some great ones:
Patriots: Surviving The Coming Collapse, by John Wesley Rawles
This book is about what I consider to be the most plausible of all "end of the world" scenarios - an economic collapse, and the repercussions therefrom. It follows a group of friends who prepared to join forces in the event of any number of bad happenings. It is really a preparedness manual, made into a novel. The hints, tips, and tricks are awesome.

Unintended Consequences, by John Ross
This book is about an overreaching government agency that wants to do away with the 2nd Amendment, and the "unintended consequences" that follow their actions. Freakin' Awesome book, but there are a couple of "steamy" scenes I could have done without. THe history and background on the Right to Bear Arms that is laid out in this book is what really makes it shine, in my opinion.

Enemies Foreign and Domestic, by Matthew Bracken.
This book is about a government agency that also wants to do away with the 2nd Amendment, and sets up a series of false flag events to trigger their desired backlash. But they get more than they bargain for when people who swore to defend this nation against all "enemies, foreign and domestic" push back.

Feel free to recommend some of your own - I'm always up for a good book!

[MOcaster]

The Cell by Chris Hambleton. It is in a post-Obama, anti-gun, anti-Christianity America. It is so scary because it is so possible. It's a good read, though.

[USAFrox]

Thanks! I think I'll grab that one in an e-book version, if it's available.

[USAFrox]

Sweet! It was less than $3 in e-book form on Amazon. :-)

[quilbilly]

Johnstone's book, "Phoenix Rising" and its sequel, "Day of Judgement" are about as politically incorrect as you will find. I read them waiting for the Puget Sound ferries and the waits go fast.

[USAFrox]

I'm all about politically incorrect! :lol:

[Thor's Daddy]

American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella (http://www.amazon.com/Steven-Rinella/e/B001JRVGVU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1)

A historical look at the American Bison interwoven with the story of author Steven Rinella's once-in-a-lifetime hunt for wild buffalo in the Alaskan wilderness.

I'd recommend Rinella's latest book, Meat Eater, as well. Both really struck a chord with me and are far, far better than most of the whack-em-and-stack-em garbage that fills the bookshelves and magazine racks these days.

Sorry if you were hoping for more end of the world lit, but it's not really my cup of tea.

[MaryB]

Desperate Times, free kindle download. About economic collapse and the aftermath

[MOcaster]

Ok, if we are doing "real" books, then here's my list.

Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follet
Shōgun (and the rest of the series) by James Clavell
American Sniper by Chris Kyle
Game of Thrones and series by George R R Martin
And one that everyone else might think is aweful but I really liked it: Auschwitz by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli.

[Blacksmith]

Recluse's next book when it comes out. I don't know if it has a title yet.

[Lead Fred]

James Westley Rawles has three great books, just not one.
books two and three are a continuation of the Patriots story line
All of them are thrilling to the end.
The end was the disappointing part.

[youngda9]

I'm through 4 books so far of Peter Hathaway Capstick and am going to read the rest of his writings.

One Second After is an interesting book about what happens after an EMP goes off.

[Four-Sixty]

For an after the EMP type of story I would recommend "Lights Out". It has such a following that there is a movement outside of Hollyweird to make it into a movie.

[Bad Water Bill]

Recluse's next book when it comes out. I don't know if it has a title yet.

FALSE GODS

By JD Kidman

He said he is hoping for a November publishing date.

Also check out his other great read.

ABOVE REPROACH

[USAFrox]

James Westley Rawles has three great books, just not one.
books two and three are a continuation of the Patriots story line
All of them are thrilling to the end.
The end was the disappointing part.

Sweet! I just went to Amazon and ordered them, and noticed that he has a 4th novel coming out in October that is available for pre-order!

[USAFrox]

Ok, if we are doing "real" books, then here's my list.

Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follet
Shōgun (and the rest of the series) by James Clavell
American Sniper by Chris Kyle
Game of Thrones and series by George R R Martin
And one that everyone else might think is aweful but I really liked it: Auschwitz by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli.

I've tried twice to get through A Game of Thrones, and just can't do it. My problem with it is that you can't get attached to the good guy characters. Every time I think "Ok, this is the good guy, he's the hero, he's gonna beat all the bad guys", he dies in the next page - gruesomely. Then I pick the next most likely "good guy" and start rooting for him to take down the bad guys... and he dies - gruesomely. Lather, rinse, repeat. After about halfway through the second book, I've never been able to keep reading. Does it get better?

[USAFrox]

I'm through 4 books so far of Peter Hathaway Capstick and am going to read the rest of his writings.

One Second After is an interesting book about what happens after an EMP goes off.

Already read One Second After, and loved it! I'll have to check out his other works. Thanks!

[USAFrox]

Desperate Times, free kindle download. About economic collapse and the aftermath

Can't beat FREE! Ordered it.

Thanks for all the great recommendations, folks! This has gotten me set for a good while for new reading material. Thanks!

[Zymurgy50]

The Last Centurion by John Ringo

[flounderman]

Debt Of Honor, by Tom Clancy. It could be where the idea for 9-11 came from. It was published before that happened. Threat Vector, by Clancy is another blue print, on a cyber attack on the United States, where the Chinese hack all our computer systems, take control of our drones and neutralize our satellites while they move to take back Taiwan and all the south china sea. This could be the blueprint for wwlll. It is fiction, but with the Chinese hacking into our computers already, this could really happen. In Debt of Honor a Japanese pilot flew a commercial airliner into the capitol and wiped out the countries leaders. The central thread of Threat Vector is a real possibility.

[Joe504]

I second zymergy50. The Last Centurion by John Ringo.

Actually, all of his books are good.

[Love Life]

"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. Reaing this will explain wahy some people abhor any kind of limits to a market...

"1984" by George Orwell. Just plain spooky.

"Starship Troopers" by Robert A. Heinlein

"War is a Racket" Smedley D. Butler

"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair

"The Art of War" Sun Tzu. The teachings in this book can be applied to just about any social situation as well as putting the smack down on the enemy in war.

There are others, but I'll have to see what I have floating around.

[MOcaster]

I've tried twice to get through A Game of Thrones, and just can't do it. My problem with it is that you can't get attached to the good guy characters. Every time I think "Ok, this is the good guy, he's the hero, he's gonna beat all the bad guys", he dies in the next page - gruesomely. Then I pick the next most likely "good guy" and start rooting for him to take down the bad guys... and he dies - gruesomely. Lather, rinse, repeat. After about halfway through the second book, I've never been able to keep reading. Does it get better?

Well, if you look at it that way, no. All of my favorite characters died. Except some of them don't actually die, you find out later. And some die for sure but they might not be "dead". It's confusing and has as many plot twists as pages, which you know is a lot, but I enjoyed all of the books that are out and I can't wait for the last two to come out.

[MtGun44]

Capstick is great reading, as long as you understand that it is FICTION -

Capstick was never a PH and all the stories are just good stories, NOT something he actually did.

A good book, currently reading: Six Frigates

Another, well worth the time: Seven Roads to Hell.

Bill

[youngda9]

Capstick is great reading, as long as you understand that it is FICTION -

Capstick was never a PH and all the stories are just good stories, NOT something he actually did.
I do not doubt that many of the stories may be embellished...but I've never heard the above statements. Please provide a source or proof to back up your statements.

[waksupi]

Anything by Russell Annabel.

[dbosman]

Anything by Robert Crais

[dbosman]

Anything by Robert Crais

Family, not necessarily a nuclear one.
Honor.
Respect.

[MtGun44]

No sources to verify about Capstick, just have "read it repeatedly" in magazines and online. Never
have researched it in any really solid way. Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned it.
Here is an example of what I have heard - but not actually proof:

http://www.epinions.com/review/_2003935455_1/book-review-6771-CF56701-38824D2D-bd1

So - maybe it is true or maybe not. I have read that he wasn't actually a PH, just a hunter
that wrote outstanding fiction stories. I really like his books, and not sure it makes a lot of real
world difference. Jules Verne never went 20,000 leagues under the sea, either, but it is
still a good book.

If somebody has the definitive facts, I'd like to know. I thought it was all true for years,
then was told repeatedly that it was not really true, just good fiction. That is what I
THINK is correct - but not certain.

I have hunted Africa, but certainly not the big and super expensive animals like elephant,
rhino and buff. Have really thought about buff, and may yet do it. Certainly some of the
reason I went to Africa was Capstick's wonderfully entertaining books.

Bill

[Idaho Mule]

And in a more westernly way and mountain man type, I suggest Last Buckaroo, by Mackey Hedges. This book is very hard to find but well worth it if one likes cowboy books. Tough Trip Through Paradise by Andrew Garcia, great story and supposedly from one man's diary about a couple years in his life chasing beaver hides in the late 1870's. Baxter Black has a couple of rodeo themed novels, Hey Cowboy, Wanna Get Lucky? and Hey Cowgirl, Need'a Ride? that are pretty entertaining too if you're into that kinda stuff. I am, reminds me of my younger days when I could go 100 mph for a full 24 hr day. JW

[big dale]

Anything by Elmore Leonard. We lost him last month and I have not read all of his books, but I have read 45 of them. He could be the best crime fiction writer of them all.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[Bad Water Bill]

I think almost all books on the OLD TIMES will be very hard to document.

I have read every book written by Terry C Johnston about his character "Scratch". Do I believe every thing in his books actually happened and in the order Terry reported. Not for a moment but there was a lot of truth about life of the mountain men to keep me reading till the last page of the last book was finished.

R I P Terry. You left us to soon.

[waksupi]

I think almost all books on the OLD TIMES will be very hard to document.

I have read every book written by Terry C Johnston about his character "Scratch". Do I believe every thing in his books actually happened and in the order Terry reported. Not for a moment but there was a lot of truth about life of the mountain men to keep me reading till the last page of the last book was finished.

R I P Terry. You left us to soon.

I knew Terry, camped with him at Nationals. Some of his characters were from historical people. Believe it or not, many of the people and events were by people in modern times. Anyone who has been involved in the western mountain man association over the past thirty years recognized the people and events pretty much right away when they read his books. Unfortunately, many of those players have also passed.

[jmort]

I tend towards history. Actually, that is all I read. Recently finished two books, 1491 and 1493 which were fascinating. Written from a more liberal perspective, the history of North and South America both pre and post Colombian histories, 1491 and 1493 are none-the-less great books a great reads. Currently reading a book, Colonization of the Americas, which covers same time periods, for North and South America and is excellent and more balanced.

[USAFrox]

I tend towards history. Actually, that is all I read. Recently finished two books, 1491 and 1493 which were fascinating. Written from a more liberal perspective, the history of North and South America both pre and post Colombian histories, 1491 and 1493 are none-the-less great books a great reads. Currently reading a book, Colonization of the Americas, which covers same time periods, for North and South America and is excellent and more balanced.

You lost me at "written from a more liberal perspective"... ;-)

[jmort]

Well, let's put it this way, it is hard to find a "serious" history book that acknowledges that the Europeans were no worse than the "noble savage" and that is what I was trying to say. I doubt anyone is more conservative than I am, but I can still highly recommend both 1491 and 1493 for persons interested in pre/post Colombian North and South American history. The author tries to be "objective" but my liberal sensor is acute. Check out these links and decide for yourself. I enjoyed both books.

1491: "In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492."
http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378826397&sr=1-1&keywords=1491

1493: "A deeply engaging new history of how European settlements in the post-Colombian Americas shaped the world, from the bestselling author of 1491. Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China"
http://www.amazon.com/1493-Uncovering-World-Columbus-Created/dp/0307278247/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378826397&sr=1-2&keywords=1491

My attitude, is have the sense of an old cow, and eat the hay, and leave the sticks. Like the book, Guns, Germs and Steel, it is written from a liberal perspective, even though the author goes to great lengths to explain how he is objective. Good book, but he is clearly a liberal, professing his great love for Montana. I recommend Gun, Germs, and Steel, in spite of the author. His follow-up book, Collapse, is good as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378826737&sr=1-1&keywords=guns+germs+and+steel

http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Succeed-Revised-Edition/dp/0143117009/ref=pd_sim_b_1

[USAFrox]

jmortimer,

Not trying to bust your chops. I guess I just get real tired of hearing things from a liberal perspective (way too pervasive in our culture nowadays), and that sometimes I have a knee-jerk reaction to reject it out of hand. I appreciate your reasoned response.

[MtGun44]

I think the author of Gun, Germs and Steel got it exactly wrong. Every time the evidence was
pointing towards the superiority of the free, Christian, capitalist and republican-governed West, he
"recognized" that it was impossible that Judeo-Christian values, capitalism and systems of education
and government could be the reason of superior results, so it must be "luck". I really think the
book was pathetic, and the author's liberal baggage (basically that it was "clearly" impossible
that Western culture , capitalism and values could be the root cause of our demonstrable
successes - as the book puts it "why we have so much more cargo" ) continuously got in
the way of his thinking.

Bill

[jmort]

"I think the author of Gun, Germs and Steel got it exactly wrong."

I don't disagree with that. He is a liberal professor from UCLA. He pretends, as I said, to love Montana, and all that it stands for, but in the end he is a liberal who tries to pretend to be objective. I thought both of his books were worth reading, lot of interesting information, but as I said, have the sense of an old cow and eat the hay and leave the sticks.

[EMC45]

"To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth" by Cooper.

[Ithaca Gunner]

Vengeance, by George Jonas. True story of Israeli counter terrorist team searching out and killing those responsible for the 1972 Olympic murders.

[MtGun44]

Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors - true history of the Battle Off Samar. In WW2, a very small force, called Taffy 3, consisting of 6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, 4 destroyer escorts, and supported by a
force of improperly armed (small ground attack bombs, no torpedoes, etc) 400 aircraft from Taffy 1, 2, 3
was attacked by a very strong Japanese naval striking force consisting of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers,
2 light cruisers, 11 destroyers, and 30 aircraft (in one of the first uses of the kamikaze attack).

The DDs went straight at the battleships and cruisers, as did one of the DEs, some getting so close
that the bigger ship's could not easily hit them because they couldn't depress their guns that low so they
survived a bit longer than expected. The absolutely astounding courage and strength shown by
the American crews that day is difficult to believe, even though very well documented. The book
is well worth reading.

Bill

[MT Gianni]

For WWII fans Clear the Bridge and Wahoo are two good books of submarine warfare, who I believe were hunters and snipers. Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken is a good one also on the ability of a man to change and the terrible conditions in Japanese prison camp 1944-45.
For novels I really enjoyed The Cowboy and the Cossack by Clair Huffaker. Monte Walsh is still long out of print and unaffordable but the audio cd was re released and I listened to it for 15 hrs on my last trip to Havre.
I believe there is no greater inspiration to the human spirit or a better treatise on leadership written in the last century than Endurance by Sir Alfred Lansing on the polar expedition lead by Sir Earnest Shackleton.

[catmandu]

Helmet by my pillow was good. Also Chickenhawk about Viet Nam chopper pilots
For fiction both sets of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Donaldson. I really like how he writes.
The man in the Roechart Shirt, and Sandkings was good too.

Depends on what you like.

Paul in WNY

[flyer1]

Recluse, I just got in the mail today your book Domestic Enemies. Inside it is signed by you to Marilyn. I think I hit the jackpot!

[castalott]

Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors - true history of the Battle Off Samar. In WW2, a very small force, called Taffy 3, consisting of 6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, 4 destroyer escorts, and supported by a
force of improperly armed (small ground attack bombs, no torpedoes, etc) 400 aircraft from Taffy 1, 2, 3
was attacked by a very strong Japanese naval striking force consisting of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers,
2 light cruisers, 11 destroyers, and 30 aircraft (in one of the first uses of the kamikaze attack).

The DDs went straight at the battleships and cruisers, as did one of the DEs, some getting so close
that the bigger ship's could not easily hit them because they couldn't depress their guns that low so they
survived a bit longer than expected. The absolutely astounding courage and strength shown by
the American crews that day is difficult to believe, even though very well documented. The book
is well worth reading.

Bill

Bill, I believe the commanding Japanese Admiral claimed he was attacked by a superior force! This was because the attack was pressed so hard. If they had not turned around, this force would have shelled the landing force and many, many Americans would have died....

Dale