BOOKS - What are ASF members reading?

[nizar]

Trend followers - Michael Covel (2003)

Some really great stuff in there.
The traders profiled in that book, their techniques and their results - incredible, and i believe it, coz these guys dont write books or do worlds tours and seminars, they actually make their money through TRADING.

Highly recommended.

 

[drillinto]

"The Rush That Never Ended - A History of Australian Mining"
By Geoffrey Blainey, Melbourne University Press, 1964
[The classic history of Australian mining]

"The Money Miners - The Great Australian Mining Boom"
By Trevor Sykes, Allen & Unwin, 1995
[This is a story of those who were more interested in mining money rather than minerals]

 

[drillinto]

"BRE-X: The Inside Story of the World's Biggest Mining Scam"
By Jennifer Wells, Orion Business Books, 1998

[A ripping tale of the mining industry]

 

[Julia]

"The Secret History of Al Quaeda", (sorry, can't remember the author now)
Author is editor of a British Arab newspaper and has had numerous meetings with Osama bin Laden.

Offers a different perspective on the anger of Islam.

 

[billhill]

Selling Sickness: How the worlds biggest pharmaceutical companies are turning us all into patients. by Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassals. Interesting read. Will make you question the real motives behind big pharma and the medical industry.

 

[imajica]

Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser

an eye-opening expose of the politics and horror stories that underpin the American fast food industry - a fascinating, although somewhat disturbing read

 

[2020hindsight]

Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser

an eye-opening expose of the politics and horror stories that underpin the American fast food industry - a fascinating, although somewhat disturbing read

Imajica, lemme guess , "thickshakes are about as good for you as chewing on a lump of fat". Yet we keep buying em .. sheesh. You go to Singapore, HK, Indon etc and they've torn down blocks where Chinese restaurants used to be, and replaced em with MacDonalds. In Indonesia, I've seen the beggar kids sit outside, and , almost like the little match girl, imagine the day when they can afford a Big Mac or some such

As someone said the other day during a "Quality Assurance" talk - "QA means you get consistent quality - every step of the process is according to predetermined plans, and the product is always the same. Like McDonalds", he adds, "quality is always the same. I keep hoping ... but ... it's always the same".

 

[imajica]

it goes deep into the politics surrounding the management of slaughterhouses, the abuse of unskilled migrant workers and the fact that due to the speed of the production line, faeces is leaching into the rendered meat - fecal coliforms are found in high concentrations in fast food burgers - there is s**t in the meat

I think I'll stick to Mod Oz cuisine, fast food is a killer!

 

[2020hindsight]

it goes deep into the politics surrounding the management of slaughterhouses, the abuse of unskilled migrant workers and the fact that due to the speed of the production line, faeces is leaching into the rendered meat - fecal coliforms are found in high concentrations in fast food burgers - there is s**t in the meat

I think I'll stick to Mod Oz cuisine, fast food is a killer!

- or as a Maccas manager said on TV the other day, no-ones taking the piss out of MY thickshakes
Sounds bludy marvellous, m8, lol. Couple of my kids have worked at maccas , and it did them good (workplace discipline) - but still a worry on the quality - sheesh a Junior burger is an insult to the intelligents.

I read a chapter once a week or so of The Hinges of Battle (Eric Durshmed). Fascinating the fact that luck and chance plays such a part in winning (or losing) battles. (as well as a lot of details of the battles irrespective of luck). The weather around the Channel has saved Britain more than once etc. Also just a lot of cunning by the likes of Hitler etc i.e. The manipulation by Hitler about an alleged attack by Poland to trigger the invasion into Poland. Chapter "Since This Morning We Are Shooting Back!!" - (how often do you hear that these days )

And "genius" of Napoleon (or stupidy of his opponents?). Napoleon's victory at Aussterlitz etc is told under chaper "A Confederacy of Dunces".

(after Napoleon tricked the Austrians and the Russians into leaving good defensive positions and going onto the open), "Before tomorrow night this enemy is mine... We must learn to live and to die" he said, "that is the great lesson of modern tragedy" (again how often do you hear that today) .

A spy had stolen the trumpeter's signals, and in the mist next morning French trumpeters sounded the stolen signals ... etc ... Napoleon watched with gleee ,,, etc His plan was pure genius. etc

Chapter on Custer also makes a good read, "The Fool Who Rode to His Death".

extract from the book:- Though these events took place in a remote corner of the USA, the defeat of the US 7th Cavalry under "General" Yellow Hair was one of the most glorius moments in the history of the Indians. But (the battle of) Little Big Horn was a Pyrrhic victory. Newspaper headlines stirred up public hatred to a fever pitch. 'No Officer or Man of Five Companies left to tell the tale, Squawks mutitate and rob the dead, Shal this be the beginning of the end?"
Indeed it was the end ... for the Sioux. On a cold winter's day, 8 Jan 1877, Col Nelson A Miles with five hundred infantry and two cannon, caught Chief Crazy Horse andhis braves in the Wolf Mountains. The noise from exploding shells so frightened the braves that they fled and Crazy Horse was forced to surrender. ... (Also went after) Chief Big Footofthe Souix, and massacred a wholle tribe. With it Custer's former regiment gained revenge for its defeat at Little Big Horn. This was to be the last major Indian conflict".

Some contradictory reviews on that Amazon website :-
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cu.../104-2733317-3722332?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

This book consists of superficial descriptions of ten different battles, wars, and leaders, including Attila, Napoleon, Custer's last stand, the Zulu war, the fall of Constantinople, etc. I enjoyed the description of the Zulu war, which seemed to me the best chapter in the book.

The author's questionable claims in his account of Custer's Last Stand made me wonder how accurate the rest of the book is. For example, he estimated that 10,000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors were arrayed against Custer. That is a vast exaggeration. I would believe an Indian army of 2,000 -- maybe even 3,000 -- but 10,000? No. Not possible. Also, the author overestimates Indian casualties. He mentions "hundreds of dead and dying" Indians in one minor sub-battle of the engagement. No. Hollywood to the contrary, Indians had a well-developed sense of self-preservation and rarely pressed an attack in which they suffered heavy casualties. The evidence from Indian sources and on the battleground -- the most thoroughly studied of any in the world -- is that the Indians sustained only moderate casualties -- far fewer than the 250 dead of Custer.
There's too much good writing on war to bother reading this book.

another masterpiece by a true master. Anyone who is interested in descriptions of various military encounters throughout the ages and written in a style that literally makes the pages flip over by themselves would need to look no further than this book - or, for that matter, any other book by this gifted author. The ten events recounted in this masterpiece are all described in such an engaging and exciting style that it becomes a question of willpower putting the book aside. The descriptions are always lively, detailed and, occasionally, tongue-in-cheek - thus making the reading so enjoyable. Readers who are not familiar with this author's works should allow themselves a real treat and read any one of his books - they will not be disappointed; those who are already familiar with them will know what to expect. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history and likes to see it come alive - to jump out of the pages on which it is written.

PS .. My guess is that those reviews were done by a) his mother-in -law, and b) his best drinking mate respectively
I'm enjoying it because the chapters are self contained. (but if you want a laugh while reading about battles, stick with Flashman, as I posted back there a bit - hilarious )

 

[2020hindsight]

More on Flashman
Review on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Flashman-Nove...3722332?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175384505&sr=1-2

the first and still the best. It is hard to believe that this first book of the Flashman series is now nearly 30 years old. Written as if it is an actual published memoir (later books put "a novel" on the cover, probably to protect the publisher from receiving annoying letters of shock and outrage from the truly ignorant and profoundly clueless). This is a book for lovers of historical fiction, military fiction, or British history, but will be enjoyed by those who otherwise would never read in these areas. They are books of humor, following a knave and poltroon -- Harry Flashman -- as he stumbles into many of the great events of the 19th century (often fleeing irate husbands). Events he has visted so far include Little Big Horn, the Chinese Boxer Rebellion, the Indian Mutiny, the American slave trade, and the Prussian court where he was forced to act as a royal imposter. To the world he is seen as a great heroic figure, a development that Flashman finds hilarious yet endlessly useful. This first book introduces the Flashman character, beginning with his being expelled from school, forced into the British Army, and suddenly finding himself in the midst of the disasterous British Afghan campaign. The only books that ever left me laughing harder were the original three books of what should have remained the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" by Douglas Adams. Highly recommended, though with this warning: reading this book and its successors will leave you considerably more educated about the important events of the last century without you even realizing it is happening

 

[noirua]

Here is a link to "Flashman", of "Tom Browns Schooldays" and Billy Bunter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashman

About the novel "Flashman": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashman_(novel)

 

[drillinto]

"The Billion Dollar Windfall"
By Morton Shulman, William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1970

[This book is about the Texas Gulf discovery of a $2-billion body of copper, zinc, silver and other ores near Timmins, Ontario, and how the SEC filed a landmark insider case against 13 Texas Gulf employees, charging violation of disclosure regulations.
It is a fast-moving yarn written with a sort of bemused indignation at how men and women - and corporations - behave when they are faced with a chance to get rich quick]

 

[2020hindsight]

...It is a fast-moving yarn written with a sort of bemused indignation at how men and women - and corporations - behave when they are faced with a chance to get rich quick]

lemme guess m8, the Amish amongst em resist temptation, and get trampled underfoot by the "Christians" and others

 

[drillinto]

"Hemlo - Inside Canada's New Gold Rush"
By Matthew Hart, Douglas & McIntyre Ltd, 1986

[A fascinating account of a modern gold rush. It moves easily from the bush to boardrooms as it describes the technical skills and financial manoeuvrings that went into developing Hemlo]

 

[jammin]

I have just finished Making money from CFD trading by Catherine Davey and commenced Fair Share by Tom Scollon.
I also have just finished Air Battle Force by Dale Brown, (read when I felt like a change from Catherine Daveys writing style). They balance each other nicely.

 

[jtb]

'Status Anxiety' and 'The Architecture of Happiness' Alain De Botton.

Something Kenna's may find worthwhile due to the philosophical bent.

2020
On war related novels I recently found 'Stalingrad' gripping and also think you'd enjoy 'Uriels Machine' from your astronomical interest.
I have an interest in pre-christian literature.

Have spied a copy of 'Mein Kampf' @ my local book shop but don't know if the academic value is worth it

Could go on and on.........................

Anybody read the 'God Delusion' yet?

 

[Sodapop]

Dabbling in two texts right now... A Short History of Nearly Everything - by Bill Bryson

And

Dreadnought - Robert K. Massie... Outlines (in great detail) how Germany and Great Britain hurtled down the road to WWI - seen through the naval arms race and political/imperial struggles between them...

 

[2020hindsight]

On war related novels I recently found 'Stalingrad' gripping and also think you'd enjoy 'Uriels Machine' ...I have an interest in pre-christian literature.

thanks jt, - I'll check em out. (I don't read more than 2 or 3 books a year , most of my reading is on the internet)

By pre-christian you mean? lol - hek, Chaucer was 14th C ?? lol.
I post some here for you to enjoy (PS I'm not taking the p*** - just interested in what you mean. (?)
You thinking Dead Sea Scrolls maybe

And I notice Sodapop's reference to Bryson 's "Short History on everything " - have heard rave reviews on that by havent personally read it .

 

[Sodapop]

2020 - Give it a crack - it is a really great primer on the universe around us and all that exists in it... Bryson makes even astrophysics and quantum physics (stuff which i should be interested in - but never really got into) readable, understandable (on a laypersons level mind you), and GASP interesting... Difficult to put down - when you are unraveling what most authorities (as best as they can ascertain) believe to be the reasons for everything being the way it is...

 

[imajica]

a classic novel I still rate would be -

Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness

a metaphorical journey into the darkness of the human psyche represented through the literal journey of a colonial imperialist venturing deep into the transgressive abjectivity of 'deepest, darkest Africa'

Apocalypse Now - the Francis Ford Coppola film is based on this narrative with the context being shifted to the vietnam war.