• Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi by Timothy Puaketat - If Cahokia was built from stone, it would be held in the same regard as some of Central America's ancient cities. However, being of dirt, it is somewhat obscure. This small book is heavy, academic reading but seeks to elevate Cahokia to a higher level.


• Larry Bond's First Team by Larry Bond and Jim DeFelice - A techno-thriller I couldn't finish.


• 1,001 Things They Won't Tell You: An Insider's Guide to Spending, Saving and Living Wisely by Jonathan Dahl - This would be good for those of you who don't think businesses are out to make money and not be your best friend. Very few really useful tips.


• The Last Testament by Sam Bourne - Bought at the Mumbai airport, the jacket quote says "The biggest challenger to Dan Browns' crown". This is a decent book but not as good as Brown's works.

* "Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War" by H. W. Crockett III - An interesting if odd look at the Civil War. I appreciate the different point of views at looking at Lincoln and secession but the "lost cause" mentality is pretty thick.
* "Strategic Battles in the Pacific" by Earle Rice Jr. - good basic intro to some of the most important Pacific Theater battles. An explanation of why Midway was not included would be very welcome.
* "Driving Like Crazy" by P. J. O'Rourke - not one of his best efforts.
* "A Gift to My Children" by Jim Rogers - I haven't read any of Rogers' other books but I hope they are better than this. The advice for his children mostly center around China becoming the center of the universe.
* "Superfoods for Dummies" by Brent Agin and Shereen Jegtvig - a good intro to superfoods and should whet our appetite for more.

I preparation for my upcoming trip to India, I read the novel Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It is very long but easy reading book about an Australian escaped convict who "escapes" to the Bombay underworld. I enjoyed the parts about the slums the most. The entire section on the Afghanistan sideshow could have been cut out, in my opinion. It didn't add anything to story and seemed to be author's excuse to add some mujahideen warrior action into the book.

Read some more books:
Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion edited by Ronald Numbers - An interesting sounding book but was very academic and almost unreadable. The essays kept referencing other works and was difficult to get the point.

An Apple a Day: The Myths, Misconceptions and Truths About the Food We Eat by Joseph Schwarz - A good book that explains the basic science and current research about food, additives, sugars and anything we put in our mouths. I highly recommended it.

Walking San Diego: Where To Go To Get Away From It All by Lonnie Hewitt and Barbara Moore - Not as detailed as Schaad's "Afoot and Afield" but had some new hikes.

Staying Street Smart in the Internet Age by Mark McCormack - A decent book on managing a company; helps if you are the head of a sports and entertainment agency and can do whatever you want

A slew of books read:
* "Havana Nocturne" - featured on episode of Fresh Air, this book sounded interesting. I found myself much more enthralled with the story of the revolution than with the mob scene. The mob side of the story was quite predictable, pretty much like the "Godfather" whereas I did not know much about Fidel Castro and his revolution. Good research and writing on both fronts.
* "Mortal Syntax" - a nice book on grammar. I could do with less of the pithy stories.
* "Provence A-Z" - a guidebook to Provence by the King of Provence, Peter Mayle.
* "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel" - less a guide than simply motivation to start vagabonding.
* "A Good Year" - watched the movie (starring Russell Crowe) first, then read the book. I liked them both, although they are quite different.

I attended tonight's SOHO's Third Thursday Author Series lecture on Consolidated Aircraft/Convair. Both authors were at the Adobe Chapel to present their work, "Consolidated Aircraft Corporation". I am interested in Convair both from an aviation enthusiast standpoint and the from the fact I work on one of their former factories. The authors, from the Air and Space Museum library, were true experts in their field and very passionate about the subject. The audience was as well, most of them being former employees or children of employees.

Been slow with the blogging, but quick on the reading. Here is a rundown of the recent books:

"Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost - And How It Can Find Its Way Back" by Mickey Edwards - Much has been written of the demise of the conservatism and the Republican party. This excellent book covers it much detail.

"Unleashing the Warrior Within" by Richard Mackowicz - A typical self-help book that attempts, unsuccessfully, to apply military, SEAL-type tactis to everyday motivational techniques.

"Anza-Borrego: A Photographic Journey" by Ernie Cowan - An excellent photog book by former NC Times outdoor writer.

"I So Don't Do Mysteries" by Barrie Summy - I pre-read this book in anticipation of handing it off to my daughter but I decided against it after reading it. First, the teenage characters are focused mainly on boys which detracts for the story. Second, the story isn't very good. I was interested in the book becuase it was set in San Diego but the only places mentioned are the Hotel Del Coronado and the Wild Animal Park (wich a cameo from the Whaley House). Very disappointing.

I highly recommend "The End Of Barbary Terror" by Fredrick Leiner. This book covers the second, and last, Barbary War. A while ago I read, "The Pirate Coast" by Richard Zacks about the First Barbary War in 1804-1805. The Barbary Wars have received renewed interest lately as a result of our dealings in the Middle East as well as the increase in piracy around the world. Both books give a fascinating account of how a very young nation makes its presence known on the world stage. During the first war, American was torn between military force and diplomacy (this meant continued payment of ransoms and bribes to the Barbary pirates). Both were utilized to the end the first war. For the second, American was coming off a victory (of sorts) over England in the war of 1812. We had a good but small navy and chose to use it against the continued misdeeds of the Algerian pirates. A navy squadron, under Stephen Decatur, sunk and captured several Algerian ships and made a show of force persuasive enough to get a treaty fully in America's advantage. The American's were so successful, England and other European countries formed an naval coalition to finish the job and end the Barbary reign forever. A lesson for today? Perhaps.

Picked up a couple of history books from the Encinitas library.

• "Faces of San Diego" by Colleen O'Connor. A nice little photo book from different periods of San Diego compiled by the sister of a former mayor.
  


• "San Diego: California's Cornerstone", by Iris Engstrand. This general narrative covers the history of San Diego from pre-Spanish times through 2004. It is broad but shallow, except for Spanish exploration period which digresses too far into the situation in Europe at the time. One interesting aspect of the author is her view that the Spanish treatment of the native populations was out of compassion and although maybe misguided at times, was meant for the betterment of the Indians.
  

Got Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds from the library. It is pretty much what the title says it is: presentation zen. It is filled with advice on how to make better and prettier presentations. It had some good suggestions but it geared for public speeches.

• Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History - a great introduction to monetary policy. A bit dense and hard to follow (it is not 'Monetary Policy for Dummies'). Read this if want to learn about how today's economies work and how the government manipulates it.


• The Heretic's Apprentice - The weakest Cadfael episode I have read so far but still good.


• Did Lincoln Own Slaves? - A wonderful Q&A style biography of Abraham Lincoln by Gerald Prokopowicz (the host of Civil War Talk Radio). If you are interesting in Lincoln but don't want an epic bio, this is the perfect book for you. By the way, the answer is no, Lincoln did not own slaves (but the read page 156 to find out the entire story).
  

"See No Evil" is an extremely interesting look into the CIA from 70's through 9/11 from a bottom up view.  The first section is a surprisingly candid look at the nuts of bolts of HUMINT (at least the way it used to be according to the author).  The later sections describe the gradual disintegration of the CIA starting from Reagan and culminating with the complete intelligence failure that led to 9/11.  Although the author finds fault with the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations, he minces no words when describing the utter disdain the Clinton administration had for the CIA.  A novice observer might argue that with the Cold War over, there was/is no need to maintain an expensive overseas intelligence framework.  However, Clinton's policy of appeasement made us blind to terrorists and other threats (like China and Russia).  It also contributed to the faulty intelligence that led to the Iraq War.
Written right after 9/11, this book has some interesting characters that are seen in a much different light 7 years later.  One is Ahmed Chalabi.  Baer writes about Chalabi's efforts to overthrow Saddam Hussein in the mid 90's that Clinton refused to support (for nefarious reasons the author later found out).  Chalabi was then a prime mover in getting Bush to invade Iraq in 2003.  If the CIA has boots on the ground, that whole mess might not have happened.
It will interesting to look back at the Bush administration to see if he allowed the CIA to get back to its roots and foster a new HUMINT network.  One lesson we need to learn is that there are always bad guys and we need to keep an eye on them.

Two more books from the PMBA. Note that the PMBA has an updated list so some of the books I have read are no longer on it.

• Money & Power: The History of Business - ok but very brief.  Pretty much what you would expect from a book about a TV show.


• 12: The Elements of Great Manager - good tips for managing.

I recently finished two books that purport to bust some of the myths that surround various aspects of US military history.
The first is "Dirty Little Secrets of Vietnam War" by James Dunnigan and Albert Nofi. In the '80's I knew Dunnigan from work with wargames (the Avalon Hill paper and cardboard variety, not the "Call of Duty" kind). From the title, you would expect top secret information to be divulged about nefarious operations and political wrangling. But while the book is good, it does not really contain "secrets" per se. It does have tons of stats and facts about the Vietnam war. Some of which dispel certain myths (such as the supposed "defeat" we suffered during the Tet Offensive in 1968) and backs up others (the gradual degradation in the morale and quality of the military during the war). If you are interested in learning the numbers behind some of the generalizations of the Vietnam War, I highly recommend this book. If you are looking for top secret blockbuster information, look somewhere else.
The second book is "Patriot Battles" by Michael Stephenson. This book goes over the armies on both sides of the American Revolution. The first half of the book has details on the men, weapons and equipment of the opposing ground forces. Although the jacket says it will dispel myths about the Continental Army, it really doesn't have any true revelations. Probably the most startling to the casual reader is the ineffectiveness of the American militias. The common view of the militias is that of brave men grabbing their musket from the mantle and heading off to fight the red coats at a minute's notice. In fact, the militia had a terrible record against the British in standard engagements. Only late in the war (such as at Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse) were they used effectively and then only as a screen for the line. The second half of the book has accounts of the major battles. My main gripe about the book is the author's occasional comparison between modern warfare (mainly Iraq) and the Revolutionary War. These comparison have a political tilt to them and come off as clumsy and out of place. The primary reason for the book seems to be to put the American side down. Very rarely does he give credit to the commanders and men in the Continential Army. The Amazon reviews have the same views, but a bit on the harsh side.

Jeff Shaara's Revolutionary War saga, Rise To Rebellion and The Glorious Cause, are my favorite Shaara books. The first volume covers the years leading up the revolution, independence and the war through 1776 (Concord, Bunker's Hill, etc). The second book covers the war from 1777 through the surrender at Yorktown. The books follow the primary military and polical figures of the time: Franklin, Adams (both Sam and John), Washington, Greene, Cornwallis and others. The American figures are suger-coated a bit but the English are given fair treatment. The "first-hand" accounts of the events prior to the war, such as the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party are very well done and have a nice intenseness to them. My only regret (other than having only life to give for my country), is that Shaara did not follow a grunt. I love the low level point of view given in his later books and it would have been great to see Valley Forge from the infantry's perspective.

I recently read "One Minute To Midnight" by Michael Dobbs. It is a new book on the Cuban Missile Crisis and supposedly has new information. The author claims that he accessed sources that were previously not accounted for, Russian soldiers, for example. Some revelations (according to the author) include the fact that the Soviets had nuclear cruise missiles deployed just a few miles from Guantanamo Bay, unbeknownst to US forces. The books also has a complete accounting of the U-2 flight that accidentally strayed over Western Russia during the crisis.
The book is thorough and very interesting to read. The dynamic between the different factions in the Kennedy administration is fascinating to follow.
My only real nitpick is that Dobbs constantly compares every nuclear device to the Hiroshima bomb. The is fine once or twice, but he over does it.
If you are interested at all in Cold War history, I recommend "One Minute To Midnight."

Books I have recently completed:

• A Year in Provence - a clever and witty book about living in Provence. A perfect travel/airplane book. Highly recommended


• The Steel Wave - the second in Jeff Shaara's WWII trilogy covers the Normandy invasion and the subsequent breakout. This one is better than the first.

Just finished "Fork It Over: The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater" by Alan Richman. I loved Richman's articles when I read GQ. This book is a collection of those plus others from "Food & Wine" and other publications. I love Richman's dry, witty style. I just wish he included the article on Djibouti.

I knocked out a few more PMBA books.

• The 4-Hour Workweek - the seminal book for the "New Rich". I bought this one and have been reading and re-reading it. Have even put some of it into action (more on this to come).


• The Bootstrapper's Bible - great tips for startups and you can't beat the price.


• Finance for Non-Financial Managers - pretty much what the title suggests. A litte too basic for me.


• Law 101 - a good intro to the American legal system, warts and tall. I skimmed the sections on tort and Constitutional law and concentrated on contracts and property. This would be a good reference to have on the shelf.


• Getting Started in Consulting - got this for my wife and didn't read it myself.

On my journey to explore new directions with my career, I cam across a cool biz book site, The Personal MBA. The site author has a list of what he considers to be the best business books on various topics. Since none of us have the time to spend reading every book that comes along, this is great service; especially since other services that you find in airline catalogs can cost hundreds of dollars.
My M.O. is to get the book from the library (they carry some, but not all the books in the list) and then buy it if I really like it and will go back to it. I have read several of the books so far:

• 10 Days To Faster Reading - great for increasing your reading speed and comprehension; be sure to do the exercises for each chapter.


• The Effective Executive - good if you are looking to be working for big companies.


• How To Win Friends and Influence People - common sense tips that few seem to follow.


• The Art of the Start - good, but thin.


• Crucial Conversations - ok, didn't get much out of it.

I recently finished three historic novels from Jeff Shaara.
The Rising Tide - The newly released first segment of a World War II trilogy, I think I was the first to grab this from the SD County library. This was my first Shaara book and I really like it. Due to my past interest in WWII I knew all the people and places that were mentioned. This book follows American troops from the invasion of North Africa through the Sicily campaign. Mr. Shaara does a wonderful job of describing the heat of battle but also the tedium of the planning and waiting. I guess that is war is described and periods of shear boredom punctuated by moments of shear terror (or something like that).

To the Last Man - My favorite Shaara book to date. Follows the same tedium/terror pattern of Rising Tide but the battle scenes are much more intense. I think this has to do with the choice of characters. In Tide, Shaara follows a tank driver and a paratrooper; these disciplines, added with the nature of WWII combat lead to a greater separation between participants. But in WWI, there was still a "wait until you see the whites of their eyes" kind of fighting. Highly recommended, especially if you know nothing about The Great War.

Gone For Soldiers - This was Mr. Shaara's first non-Civil War novel, and his weakest that I have read so far. In this book, he follows the "dream team" that made up the American side of the war, including Winfield Scott, Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant and others, in the Veracruz to Mexico City campaign. He does not cover any grunts like he does in his later books and gives the book a bit of a blue-blood tone to it. Not a bad book by any means, especially considering the difficulty of the subject.

Next up is Jeff Shaara's two-part America Revolution series.

Bruce Catton - American Heritage New History of The Civil War
This book is one of the seminal volumes in Civil War history. Not because of its depth or groundbreaking analysis but because of the large number of historians that list it as one of their first exposures to the Civil War. This book provides a great overall history of the war but it is the maps that get all the attention. The maps are drawn 3D maps with tiny soldiers, cannons and cavalry running around, fighting and otherwise depicting the actual troop actions. They give a nice feel for the events over traditional military maps, especially for younger readers.

James McPherson - Battle Cry of Freedom
This book won the Pulizter Prize so it must be good. It is a much more comprehensive
narrative than Catton. Frankly, I skipped most of the first 6 chapters since they covered the political events of the prior decades leading up to the war. I was mainly interested in the military side of things. MacPherson covers everything in just enough detail to get a good feel for the war.

Tom Clancy - Debt of Honor
I hadn't read a Tom Clancy book for ages before picking this one up at the library. I don't think I will be picking up another for a while. This book is predictable and boring. The premise is that the Japanese, after getting in a trade dispute with the US, decide they need to be more "indepenent." So they attack US naval forces and invade Saipan and Guam. The industrialists that are controlling the government also have plans to ally with China and India to grab more land. But there is no suspense, no surprises. Jack Ryan is the hero who can do no wrong (and his wife is even more annoyingly perfect). In the end, the US uses its superior technology to knock out key Japanese capabilities and forces them to retreat. Maybe it is because I read "The Hunt for Red October" and "Red Storm Rising" at the height of the Cold War and they seemed real and plausible and that made those books fun and exciting. But Debt of
Honor just seems silly.

Updated the reading list