(Part 3) Reddit mentions: The best biographies

My experience is that grad school is actually a pretty great time to have kids, if you can keep up with your work. Babies aren't really on a schedule too early, and it's a lot easier to spend 40 hrs/week working on your thesis/obligations at your convenience, rather than working 9-5 and looking after young children at the same time. You have to maintain the motivation to keep up with your work when the (baby/child) is down, but it's certainly not a bad time to be a parent. It is difficult not to just want to sleep when everyone is quiet, but if you have the motivation to do that, if I had the choice to go back and re-visit some of my decisions, I would have no hesitation about doing grad school instead of working when I had infants.

You're going to be exhausted no matter what you do (SAH parents are just as exhausted as working parents), and I would rather do something I love, and get paid for, rather than just a job that I had to do.

I don't think that there's a wrong decision here. I've known a lot of people who became very unhappy when they were living the academic life daily, but it does work well for some people. Most of my 'academic' friends didn't have children until after they were tenured, which meant that there were different pressures. I'm also Canadian, which might make a difference in terms of what to expect as a tenured professor.

My best advice (as someone who is currently a mom) is to do what makes you happy, and while you're doing that, also put the rest of your family's needs as a high priority. I've got a pretty complicated family (triplets, all autistic, one cancer kid, one divorce), but I still kind of wish that I was a history prof :-)

Just be aware of what your choices are, because there will always be positives and negatives no matter which road you choose. It's more than possible to be emotionally and intellectually involved in your career choice, and still be a great parent/partner. It's also possible to be so fixated on your own happiness that you neglect everyone else's.

I still haven't found a point where I say "this is absolutely what I want to do, and everything else needs to revolve around that". I've made choices (in full knowledge of what I was giving up or gaining), but I think that it might be less of a choice to your age group, in that you might not have to make an either/or choice. My kids are now 15, and some of them say "but you don't have a full-time job" and some of them say "you actually thought that history was important", and most of the time, all of us agree that I'm a pretty decent parent who is accomplishing good things in various areas. It still makes me twinge when a child comes across an old research paper and says "wow- you used to know stuff?" I still know 'stuff', but it's different :-)

Do what feels right, and good, for you. My guess is that my children's generation would be a lot happier if they had happier parents, and if my generation of women hadn't been faced with either/or choices. Go for what you are passionate about, treat your family with the respect, decency, attentive time, and love that you'd expect for yourself, and do what feels right. If you love (and by "love" I mean respect your children, do what is right for them to the best of your understanding give them care and comfort, teach them basic skills and the knowledge that people are interesting, make different choices, and and are decent people, and you'll probably be fine.

I don't think that there are easy choices to be made for women, but I think that you can't go wrong by trying to set your priorities (if you have common sense), by showing your family (partner and kids) that you are happy, doing what you want to be doing, and still giving love and affection at the same time that you take love and support from them. From what you've written you don't seem oblivious to your partner's/future children's needs, so you'll probably make the right choice.

I'm not sure that there's a wrong decision. After I gave up my hopes of academic brilliance I worked in a (large) University environment for a long time, and although I miss the research and what I hoped to achieve, I sure don't miss academia. Now, you couldn't pay me enough to go back into an academic environment full-time, but I don't regret the time that I spent just learning knowledge and doing research, and I'll probably be doing that again when my kids leave home.

Do what intrinsically feels good to you, and trust your common sense to make up for the rest. It's possible in any field now to make a splash without being an academic- the latest linguistics book that I read was "Don't Sleep, there are Snakes", but one of my kids' speech therapists did her PhD in linguistics before she decided to go back to speech therapy, and she's been incredible for my kids.

Do what feels right (and as you can tell by my babbling, I'm definitely history/english, and not linguistics!)

You'll work it out.

I'm very happy that I was able to help :)

And yes, a lot of people will blame everything around them for the misery of themselves. This seems to be the easy way out, but you must ask yourself what good it does in the end. There are things which are outside of your control. What people might do to you, say to you, and so on. However no matter what harsh things you go through in life it is ultimately you that decide how to respond to them. You decide what to do with it. It is as Epictetus once said:

> "Man is affected not by events, but by the view he takes of them."

Usually I do not actually like to talk openly about the philosophy I follow, for the simple reason that I just try to live by it. Use actions, not words. Also for many people it might seem that you try to push something on to them. However I felt in this case I was justified to give an explanation of what exactly helped me :-)

Anyways, if you are interested in the principles I explained, then what you seek is reading on Stoicism. The book that has especially helped me is this one:
Stoicism and the art of happiness

It has eye-opening/life-changing wisdoms and perspectives on everything that has to do with you. How to deal with emotions, what they are, and what is essential to life a good life. Another interesting fact is that many of the mental exercises and perspectives the stoics used is now today amongst some of the most scientifically well-documented practices used by cognitive behavioural therapy (also with a quick google search, you will find that even the founder of CBT was inspired by the stoic teachings), which deals with practically all kinds of mental sufferings you can imagine.

It's a practical book on the life philosophy of Stoicism, and it is written by a credible psychotherapist who also takes interest in the study of Stoicism (hence the book!). It's not academic in any way, it's meant to be easily approachable and easy to implement into your life. Here's a quick breakdown of it all:

Stoicism is a life philosophy that was founded by the ancient greeks around 301 BCE. It's not a religion, or any kind of weird cult. It is a collection of principles that is meant to guide you towards happiness (in greek context meaning something more along the lines of inner well-being and tranquility).

I would suggest you read the book :-) Maybe you will come to pick up on everything stoicism has to offer, maybe you will only pick up whatever principles and wisdoms that you think are right, or maybe you won't find much agreement with it at all, all which is fine. However I think you will find some wisdoms you will definitely find to your liking, as you sound intrigued by the principles. The important thing is that no matter what, it will most certainly set you out on your way to think more about yourself and how to control your life and achieve your own understanding of well-being.

If Stoicism comes to your liking (start with the above book first, though), I could recommend books by some of the most famous ancient Stoics through time. I will leave some here for future reference for you:

Meditations - Marcus Aurelius - This is one of the most famous stoic texts.

Enchiridion - Epictetus

Dialogues and Essays - Seneca

These books read as manuals, not to be read in one sitting. They are huge collections of letters, essays and short passages from these excellent people about everything that has to do with achieving inner well-being, and how to view the world around you. They are remarkable ancient works, and it is truly inspiring and motivating to open them and just read a few of the lines from time to time.

As with anything, it's a learning process to change mindset. But it slowly comes when you study it. You learn the wisdoms and principles they had, you think about them and if they make sense, you apply them and live them, revisit them and so on, until they really become a part of you. It is truly worth the time though, and I think you see that too from what I could understand in your reply.

Best of luck to you! If you have any questions feel free to PM me as well, I'd be happy to help.

There are far too many to describe one as "the best", but here are some of my favourites.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes is a well deserved winner of the Pulitzer Prize. A combination of history, science and biography and so very well written.

A few of my favourite biographies include the magisterial, and also Pulitzer Prize winning, Peter the Great by Robert Massie. He also wrote the wonderful Dreadnaught on the naval arms race between Britain and Germany just prior to WWI (a lot more interesting than it sounds!). Christopher Hibbert was one of the UK's much loved historians and biographers and amongst his many works his biography Queen Victoria - A Personal History is one of his best. Finally, perhaps my favourite biography of all is Everitt's Cicero - The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician. This man was at the centre of the Fall of the Roman Republic; and indeed fell along with it.

Speaking of which, Rubicon - The Last Years of the Roman Republic is a recent and deserved best-seller on this fascinating period. Holland writes well and gives a great overview of the events, men (and women!) and unavoidable wars that accompanied the fall of the Republic, or the rise of the Empire (depending upon your perspective). :) Holland's Persian Fire on the Greco-Persian Wars (think Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes! Think of the Movie 300, if you must) is equally gripping.

Perhaps my favourite history book, or series, of all is Shelby Foote's magisterial trilogy on the American Civil War The Civil War - A Narrative. Quite simply one of the best books I've ever read.

If, like me, you're interested in teh history of Africa, start at the very beginning with The Wisdom of the Bones by Alan Walker and Pat Shipman (both famous paleoanthropologists). Whilst not the very latest in recent studies (nothing on Homo floresiensis for example), it is still perhaps the best introduction to human evolution available. Certainly the best I've come across. Then check out Africa - Biography of a Continent. Finish with the two masterpieces The Scramble for Africa on how European colonialism planted the seeds of the "dark continents" woes ever since, and The Washing of the Spears, a gripping history of the Anglo-Zulu wars of the 1870's. If you ever saw the movie Rorke's Drift or Zulu!, you will love this book.

Hopkirk's The Great Game - The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia teaches us that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I should imagine that's enough to keep you going for the moment. I have plenty more suggestions if you want. :)

Because he was the perfect blend of the idealist and the realist. He never compromised when he knew he was right, but he always acted in a way that would actually have a positive end effect. He had a way of understanding the whole of the situation, and doing what was best in the moment to achieve his goals. He was a great leader and one of the most underrated writers of all time. He treated everyone with an incredible amount of respect and patience.

When one of his generals decided to turn back after winning a massive battle, (a massive mistake considering had they kept attacking the confederates while they were retreating the Union could have conceivably ended the war years earlier than it eventually did end,) he wrote that general an incredibly vicious letter. He tore into him. After contemplating the letter for a while, he decided not to send it. It would only shatter moral.

He was a great speaker, he had a talent for explaining complex issues in incredibly clear and even funny ways. When asked why he didn't immediately fire the aforementioned general he responded "It is not best to swap horses while crossing the river." That's a small example, but Lincoln was full of chestnuts like that. I aspire to be as clear, direct and interesting of a communicator as he was.

The Gettysburgh address is his most famous speech, and rightfully so, but I've always found his conclusion to his first inaugural address to be his most satisfying piece of writing.

> I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

To summarize:
1.) Had moral and stuck to them
2.) Acted in ways that would realistically accomplish his goals. A political genius.
3.) An everflowing fountain of respect and human decency.
4.) A masterful writer and a severely underrated communicator and comedian.

>Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.

Team of Rivals is a wonderful book about the man, and I highly recommend that everyone and their dog should read it.

Oh, and by the way, he was an INTP.

> Is it also not possible that the guy that has lived relatively frugally

It is possible, but he has objectively not done this, unless you're talking relative to other billionaires, even then there are far more frugal billionaires with 1/100th the public image he sells to
try to distance himself & his fund from the typical fund image (John Cauldwell, Azim Premji, a lot of the european dynastic old money as a few examples. For first generation, look at almost any of the Danish/Skandi billionaires)

If you have multiple private jets for the exclusive use of you & your family and own multiple properties, each worth millions of dollars - you're not frugal.

> is donating 99.9% of his fortune to charity when he dies

Is donating the massively tax deferred portion of his net worth to a privately run organisation that his family will be involved in running for decades to come, after already having set up all of his direct descendants as billionaires.

> calls out tax laws that are b.s. but personally benefit him is just that simple guy?

"don't hate the player, hate the game" with regard to tax law when you're the 3rd richest person on the planet, best mates with the 2nd richest person on the planet & literally have the money & power to CHANGE the game is not a valid argument. He talks a big game about tax reform, but does not work to actually do anything about it. Hell, his donations swing heavily toward republicans who are AGAINST tax reform. He's done very well thanks to them too:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/24/17048378/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-tax-cuts


A big chunk of Berkshire Hathaway's success is built on not paying tax, they've got $86,000,000,000+ in deferred taxes thanks to exploiting a loop hole where they don't have to pay tax while working on acquiring a company... So they just make sure they are always acquiring.

Imagine if you could defer paying tax forever with the argument that you're still busy buying shares or ETFs.. Given what subreddit we're on, it would be pretty appealing.

Then as previously mentioned in that linked article, the party you donate to comes along & cuts the tax rate, so now you owe billions less than you previously did - woohoo!

> His image may marginally help him

Buffett is selling what is essentially the antithesis of this subreddit. High fee managed funds that exploit tax rules for massive profitability to become personally one of the richest people on the planet. He's the anti-Bogle, yet this subreddit & a lot of FI/RE types love him, because of that image & brand.

Buffett is Berkshire, the reason why so many people & institutional funds are happy to pour money into Berkshire stock is because of the image. It hasn't helped him a little bit, it's helped him immensely.

> To me he seems to genuinely want what's best for the country/world.

To me he seems like another John D. Rockerfeller. A titan of industry who wants to be the richest so he can control where the money ends up. Win the game, then give most of it away. If you haven't read it yet, grab yourself a copy of https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303

The similarities are incredible.

You're almost correct on that statement but because I'm actually focusing on the rich, it doesn't exactly work.

The SJW term is a pejorative used by the Right, but I embrace it as Social Justice Worker. Since the very wealthy 1% tend to work against any social safety nets (the social part), if we all worked to even the scales more (that's the justice part) so the average joe on the poor end of the scale had a better shot at achieving the American Dream (instead of being nickeled and dimed to death), then we'd have a strong middle class and a much more robust economy.

But you're right about the fact that we're always pitted against each other. The difference is where you have your sights set.

If you have your sights set on crushing your Left or Right brother in the street, the the rich have won. If you have your sights set on the rich then that's what they don't want and you'll find yourself beset on all sides by the conservative poor that have been endlessly brainwashed by AM radio hate jockeys, right-wing bloggers and media pundits on Fox to hate Progressives, Democrats, Demonrats, The Left, Commie Pinko Socialists, SJWs, Obummers, feminazis, Ivory Tower/Limousine Liberals, etc, etc.

Easy, bumper sticker labels are essential propaganda tools to keep the masses fighting. The question that you alluded to is best put this way: How do 30 guards control 3,000 prisoners?

The answer: Race baiting and increased rations for the winners giving them a false sense of power. You can keep this up indefinitely by rigging the game to switch "power" between the two factions every few intervals.

I understand the game that's being played and I'm trying to explain it to you. It serves no purpose if some rich prick like Trump or Hillary gets in office and we scream "we won" to people in coffee shops. That's a false sense of power and about as useful as feeling elation because the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Superbowl. Does it help you? No.

Does the average conservative working joe "win" anything if a gay couple in another state is refused the right to marry? Nope.

Why would he then cheer when this happens? Is it some kind of moral victory even when he loses so much personally?

The more we can all agree what's worth fighting for, then we can all unite and demand our taxes and our efforts be put toward things that help all the working joes, right and left. First though, we have to get our brothers to see how they've been duped and direct their energies to making real progress.

I'll admit it easily. You are right that the Whigs are the best phrases precursors to modern Republicans. But the name and its use in American politics does trace its origin back to Jeffersons party, quick Five second book cite. My point was on the origin of "right" and "left" attribution in American politics, which almost assuredly began with the hamiltonian/Jeffersonian split, largely because the occurrence that happened to produce those terms, the French revolution, happened at the time of their feud. Jefferson, a profound supporter of anti monarchist tendencies in France most assuredly painted Hamilton as a monarchist (which the right in France supported) despite him not being one. I don't have searchable access to the articles written by Jeffersons friends at his urging, but its almost guaranteed Jefferson would have known of the terms, him being secretary of state at the time and having a predilection for France, and would most assuredly have urged the use of its intent if not the actual word in calling Hamilton out, he definitely called him a monarchist frequently. again your point is fair that the assignment is misapplied, largely due to the fact that in reality the founding fathers didn't have much approximating true right wing politics outside of the Tories who were reviled as traitors to the founding country.

To your point about Jefferson being right wing, I can only think of his advocation of gun rights as proof. He wasn't profoundly institutionally religious (big supporter of Jesus' liberal views though with multiple quotes to back that up), he didn't support anti Islam rhetoric, he wrote for social progressivism like in the freeing of slaves (despite having a pretty spotty personal handling of the issue) and, most importantly, he was personally involved in creating the two party system in America for the explicit purpose of fighting off an adversary he saw as too right wing, or too supporting of the monarchy.

He's a complex guy sure, and he is anything if not consistent in places, but attributing right wing tendencies to him is a shade too far. Even calling him a libertarian, which is I think what you mean by"classic liberal", is a little off the mark. There's a lot of him in that term, its true, quite a bit. But I suspect the outcomes of some libertarian policies, notably the laissez faire attitude towards the less fortunate, would rub him the wrong way. There are a lot of quotes by him advocating doing what's right to those less fortunate over doing what is politically consistent or economically sensible (see the argument that caused the rift to begin with). Its also slightly deceptive to use the term classically liberal to hide behind people not inclined to look up what the term refers to and instead attribute it to modern day liberalism. I suspect you're doing that because libertarian has some connotations associated with readers here. Regardless i think its fair to say that in some issues, particularly with his fight over banking with Hamilton, he edges closer to libertarian that right wing anyway.

In any case though, I'm glad for our conversation, it made me look up stuff, it maybe made people reading this look stuff up... And at the end of the day that's what matters. You can hold to being right, its the internet, that doesn't matter, what matters is that people, myself included, looked into some primary and secondary sources to fund their arguments and learned some stuff. That's always a win.

As an aside, I recommend if you're looking for non wiki sources, which I only used for their ease in quick reading, This book that I'm reading now. I especially recommend the audio book format. The reader is pretty good to listen to in the car.

Also, you said you want to be an ecologist?

I highly, highly, highly recommend you look at Mark Lewis' site at the University of Alberta. All of his research is in math biology, but he does research areas like invasive species modeling, animal movement modeling, bio-invasion and and ecosystem modeling (e.g rivers, mountains).

He publishes in journals like Theoretical Ecology, Journal of Experimental Biology and American Naturalist. All the links are to papers he's published in those journals.

A word of warning though: just because you have a passion for physics does not necessarily mean you have what it takes to be a researcher in a physics/math related field. You have to love the area you are researching (e.g ecology), but more importantly, you have to love the research PROCESS. As you may have seen from the .pdf links, the papers rely heavily on mathematics. In order to succeed in this area, you have to love solving math problems, writing code, reading journal papers, and solving math problems (yes, I mentioned it twice). If you don't have a passion to do these things, then it will be really hard to succeed.

If I were you, and are really passionate about learning physics, I would find an online resource or textbook that is just above the knowledge you have now, and start studying. I can recommend some resources if you like. If you are truly passionate about physics, start doing problems. Within a year, you will be doing the kind of crazy math you want to do (and be able to apply it to physics problems in no time). If you don't want to work on math problems, then maybe you aren't as passionate as you thought.

Perhaps you can satisfy your desire for physics by reading popular science books (e.g Brian Greene, Stephen Hawking), or becoming a high school science teacher. I can tell you though that what you read in these books, and the actual process of doing science research could not be any more different.

You talk about devotion in an earlier comment. Here's an anecdote about Freeman Dyson from the book Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

>"He read popular science books about Einstein and relativity and, realizing that he needed to learn a more advanced mathematics than his school taught, sent away to scientific publishers for their catalogs. His mother finally felt that his interest in mathematics was turning into an obsession. He was fifteen and had just spent a Christmas vacation working methodically, from six each morning until ten each evening, through the seven hundred problems of H. T. H. Piaggio's Differential Equations."

Now Dyson was a child prodigy who came from a privileged family, but that's an example of the type of people who "do" math and physics. It makes me wish I hadn't played video games from six each morning until ten each evening playing video games :(

You remind me a bit of myself back when I was trying to figure out what I want to do. Hell, I STILL don't know what I want to do, but I have a bit more experience then I did then when I was an undergrad (all of 2 years ago). So this is like a warning letter to my past self.

Sincerely,

A former mathematical biologist/physicist who discovered is passion for science from reading popular science books, but realized he didn't have what it takes to do research.

I'm copying these ideas from another post I made on the thread for a Secret Santa but I think they still apply

• (Lush)[http://www.lushusa.com/Gifts/gifts,en_US,sc.html] has these really cute sets that they are offering for Christmas
  
• You could make like a spa kit? Include some lotions, nail polish, and some slippers.
  
• There are lots of books out now, you could get a fun memoir that almost everyone will like. A couple of good ones are (Mindy Kaling's)[http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Hanging-Without-Other-Concerns/dp/0307886271], (Tina Fey's)[http://www.amazon.com/Bossypants-Tina-Fey/dp/0316056898/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DKE9VHSE47JT5861QM7], and (Amy Poehler's)[http://www.amazon.com/Yes-Please-Amy-Poehler/dp/0062268341/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=14XX5H3BTB60TZ13GJST]
  
• Another really fun book is Humans of New York which is on sale right now.
  
• Otherwise people always enjoy going to the movies - you could get them a gift card or make a little gift basket; include your favorite movie or one you think they would enjoy and then some popcorn and various candy [http://www.grannastreasures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/movie-night-gift-basket.jpg]
  
• Pinch Provisions offers some really cute emergency kits [http://www.pinchprovisions.com/]
  
• a perfume set?
  
• a cute mug with a starbucks gift card or some tea Hope this helps!

Lots of great recommendations in this thread; I've added a few to my reading list. Here are my suggestions (copied from a previous thread):

• How to Win Friends and Influence People - Everyone with a mother should practice this.
  
• Tao Te Ching (S. Mitchell translation)
  
• Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy - I never cared about economics until after I was done with school, and didn't remember anything from university class. This helped explain a lot of common fallacies many people make.
  
• Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets - As Taleb says in the beginning of the book, anyone from any profession could have written this book, but a financial background makes this much more interesting. Anyone interested in science and what we can learn from the world of past experience should read this. This led to the next book:
  
• How to Live: A Life of Montaigne - A biography of Montaigne, a great skeptic, always curious, interested in what it means to be human. I found I could relate a great deal with the man, as many others have in different ways. The dust-jacket description made it sound like a boring historical overview, but I think the book flowed pretty well and was always interesting.
  
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information - Anyone that ever creates a slideshow, or attempts to represent data visually should read this book. More than once. I'd say it changed my life.
  
  And, the following two are a look into the lives of two great men that lived in the 20th century; both offer many points worth emulating.
  
  
• Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
  
• The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer (once available in full on PBS website, seems not to be the case now ...)

Random selection of some of my favorites to help you expand your horizons:

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is a great introduction to scientific skepticism.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris is a succinct refutation of Christianity as it's generally practiced in the US employing crystal-clear logic.

Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor by Anthony Everitt is the best biography of one of the most interesting men in history, in my personal opinion.

Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski is a jaw-dropping book on history, journalism, travel, contemporary events, philosophy.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a great tome about... everything. Physics, history, biology, art... Plus he's funny as hell. (Check out his In a Sunburned Country for a side-splitting account of his trip to Australia).

The Annotated Mona Lisa by Carol Strickland is a thorough primer on art history. Get it before going to any major museum (Met, Louvre, Tate Modern, Prado, etc).

Not the Impossible Faith by Richard Carrier is a detailed refutation of the whole 'Christianity could not have survived the early years if it weren't for god's providence' argument.

Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman are six of the easier chapters from his '63 Lectures on Physics delivered at CalTech. If you like it and really want to be mind-fucked with science, his QED is a great book on quantum electrodynamics direct from the master.

Lucy's Legacy by Donald Johanson will give you a really great understanding of our family history (homo, australopithecus, ardipithecus, etc). Equally good are Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade and Mapping Human History by Steve Olson, though I personally enjoyed Before the Dawn slightly more.

Memory and the Mediterranean by Fernand Braudel gives you context for all the Bible stories by detailing contemporaneous events from the Levant, Italy, Greece, Egypt, etc.

After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton is an awesome read if you don't know much about Islam and its early history.

Happy reading!

edit: Also, check out the Reasonable Doubts podcast.

Where this discussion generally breaks down is in the definition of 'Christian Nation.' Generally those who oppose the term will state that America is not officially Christian, and will point to the Treaty of Tripoli or to the Establishment Clause, to which opponents will retort that America was founded on so-called 'Christian Values,' and that makes it a Christian nation. This much at least is hard to deny, many of the earliest settlers were very devout Christians (the puritans especially) and at least some of their beliefs are still important today (the so-called 'Protestant Work Ethic' being the most famous). Additionally, every US President has been (at least nominally) Christian, along with the vast majority of legislators in Congress, going all the way back to 1789. This is generally reflective of population, as a significant majority of Americans have identified as Christian for the entire life of the Republic.

Overall, its hard to deny the influence of Christianity and Christian thought over colonial and revolutionary America, but its also important to point out that the founders took steps to demonstrate that Christianity was not the only faith that could be practiced in the new country.

• The Constitution states clearly that the authority of the government rests with the people, rather than an appeal to any higher power. While it is often claimed that the Constitution claims no reference to God, this is not entirely accurate, the date in article 7 is referred to this way:
  
  > done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven
  
  However, this is not any more of an endorsement than using A.D. would be today.
  
  
  
• Natural Rights: At the debate over the Bill of Rights, Theodore Sedgwick sarcastically wondered why not include 'a man should have a right to wear his hat if he pleased; that he might get up when he pleased, and go to bed when he thought proper?' While he was being facetious, his observation gets at an underlying principal of the Bill of Rights, that it is not supposed to grant rights, merely reflect a few of the rights that every free person should possess automatically. This is made clear by the 9th Amendment which stipulates 'The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.' i.e. just because we didn't write it down, doesn't mean that you don't have it as a right. Going by this logical framework, the First Amendment is not establishing merely that Congress isn't allowed to limit free expression of religion, but that 'free exercise' of Religion is a basic and fundamental natural right of all free peoples.
  
  Sources:
  
  
• Federalist 84 Hamilton argues against those claiming that the Bill of Rights is not necessary. Although he does note that the rights have their basis in English Common Law.
  
  
• Letter from Jefferson to Madison 1789 Jefferson expresses his view of why abill of rights is important, though stating that it would be 'A positive declaration of some essential rights.' Rather than the source of said rights.
  
  
• Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes - Influential on the Founders, makes the distinction between Civil and Natural laws. Civil laws being those created by organizations, while Natural Laws are general rules discovered by reason.
  
  
• Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  
  
• Madison, a life Reconsidered by Lynn Cheney
  
  
• Ben Franklin, an American Life Not the most relevant, but Franklin was an advocate for Natural Rights and Natural Law.

A few graphic novels:

1. From Hell - Cerebral, philosophical, and fastidiously researched, this is the story of the most notorious of them all, Jack the Ripper. Masterful, somber drawings and brilliant writing, if a little too high brow for my taste.
   
2. My Friend Dahmer - You won't find gore here, nor a particularly engaging plot. What you will find is authentic autobiographical vignettes written by an actual school mate of Jeffry Dahmer's that try to shed some light on the early years of this nefarious, but fascinating serial killer, but mostly seem to be an outlet for the author to process his own emotions with regards to having known and been friends with such a monster. It's not a very compelling read, i'm afraid, but on the bright side, it's quite short and the artwork is cool.
   
3. The Green River Killer - An account of the investigation of the Green River murders, focusing on one of the lead detectives, who happens to be the author's father. Nice artwork, so-so plot.
   
4. Miss Don't Touch Me - An absolutely delightful fictional novel that takes place in early 20th century Paris. It is fast-moving, suspenseful, sexy and hugely entertaining. Great artwork and a fun story. Highly recommended!
   
   A couple more books that are on my wish list, though i haven't read them yet, are:
   
   

• Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us, written by Prof. Robert Hare, the psychologist who invented the standard test for diagnosing psychopaths.
  
  
• The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry - written by the always interesting and entertaining Ron Jonson
  
  
• Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me - A classic true crime novel about Ted Bundy written by a woman who worked beside him and knew him personally. She went on to become a prolific true crime novelist.

I really like history books that don't at first seem to be history books, but are explorations of societies sometimes seen through the lens of a single important concept or product. For instance, Mark Kurlansky has several books such as Salt; A World History, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, The Basque History of the World, Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea that teach more history, and more important history than is usually taught in US public schools.

History need not be rote memorization of dates and figures. It can, and should be a fun exploration of ideas and how those ideas shaped civilizations. It can also be an exploration of what did not make it into the history books as Bart Ehrman's Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament or his Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why and Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels attest.

I don't wish to come across as too glib about this, but I feel like the average person might well retain more useful knowledge reading a book like A History of the World in 6 Glasses than if they sat through a semester of freshman history as taught by most boring, lame generic high schools. I feel like often the best way to understand history is to come at it tangentially. Want to understand the US Constitution? Study the Iroquois confederacy. Want to understand the French? Study cuisine and wine. Want to understand China? Study international trade. And so it goes. Sometimes the best history lessons come about from just following another interest such as astronomy or math or cooking. Follow the path until curiosity is sated. Knowledge will accumulate that way. ;-)

Good find! I could watch this for hours.

I wish all anthropology and linguistics departments did this demonstration once a semester/quarter, not just for students, but for the public. It's fun to see structure and rules emerge in only a few minutes of interaction. It's difficult to think about linguistics or cultural anthropology and not start recognizing the arbitrariness of our own ways of thinking and communicating. That kind of confrontation/awareness/seeing is really invaluable; it's good for everyone.

Everett's book "Don't Sleep There Are Snakes" is a really fun field memoir of his time with the Piraha. One need not be a linguist to understand and enjoy it. It's not heavy on the academic linguistic stuff. It's sort of light linguistic and light ethnography. So if anyone finds something in this lecture intriguing, I'd recommend checking it out. Piraha is one of the most interesting languages I've come across. https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Sleep-There-Are-Snakes/dp/0307386120/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498712271&sr=8-1&keywords=daniel+everett

He also spoke at The Long Now Foundation about the Piraha, and about saving disappearing/endangered languages. https://soundcloud.com/longnow/endangered-languages-lost-knowledge-and-future

If anyone watched "Arrival" and thought "hey that looks interesting", guess what! You can do that! Even without aliens. It's almost just as hard, and definitely a lot of fun.

Actually, if you saw "Arrival" and thought "hey that seems neat" or "ugh this is NOT how linguistics and aliens would work" or whatever, then you might be interested in a collection of articles put together by NASA into one document called "Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication" which goes a bit more into the history of concepts around alien contact scenarios. https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/archaeology_anthropology_and_interstellar_communication.html

/u/tuckermalc and /u/pizzzahero both have great comments. I'll add a bit. Go to /r/stoicism, read [William Irvine's book] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195374614?keywords=william%20irvine&qid=1456992251&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1), then read [Epictetus's Enchiridion] (http://www.amazon.com/Enchiridion-Dover-Thrift-Editions-Epictetus/dp/0486433595/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456992275&sr=8-1&keywords=enchiridion). follow their guidelines. Also check out /r/theXeffect. The most important thing is controlling your habits. If you're in the habit of eating healthy, getting enough sleep, going to the gym, etc. then you're set.

Now for stuff that's harder to do. Go see a therapist. Or a psychiatrist. Try to find a [therapist who can do EMDR] (http://www.emdr.com/find-a-clinician/) with you, it's a very effective technique (I saw a clinician who uses EMDR for two years, and it changed my life-- and, importantly, it's supported by strong scientific evidence, it's not quackery stuff like homeopathy or acupuncture). If you decide to go to a psychiatrist, tell them you don't want SSRIs. Look at other drugs: Wellbutrin, tricyclics, SNRIs, etc (check out selegiline in patch form, called EMSAM, as well). Seriously, go see a professional and talk to them. I have no doubt that you're wrestling with mental illness. I have been there. For me, it just felt normal. I didn't understand that other people didn't feel like I did...so it took me a long time to go get help. But it's so important to just start working through these things and getting support. That's really the most important thing you can do. It will make your life so much better. If you aren't able to get to a therapist, do Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on yourself! [This is a brilliant program] (https://moodgym.anu.edu.au) that's widely respected. Do it over and over. Also read [Feeling Good by David Burns] (http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/0380810336/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456992639&sr=8-1&keywords=feeling+good+david+burns). It's a book on CBT, and can help you get started. There are lots of other resources out there, but you have to begin by realizing that something is wrong.

Finally, I'll talk about college. Don't try to go to fricking Harvard or MIT. You won't get in, and those aren't even the right schools for you. There are many excellent schools out there that aren't the super super famous Ivies. Look at reputable state schools, like UMich, UMinnesota, the UC system, etc. get ["Colleges that Change Lives"] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143122304?keywords=colleges%20that%20change%20lives&qid=1456992746&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1), the [Fiske Guide to Colleges] (http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2016-Edward/dp/1402260660/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456992768&sr=8-1&keywords=fiske+guide), and [Debt-Free U] (http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/1591842980/ref=pd_sim_14_15?ie=UTF8&dpID=515MwKBIpzL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=1VC3C23RJP6ZMXGG5QBA). One thing I realized after college was that I would've been happy at any of the school I looked at. People are fed such a line of BS about school, like you have to go to the top Ivies or something. No way. Find a good place at which you can function, learn as much as possible, and have a good social life. Like another person said, also look at going to a community college for a year and then transferring-- my relative did this and ended up at Harvard for grad school in the end.

I would read some more "casual" or pop linguistics books to really cement your interest in linguistics before any of the more heady pieces of literature scare you off. As a side note, I'd learn the English IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) chart before you pursue further literature. Not knowing would be like performing math calculations without knowing what any of the operator signs were. As a high schooler, this is your time to read. God knows you won't have as much time to do it in college. Only after you get a general feel for what linguists actually do and study, would I recommend making a choice, it's certainly not for everyone :)

Great story demonstrating just how different certain languages can be.
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Sleep-There-Are-Snakes/dp/0307386120/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335511683&sr=8-1

If you want a great pop introduction that'll really help you tap your toe on the vast ocean surface known as linguistics, I'd give this a try too http://www.amazon.com/The-Stuff-Thought-Language-Window/dp/0143114247/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335511905&sr=1-2

If you like what you read, and think it would be admirable to contribute to the swiftly growing pool of knowledge we currently have in this wonderful field, then pursue more academically oriented sources, and as others said, maybe narrow your interests further by contacting a certain professor or researcher. Hope this helped :)

What a wonderful contest! it's hard to pick my favorite book. I'd say it's a tie between Into the Wild and Unbroken. They're both non-fiction (which isn't generally what I prefer, strangely enough).

Into the Wild is a story about a young man who abandons everything material in his life and goes to live in the Alaskan wild. It's wonderfully captivating. I highly recommend it. There was a movie based off of the book, as well.

Unbroken is a story about a WWII POW (who is still alive!) and his experiences. It reads like a fiction book, which makes it even more amazing that it's all true.

Good luck finding a new book, and thanks for the contest! And if reddit raffle sees me fit, my WL is at your disposal :)

For intro sociology, I'd recommend some preachy nonfiction. They are written for laymen but introduce the sociological style of approach. Something like Fat Land or Uninsured in America.

Freakanomics is not exactly sociology, but could be an interesting read for someone interested in social economics / group behavior. Jonathan Kozol is a reporter, not a sociologist, but his stories mix investigative reporting with a human element to focus on topics of interest to the field of sociology. I remember Nickel and Dimed also being a good read.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is not a book about sociology, but rather a specific example of culture clash within the context of medical care. That being said, it is a big reason why I decided to become a social worker (which is a profession in line with the two fields mentioned in your post).

A Place at the Table is a movie that might fit the bill.

Note: I'm American. I imagine other places would have different topics of interest.

Edited: add movie and fix format

When I was at ASU, my boss told me how he was a super cocky guy, but then again most ASU jocks were. I also went to school with James Harden. That guy could ball! I just wish he hadn't left after sophomore year to OKC.

Check out Where Men Win Glory. It's a good book Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman https://www.amazon.com/dp/030738604X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_uPC3AbBCFP55Z

Think of a baby and how they have object permanency. When you walk out of the room you are no longer in the baby's frame of existence. Well you as a human being never really lose this frame phenomenon psychologically. As you grow older it just grows larger. Every piece of knowledge, every place you've traveled, very technique, person, thing, entity you've ever meet or learn expands your frame of existence.

However your frame of existence is totally dynamic every second. Like right now you're reading TRP, your frame is concentrated to the screen. You're not thinking about that fly sitting on your wall, or what color is the shoes you are or what your dad is doing right now. But the mere fact that I said these things means they are now inside your frame because you're thinking about them. Your frame is dynamically changing every second and it has since the day you were born. Random thoughts are coming in and out of your head, events are happening all around you, in your house, on your street, in your city, your state government, people are moving and things are happen every second but somehow your mind knows what to focus on at any given moment, totally autonomously.

As far as artificial intelligence goes, computers always try to calculate every possible parameter they are giving to solve a problem. The classic example of Frame Problem is place a sentient AI bomb defusing robot in a room and tell it to defuse the bomb before it goes off. Well, that robot will sit there till infinite trying to calculate every possible outcome and it's probability of happening. It will figure the likelihood of touching it one way, will it explode? What if the walls change colors, probability of explosion? What's the probability of the wall changing color? What if it backs up an inch, what's the probability? It will try to calculate everything it can unless programmed otherwise.

From the moment a human is born it can dynamically adjust their frame and egocentricity. This is one of the reasons we have consciousness and we do it totally subconsciously. There are deeply rooted networks in the brain that tell you what you need to be focusing on at any given moment. Cortisol levels connect to fear and danger. Oxytocin will make you focus on those you care about. Dopamine will make you more or less erratic(ADD). And there a million other things that all control and change your frame at any given moment. And that's not even getting into were thoughts generate in the mind or how memory recall and memory reassociation works. Have you ever thought about were your thoughts come from? Go through the day and start paying attention to why the hell you just though what you did? Do your thoughts just come out of thin air or was their a trigger or cascade effect to bring you to where you are right now?

This is a... confusing and hard problem to recreate with AI. The Frame problem was discovered in 1969 and it still hasn't been solved.

If you're interested in this stuff I highly recommend watching Jordan B Peterson in the link above. He's a Pychologist who has pretty much spend his entire life trying to figure this out. He ever wrote a very extensive book on it called "Maps of Meaning: The Architeture of Belief". That book he also teaches as a class in the university of Toronto and you can access all his lectures on youtube. He posts every one of them for the semester. I even believe you can get the syllabus and worksheet stuff on his website.

What's interesting is you'll start to see The Frame Problem explained in many different ways, by different people and at different time periods. I'm a big fan of studying every genius that's ever lived. Inventors, physicists, chemists, etc. Einstein, Van braun, Richard Feynman, Tyson, Hawkings, etc. and pretty much every hyper intelligent individual will tell you that you are and always will be an idiot. What they are referring to is you can never know everything. No matter how large of a frame you grow, no matter how much information, experiences or things you can possibly attain physically or mentally, there will always be more you don't know or haven't experienced. This is an extremely useful thing to realize, one it humbles you and people like humility and two, your options are now limitless. If you become curious about something, you can imagine how deep that rabbit hole could possibly go, but you won't truly know till you start exploring.

Another example in history and probably one of the first times the frame idea was written down was Epictetus and Stoicism. The first line of Enchiridion which is the stoic handbook and condensed version of Epictetus: Discourses writings, says,
>
> "There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs."

Epictetus was a student of Crate and Crate was a Student of Socrates. This was probably the first time the Frame Problem was idealized in writing. Or at least the first one to be preserved till today. In fact stoicism pretty much entirely revolves around learning your frame and controlling what you can. Any time you spend on things outside your control is considered time wasted, which you can never get back. So it's half learning frame and half improving time efficiency.

Self improvement is in a way is an active expansion of your frame, even if the subconscious mechanisms that drive it you didn't think about till I just explained it to you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_burial_mounds_in_the_United_States

The Mississippian culture built cities, only a few of which survived. These kingdoms covered the area of the midwest and most of the American Southeast. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippian_culture) By the time Europeans came, they were already practically gone, but smallpox did the rest of the job for them.

--

One of the problems with discussing pre-Columbian North America is that with South America and Central America, European explorers were largely just hitting the cultures as European diseases were. The explorations into the heart of North America happened after those diseases had already ravaged the area.

The people of the Iroquois confederacy farmed with stone and wood tools (mixing crops to keep the soil from going bad) had a participatory democracy and ideas of freedom that must have been very alien to both Europeans and their southern neighbors.

People like the Comanche don't even show up until the horse is introduced and their quick adoption of it allows them a huge advantage over their neighbors (see Empire of the Summer Moon as a better history, but be prepared - the Wild West was far more brutal than Hollywood has even remotely shown)

Early European accounts are heavily biased and for ages it was assumed as fact. Today historians have to shoulder their way through biased narratives and counter-narratives to try to figure out the truth. As an amateur history buff, I wish them the best of luck.

Unfortunately, I don't have, Not sure if on Archive there's something.
Will Edit this once I can find a way of seeing removed texted.

Edit: FOUND IT

Here's the Text:

"Hi r/sysadmin

Each week I thought I'd post these SysAdmin tools, tips, tutorials etc with just one link to get it in your inbox each week. Let me know any ideas for future versions in the comments.

Here are the most interesting items that have come across our desks, laptops, phones this week. As always, I have no affiliation with any of these unless I explicitly state otherwise

​

A Free Tool

LetsMonitor.org(https://letsmonitor.org/) is a free service that alerts you when your site certificates are misconfigured or nearing expiration. Notifications can be sent to multiple contacts.

A SysAdmin Site

Wahl Network (http://wahlnetwork.com/) is a weekly technical blog with a focus on data-center technologies, business challenges, and new products and solutions. The site was founded by Chris Wahl in 2010, with a goal of providing technical solutions for SysAdmins.

Another Free Tool

Switch Miner (http://switchminer.sourceforge.net/). Ever have trouble figuring out what's connected where? Switch Miner is a port-discovery tool that can help locate all the devices connected to any switch. This handy utility can also discover and scan neighbouring switches via CDP. And best of all, it's free!

A Hacking Story

Ghost in the Wires (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316037729). This is the intriguing true story of Kevin Mitnick, who was the most-elusive computer hacker in history. He broke into networks at the world's biggest companies, all the while being pursued by the Feds. The complex cat-and-mouse game that ensued ultimately inspired permanent changes in the way companies protect their sensitive data.

A Server Room Tip

Here's a simple trick for physically tracing unlabelled server-room cables: Slide a velcro loop or binder clip along the cable until you reach the other end.
​

Have a fantastic week!!

u/crispyducks (-REMOVED 2 NOT VIOLATE SUB REDDIT RULES-)

​

Why am I doing this each week? (Updated)

I want to be mindful of the rules of the subreddit, so if you’d like to know more about my reasons for doing this, please visit the the sister post on /r/SysAdminBlogs here."

First is Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. It's a big book, but the way he frames the historical setting and the motives and characterization of Hamilton and those around him make the book hard to put down. He shows Hamilton to be both brilliant and overly passionate, capable of love of country and family political ruthless and egoist that led to his downfall. Though I had a leaning before towards Hamilton from his position as the US' first Sect. of the Treasury, Chernow's book solidified him as my favorite Founding Father/Constitutional Framer (before it was cool).

Second is The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. Morris' writing is good, but what really makes the book awesome is Roosevelt himself as he overcomes his early childhood weakness to make himself a physical and political force of nature as a young man. Whether it's his two week adventure to capture boat thieves through icy rivers and snow storms, his incredible knowledge that crafted a Navy guide that would be used by the US Navy for decades, to his philosophy on masculinity, Morris' book on Roosevelt's life is a manifesto of not accepting what life gives you, but getting what you want out of it.

Now i'm not too familiar with any books whose entireties cover the issue, but I do own Bernie's Our Revolution.

He throws in many references to single payer throughout the book, coalescing into Chapter 4 of Part 2 (Pages 318 to 338) which is entitled Health Care For All.

He of course throws in great explanations for everything and probably does the best job possible for 20 pages.

I'm sure others have dived into single payer literature but I can only recommend what I have experienced and Bernie himself definitely helped in his book!

I forgot, I have also started Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Read by Stephen Fry), and it is well done as well.
I remembered a couple more that I liked:

Unbroken - good (true) story about WWII pilot who was captured by the Japanese

Water for Elephants - Good book (fiction) about a circus in the depression era

Anathem - I really like Neal Stephenson, and this was a good book, but it was very long, and I'm sure I would have had a much harder time if I had to read it, instead of just listen to it

Eye of the World (Wheel of Time Book 1) - Good book, but very long and if it weren't for the different voices by the narrator, I would have gotten lost pretty easily.

Hope this helps, and hope you find some good ones!

Thanks. I'm about 75% of the way through the article and I have faaaaaar too many tabs open so I'm commenting now. I bookmarked Peter Kropotkin's Wikipedia page to read later.

I disagree with some of the axioms of the author but I'm certain I'll be thinking about the text. I read a biography of Richard Feynman once: Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick.

He often went back to first principles. He'd do things that no average genius would - like review freshman physics. I don't know if that helped keep him a wizard amongst geniuses but I think he did it for a kind of "play".

My takeaway of that section was that reviewing what you know might help you to more intuitively grok things you aren't familiar with. Right now I find it hard to accept that insects or lobster can play. But if I consider a random creature like a bird - I think it's clear that ravens and crows play. They are very intelligent.

Maybe humble birds like sparrows do too. We just haven't been clever enough to notice.

I'm in the middle of Homo Deus currently. Its great so far, Yuval is a great writer and his books are a lot more accessible than traditional history books. I'm sure there are a lot of liberties taken with some of the history but I think Sapiens is a must-read. Homo Deus is more assumption based on current reality but its very interesting so far.

Gulag Archipelago is one I read based on the recommendation of Jordan Peterson. Awesome book if you are into WW1-WW2 era eastern europe. being an eastern european myself, i devour everything related to it so this book tickled my fancy quite a bit. good look into the pitfalls of what peterson warns against.

Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning is another history book discussing that time period and how it all transpired and the lesser known reasons why WW2 went down the way it did. some surprising stuff in that book related to hitler modeling europe around how the united states was designed at the time.

apologies for inundating with the same topic for all my books so far but Ordinary Men is an amazing book chronicling the people that carried out most of the killings during WW2 in Poland, Germany and surrounding areas. The crux of the argument which I have read in many other books is that Auschwitz is a neat little box everyone can picture in their head and assign blame to when in reality most people killed during that time were taken to the outskirts of their town and shot in plain sight by fellow townspeople, mostly retired police officers and soldiers no longer able for active duty.

for some lighter reading i really enjoy jon ronson's books and i've read all of them. standouts are So You've Been Publicly Shamed and The Psychopath Test. Highly recommend Them as well which has an early Alex Jones cameo in it.

This is a very good video introduction to Stoicism.

The main ancient Stoic books that have survived are Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, Epictetus's Discourses and Enchiridion, which is basically a summary of the Discourses, and Seneca's Letters to Lucilius and Essays. All these editions are relatively new translations and, in Seneca's case, abridged, but they will give you an idea of what Stoicism is about. I suggest you first read the Enchiridion (it is no longer than 40 pages) and then the Meditations (around 150-200 pages), and then dig deeper if you get interested.

There are other ancient sources, and quite a lot of modern work is being done currently, but those are the ones I suggest you begin with.

Then there are very active modern Stoic communities, like /r/Stoicism, the Facebook group, and NewStoa, with its College of Stoic Philosophers, that lets you take a very good four month long course by email.

The great thing about Stoicism as a way of life is that it has neither the blind dogmatism of organized religion nor the ardent skepticism of atheism. It puts the soul back in the universe, in a way, and, on the personal level, empowers you to take responsibility for your actions and to take it easy with what you cannot control.

No More Mr Nice Guy was the book I was referring to - hopefully other commenters can offer more examples.

I've been reading A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy & Enchiridion by Epicurus for some easy-to-digest MGTOW philosophy which has crossed nicely into the mainstream. For fiction I'd hugely recommend Whatever by Michel Houellebecq & Lights Out in Wonderland by DBC Pierre (one of my all-time favourites.)

To be fair, Bukowski can be read to help with the "Don't Give A Fuck" attitude that can help build your confidence. He tends to see women without the rose-tinted glasses, to put it delicately. He's written lots of poetry but his novels are the best. Bluebird is one of my favourite poems by him. Post Office is one of his great novels.

That's all I can think of for now.

And he became a notorious woman chaser/misogynist afterwards. Not that anyone particularly minded or cared.

Losing the love of his life embittered him but I think physics became his true love. Watching his lectures even in this day and age is marvelous, and I highly recommend it.

Sauce: Gleick's biography (he's an amazing biographer) and A set of lectures from the University of Auckland (NZ.) Also look up Project Tuva for older MIT lectures.

Barbara Tuchman was brilliant writer of history.

Albert Camus was a brilliant absurdist philosopher and novelist.

Jared Diamond has written some brilliant books at the intersection of anthropology and ecology. Another good book in this genre is Clive Ponting's A New Green History of the World.

Gwynne Dyer is an acclaimed military historian turned journalist on international affairs who has written a number of very engaging books on warfare and politics. His most recent book Climate Wars is the ONE book I would recommend to someone, if so limited, on the subject as it embodies both a wonderful synopsis of the science juxtaposed against the harsh realpolitiks and potential fates of humankind that may unfold unless we can manage to tackle the matter seriously, soon. Another great book on climate change is Bill McKibben's Deep Economy.

For social activists interested in ending world hunger and abject poverty, I can recommend: Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen's Development as Freedom; Nobel Prize winning micro-financier Muhammad Yunus' Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism; UN MDG famed economist Jeffrey Sach's End Of Poverty; and Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea

For anyone of Scottish heritage, I heartily recommend Arthur Hermann's How The Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It

For naval history buffs: Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought.

Last, but not least: Robert Pirsig's classic Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Enjoy!

• "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" (Jack Weatherford) is my all-time and all-categories favourite. Temudjin is a turbo ENTJ, the books reads like a thrilling novel and provide great insights at every page, and there is wisdom in every episode of the Khan's life and even after his life (the chapters of how and why the Mongol empires collapses are a serious lesson to be considered at all times). This book just has everything in it: a catching history, a great writing, emotions, lessons for life, insights of a great man who happens to have been "like us" and even if it's quite long, you dread for the end to happen every page you turn, and that is a feeling I rarely had.

• "How to Make Millions Without a Degree" (Simon Dolan) is the best fuel for my confirmation biases. Basically an anthem to self-made people and believing in yourself. Dolan is a funny guy and his motorsport career is more than acknowledgeable. Another proof that when there is a will, there is a way, inspiring guy and inspiring book. Only book so far I bought twice (physically and on Kindle).

• "To Hell and Back" (Niki Lauda) is my model for being bold and having balls, which I cruelly lack work toward developping. Lauda is the definition of boldness. The guy is crazy and the book relates a very unique story of a career. If you enjoy everything with an engine, it's a must-read. For all others, it's a lesson on boldness.

• "The Power of Habits" (Charles Duhigg) made a lasting impact on my life. I believe it's the best "neurosciences for everybody" book ever. It crunches a ton of important concepts and informations about our brains into the "simple" idea of habits.

• "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think" (Brian Wansink) is actually a scam. Wansink was dismissed from his university for falsifying researchs and his "food psychology" thing was recently debunked for having little or no academic basis. This book is full of these made up stuff, most information it contains are probably wrong or manipulated. But... it works. It worked for me. It triggered little changes in my relationship to food (mostly about quantity and not tricking myself into eating stuff I'll regret later) and I can see my fat diminishing from these newly formed habits. So I don't know, this scam book was the one that made me end up bad habits with food when some more academic works didn't help a lot. I'll let that to your own judgement.

While I like the care you give to the subject, I would just like to fill in some cracks with a few resources. I have a background in AbPsych and one of my mentors did a lot of interesting work with real life psychopaths.

The baseline for psychopathy was first and best (so far) laid out by Robert Hare. This site has a nice explanation.

Two great books on the subject (non-fiction) are: The Anatomy of Evil and The Science of Evil. Something more in the popsci vein would also be Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test, though I have some personal qualms with Ronson’s view.

For fiction, there’s of course any of the works mentioned in the original post, as well as American Psycho and We Need to Talk about Kevin.

Sapiens is a general history book about humanity, not so much traditional countries' history. It explores things like how did agriculture and warfare start, why is homo sapiens the only surviving human species etc.

For fun reading about history, I recommend anything written by Robert K. Massie. This is not general history; he wrote mostly about Tsarist Russia, but Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War is a good starter for pre-WW1 European history.
I say "a good starter" because Massie's approach is very biographical - he mostly tells the story through the lives and actions of the decision makers, with less "modern" emphasis on economic factors etc. But he's a really good writer and it's the kind of history book you can read on a beach.

John Gribbin is a favorite science author of mine. In Search of Schrödinger's Cat is a cornerstone for understanding quantum physics as a layman and the follow-up Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality is also very good.

Michio Kaku is another good one. Rudy Rucker's nonfiction is definitely worth a look.

Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age is a pretty awesome account of the lab that pretty much single-handedly invented the modern computer age.

And lastly (offhand) there's nothing better than The Structure of Scientific Revolutions for a view on how our notions of what the Big Ideas are in science change.

Honestly, if you are not passionate about library services, you should not be pursuing your MLIS. The job market is hard enough out there for people who are passionate about library services, tossing yourself in the mix (and adding to your debt while you're at it) isn't a great move.

That said, I'm also not sure about how realistic it is to pursue a career in writing for TV, but you seem pretty aware of that, and it sounds as if you've already been able to get writing positions, which seems like a good start. It sounds as if you already know what you want to do.

If you haven't read it yet, you might want to read Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling. I personally don't know much at all about the business of writing for TV, but scattered throughout her book was her path through writing for TV, which I thought was super interesting.

I'm sorry to hear about your dog. It's hard to lose them, as they grow up with you. I lost my dog two years ago and it's hard to remember I won't hear the jangle of her collar anymore. If you need to talk, I'm here for you. Feel free to PM whenever. I kinda like to talk a lot so if that cheers you up i'd love to help :)

http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Hanging-Without-Other-Concerns/dp/0307886271/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=MP4WCNL8A4OU&coliid=I39SO4BFP7U5K8m Mindy Kaling is so funny, and I really want to read her book. You should watch an episode of "The Mindy Project" to cheer up as well. I guarantee you'll laugh. It's so great. <3

You're going to ruffle some feathers and your going to run into bigger fish that will put you in your place as well. But people forgive charisma and boldness all the time, so it will balance itself out. Look at Pat Tillman. Gentle, down to earth alpha and amongst his special forces team I'm sure he was just one of the guys. Of course you can be 100af and still be respectable. Maybe try reading No More Mr. Nice Guy. Or read up a bit more on Tillman. Jon Krakauer has a good book on him; It's called Where Men Win Glory.

Check out Jon Ronson! I've only read two of his books, The Psychopath Test and Lost at Sea, but they were both really good.

Here are a couple daily show interviews about the books if you want to get a feel for them. They're super entertaining. He's also had a couple segments on This American Life about similar subject matter.

On a different note, Salt is also way more interesting than it has any right to be.

There are others but oh god I really need to be studying for my exams.

During that period it was a balancing act of a few primary factors: speed, guns, and armor. The amount of armor and guns directly impacted both the size and the weight of the vessel, and this in turn effected the speed.

At the time, the pinnacle of tactics during Naval Battles was what is known as "Crossing the T". Essentially, one line of ships would cut-off the other, and in doing so were able to bring all their guns to bear on their opponent. Likewise, their opponent could not bring all of their guns to bear to retaliate. This diagram shows what it would have generally looked like.

For a tactic like that to succeed you needed, as a battleship, a good combination of guns, speed, and armor. A classic example of this would be Admiral Count Heihachiro Togo and his victory over the Russians at Tsuhima in 1904. Both sides had guns that could fire at about the same range (and the bigger the gun, the bigger the range and the more destructive power). William Pakenham, who was a Royal Navy observer on-board Admiral Togo's ship, stated "when 12 inch guns are fired, shots from 10 inch guns pass unnoticed, while, for all the respect they instill, 8 inch or 6 inch might as well be pea shooters". Basically, the goal was to have the biggest guns possible on-board. This provides maximum firepower and range.

Admiral Togo had one more advantage over the Russians: Speed. He had about six or seven knots advantage over the Russians. If you have greater speed and range, then you can determine where and when the fight actually happens - by engaging the enemy from a longer distance and even moving away to keep that advantage. So if you can control those factors you can control the battle.

"Armor is speed" is something Jacky Fisher (important British admiral, key in the conception and design of HMS Dreadnought) is reported as having once said. This is because the more steel you put on the boat, the slower it is going to go. Unless of course you have new and more powerful methods of propulsion/power, which would allow you to attain a higher speed with more weight. Armor of course is important, as your ships need to be able to withstand hits. HMS Warsprite at Jutland for example, sustained 11 hits. While she was severely damage (and ordered home to Roysoth) she survived those hits and lived to see another day (a lot of days to be precise, she was engaged in WWII as well).

As u/Vonadler notes as well, money is a key issue. HMS Dreadnought cost approximately £1,784,000 in 1905. As an upgrade over other ship designs, she only cost £181,000 more. However, you have to multiply that by the amount of ships you want to build and then the number only gets more astronomical. In August 1914, the Royal Navy had 22 Battleships in commission (with 40 Pre-Dreadnoughts which are the older battleship designs that came before the Dreadnought in 1905) with another 13 under construction. And the price had only gone up since 1905. The Germans for example only had 15 built with 5 under construction. However I disagree that Vanguard was about 10 million GBP more to construct. Vanguard was built in the 1940s, 40 years after Dreadnought. Using [this inflation calculator] (http://inflation.stephenmorley.org/) I compared £11,530,503 in 1941 (the year that Vanguard was laid down) to 1905 (the year Dreadnought was laid down). In 1905, Vanguard would have cost about £5,291,677.27 pounds. A substantial increase to be sure, but only of about 297% compared to 546%. The overall point stands however, that bigger Battleships with more armor and whatnot do cost significantly more than their smaller counterparts.

And with ships you do not just have the cost of building. maintenance, crew (in the case of the German Battleships 1000+ crew members), fuel, etc... Those costs add up quickly. u/thefourthmaninaboat is also correct that the infrastructure was also a factor in Battleship design. On the other hand, cruise ships didn't really have to contend with all of this. They had their own design challenges to be sure, but armor for example wasn't really a factor.

This is my first "real" reply on this sub, so I hope it's been helpful and informative!

----------------
Sources

• Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War by Robert K. Massie
  
  
• From Imperial Splendor to Internment: The Imperial German Navy in the First World War by Nicolas Wolz
  
  
• Warships and Sea Battles of World War One published by Beekman House
  
  
• Inflation Calculator

I think my post triggered you.

You want to make the video better, change the title

"RICK SANCHEZ IS A PSYCHOPATH"

should be the title.

You flat out SAY he is a psychopath at the 1:31. He "displays all the typical signs"

Your video is based on this sentence : "people think it means you need to axe murder people but the mental health definition differs from this common public perception"

But that IS NOT the public perception. Your audience is not a bunch of morons.

If anything rick and morty fans are probably smarter than average. ... and there is this shit:

https://www.amazon.com/Psychopath-Test-Journey-Through-Industry/dp/1594485755

which is absolutely in common parlance....

" It spent the whole of 2012 on United Kingdom bestseller lists and ten weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list.[1]"

People know what "psychopath" means, and it's SUPER obvious Rick is one.

Not many historians have that nice, rolling narrative style of Mr. Foote. It's so easy to read and it tells the story in a compact, but intimate way with a focus on the people and their motives.

To answer your question I would look at histories written by journalists such as Barbara Tuchman - Guns of August. I also like S.C. Gwynne's Empire of the Summer Moon, Hampton Sides Blood and Thunder, and Ghost Soldiers. Lot's of good narrative histories out there - just keep looking and share any new good ones with Reddit! Good luck!

Slightly outside your request but Titan, the Life of John D. Rockefeller is excellent. It's a fascinating rags to riches epic that also tells the story of the industrial revolution and how it changed the US economy. Wonderful book.

Try the ice cube trick if the anxiety ever hits and you have a drink handy. I just hold an ice cube in my left hand until it melts. Can still shake hands and everything but the ice cube seems to force my heart to slow down a bit. My best guess is that it triggers the Mammalian Diving Reflex and turns off whatever is derailing.

That trick came from a Viet Nam Vet, has been a huge help as time has gone on.

As for things sticking around, now that I'm well into my 40's the flashbacks and nightmares seem to have slowed to almost nothing - though they can still get triggered by trauma anniversary and other surprises. I have one trauma around a car accident so anytime the brakes squeal behind me I get to have a fun day.

Totally agree that basic Meditation is necessary to get through, can't see it ever being accepted in the public school system here in the US though - hell some places refuse to teach Evolution.

I also think that Philosophy has helped me cope some - Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius have been incredibly helpful reading to sort of adjust the way I see the world these days. I highly recommend the two following books:

http://www.amazon.com/Enchiridion-Dover-Thrift-Editions-Epictetus/dp/0486433595
http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Thrift-Editions-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/048629823X

I'm personally getting a lot of great recommendations who cares if Grey's assistant likes them.

[TLC: High middle ages]
(https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/high-middle-ages.html)
Really interesting professor does a very broad overview of the changes happening in Europe during this time period.

[Unfamiliar Fishes]
(https://www.amazon.com/Unfamiliar-Fishes-Sarah-Vowell/dp/159448564X) Actually most Sarah Vowell books are pretty interesting and entertaining. This one covers the time period of Hawaii from when it was a kingdom to a state, when it's soul is being fought over by missionaries, fruit companies and shipping.


[What I talk about when I talk about Running](
https://www.amazon.com/What-Talk-About-When-Running/dp/0307389839) I'm not a runner, neither is Grey, still a really interesting reflective book.


[Cod: The biography of the fish that changed the world](
https://www.amazon.com/Cod-Biography-Fish-Changed-World/dp/0140275010/ref=sr_1_1?
keywords=cod&qid=1566160678&s=books&sr=1-1)
You need to read this just for the charming cod wars Iceland engages in, also a ton of history and geography.

[Stephen King: On Writing](
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Anniversary-Memoir-Craft/dp/1439156816) Very nuts and bolts book about the physical act of writing and a lot of inside baseball about the state of mind King was in while writing some of his most famous books,

Well there are a lot of useful links in this /r/math post (check the comments, too).

In addition to Khan Academy, there's MIT OCW, Paul's Math Notes, and PatrickJMT. There's also the Art of Problem Solving books.

But really, you don't need to watch calculus videos if you're going to take classes this summer. Your time might be better spent doing the exercises on Khan Academy to make sure there aren't gaps in your knowledge.

I highly recommend books by James Gleick, specifically Chaos, Genius, Isaac Newton, and The Information. Also, Polya's How to Solve It, GEB (join us in /r/geb!), and GH Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology. Here are some lists of popular math books.

You might find this collection of links on efficient study habits helpful.

I would love to be the creepy smiling girl from Insidious
I love her outfit, her story is so creepy and.. I just really like her part
Even though it was not important, she was scary!

Dresses similar to that are expensive. But I think that would be a fun costume to experiment with!
I would like a book a book or a way to make me prettier lol

• David Christian’s A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia is a good general overview
  
  
• René Grousset’s The Empire of the Steppes is a bit outdated, but perhaps more readable—more in the style of Gibbon
  
  
• John E. Hill’s Through the Jade Gate to Rome is a fantastic translation and analysis of late Han Dynasty reports on ancient Central Asia
  
  
• Jack Weatherford’s Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is a great history of the early Mongol Empire
  
  
• Hans-Joachim Klimkeit’s Gnosis on the Silk Road is a fascinating collection of Persian, Sogdian, and Uighur Manichaean sources
  
  
• The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia is disappointingly sparse, and a bit odd in its coverage and terminology, but it’s still the best I’ve been able to find in the style of Colin McEvedy’s Western Civ atlases

Actually, it is. He wrote a memoir documenting his experiences with the tribe.

I read it in a summer linguistics class since Daniel Everett is a linguist himself and we watched a little bit of the film version of the book that focuses more on the linguistics aspect of it as opposed to the deconversion. I didn’t end up becoming a linguistics major (and if I had, my dad probably would’ve pulled financial support because linguistics doesn’t result in a real job /s), but I still found the class interesting and I did pretty well for someone who knew nothing going in.

It was my first experience (I read it like a high school AP Lit student would read an assigned book: not really) with a deconversion from Christianity to atheism. I’m sure if my dad’s girlfriend (fundie-lite evangelical) or maybe even my dad had heard what I was reading for school, they’d accuse the university of forcing atheism on people of faith, even though that wasn’t even the purpose of us reading the book.

Hi there, I am not a professional naval historian (my master's was in American history, post civil war) but I have read quite a bit on the topic. Several books come to mind:

• I second the Massie recommendations. Here are Amazon links:
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Dreadnought-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345375564/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370960465&sr=1-1&keywords=dreadnought+massie
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Castles-Steel-Britain-Germany-Winning/dp/0345408780/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370960472&sr=1-6
  
  
• The British historian N.A.M. Rodger has written two naval histories of Britain, which are very accessible. Rodger does a good job of balancing strategy and tactics with the political and bureaucratic matters that make a navy efficient.
  
  The Safeguard of the Sea:
  http://www.amazon.com/Safeguard-Sea-History-Britain-660-1649/dp/0393319601/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370960428&sr=1-3
  
  The Command of the Ocean:
  http://www.amazon.com/The-Command-Ocean-History-1649%C2%AD-1815/dp/0393060500
  
  
• John Keegan wrote a short book, The Price of Admiralty, focusing on the naval battles of Trafalgar, Jutland, Midway, and the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140096507
  
  
• There are any number of books on Midway, but one that I enjoyed is Shattered Sword, by Parshall and Tully. They delved deeply into Japanese archives and reconstructed details of flight operations and naval SOP to illuminate the battle in a way that I had not seen before:
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Shattered-Sword-Untold-Battle-Midway/dp/1574889249
  
  And, of course, if you want fiction, both the Horatio Hornblower and the Aubrey-Maturin series are good reads. A-M is a bit more modern lit; Hornblower is entertaining but starts to read a bit older.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Hornblower
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey–Maturin_series
  
  I hope this helps. When I get home I'll take a look at my shelves and see what else comes to mind.

You might like the 4400 I loved that show... or Dollhouse... but you probably have seen that one... oh oh oh try "Persons Unknown"! It's so good... so so good...

I'm a workaholic too!! Yay!!!

I love books...

I don't know if you do.... but I thought you might like that one!

Don't Sleep There Are Snakes - Excellent read about a linguist's study of an Amazon tribe with a language unlike any other. Contains very interesting musings and science regarding how language and culture can affect how we perceive the world around us.

The Evolution of Useful Things - Very cool read if you are at all an engineering or design inclined person. The author has a great way of weaving in cultural and historical context into how all the tiny and useful things around us have evolved and come to represent very specific functions.

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Sleep-There-Are-Snakes/dp/0307386120

Piraha. A primitive but comparatively incredibly happy and free culture that has no concept or want for math, personal wealth, or material possessions. They have a well developed sense of humor but their humor has nothing to do with suffering, because that type of humor just isn't a part of their society. That book is an extreme eye opener.

I think that is largely correct. My sense is that the criticisms of Ohler's book also criticized his tone and the potential negative impact his would could have. Polemic doesn't often foster dialogue.

Other common criticisms of popular history are that it often fails to credit the work of academics and that it is often incorrect or not very nuanced. For example, Empire of the Summer Moon is a very popular book about the Comanche nation. Many of the main points had very recently in the extensively researched and truly brilliant book Comanche Empire. Moreover, Empire of the Summer Moon included inaccuracies that would likely have been caught during the editing of an academic book.

There are academics who see the value of popular history writing because it can so effectively share important material to a general readership. Guns, Germs, and Steel is an example of a book some academics admire. I read it and 1491 because a professor I respected recommended them.

Full disclosure, I'm an academic who works in cultural history and literature. I think about these issues a lot. I'm glad to see them discussed in a wide open forum.

Adding Even More Books:

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. https://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Hamilton-Ron-Chernow/dp/0143034758. Fascinating book, very thick and goes in depth on the man who helped found the current United States, I always like a good history book, not sure how Grey would like it.

War Made New :Weapons, Warriors, and the Making of the Modern World by Max Boot

https://www.amazon.com/War-Made-New-Weapons-Warriors/dp/1592403158. Talks about how the shifts in technology helped further the world today. It was interesting in the way Gustavus Adolphus and Helmuth von Moltke created the armies we had in the 20th century. Tech things always fascinate me too.

In Search of Schrodinger's Cat by John Gribbin

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004JN1CIS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0.

The history of quantum physics is a subject which I am not sure how it would translate to audiobook format, though helped me partially understand the quantum. May be a turn off if Grey does not want to deal physics again.

No its not. Your cynicism is blinding you to the value cultures like these have, that our modern cultures are desperately lacking. Of course they had their shortcomings and some were even violent by our standards, but their cultural pathos pale in comparison to ours. You should check out "Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes" by Daniel Everett. It's a first hand account of a missionary in the Amazon who ends up abandoning his Western beliefs for a much simpler way of life. It's a fascinating story and in this ever advancing world, one that is becoming harder and harder to tell. Please don't throw what we could learn from them under the bus because of their shortcomings.


http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Sleep-There-Are-Snakes/dp/0307386120 - Here's the Amazon link, its a great book, you won't regret it!

If she likes politics, a good presidential biography, such as Truman by McCullough, Team of Rivals by Goodwin, The General by Fenby or Edmund Morris' the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt are classic choices. Biographies are good choices, as they're like novels and are easy to read, whilst being intellectually stimulating.

A couple good recommendations I have (aside from Tom Clancy stuff which I read for recreation) are going to be

Guide to effective military writing

and

AF Officer's guide (Incredibly useful even as enlisted)

​

I'm currently reading Ghost in the Wires, it's pretty neat. It's about this guy who hacked the FBI and then hacked their hack on him... pretty fun stuff. Talks a lot about the social engineering side of security.

​

Clearly we don’t see eye to eye.

Here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0743270754/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519088748&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=a+team+of+rivals+book&dpPl=1&dpID=51bpOR8qigL&ref=plSrch

One of my favorite books about him. It’s excellently sourced at the end of the book. It’s not whitewash, it’s factually accurate. He was an amazing guy. I’m pretty sure it will change your tune about his motivations and beliefs.

Get Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich out at the library. There's an interesting chapter or two in there about the way housekeeping agencies make it hard on their crews. I think it was Merry Maids in the book.

She is definitely better off working as an independent cleaner (and can make her own hours.) I mean, if a homeowner is willing to pay $125 for three cleaners for two hours, one very efficient person can probably do the same work in a few more and pocket 100%. Well, minus materials, etc.

Even if that doesn't appeal and she's busting her hump for less than minimum wage, a different job might be a better way to go.

In Bill Bryson's travelogue Down under, also known as In a sunburned country, he describes one moment where he was doing boogie-boarding or something like that, but he sank like a stone because he was obese. His traveling companions had a good laugh at his expense. :)

Your old boss was right and if you're interested in reading about this topic more I would highly recommend reading The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. There's a lot of fascinating info in this book about psychopaths and how they operate and there is a section that talks about the fact that there is a higher rate of psychopaths among CEO's compared to the general public. Unfortunately, in business it does tend to be beneficial to only care about yourself and what you can gain and to not have any qualms about screwing people over to benefit yourself and the company.

I'm a big fan of the economist Richard Wolff and his podcast, Economic Update.

Some organizations to consider joining or supporting are
Democratic Socialists of America and Socialist Alternative.

I also encourage everyone to read Bernie's book, if you haven't already.

I would also highly recommend everyone read A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

Finally, I encourage everyone to watch the Noam Chomsky documentary, Requiem for The American Dream, on Netflix.

This book I just read is amazing. I couldn't stop thinking about it after reading it. An incredibly remarkable and TRUE story. I love reading books!

http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372565499&sr=8-1&keywords=unbroken+a+world+war+ii+story+of+survival.+resilience.+and+redemption

If you want to learn more about sociopaths in a simplified but still good form, read this book.

As for what I said, if you're confident in your ability to detect a sociopath by his or her appearance, someone who's able to disguise those traits will be able to play off your misplaced confidence in them if they passed your test.

I like The "New" Turing Omnibus for small pieces from a lot of CS areas. Since it covers a bunch of topics, you can read it in any order. It's a good way to see what specific areas you might want to dive into more deeply.

For more general, "fun" books to get excited about CS and its origins, I recommend Dealers of Lightning which is an amazing look at the work done at Xerox PARC in the 70s and Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution which is about many of the people who paved the way for personal computers.

I see a lot of great books already listed. I'll offer a few lesser-known books that haven't been mentioned yet.

Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe series is brilliant for general readers of almost any age.

I see William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich has been mentioned, but I find his book on France - The Collapse of the Third Republic - equally compelling.

For those who love Barb Tuchmann's Guns of August,
Dreadnought by Robert Massie and The Lions of July by William Jannen are excellent additions in covering the lead up to WWI.

For Roman History, I'd recommend Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar: Life of a Colossus and Anthony Everitt's Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor

I think you know next to nothing about "the system" nor the people who are part of it. Who, exactly, do you think of as "the poor"? It's not just lazy trailer-park dwellers or single parents anymore. Being poor can mean being a full-time student working multiple part-time jobs. Or not being able to work due to mental or physical health issues. Or even having a job and making so little that you can't make ends meet. It's nice you and your wife have fairly good jobs but I bet you couldn't begin to identify the actual poor among you. This is a good look into how one can work and still be destitute: [Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America] (http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376894758&sr=8-1&keywords=nickel+and+dimed+on+not+getting+by+in+america)

When I was working full-time making what I considered to be a quite good salary, I still qualified for yearly fuel assistance and I was damn thankful it existed. Now I'm thankful that I qualify for EBT. They know all the details of my situation and they made the decision to give me assistance. I don't get unemployment and I don't get disability...not that it's really any of your business.

I have the internet because I pay for it.

You don't know me, my life or my situation, and I honestly couldn't care less what you think about me.

Correct. He also made it a point to donate at least 10% of every dollar he made from youth and made good on it. He is one of the fathers of modern philanthropy.

He was a ruthless businessman, BUT prior to taking out/absorbing a competitor he would meet with them, offer them fair value for their business or stock in Standard Oil, and would go as far as to simply open his company's book for them so they can see the futility of competition. Very interesting life. If anyone wants to learn more about him, they should really read Chernow's "Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller" Excellent book.

https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303

I typically don't like non-fiction but one of my actual FAVORITE books is Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
It is wonderful and an excellent, quick read.

read this book then. It is probably going to be interesting for you
http://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-Computer/dp/0887309895/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322594175&sr=8-1

...Dealers of Lightning is a fascinating journey of intellectual creation. In the 1970s and '80s, Xerox Corporation brought together a brain-trust of engineering geniuses, a group of computer eccentrics dubbed PARC. This brilliant group created several monumental innovations that triggered a technological revolution, including the first personal computer, the laser printer, and the graphical interface (one of the main precursors of the Internet), only to see these breakthroughs rejected by the corporation. Yet, instead of giving up, these determined inventors turned their ideas into empires that radically altered contemporary life and changed the world.
...

I like this biography of Genghis Khan. It's maybe not exactly what you were looking for, but I thought it was pretty cool to read about the truly breathtaking extent of he and his sons' conquests and the complete obscurity from which he and the Mongols emerged.

Food is a universal motivator. What if you had students research historical cooking? And after a week or two, you have each student bring in a recipe they've prepared from historical period/culture of their choice? And also give a presentation or write a short paper about how the food came about, or how it influence history and culture.

I've recently been trying recipes from this blog about recreating ancient Roman cuisine. Not exactly an academic source, but does cite the passages from Roman writings that inspire his exploits.

The book Salt: A World History would also be a great source, and is very easy-to-read and IMHO quite interesting. Many parts of it would make good excerpts for reading in class and introducing ideas. The same author has similar books on Cod and Oysters.

I'm no expert, I'm just stealing this idea because it's an assignment that I was given in High School, and was one of the most memorable and fun.

For biography - Unbroken. For only having two books under her belt Laura Hillenbrand is a great biographer. I also highly recommend Seabiscuit. She does a great job of recreating the time and place. Unbroken is an incredible story about an incredible man's life. Amazing he made it through with his humanity intact.

If you have not read Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer I highly recommend you do. It's an extremely good account of exactly what happened, and why men like Pat were over there in the first place.

It's one of the best books describing the whole war over there I've ever read.

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

• These two biographies of famous physicists of the last century are well-written (in a way like fiction).
  
  
• These are extremely good books and are a joy to read.
  
  
• They will teach you about Science (read: physics) and may inspire you to become a Scientist.
  
  
• Some of the explanations involve very interesting physics (general relativity, quantum mechanics, development of the atom bomb, particle physics, etc.) and are written for laymen, so you don't need any background in Physics to be able to understand most of the explanations.
  
  
  
• Read some of the reviews in the amazon links so you can see what other people enjoyed about the books.
  

Excellent point. And I appreciate any allegory that uses fruit.

May I suggest some important offerings from some of the most prominent Socialists in the USA, Past and present. Good reading my friend.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Became-Socialist-Jack-London/dp/1425475981

https://www.amazon.com/Our-Revolution-Believe-Bernie-Sanders/dp/1250132924

https://www.amazon.com/Trumpet-Conscience-King-Legacy/dp/0807001708

You scrimp and you save five dollars here 10 dollars for mowing a neighbors lawn maybe 20 bucks because food was cheaper one week... then bam a part on your car fails you have the choice of letting the car go or paying 200 to fix it and you need that car to get to work. You could take public transportation but it would be an hour one way and 60 bucks a month so you swallow your pride and put that 200 into the car praying hoping that it does not break again. This is just one example of why being poor is so expensive and makes it nearly impossible to save. If you want actual books on the matter http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454131226&sr=8-1&keywords=nickel+and+dimed This is a good one.

Tip of the hat to the pioneers... Lawrence Roberts, Vin Cerf, Bob Taylor, Ivan Sutherland, Douglas Engelbart and J.C.R. Licklider, among many others. Well worth studying up on these dudes. Some excellent reads (available at your public library, natch): "Dealers of Lightning" an excellent book about Xerox PARC; "Where Wizards Stay Up Late" fascinating book about MIT and DARPA; J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal a turgid yet compelling book about J.C.R. Licklider and his contemporaries.

100% agree. Read https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303 and then tell me you wouldn't want that lifestyle...

The guy semi-retired in his early 50's to play golf and live a life of luxury in his various manor homes. He lived until 97, money seems to have done a great job of keeping him alive.


Medicine is bad? Chicago university wouldn't exist without him and his huge bankroll, His money was almost singlehandedly responsible for curing ringworm in destitute southerners (and curing other illnesses and maladies) too. A huuuuge amount of modern medicine is thanks to John D & his willingness to fund medical research.

I mean sure he couldn't play angry birds... But the guy was rich enough to have stables built in Manhattan so he could race the worlds finest horses with his brother through central park. Toward his later years he was able to afford the worlds best cars in the world and professional drivers to take him for drives. Sure, they weren't as quick as a modern sports car, but i doubt he really cared.. Reliability? He could buy 100 of them, no problem.

The impact John D and even his son, John D Jr had on areas such as medicine and the arts is mind boggling. The New York MoMA nor the Cloisters would exist without them. (Jr and his wife co-founded the MoMA, donated the land & an incredible amount of art work to it. HE DIDN'T EVEN LIKE MODERN ART, HE HATED IT.) John D Jr gave more money to medical research and charity than he gave to his own damn family.

The amount of charitable giving they did (most of it anonymous) is insane. They bought entire forests to save them, donated huge chunks of land to be national parks, etc.

The United Nations? The land the headquarters is built on in Manhattan - Jr donated that.

Versailles in France? Jr was posthumously awarded France's highest honor, the Grand-Croix de la Legion d'honneur for contributing huge sums of money (with no requirement for any recognition, public attention, etc.. If anything he worked incredibly hard to HIDE his involvement) to the repair efforts because he thought it was an important building for the French people.

These are people who on multiple occasions would pay double or triple the asking price of famous art works to the ire of their friends and colleagues who wanted to acquire them, because while others in their social circle wanted to horde them in their private collections, they wanted to buy them so they could be donated and on show for all of the public, not just the rich elite.

If I could have my life today, or be transferred to John D or John D Jr's era and have 1/10th the impact on humanity that they had, its a total no brainer. Yes, John D committed some unsavoury (monopolistic) business practices... So did everyone else in that era. He was a devout baptist who practiced philosophy and frugality (he was far, far less spendy than anyone remotely comparable) from his youth as a broke assistant bookkeeper to his dying days as a titan of industry.

• A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics - As concise as it promises & super accessible, I can't imagine a better primer to macro. this is required reading at HBS (where the author teaches)
  
  
• The Productivity Project - I'm working thru this now in audio book form. The guy took a year off after college to experiment w/ diff't productivity systems. it's a nice overview of lots of different productivity gurus/techniques
  
  
• Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller - the perfect read for the aspiring tycoon about the greatest CEO of them all, the man for whom anti-trust laws were first written.
  
  
• House of Morgan - or for the financially inclined, the original rainmaker, James Pierpont Morgan. My favorite part of this one is that it's actually a pretty thorough history of investment banking from 1900 - ~1990.
  
  But really, I think 'just relax' is best here, so:
  
  
• Diversify your interests
  
• Read some books you've always wanted to that have no obvious connections to self-improvement
  
• learn to code, build something dope, then start a company (okay, not 'relaxing,' but still great)
  
• whittle something (maybe also start a company with that, somehow)
  
• date someone out of your league
  
• volunteer somewhere unglamorous doing something hard & thankless
  
  etc etc etc
  

Its funny because I actually came here to suggest another Bryson book called In a Sunburned Country which chronicles Bryson's visit to Australia- thought this was relevant as OP's love interest is either en route to or already in Australia I figured she'd get a kick out of it.



If you want something that has a mix of love/romance, action, thrill, check out The Shadow of the Wind. I thought this was a good book and is very well written. Zafon is able to paint images with his words in a way that puts you in the story like no other author i've encountered.

You would love the book, Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes. by Daniel Everett. He was a christian missionary sent to the Amazon to study the Pirahã, a small indigenous tribe, and translate their language so that he could recreate the bible in their native tongue.

He ends up breaking with the "universal grammar theory" in which it is thought all languages have certain common grammatical similarities (he also ends up breaking entirely with his religion). The Pirahã have a completely unique sense of time, evidence, and culture. It truly is a fascinating world they survive in, and an equally well told story.

I LOVE following the history of networking, awesome find!

If you end up wanting more, where wizards stay up late and dealers of lightning are great reads about the people behind the early internet.

I'm not sure that this is a very productive or useful response, and you seem to be being unnecessarily emotional about this. It is particularly unhelpful to tell people "do your real homework" rather than providing sources.

> Remember that banking reforn bill she campaign on then killed once she got elected?

I'm actually not sure what you are talking about here. It sounds to me like you are talking about a garbled version of the bankruptcy reform which she opposed in 1999 and then favored once she was in the Senate. See e.g. here. In this case, this isn't particularly surprising, nor should it be: New York has many credit card companies and related businesses and she was a Senator from there. Representing constituent interests is a natural thing.

> Remember how after the collapse she told the bankers and walk street guys to "cut it out" while granting them immunity from any crime?

This is a gross oversimplification of a complicated legal situation.

> Remember the times as SoS she helped overthrow whole governments because they were creating a gold backed currency in Africa?

This is again garbled and confused. It is true that the Clinton emails revealed that a specific country, France was concerned about the impact a gold-backed currency would have on the franc. The primary mention of this is in one of the Blumenthal emails, detailing this as one of a variety of French motivations for supporting the intervention. So no, she didn't help overthrow any government because of this.

> She's a lefty on social programs ONLY.

Uhuh. That's why for example she has an 82% from the League of Conservation Voters, which is higher than most Democrats.

The only way I can parse your sentence mean that she's a "warhawk" on foreign policy and that under your terminology every other issue is "social." I'm not completely sure what warhawk means, but it seems that much of the left uses it to mean anyone who ever favored any military intervention that the speaker personally did not. In which case, sure she's a warhawk. But it may be helpful to ask if when labeling her as such, you are actually saying anything at all useful about reality. For example, most people when using the term "warhawk" mean people like Lindsey Graham and John "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" McCain, or for that matter, Donald Trump. When you use large categories like "warhawk" and lump a very diverse group together you end up losing any trace of nuance.

> sociopath

This sounds more like a boo light, the negative version of an applause light rather than a substantive statement. I recommend reading Ronson's "The Psychopath Test" about sociopathy and psychopathy

> Will say anything to get elected, once elected, will not give one shit about the platform they ran on.

Again, you haven't responded to the fact that empirically her voting record is left of most senators and nearly identical to Bernie's. I pointed you to this Five Thirty Eight analysis which you never responded to. If you'd like to respond to the actual data about the details of her record it might be helpful. But it makes it very difficult to make any claim that that's all she cares about.

Look, I'm not a fan of Hillary far from it. And she's clearly made selfish decisions and has a lot of ambition. But you are apparently confusing that and thinking that she's somehow the worst thing ever which just isn't accurate or born out by her actual statements or senate record. Nuance is important, and it is normally the American right which has trouble understanding nuance and degrees of difference. Don't be that way.

> But the way he talks about how Monopolies come and go is sort of the proof that they aren't really problems.

From the video, Standard Oil, American Tobacco, and Microsoft are all examples of competition and innovation stifling companies that resulted in government anti-trust action. Since the 1980s, US anti-trust law has loosened to mean only companies that destroy consumer surplus via artificially high prices. One of the interesting debates of the past couple years has been whether zero-cost monopolies Facebook and Google are stifling innovation. The EU has produced court rulings within that past year that indicate they believe the answer is yes. See this most recent stratechery post for some analysis.

If you're interested in the formation of the modern corporation, and the evolution of the railroad/commodity collusion and legislative bribery that allowed oil and steel magnates to become the world's richest people, I'd recommend Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr..

hmmmm... well, not much that Ive read fall under that price range. Do you like in the USA, can you use Amazon?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786884517/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1495585796&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=pirate+biography&dpPl=1&dpID=51-foWCviEL&ref=plSrch

That one is 9-10 dollars, the story of Captain Kidd. If you dont mind used editions some of the stuff by Robert K Massie is under 5 dollars for print.

Dreadnought is about Britain and Germany gearing up do WW1

Peter the Great was one of the most famous Tsars of Russia

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/0345298063/ref=mw_dp_olp?ie=UTF8&condition=all

Ghenghis Khan and The Making of The Modern world was fascinating

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/0609809644/ref=mw_dp_olp?ie=UTF8&condition=all

The republic of Pirates was pretty interesting too

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/015603462X/ref=mw_dp_olp?ie=UTF8&condition=all

i linked to used books, so be aware of that - i buy almost all of my books used in "good" or "great" condition and have no complaints so far.

Genghis practiced a meritocracy form of government which means that Genghis chose those to be in positions of power based on merit not blood or obligation. The main body of this government was the Kurultai a council of Mongol chiefs headed by Genghis himself. All people within the Empire had to adhere the Yasa which were the laws of the Mongols that Genghis had modified and enforced in the Empire. The citizens of the Mongol Empire were free to practice any religion that they pleased, which helped people accept his rule more rapidly. The infrastructure of the Empire was amazing, it was an infrastructure that may have inadvertently triggered the Italian Renaissance because of the spread of knowledge and technology throughout Asia and Europe. Word traveled quickly thanks to the Yam, genghis' horse driven messenger. Traders of the Silk Road were protected and allowed to travel easily from country to country (though the golden age of the Silk Road would not come to pass until the rule of Kublai Khan). Genghis had an almost laissez faire approach to ruling he knew that if he tried to change too much in the lands that he conquered he would have constantly had to keep ruled lands in check. There's was no need for this of course, genghis launched many of his territories forward economically and even those whose economy was crippled because of them, i.e. Baghdad, were still pacified completely thanks to the military genius of Genghis Khan.

Edit for clarification: The Yasa was not created by Genghis only modified. I was referring to Genghis' war with the Caliph not Hulagu Khan's sacking of Baghdad, should have made that more clear. And I know it's only a theory but in my opinion the spread of technology because of the expansion of the Mongol Empire was one of the causes of the Italians Renaissance due to the combination of Asian and European influence that helped start the Renaissance.

For more information please refer to this book.

I don't really know what you mean by "jingoistic emancipation circlejerk" and I have to be honest that the particular phrasing you chose for that sort of sets me on edge (it's like asking for an FDR bio without the "jingoistic Pearl Harbor circlejerk", in that it was a crucial and formative moment of his presidency), but nonetheless, my two favorite Lincoln books are Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years and Team of Rivals. The former is much more of a straight up bio, but the latter provides a lot of fascinating context and also includes a good retelling of my favorite Lincoln story, about the barn fire and his son's horse.

If you like to read you should check out Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country. Although it's a little outdated (published in 2001), Bryson is an incredible author and an even better travel writer. While it wouldn't necessarily be helpful with money or visa tips, it would be a great lead in to your travels.

Good luck!

The interesting thing is that Steve Jobs saw such promise at Xerox PARC that he offered to let Xerox buy Apple out before the stock went public, just so that he could have access to the technology and engineers at PARC.

I cannot emphasize enough how good Dealers of Lightning is, but if you're interested in technology, it's a really great read.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Goodwin.

Interpreting a part of Lincoln's greatness as being the ability to understand and mediate cooperation amongst different-minded people, the books is pretty relevant to today's partisan politics.

Plus, Doris Goodwin is the funny sweet lady Jon Stewart often has on his show for things related to American history. She's also a fantastic historian to boot.

http://www.amazon.com/Team-Rivals-Political-Abraham-Lincoln/dp/0743270754/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291129846&sr=8-1

There's no mention that he's keeping the money from the book royalties as the headline claims, though I hope he uses some of it as wages for his work that I'm proud to support.

Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution

Our Revolution [Chapter 13 on the media I particularly recommend]

Start a book club in your area and see what some like minded people coming together can do to help foster a future to believe in.

I encourage users to buy them from a local Mom & Pop if possible, and ask their library to bring them in too.

Don't stress over things you can't change. I know that's kinda a cliche, and much easier said than done, but it's absolutely true. Maybe read the the Enchiridion? It's a pretty quick read and a good introduction to stoicism, helped me in some ways.

Obviously some things are harder being gay, but it doesn't mean you can't still live a good life.

Biographies are super interesting in general. I've read Steve Jobs and Elon Musk's, currently in the process of reading Rockefeller.

Speaking of, that would be my recommendation : [Titan: The Life of John D. Rockfeller.](https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303/ref=sr_1_1? ie=UTF8&qid=1527576392&sr=8-1&keywords=titan&dpID=51puoryvTiL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200QL70&dpSrc=srch) What better way to learn about empires than to read about the richest man since the invention of capitalism that had a monopoly on the oil industry, which would put him at a 400 billion dollar USD net worth today.

Off the top of my head:

The Psychopath Test is a wittily written personal study of detecting, treating and (possibly) rehabilitating psychopaths.

The Freakonomics books are written by both an economist and a journalist (so easy to read) and contain slightly left-of-centre economic theories with easy to follow research. These are excellent.

The Omnivores Dilemma is both engaging and though provoking. It's All about the production of food in the modern age. In particular, four different meals.

The Code Book is one of my all-time favourites. As the title suggests it's about all forms of cryptography. If you have a mathematical bent I also like Singh's book about Fermat's Enigma).

I'm no expert but this is what I understand from reading the book. In psychology with this logic does not create scientific behavioral tests but games that people can learn to beat, this is ESPECIALLY true of psychopaths. Basically psychopaths feel no empathy. They don't mind if they hurt anyone and will do so if they can get away with it. They would destroy your life, no mater how close you are to them, if it meant they could get even the smallest thing they desire. They watch them self in the mirror and actively practice how to have the emotional responses they see in others to appear normal. EVERY "test" you give them ends up being practice so they can obtain their own freedom. The book gos over one such test that created a group of psychopaths they thought were cured but became experts in manipulation. A huge percentage of them ended up causing lots of trouble after their release.

The good news is that MRI scans and the like do offer some hope but I'm not sure they have any solid tests there that can work.

My personal favorite non-fiction books that sound incredibly boring, but are actually really interesting:

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky It's a book about salt! The history of salt, the cultural significance of salt, salt production through the ages, all about salt. It's amazing.

Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky It's the history of Cod! The author spends a good portion of the book talking about how Cod is both incredibly bland and tasteless, but also how western culture loves that bland fish and all of the interesting political movements for Cod.

And for a more serious topic: Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich. This is multiple personal accounts of the Chernobyl disaster, all deeply interesting, and deeply sad. I'm only an episode into the Chernobyl HBO series, but I'm pretty sure that show is following some of characters from this book. It's a high quality book that I think is worth everyone's time, it doesn't go super in depth with the technology, just the human aspect.

I understood earlier in life than being honest doesn't make your life easier but allows to sleep soundly at night. This is why I don't own the (already iconic) MAGA baseball cap; it would be an infraction to US election code. On the other side, I brought a audiobook copy of Trump's Great Again: How to fix our crippled America. Great book by the way.

I hope it helped.

Hopefully covered in the book Lin Manuel supposedly based the play on? I gifted it to my brother to read last Christmas and anticipate trying to read it soon on some upcoming business trips.

But yes totally, it was his charisma as a drunkard telling the story that had me like, "okay this could definitely be fun"

> how can one live in a tiny, filthy, rundown apartment with 3 kids and hardly have any food to eat and no disposable income?

I suppose it depends on what your options are. If your choices are between that & death, then that might not sound so bad.

> How much does upbringing have to do with it?

My guess is a lot. Though on the opposite end; Barbara Ehrenreich wrote a great book called Nickel and Dimed. She basically researched how the other half lived for a book. The terms were simple, she could use all of the intelligence, skills & mindset that she had developed over the years of excellent upbringing. However she couldn't use the status. She couldn't tell anyone that she went to college, call in favors from friends outside of her new life, use her savings, etc. It's pretty nauseating how far she didn't get in society.

Another source along the same lines:

"Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford is a wonderful history book for light and fun reading. It has tons of great reviews and is available for audio book as well.

Amazon link

Oryx and Crake. I didn't expect to like it much but I loved it.

Edit: Just finished Unbroken which is an awesome tale of survival in WW2.

Unbroken, By Laura Hillenbrand. One of the best and most amazing true stories I've ever read. Read it before the movie comes out!

For those interested in keeping tabs:

Trump

Clinton

As of this writing Clinton is #1 in books, and Trump is #84.

All things considered, having Trump's book crack the Top 100 all from a relatively minor concentrated effort from The_Donald and /pol/ is quite impressive. They are competing in theory with a sizable national population.

The Art of the Deal (which I remember some memes said people should buy instead) is #362 as of this writing

Spez: Great Again is #16 (15:44 EDT)

I also do not have a right to health care, nevermind trans specific health care. Nobody does. Nothing that requires a good or service to be provided can be a right because providing it requires coercion through force against other people to provide it. I'm very fortunate that my health insurance covers my unique medical needs and I wish other insurances did to. But it is not a right and the government should not be forcing it on people. On a more practical note, hormones are pretty damn cheap as far as medications go. Synthetic estrogen is roughly $20 per month for example. And if someone is so poor they can't afford it the proper way to provide for them is through private charity, not government mandate.

The left's use of identity politics is a way to divide people into victim groups who will vote for them. They talk a good game about helping people but if the people actually had their life improved they wouldn't have a reason to vote Democrat anymore. And the hypocrisy is astounding! I look at political issues on a case by case basis. Sometimes I agree with the Democrats, sometimes I agree with the Republicans, sometimes I disagree with both. But I've been exiled from multiple LGBT groups and lost several friends because I disagree with the their political agenda. The tolerant left is only tolerant if you believe what they want you to believe. Just because I'm trans doesn't mean I agree with all of the progressive agenda. And it certainly doesn't mean I owe them my vote.

The Democrats are the ones who campaign to specific sub groups based on their fundamental identity. They court the black vote and the hispanic vote and the woman vote and the LGBT vote. And their message is often a riff on "you have it so hard, vote for me and I'll give you political favors!" It's divisive and I reject it. Have you watched any of Trump's rally speeches personally? Or read his book? I have and it's much different than the cherry picked soundbites and opinion pieces the media gives out. Listen to him directly and with an open mind then make your own decisions. His message struck me a being aimed at all Americans. He's not pandering to specific groups, he welcomes everyone regardless of race, gender, or gender/sexual minority status. He campaigned on unity as a country by rejecting identity politics.

And just in case it wasn't clear let me give the a bit of disclaimer. I'm not a huge fan of Republicans either. I severely dislike their establishment and I disagree with many of their policies. And right wing media has a lot of crazy shit in it that really bothers me like their insistence that trans people are just mentally ill. But I don't have a place to belong in our political landscape. Both groups reject me for some reason or another, I'm stuck as an outsider. I don't agree with Trump on absolutely everything but I agree with him on a lot and he is a huge disruption in the political status quo and I'm optimistic it will be for the better.

As for cars, dude (I'm assuming dude based on user name) Prius was the right call. Didn't you get the memo that Subarus are lesbian cars? :-P

Anyway, I'm spending far too much free time writing this stuff up. Tell you what, if you're interested in talking more we can meet up for coffee or something and chat in person.

That is precisely what he has been doing. It is the biggest reason he ran, and as an observer it was more important to him even than winning the last election. He made a point of saying whenever he stumped. He talks about a political revolution, a movement of young people getting involved in politics, constantly. And lots of people are running for positions all across the country because of it. Go to /r/political_revolution and see all the people he has inspired to run for office. Go to his movement's website, or read his book Our Revolution

He is focused on grooming successors for his ideology, so it's mind-boggling that you'd say he should as if he isn't.

You should check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591060

I had a customer recommend it to me. I've only gotten a few chapters in, but it's pretty well written and I'm liking it.

well, duh, but if you remember that servers are human beings trying to live off what you give them, you probably already tip well so the change in price wouldn't be as much as you might think, or might be close to zero. feel free to read some more about it here,
here, here, or here. and those sources were just what I found quickly searching.

an interesting read on minimum wage in the US in general is Nickel and Dimed, although anecdotal, it is robustly filled out with facts and statistics.

I just finished a book about him that is really good. It makes it worse knowing how amazing of a person he really was.

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman https://www.amazon.com/dp/030738604X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_FhxYzbGF69HAP

I second the Horwitz nomination and add Richard Grant, author of "God's Middle Finger" and "Crazy River."
Both of those demonstrate a spirit for and enjoyment of adventure that was the core energy in Bryson's "In A Sunburned Country" and "A Walk in the Woods".

Good that you could jump to a new job. Some cannot. You might find Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America of interest.

It would be nice if corporations did not exploit their workers, but most seem to eager to cut costs and increase profits, and frequently that comes out of the hide of employees. That's why unions arose and that's why so many laws and regulations are required. Most recently, we've seen many reports of wage theft by corporations.

You might want to look into it a little more.

Hi there! Would love this book by Kevin Mitnick. Thanks for the contest and happy payday.

I've read a number of books about the subject so I'm summing up what I've read; but I'd recommend in particular the books Dealers Of Lightning, Fumbling The Future and Apple Confidential if you're interested to read more. Here's also an interesting article from the New Yorker about it.

One of my favorite books, love John Krakauer.

Where Men Win Glory

Check out Where Men Win Glory if you haven't yet.

Jon Krakauer is a very popular author and does his typically thorough research into the story.

Gives some great insight into his personal drives and motives, the portions describing his days on the football field will really take you back if you remember watching him.

Yeah, I was just making a stupid joke.

As for the Islamic view of Genghis Khan, it depends on perspective. Genghis Khan was tolerant of Muslims and even sought after their intellectuals. But he also destroyed their populations. A lot of the estimates of the deaths caused by Genghis Khan's conquest are exaggerated, but that doesn't really affect the perception in much of the Muslim world. There are also a lot of dubious claims as to Genghis Khan's brutality.

It's true, from any perspective, that the Mongol conquest put an end to a long period of Muslim prosperity. Since the days of Mohammed, they had seen very few serious military losses. The common belief among Muslims prior to Genghis Khan was that their prosperity and military success was undeniable proof of the validity of their beliefs. They felt that Allah had blessed them with the ability to win battles and spread their religion. So Genghis Khan turned their world upside down.

All of my understanding of Genghis Khan and Muslim history come from Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World and Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes, both of which I highly recommend.

For those who haven't read Where Men Win Glory, you should consider reading it. Pat Tilman was a damn interesting and inspiring man. Additionally, the writer, Jon Krakauer does a great job of presenting the history and context of Afghanistan.

Get this book from the library:

http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681

Read author's AMA

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/23d7n9/

If your library has it, watch the documentary Paycheck to Paycheck by HBO

Keep in mind that you are 18 now but your opportunities for better jobs are significantly stymied without postsecondary education. And your opportunities for postsecondary education are significantly stymied by isolating yourselves from the parents.

Huh, interesting. Have you read many other nonfiction books about soccer? I've been thinking about picking up The Ball is Round. Looks like some interesting books.

I started Cod today and it's very good.

You can get a copy of the enchiridion pretty cheap too. I think I paid $3.50.

https://www.amazon.com/Enchiridion-Dover-Thrift-Editions-Epictetus/dp/0486433595

I've REALLY gotten a lot out of the Cynthia King Translation of Musonius Rufus, though. Got it from inter-library loan for free. Thin book. Great read.

First I gotta say John McCain, he was actually the first political rally I ever attended in 2000 (during his early Republican Primary bid). However there was a few items that sorta pushed me to Barack Obama in the 2008 election, such as his vote against elevating MLK Day to a state holiday in Arizona (https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/apr/08/moveon/mccain-changed-position-on-mlk-day/) and the appointment of Sarah Palin as his running mate in that election cycle.

​

Additionally, I've always been a big fan of Ike Eisenhower; I think he really pushed America to continue investing in its infrastructure, and not rest on the successes America achieved in WWII.

​

And of course Lincoln is an interesting figure, sometime (sooner rather than later) I want to read the Doris Kearns Goodwin book, Team of Rivals, which was about Lincoln's cabinet. (https://www.amazon.com/Team-Rivals-Political-Abraham-Lincoln/dp/0743270754)

Be sure to purchase Donald Trump's book "Great Again" today so that it outsells Hillary's new book on the best sellers charts.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501138006/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Genghis Khan. He came from nothing, was kidnapped multiple times as a kid and promoted free religion and science. This is an EXCELLENT book.
http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Khan-Making-Modern-World/dp/0609809644/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292968337&sr=8-1


He's often demonized because he's really the only person to push into the west from the unknown East

Came here to post this. Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is a great way for the layman to become scientifically literate, and it's entertaining. I like all of Krakauer's works, but would particularly recommend Where Men Win Glory for a perspective on the war in Afghanistan as well as a portrait of Pat Tillman, a complicated man.

You're mistaking catch size for fish size; average cod catch in Iceland has hovered a bit over 1kg (average size for a 5 year old fish). A fish that size is just as likely to be caught off the Grand Banks it's just nobody really fishes that hard for 'em there anymore; adults are way migratory.

Despite all their management their spawning biomass has plummeted since 1950 (from more than a million tons to about 150,000) and their mostly just living off the protected spawning areas there and a shift in those fishes' maturation and growth rates observed over the past 50 years or so. This is a fishery that happily and regularly pushed a fishing mortality > .8 in the years following the exclusion zone imposition. IMHO their "management" skill is likely the luck of having a yet-to-be decimated set of spawning grounds more than anything. A sort of musical chairs of collapsing stocks; they had and fought to keep theirs. It was too late for the rest of the Atlantic. Am sure Icelandic fisheries folks would disagree, though!

But Mark Kurlansky does do a wonderful job writing up all that insanity.

Here are some biographies that have just what you're looking for! Biographies sound boring, but you won't be able to put these ones down I promise!:

• Bossypants by Tina Fey
  
  
  
• Why not me by Mindy Kaling
  
  
  
• is everyone hanging out without me? by Mindy Kaling as well
  
  
  
• Lean in by Sheryl Sandberg I originally refused to get on the hype train for this one, but after reading it: WOOT WOOT! it's so empowering!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling.

She had a FA-ish youth, but the more salient point is the whole book is hilarious and uplifiting. I'd highly recommend checking it out.

>Ok, what are his misconceptions?

When it was written, how it was written, who he is talking to. I pointed that out already. And that is a start.

>He thinks it's a shame that these young men are spending their time only worrying about how to apply science to interpreting their holy book. Is this a misconception of rabbinical students' interest in science?

Well, that it is about interpreting a Holy Book is also a misconception. In their view, and their view is quite important in understanding what they are doing, they are trying to understand God's Law. Oh, and in Judaism, which is not Christianity, there is more than the "Book" that gives God's Law. There is Written and Oral Torah, both from God.

>he in fact tried to help the students settle whether electricity was fire and to prevent any sparks.

Unfortunately there is no evidence the he tried to understand what "fire" meant in the Torah. And that is what matters here, not what modern science talks about.

>I recommend The Meaning of It All for anyone really interested in Feynman's world view. He's actually quite open-minded.

I agree, but he was not perfect or a saint. I would recommend Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman as a start for those who don't have the math. But Meaning is quite good.

First, u/Flewtea, please understand that I am not attacking you or your opinion or experiences, I am simply offering some thoughts from my own personal experience.

Also, to avoid derailing your post u/throwawayisnotgreat, I have tried to make it informative for your perspective. I am not sure I have succeeded, and it did get long. My apologies!

If I'm remembering my reading correctly, this book and/or this book (I'm sorry, it has been a while since I cracked them open) state that welfare's original purpose was to allow mothers to stay at home to parent their children effectively when other options became untenable. This purpose has been twisted and tangled over the decades through laws and interpretations into a dungheap of epic proportions which is used to negatively influence public/political opinion toward the poor and further constrain their ability to function effectively within our society.

A welfare queen, in my humble opinion, is someone who utilizes and abuses the system for her own benefit, without concern for her children's upkeep and well-being.

In this instance, OP is being instructed to utilize the system under the original intent of the Welfare system - in order to care for her child - because other options are not apparent, and it would be a viable solution. However, within the system that currently exists, OP would need to understand that the red-tape and political atmosphere of today would make it as difficult as possible for her to "go on the system" and find a comfortable solution.

OP should know that the process itself can be humiliating and degrading. The solutions provided are not intended to provide for anything beyond basic means and support. It is not a matter of waltzing down, getting a hug, and being handed a check. They make you beg.

Additionally, OP should exhaust every option before applying, and be advised that the answer may still be "no."

OP would then be advised to remember that, upon qualification, retention of assistance is not guaranteed. In fact, the system has been engineered in such a way that a qualifying individual or household can be denied or suspended from the system at any time without any forewarning. There is an appeals process available. It puts the burden of proof on the applicant, who generally does not understand the system. The people who work there have trouble understanding it.

OP should also be aware that getting off the system is even more difficult than getting access to it. The difference between allowance and affordability is a hard line which leaves empty bellies and unpaid heating bills, and no more help - unless one falls below the line or becomes homeless. Then, you have an existing file and new circumstances, and they can just plug in the new information and the dance resumes.

People who use this system more than prove that they need it. Is it possible to work the system for personal benefit? Of course it is. People who live by working any system exist in every system, not just welfare and assistance. They are present in government offices, school buildings, retail stores, corporations, banks, prisons, food suppliers, casinos, union halls - if it exists, someone has figured out how to work it for their personal benefit to the detriment of others. I am going to say "Bernie Madoff" to make this point. There are dozens of others whose actions have been untested in a court of law, or tested and mildly punished or unpunished altogether (think Enron, cigarette companies, the banking system) or even rewarded...

The main differences between these individuals and people on assistance of any kind is the amount of money involved, and the ability to hide or fight back.

I (personally) think "welfare queen" might be a bit strong for this occasion.

____

edit, fixed typos, tried to address better, and further apologies to u/Flewtea and u/throwawayisnotgreat because I'm not trying to attack anyone or any position, and as usual I mucked it up.

Unbroken is great. It non-fiction that reads like fiction. So good!

http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163

The general resource for this is Thomas Slaughter's The Whiskey Rebellion. The central insight of that work is that the resistance was hardly confined to Western Pennsylvania but encompassed the entire frontier area of the United States. People living in backcountry areas basically hadn't been paying taxes since the Revolution began and didn't intend to start with such a heavy tax laid on by a distant government. What made Western Pennsylvania unique is the presence of someone actually willing to attempt to enforce the law in the person of General John Neville.

This is what we need to remember when looking into why the this tax was chosen. Eastern elites such as Alexander Hamilton looked upon frontier people much as Parliament looked upon the colonists when picking the Stamp Act tax or Mitt Romney looked upon the 47%. The whiskey tax would fall harder on freeloaders than on the productive people in eastern counties. For a more nuanced look at the politics see William Hogeland's The Whiskey Rebellion. Ron Chernow in Alexander Hamilton argues that the whiskey tax was the only real option for funding after federal assumption of state debts but doesn't explore the structure of the law designed to fall harder on small producers than on large.

The result was the strengthening of the government of the United States. It demonstrated to its states and foreign governments that it could enforce an unpopular tax and field large military forces to subdue its hinterlands. On the flip side, a lot of frontier farmers lost their land. Despite the prejudices of rich people, poor people really are poor. The situation became less bleak for western farmers after the opening of the Mississippi but agrarian unrest didn't subside until easy money and credit reached them in the wake of the demise of the First Bank of the United States ( See Gordon Wood Empire of Liberty page 298.

I've just finished an incredible book of a man I knew nothing of but found fascinating. It was Quanah Parker and focused on his people (the Comanches) who were among the biggest and most violent tribes of all. They constantly fought with almost any other tribe and were among the first to truly master the horse.

https://www.amazon.ca/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591060

A great read and exactly what you're asking about, is covered in this book.

If you're interested in Genghis Khan, you should read Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. It paints him in a different light than we are used to seeing him in. When I read this book for a college course, it was the first time I realized how amazing learning about history can be. The author even came to give a talk at my school.

Now to get my history fix, I listen to Dan Carlin - he has a Hardcore History podcast on Genghis Khan that gets mentioned on reddit when he is brought up.

And if you still can't get enough on Genghis Khan, there's a good movie available on youtube worth watching

and look at Trump's amazing book with a similar number of reviews. Pure WIN!

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Again-How-Crippled-America/dp/1501138006/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1474868989&sr=8-5&keywords=stronger+together

I downvoted all 15 pages of 1 star comments.

While you are free to voice your pleasure or displeasure with the choice, just a reminder that this sub is not a place for political discussion. Thanks.

Edit: Gonna plug his biography in case anyone wants to learn more. It's amazing.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is the best one I've read so far. Nonfiction account of an American bombardier in WW2, built with superb writing and an almost unbelievable story.

Any of Bill Bryson's books are very good, but in a similar vein try:

Notes From a Small Island, an account of his time in the UK while traveling the length of the country.

In a Sunburned Country his travels in Austrailia.

Neither Here nor There his travels in Europe.

And though it is not a travel book, my personal favorite by Bryson is a A Short History of Nearly Everything, a history of science along the lines of the the Edmund Burke TV show "Connections" that is how every science textbook should be written. Spring for the Illustrated edition as long as you don't want to carry it everywhere you read, it's too big and heavy to be a good coffee shop read.

If you just want a good read, I recommend Dealers of Lightning. It does a great job covering Xerox PARC's influence on computing through its history.

Don't sleep there are snakes.

> A riveting account of the astonishing experiences and discoveries made by linguist Daniel Everett while he lived with the Pirahã, a small tribe of Amazonian Indians in central Brazil. Daniel Everett arrived among the Pirahã with his wife and three young children hoping to convert the tribe to Christianity. Everett quickly became obsessed with their language and its cultural and linguistic implications. The Pirahã have no counting system, no fixed terms for color, no concept of war, and no personal property. Everett was so impressed with their peaceful way of life that he eventually lost faith in the God he'd hoped to introduce to them, and instead devoted his life to the science of linguistics. Part passionate memoir, part scientific exploration, Everett's life-changing tale is riveting look into the nature of language, thought, and life itself.

http://www.amazon.ca/Dont-Sleep-There-Are-Snakes/dp/0307386120


Deconversion is literally like 3 pages long. Long book about what a godless society looks like.

For anyone that does read The Art of Invisibility I would also recommend reading Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker

It’s honestly a good read.

Hamilton, as an artistic work, is really deep into using present references to illustrate how the past works, and this is no exception. Tl;dr: it's a joke made at the expense of people from New Jersey, nothing more, nothing less.

People from New York City, especially from Manhattan Island, have a long history of looking down their noses at the so-called "bridge and tunnel crowd," that is, people from outside Manhattan. This is because Manhattan has been the cultural, commercial, and transportation hub of the region for the last few hundred years. Witness the distinctions made in this New York Times article from 1904, in which the reporter notes who's riding the subway on its first day:

>The crowds varied from hour to hour. At first, the down-town trains were sparsely filled and the up-town trains crowded. The explanation was simple; the good folk of Brooklyn and Jersey had come over early to try the subway and get home to bed. Later on the down-town trains began to bear the preponderance; the up-town New Yorkers were trying the new experiment, and the Brooklynites and Jerseyites had gone home.

>And it was amusing to note the difference. The up-bound Brooklynites and Jerseyites and Richmondites had boarded the trains with the stolid air of an African chief suddenly admitted into civilization and unwilling to admit that anything surprised him. The Manhattanites boarded the trains with the sneaking air of men who were ashamed to admit that they were doing something new, and attempting to cover up the disgraceful fact. They tried to cover it up with gibes and jokes.

Or, if you want to look at something more recent, check out the famous New Yorker cover from 1976 that illustrates the stereotypical Manhattan attitude towards New Jersey.

This attitude is because, as Ben Franklin put it, New Jersey is a "keg tapped at both ends"-- Jersey is in the shadow of both Philadelphia and New York. In the modern era, this hasn't changed much, despite New Jersey's emergence as one of the wealthiest states in the Union. New Yorkers tend to treat Jerseyites as an indistinct mass, partially because New Jersey local government is extraordinarily Balkanized due to poor planning decisions in the late 19th century. The six densely-populated counties closest to Manhattan have 4.1 million people between them as of the last census -- nearly half the population of New York City itself-- but they're so splintered that the largest city, Newark, has less than 300,000 residents.

Now, to bring this into the context of Hamilton: dueling was illegal but tolerated in New Jersey at the time, which is why the actual duel happened in Weehawken. I suspect Miranda, like any good New Yorker, couldn't pass up the opportunity to throw shade.

Currently reading Ron Chernow's Biography of Alexander Hamilton. He is a fascinating man.

Next on my shelf is Karen Abbot's Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy. I've heard great things about this one, and it seems like a fascinating concept. She tells the story of 4 women who went undercover during the Civil War.

Trying to prove Trump is not gaslighting us in a reddit post to someone that has already made their mind would take a TON of time. I do however, invite you to do a few things if you're truly seeking to understand the other side(doubtful).

1. Read his book "great again" https://www.amazon.com/Great-Again-How-Crippled-America/dp/1501138006/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1541918111&sr=8-2&keywords=donald+trump+great+again In fact, if you're serious enough I'll even buy it for you. I recommend the Audio version. It details most of his policies
   
   
2. Sign up to r/The_Donald 50& of it is just memes, but you'll also get a lot of great information. For example right now, we're talking a lot about the Florida election and how it's attempted at being stolen. The left is just saying "we're just counting votes" it's not that simple, and there is massive evidence of real fraud.
   
   
3. If you ever have specific questions about why we think or feel this way. Feel free to message me anytime and I'll explain our stance on a specific viewpoint.
   
   Like most things in life, there are two sides and both sides are credible.

I just started readingCod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World and I think it'a pretty neat. Kind of a niche topic though

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Not only the best I read this year, but easily the best I've read in the past five years.

I would like this book because I love Mindy Kaling and I think she's hilarious.

What you do is buy a copy of Bernie's book - either Our Revolution: A Future to Believe in or his other book Bernie Sanders' Guide to a Political Revolution.

From there I followed the instructions on their Instagram page:

>Send your copy to the office with a note to Bernie and he will sign it. Please include a return envelope with postage paid. Use the media mail postage rate, its cheaper. Send it to Bernie's campaign office called Friends of Bernie Sanders to PO Box 391, Burlington, VT 05402. It takes a while for him to have time to sign, so please be patient, but he would be happy to sign it for you!

I sent my book in a box and included a 10 X 14.5in. self-addressed postage paid bubble envelope so that after Bernie signed it, they could return it to me. Also, it took about 2 and a half months for me to have the book sent back, so it will take a while. But it's worth it for a signed Bernie book if you ask me! <3

I'd just like to second Cod.
An excellent, informative, quick, and extremely entertaining read.

I watched a Ted Talk by Jon Ronson and it made me want to read his book, The Psycopath Test

(It's currently in my Audible wishlist because I like to listen to audiobooks in the car on my commute - but I'd be just as happy with a paperback or kindle version) ;)

Much about this video reminds me of a book called "Ghost in the Wires". It's a firsthand account of Kevin Mitnick, one of the best hackers around.

Kevin details his entire life from the moment he discovered how to mess with a phone, to stealing all kinds of data from the biggest companies around via social engineering and hacking.

He is continuously chased by the FBI and has to assume new identities. The best part is that he does it all for the thrill of it, and continues to do it even after being arrested several times.

The book is actually quite humorous, very well written, and packed with tons of crazy true stories. Highly recommend!

EDIT: Amazon Link

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

and it is absolutely fascinating and well written.

> Im studying at college in telecommunication field right now, but i enjoy hacking atm, i've been learn hacking for 2 months. But are those two things related? (telecom and hacking) If yes, what skills i should focus on? Sorry for bad english tho

You will enjoy reading this book (for entertainment, not knowledge):
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wires-Adventures-Worlds-Wanted/dp/0316037729

Kevin Mitnick - Ghost In The Wires

He was a telecom hacker in the earlier days.

Well the best book I ever read was ghost in the wires that's what got me interested in programming

i like Ron Chernow's historical biographies.

I've read his books on John D. Rockefeller, JP Morgan, and am currently reading Hamilton.

They are well researched, and he tells a good story.

In fact, iirc, you are local-ish to me so you can borrow one of them from me if you'd like. If I can find them (having moved recently).

Robert Massie is my favorite historian, and he has 3 amazing books on the period. Dreadnought, about the Anglo-German naval rivalry that led to WWI, Nicholas and Alexander, a biography of the last Czar and the fall of the Russian Empire, and the beautifully titled Castles of Steel, about the naval battles of WWI.

> The greed of the gun CEOs, on the other hand, can't be explained as easily by mental illness.

It's been theorized that the occurrence of psychopathy is significantly higher in CEOs than the population at large. I believe the figure is 5x higher. Causation is still being determined. I've seen some studies suggest that obtaining power can cause people to lose empathy, and some have theorized that the modern corporate boardroom is simply the ideal environment for psychopaths to thrive so it attracts them.

I'm pretty sure it's covered in this book. If I could find the actual studies or data, I'd link that. If anyone else knows anything that supports or refutes the claim, I'm all ears.

The excellent prequel by Massie is Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War

Not exactly profiling, but The Psychopath Test was a very interesting read and tells you how to truly use the Hare test

Team of Rivals is the story of Abraham Lincoln's political career, with great emphasis on the men in his cabinet and their influence on both his views and actions.
Its one of the best books I've ever read. I really cannot recommend it enough.

This guy's story is really interesting. Parker's Fort, where his mother was captured and the rest of his family slaughtered, is a well kept state park. There was a book written about him, Empire of the Summer Moon, that was a Pulitzer finalist and great read. You can't imagine the violence and turbulence in his world as the Comanche fought the Anglos and Spanish/Mexicans.

Please please please please read a book before asking such questions. Here: https://www.amazon.com/Team-Rivals-Political-Abraham-Lincoln/dp/0743270754

That will start to answer your questions, and it will then start make sense.

You can follow that up with: https://www.amazon.com/Path-Power-Years-Lyndon-Johnson/dp/0679729453/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523289285&sr=1-1&keywords=path+to+power

That is the first of the LBJ series and describes in detail what changed and what Southern Democrats were.

There are other books in the LBJ series which will almost fully give you understanding.

You also read this one: https://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-Life-John-Kennedy-1917-ebook/dp/B000Q67H36/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1523289385&sr=8-6&keywords=john+f+kennedy

After that you will know:

> How does this make any sense?

I don't have time to read all the comments, but if anyone is interested in reading what was like to be on a plane fighting in the Pacific in WWII read

"Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

(http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333913387&sr=1-1)

You can read the first chapter free on Amazon. I guarantee you will be hooked. There is a reason the men who fought that war are revered.

>Some interesting points, but I don't buy it. Bernie is working for a better America without his personal interests being much of a priority. He could have been feeling a bit entitled at one point being caught up in everything, but he's not there anymore.

You can even buy his new book to read all about it...

Do you like history? I read the big Lincoln book, Team of Rivals. It took forever but man was it worth it. I learned so much and the book really humanized Lincoln for me. When I finished I decided to just read it again, I enjoyed it so much.

Have you ever read Titan? It actually goes into this a bit when Standard Oil had to incorporate separately in each state. Pretty interesting stuff and a great book. Also goes into the nature of regulation the oil industry.

I will agree with that. There is a lot of redundancy involved in making multiple companies that service the same thing in each state.

I think we have to either go full socialized single payer or deregulate entirely. This halfway bastardization that we have is pretty horrible.

Hahaha the top review is a fucking classic. I found it very helpful:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/1501138006/R5J40GK9VLPU7/ref=cm_cr_dp_mb_rvw_1?ie=UTF8&cursor=1

IS THERE OLIVES IN IT!? (Somebody please get the reference or I'll be very sad)

I've wanted this book for a while now! Otherwise gift card is cool.

Strawberry Bubblegum

If you haven't read the book "Where Men Win Glory" by John Krakauer, you really really should.

http://www.amazon.com/Where-Men-Win-Glory-Odyssey/dp/030738604X

Fiction:
The Terror by Dan Simmons

Non-Fiction:
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer