Book recommendations
10-14-2025 | 05:00 PM
#441
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,154
Likes: 192
Snort. Probably sarcasm? That question was catnip. I’ll bite.
First: An essay about reading that’s excellent. Posted link is great, but TLDR just go to Point 12: “Reading is an endurance sport.” Like exercise, it’s a habit that needs to be approached on a regular basis for the best returns. Most books take years to write: you can get the accumulated wisdom from another person who did the hard work over several hours. It’s magic.
https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/how-i-read
Current Sept-Oct finished/almost finished reading list:
“War Business: The Hired Guns of Helmand Province” - Matthew Brunnemann (Good for GWOT first hand accounts. Enjoyed it. Probably boring for those who served there at the grunt level. Easy and short read.)
“The Virginia Dynasties” - Clifford Downey 1977. Definitely niche stuff. Do not rec unless your roots are from the old south.
“Sunburst: The Rise of the Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941” - Mark Peattie (also niche. Beautiful hardback. Get the 1991 hardback edition on eBay. Good enough just to skim and learn some WWII naval lore. Everyone knows about Japanese carrier fire-suppression problems; I never knew the US built carriers to store planes on the deck with folding wings = more planes and the Japanese built them to be stored below deck w/o folding wings. Very self limiting. Lots of tidbits.)
“Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of WWII” - Keith Lowe. (Don’t read if you’re easily depressed by books)
First: An essay about reading that’s excellent. Posted link is great, but TLDR just go to Point 12: “Reading is an endurance sport.” Like exercise, it’s a habit that needs to be approached on a regular basis for the best returns. Most books take years to write: you can get the accumulated wisdom from another person who did the hard work over several hours. It’s magic.
https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/how-i-read
Current Sept-Oct finished/almost finished reading list:
“War Business: The Hired Guns of Helmand Province” - Matthew Brunnemann (Good for GWOT first hand accounts. Enjoyed it. Probably boring for those who served there at the grunt level. Easy and short read.)
“The Virginia Dynasties” - Clifford Downey 1977. Definitely niche stuff. Do not rec unless your roots are from the old south.
“Sunburst: The Rise of the Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941” - Mark Peattie (also niche. Beautiful hardback. Get the 1991 hardback edition on eBay. Good enough just to skim and learn some WWII naval lore. Everyone knows about Japanese carrier fire-suppression problems; I never knew the US built carriers to store planes on the deck with folding wings = more planes and the Japanese built them to be stored below deck w/o folding wings. Very self limiting. Lots of tidbits.)
“Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of WWII” - Keith Lowe. (Don’t read if you’re easily depressed by books)
Just read a quick review. Happy to see a book written for the English speaking West about the continuation of the war post May '45. Hopefully it ties together some pre1939 to 1945 history so as to make it a coherent narrative, but Lowe also had to keep it from being a multi volume work. So there's that to consider.
We tend to talk a lot about how WW2 shaped our world. And our lives. But so too did the ongoing wars of the "post-war" period. My wife had one Grandfather who went to war in 1939. In 1944 his unit switched from fighting Germans to fighting Russians (Soviets). Due to that he didn't return home until after Stalin's death in 1953 and the subsequent pardon of Home Army combatants who had fought the Russian occupation.
That is just one anecdotal tidbit of the lived lives of untold multitudes.
An entire continent suffered from PTSD. When I reflect on that fact I am in absolute awe of the resilience of Man.
I hope to get around to reading it.
Thanks for the 'real time' snapshot list.
*Actually I have at least 6 or more different lists floating around. Plus another half dozen or so tucked, forgotten, in one of numerous notebooks.
An advantage of getting old is one more and more often has "I forgot about that" pleasant surprises in daily life.
10-18-2025 | 02:46 AM
#442
Moderator
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4,080
Likes: 42
Recommend: Sigh for a Merlin autobiography by Alex Henshaw. Test pilot at Castle Bromwich factory where he test flew thousands of Spitfires. Lots of good history and stories. Pretty quick read and more interesting than I expected.
Recently finished from this thread that were great
- Concorde
- Nuclear War
- The Bomber Mafia
- Die with Zero
Recently finished from this thread that were great
- Concorde
- Nuclear War
- The Bomber Mafia
- Die with Zero
10-18-2025 | 01:50 PM
#443
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,394
Likes: 128
Recently finished a few good ones:
Behind the Yellow Visor by Vincent "Jello" Aiello about life as an F-18 pilot. He happens to be a pilot here. Cool look at that life coming from the civilian world. His descriptions of landing on a carrier for the first time are hilarious.
Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhurt - the true story of a husband and wife sailing the Pacific whose sailboat is destroyed by a whale. They survive 118 days adrift in their life raft.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean Dominique Bauby - true story of the founder of Elle magazine and how one day he had a massive stroke and woke up a few weeks later completely immobile with the exception of being able to blink one eye. Horrifying and inspiring all at once. He wrote a book by blinking tens of thousands of times to a scribe. Also made into a movie that was well done.
Source Code by Bill Gates. His autobiography centering around his youth and the beginnings of Microsoft. A computer obsessed kid born at the exact moment to ride the computing wave of the 1960's with his school having access to the first mainframes. He has the most unbelievable foresight to develop software when everyone was making hardware. The wild west of computing.
Fahrenheit 182 - Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 bio. If you like Blink, its a good read.
Behind the Yellow Visor by Vincent "Jello" Aiello about life as an F-18 pilot. He happens to be a pilot here. Cool look at that life coming from the civilian world. His descriptions of landing on a carrier for the first time are hilarious.
Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhurt - the true story of a husband and wife sailing the Pacific whose sailboat is destroyed by a whale. They survive 118 days adrift in their life raft.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean Dominique Bauby - true story of the founder of Elle magazine and how one day he had a massive stroke and woke up a few weeks later completely immobile with the exception of being able to blink one eye. Horrifying and inspiring all at once. He wrote a book by blinking tens of thousands of times to a scribe. Also made into a movie that was well done.
Source Code by Bill Gates. His autobiography centering around his youth and the beginnings of Microsoft. A computer obsessed kid born at the exact moment to ride the computing wave of the 1960's with his school having access to the first mainframes. He has the most unbelievable foresight to develop software when everyone was making hardware. The wild west of computing.
Fahrenheit 182 - Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 bio. If you like Blink, its a good read.
10-18-2025 | 04:11 PM
#444
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Jan 2023
Posts: 3,517
Likes: 1,045
Recommend: Sigh for a Merlin autobiography by Alex Henshaw. Test pilot at Castle Bromwich factory where he test flew thousands of Spitfires. Lots of good history and stories. Pretty quick read and more interesting than I expected.
Recently finished from this thread that were great
- Concorde
- Nuclear War
- The Bomber Mafia
- Die with Zero
Recently finished from this thread that were great
- Concorde
- Nuclear War
- The Bomber Mafia
- Die with Zero
New books recently read - "Blood and Iron"
- Moltke on the Art of War: Selected readings;
- Moltke and his Generals: A study in Leadership.
Got a book here about Bismark I'm about to start.
10-19-2025 | 09:41 PM
#445
Line Holder
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 334
Likes: 16
From: 757/767 CA
Recently finished a few good ones:
Behind the Yellow Visor by Vincent "Jello" Aiello about life as an F-18 pilot. He happens to be a pilot here. Cool look at that life coming from the civilian world. His descriptions of landing on a carrier for the first time are hilarious..
Behind the Yellow Visor by Vincent "Jello" Aiello about life as an F-18 pilot. He happens to be a pilot here. Cool look at that life coming from the civilian world. His descriptions of landing on a carrier for the first time are hilarious..
12-29-2025 | 05:54 AM
#446
Line Holder
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,394
Likes: 128
My favorite books of 2025(I read A LOT):
I realized my reading falls into a handful of topics:
Sports, Money, Music/Movies, Flying, Geo-politics, and a little potpourri.
I’ll list them topically:
Aviation:
Flying and Dying by Huitema - 787 CA has cardiac arrest and his story with it.
From the Ground Up by Retired DL CA Nick Gravino - Bio of a retired DL CA
Head in the Clouds Part 1 and 2 by Retired BEA/BA Captain Gwyn Mullet - Started on VC-10s thru 747-400.
Behind the Yellow Visor by Aiello - The life of an F18 Naval Aviator. Happens to be a DL CA as well. Really well done.
Flying Know How by retired TWA CA Bob Buck - Folksy, simple stuff with some real gems in aeronautical decision making and leadership in the cockpit.
Flying the Oceans by Pan Am Clipper Captain Horace Brock - a fascinating book detailing his experiences as a flying boat captain and executive at Pan Am in the glory days.
Fly Girl by TWA Flight Attendant Ann Hood - Surprisingly really enjoyed this look at the life of a TWA FA in their heyday. Saw it in display at my library and grabbed it. Glad I did. If you like North Star Over My Shoulder by Buck, this is the FA version.
Three Dimensioned Darkness by Lincoln Lee - A look at the airline pilot life in the 1950s. A lot of similarities and a lot of differences.
Early Flying Days in Hong Kong by LDC Cowper - great look into the 1940-1970 period of flying at Cathay Pacific and life in Hong Kong.
Geopolitics:
Breaking History by Jared Kushner - His experiences in the White House. Didn’t know much about him but listened to a podcast he was on and came away surprisingly impressed.
Democracies and Death Cults by Douglas Murray - the battle between civilized society and those that want to tear it down.
Hostage by Eli Sharabi - a recount as a hostage in Gaza after 10/7
Movies/Music/Entertainment:
Future Boy by Michael J. Fox - a wild look at his experiences simultaneously filming Back to the Future and Family Times at the same time.
James Gandolfini by Bailey - a look the man behind Tony Soprano
Fahrenheit 182 by Mark Hoppus - The Blink 182 singer autobiography.
Sellout by Dan Ozzi - a look at the decision of punk bands in the 80s-00s and the decision to sign with major labels.
Walking Disaster by Deryck Whibley - autobiography of Sum 41 frontman. Surprisingly good and candid.
Best. Movie. Year. Ever. 1999 by Raftery - self explanatory. A look at about 20 great movies from 1999.
Writing Movies for Profit and Fun by Lennon. If you are a fan of “The State” comedy show, one of the guys became a prolific writer of film and TV. Funny view of how to do it.
Beyond the Throne by Nairn - bio and experience being on Game of Thrones by Hodor himself, Kristen Nairn.
Potpourri/Humanity:
A marriage at Sea - a married couple sailing the world gets shipwrecked and rescued. Their story.
The diving bell and the butterfly by JD Bauby - a man has a stroke, gets locked in syndrome, and writes an autobiography by blinking his eye in code. Remarkable.
An Exercise in Uncertainty by Gluck - an NYC based writers life living with cancer.
Source Code by Bill Gates - his early life through the origins of microsoft.
Private Equity by Sun - a woman’s experience as the executive assistant to one of the largest hedge fund managers in New York City and what it’s like being surrounded by such wealth and high intensity work environment.
Gray Matters by Dr. Jonathan Schwartz - a fascinating look at the history and practice of Brain Surgery by a Neurosurgeon himself(ironically we have a friend of a friend who trained under this guy and said he was a difficult man to intern for. Very common for this profession).
Fiction:
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides - the one fiction book I read this year. Physiological thriller/whodunit.
I hope some people find some gems in this list and get to enjoy some of these like I did.
I realized my reading falls into a handful of topics:
Sports, Money, Music/Movies, Flying, Geo-politics, and a little potpourri.
I’ll list them topically:
Aviation:
Flying and Dying by Huitema - 787 CA has cardiac arrest and his story with it.
From the Ground Up by Retired DL CA Nick Gravino - Bio of a retired DL CA
Head in the Clouds Part 1 and 2 by Retired BEA/BA Captain Gwyn Mullet - Started on VC-10s thru 747-400.
Behind the Yellow Visor by Aiello - The life of an F18 Naval Aviator. Happens to be a DL CA as well. Really well done.
Flying Know How by retired TWA CA Bob Buck - Folksy, simple stuff with some real gems in aeronautical decision making and leadership in the cockpit.
Flying the Oceans by Pan Am Clipper Captain Horace Brock - a fascinating book detailing his experiences as a flying boat captain and executive at Pan Am in the glory days.
Fly Girl by TWA Flight Attendant Ann Hood - Surprisingly really enjoyed this look at the life of a TWA FA in their heyday. Saw it in display at my library and grabbed it. Glad I did. If you like North Star Over My Shoulder by Buck, this is the FA version.
Three Dimensioned Darkness by Lincoln Lee - A look at the airline pilot life in the 1950s. A lot of similarities and a lot of differences.
Early Flying Days in Hong Kong by LDC Cowper - great look into the 1940-1970 period of flying at Cathay Pacific and life in Hong Kong.
Geopolitics:
Breaking History by Jared Kushner - His experiences in the White House. Didn’t know much about him but listened to a podcast he was on and came away surprisingly impressed.
Democracies and Death Cults by Douglas Murray - the battle between civilized society and those that want to tear it down.
Hostage by Eli Sharabi - a recount as a hostage in Gaza after 10/7
Movies/Music/Entertainment:
Future Boy by Michael J. Fox - a wild look at his experiences simultaneously filming Back to the Future and Family Times at the same time.
James Gandolfini by Bailey - a look the man behind Tony Soprano
Fahrenheit 182 by Mark Hoppus - The Blink 182 singer autobiography.
Sellout by Dan Ozzi - a look at the decision of punk bands in the 80s-00s and the decision to sign with major labels.
Walking Disaster by Deryck Whibley - autobiography of Sum 41 frontman. Surprisingly good and candid.
Best. Movie. Year. Ever. 1999 by Raftery - self explanatory. A look at about 20 great movies from 1999.
Writing Movies for Profit and Fun by Lennon. If you are a fan of “The State” comedy show, one of the guys became a prolific writer of film and TV. Funny view of how to do it.
Beyond the Throne by Nairn - bio and experience being on Game of Thrones by Hodor himself, Kristen Nairn.
Potpourri/Humanity:
A marriage at Sea - a married couple sailing the world gets shipwrecked and rescued. Their story.
The diving bell and the butterfly by JD Bauby - a man has a stroke, gets locked in syndrome, and writes an autobiography by blinking his eye in code. Remarkable.
An Exercise in Uncertainty by Gluck - an NYC based writers life living with cancer.
Source Code by Bill Gates - his early life through the origins of microsoft.
Private Equity by Sun - a woman’s experience as the executive assistant to one of the largest hedge fund managers in New York City and what it’s like being surrounded by such wealth and high intensity work environment.
Gray Matters by Dr. Jonathan Schwartz - a fascinating look at the history and practice of Brain Surgery by a Neurosurgeon himself(ironically we have a friend of a friend who trained under this guy and said he was a difficult man to intern for. Very common for this profession).
Fiction:
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides - the one fiction book I read this year. Physiological thriller/whodunit.
I hope some people find some gems in this list and get to enjoy some of these like I did.
12-29-2025 | 04:05 PM
#447
Moderator
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4,080
Likes: 42
That’s a great list marcal
ill likely end up touching about half of those this upcoming year. North Star over my shoulder was a good read so I’ll likely grab his other book and the FA one that’s similar. Also interested in the perspective of folks that start in things like Connie’s and DC3s and end up in 747s. I started in a glass turbo prop and will end in a 320. Would make a terrible book.
ill likely end up touching about half of those this upcoming year. North Star over my shoulder was a good read so I’ll likely grab his other book and the FA one that’s similar. Also interested in the perspective of folks that start in things like Connie’s and DC3s and end up in 747s. I started in a glass turbo prop and will end in a 320. Would make a terrible book.
12-30-2025 | 09:09 AM
#448
Line Holder
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,394
Likes: 128
That’s a great list marcal
ill likely end up touching about half of those this upcoming year. North Star over my shoulder was a good read so I’ll likely grab his other book and the FA one that’s similar. Also interested in the perspective of folks that start in things like Connie’s and DC3s and end up in 747s. I started in a glass turbo prop and will end in a 320. Would make a terrible book.
ill likely end up touching about half of those this upcoming year. North Star over my shoulder was a good read so I’ll likely grab his other book and the FA one that’s similar. Also interested in the perspective of folks that start in things like Connie’s and DC3s and end up in 747s. I started in a glass turbo prop and will end in a 320. Would make a terrible book.
12-31-2025 | 05:43 AM
#449
Moderator
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 7,502
Likes: 501
Awesome list Marcal, thanks for the post. Some great reads in there and many I have thrown on the list. My books have slowed down lately as everyone has found the Libby app (a good thing) and everything seems to have massive wait lists.
Latest reads:
Blind Man's Bluff by Sontag and Drew...classic book about cold war Submarine spying ops.
Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson...Surprising and enjoyable book about how Phil Jackson shaped his life and his players.
Currently waiting on:
Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn....WW2 spy story
The Wounded Generation by David Nasaw....discusses the lives of WW2 vets after all the ticker tape parades and patriotism around their victory.
Latest reads:
Blind Man's Bluff by Sontag and Drew...classic book about cold war Submarine spying ops.
Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson...Surprising and enjoyable book about how Phil Jackson shaped his life and his players.
Currently waiting on:
Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn....WW2 spy story
The Wounded Generation by David Nasaw....discusses the lives of WW2 vets after all the ticker tape parades and patriotism around their victory.
12-31-2025 | 06:11 AM
#450
Leaves Biscoff crumbs
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 3,265
Likes: 941
From: Blue Juice Taste Tester
Since DBR mentioned Jack Welch on another post,
The Man Who Broke Capitalism - David Gelles
Read it this year. Good intro into how he messed up GE in search of short term profits.
The Man Who Broke Capitalism - David Gelles
Read it this year. Good intro into how he messed up GE in search of short term profits.
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