Alright so i am vacations right now, and have to time to read some books. Any interesting history books that you know about? There are some many that i probably dont know. I recommend: The Art of War-Sun Tzu The Prince-Niccolò Machiavelli Pls the title of the thread says misc to, but don't go to far away from history. 2009-06-20T17:27:13-04:00 7 2009-06-20T01:47:27-04:00 42821 false false 6279 6279 1 2009-11-08T05:34:14-05:00 190 arm yourself, with knowledge <img src="http://www.journeywithjesus.net/BookNotes/Sam_Harris_The_End_Of_Faith_sm.jpg" /> 42821 Post 2009-06-20T01:50:32-04:00 1257851 1106 2009-06-20T01:50:32-04:00 Friedrich Nietzsche <img src="http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:cA8_Cwkj2VuefM:http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QdrNtr0qL.jpg" /> 42821 Post 2009-06-20T02:00:19-04:00 1257931 13026 2009-06-20T02:00:19-04:00 A Short History of Nearly Everything By Bill Bryson (available on audio book too) 42821 Post 2009-06-20T02:22:06-04:00 1258221 2330 2009-06-20T02:22:24-04:00 The best nonfiction I've read in at least a year was 'Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World' by Jack Weatherford. What the Mongols did was just unbelievable and if anyone can claim to be The Man in world history it's either Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great. Nobody else even comes close. The best historical fiction I've read lately was 'The Memoirs of Cleopatra' by Margaret George. I usually avoid historical fiction because it's so speculative but first-person accounts from that era are rare and the author does a good job of using fiction to fill in the holes between the facts instead of the other way around. Not exactly a history book but 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao' by Junot Díaz is laced with the history of the Dominican Republic during the Trujillo years. Diaz won a well-deserved Pulitzer for it. It's a quick read and not quite like anything I've ever seen before. So weird and so good. Fuego! I just finished 'The Very Best Men: The Daring Early Years of the CIA' by Evan Thomas. I'm not into spy stories but I found this fascinating. It also made the recent Pelosi claims about her CIA briefings entirely believable. I'm currently reading 'The Templars' by Piers Paul Read and am completely disappointed so far. I've always been interested in the Templars and they keep popping up in the books I read about the Crusades (and in the Genghis Khan book above -- the Mongols kicked their asses in almost every meeting) so I had high hopes for this book. So far, not so good. If anyone knows a good Templar book that isn't trying to prove or disprove the Da Vinci Code please let me know. Three others I read a long time ago but remember being good books are 'Longitude' and 'Galileo's Daughter', both by Dava Sobel, and 'The Killer Angels' by Michael Shaara. 42821 Post 2009-06-20T03:00:34-04:00 1258431 2440 2009-06-20T03:00:34-04:00 <img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/716W4BQZDAL.gif" /> this is a tough read when it gets to the long list of kings and thier heritage but if you can retain 10% of what is in this book you will be a better human being. 42821 Post 2009-06-20T08:07:58-04:00 1259571 11020 2009-06-20T08:07:58-04:00 since you suggested AOW, how about: The book of 5 rings, The 48 laws of Power, The art of Negotiation, Thinking with the creative side of the brain, All which have great history facts and stories through out. the last one maybe not to many though. 42821 Post 2009-06-20T08:37:12-04:00 1259711 9982 2009-06-20T08:39:32-04:00 Thanks folks, gonna try to read at least 2 in my freetime. 42821 Post 2009-06-20T17:27:13-04:00 1264161 6279 2009-06-20T17:27:13-04:00