My Short Stack - #2

What am I reading these days? For my fellow lifelong learners who share common interests, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Disclaimer: I have not completed many of the books listed, but I have read enough of each to keep them in my 'to be continued' short stack.

I am a sampler. I rarely read a book from start to finish and then move on to the next one. I read a little of this and then of that.

When something really gets my attention, I drill down.

I will limit my judgments and opinions to avoid biasing other readers as much as possible.

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1.   Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen.

A trippy little book that suggests that our problems do not stem from negative thinking but rather too much thinking.

2.   Are We Rome? by Cullen Murphy

Well?

If you read the history of the decline and fall of Rome, it is hard to ignore similarities.

3.   An Autobiography by Davy Crockett

C’mon. Admit it! How many of you had a coonskin hat as a child and watched Fess Parker teach kids the Davy Crockett mantra: “Make sure you are right, and then go ahead.”

4.   The Wife Upstairs by Frieda McFadden

Frieda churns them out. I’m addicted.

5.   An Iliad by Alessandro Barrico

The Trojan War was a massive historical paradigm shift. Some versions are daunting in the expanse. This version makes accessible the ten-year war that started over a beautiful woman and ended in a movie for Brad Pitt.

6.   The True Story of Titanic Thompson: The Man Who Bet on Everything by Kevin Cook

You have to read it to believe it—the greatest American hustler. He rubbed elbows with the likes of Ben Hogan and Arnold Rothstein and took everyone to the cleaners.

7.   1984 by George Orwell

This classic could not be timelier.

Get ready!

The Thought Police are just around the corner!

8.   The End of Everything: How Wars Descend Into Annihilation by Victor Davis Hanson

A good history lesson.

9.   What We Value by Emily Falk

A bit dense in neuroscience, but values are at the root of all of our decisions. Why this and not that?

An important book.

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Best Book of 2025 (So Far) 

There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone

Stories of people who work multiple jobs and still cannot afford housing in the land of oligarchs and yachts.

I couldn’t believe it and couldn’t put it down.