Intellectuals and Race by Thomas Sowell

A typically excellent book by Sowell on the history of intellectuals and race. An interesting point he makes is that today's progressives - who blame the state of the black community purely on environment - are the heirs of the earlier progressives of the first decades of the 20th century, who blamed it entirely on genes, and so advocated eugenics. Sowell shows that its neither genes nor environment that is truly crucial here, but culture.

Making Man in Reason's Image: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Humanity

A series of lectures from the Teaching Company that I listened to while running. Good overview of the Enlightenment. By James Schmidt

The Enlightenment by Margaret Jacob

An excellent short introduction to the history and thought of the Enlightenment.

Death in the Air by Agatha Christie

Listened to this on audio while running. Not her best... the method of the murder is unnecessarily elaborate and the motive a little convoluted.

The Great Debate - Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine and the Birth of Right and Left by Yuval Levin

This is an interesting introduction to the thought of Burke and Paine, in the form of a series of contrasting views between the two men. They did, in fact, meet each other and explicitly respond to each other's thought. Levin shows how the Right and Left, not just in Europe but here in America as well, owes their origins to the two different interpretations of Enlightenment liberalism given by Burke and Paine.

We Were There at The Battle of the Bulge by David Shepherd

This is an (older) children's book that I remember from my youth. I happened to stumble across it while surfing Amazon and figured - why not pick it up for a couple of bucks? It's just as good as I remember and a great way to introduce kids to military history. I also have We Were There at the Battle of Gettysburg somewhere that I got many years ago... I can't remember if I ever got around to reading it to the kids.

Fatherless America by David Blankenhorn

Found this for a couple of bucks while browsing in the used bookstore. A classic from the 1990's, Blankenhorn uses the characters of the Old Father, New Father, Deadbeat Dad, Visiting Father and others to explain the crisis in fatherhood (which has only become much worse since then). He does an excellent job showing how all the various "new" fathers fail to provide the family what only real fathers can.

The Republic by Plato

Have you done your annual re-reading of The Republic?

The Prince by Machiavelli

Finally got around to reading this classic. A short read and well worth the time.

Nietzsche by Walter Kaufmann

I generally try to read great philosophers first before reading secondary literature, so I don't read the greats through the lens of lesser minds. There is a reason the great philosophers are great, right? I've read some of Nietzsche - Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, The Genealogy of Morals - but have to admit I never quite got what he was getting at, certainly not the way Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript made immediate sense to me.  That's been cleared up for me by Kaufmann's book - which I found in a used book store for $1.99 a few months ago. It still gives me a thrill to browse used book stores for such cheap treasures.

Verdun by John Mosier

Interesting take on the Battle of Verdun in WW1 that takes on the conventional wisdom. Mosier makes a strong case that it was not, nor was intended to be, a battle of attrition. He points out things like the fact that the German casualty rate was no lower before and after the battle than during it. He also makes a good case that the first German Chief of Staff, von Falkenhayn, was way ahead of everyone else (both in Germany and among the Allied nations) in understanding the nature of the war.

10% Happier by Dan Harris

Dan Harris is a host of Good Morning America and Nightline on ABC TV. The book is about his discovery of Buddhist meditation and how it made him, in his words "10% happier." It actually does more than that for him, giving him some center and peace in a typical "type A" lifestyle.

The book is worth reading for Harris's style and self-deprecating humor. For a TV personality, he's refreshingly free of vanity.

The Christian Philosophy of St. Augustine by Etienne Gilson

Excellent as always from Gilson.

The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke

Story about a messed up cop in New Orleans. Good enough that I'll try the next in the series.

The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters

Another Cadfael medieval mystery. This is one of the better ones, and shows Cadfael more prayerful than in some of the other books.

Let it Burn by Steve Hamilton

Latest in the Alex McKnight series. Not the best but OK.

The Skeleton Box by Bryan Gruley

The third in his series featuring Gus Carpenter.  I prefer series like this that involve normal people who make mistakes and aren't superhero level fighters. (One reason I'm not a huge fan of Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series - superhero level fighters).

One False Move by Harlan Coben

Another Bolitar book, read out of order.

Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben

The first book in the Myron Bolitar series. It's OK, but I prefer Bryan Gruley, Steve Hamilton or CJ Box.

Firebase Illingworth by Philip Keith

Excellent Vietnam battle story, late war.

Stone Cold by CJ Box

Latest in the Joe Pickett series. This series still has life in it.

Gold Wars by Kelly Mitchell

In depth account of how international finance works, and especially its relationship to gold. Mandatory reading in age of irresponsible central banking.

The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman

Jim Chee novel. Probably the best of the Hillerman novels I've read so far.