Book mentions in this thread

• Votes: 8

  Red Notice

  by Bill Browder

  Expelled from Russia after exposing corruption in Russian companies, an investment broker describes how his attorney was detained, tortured and beaten to death for testifying against Russian law enforcement officers who stole millions in taxes paid to the government. Illustrations. Tour.
• Votes: 5

  Team of Rivals

  by Doris Kearns Goodwin

  An analysis of Abraham Lincoln's political talents identifies the character strengths and abilities that enabled his successful election, in an account that also describes how he used the same abilities to rally former opponents in winning the Civil War.
• Votes: 4

  Man's Search for Meaning

  by Viktor E. Frankl

  A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn't) with the experience. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the concentration camp prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Only those who allowed their inner hold on their moral and spiritual selves to subside eventually fell victim to the camp's degenerating influence - while those who made a victory of those experiences turned them into an inner triumph. Frankl came to believe man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.
• Votes: 4

  Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

  by Jared Diamond

  "Fascinating.... Lays a foundation for understanding human history."—Bill Gates In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.
• Votes: 3

  When Breath Becomes Air

  by Paul Kalanithi

  A cloth bag containing eight copies of the title.
• Votes: 3

  Into Thin Air

  by Jon Krakauer

  The author describes his spring 1996 trek to Mt. Everest, a disastrous expedition that claimed the lives of eight climbers, and explains why he survived
• Votes: 3

  Educated

  by Tara Westover

  "An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University"--Amazon.com.
• Votes: 3

  The Power Broker

  by Robert A. Caro

  Moses is pictured as idealist reformer and political manipulator as his rise to power and eventual domination of New York State politics is documented
• Votes: 3

  Long Walk to Freedom

  by Nelson Mandela

  These memoirs from one of the great leaders of our time are 'essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history - and then go out and change it' Barack Obama The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time, Long Walk to Freedom brilliantly re-creates the drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela's destiny. Emotive, compelling and uplifting, Long Walk to Freedom is the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story of hardship, resilience and ultimate triumph told with the clarity and eloquence of a born leader. 'Enthralling . . . Mandela emulates the few great political leaders such as Lincoln and Gandhi, who go beyond mere consensus and move out ahead of their followers to break new ground' Sunday Times 'The authentic voice of Mandela shines through this book . . . humane, dignified and magnificently unembittered' The Times 'Burns with the luminosity of faith in the invincible nature of human hope and dignity . . . Unforgettable' Andre Brink
• Votes: 3

  The Boys in the Boat

  by Daniel James Brown

  Cast aside by his family at an early age, abandoned and left to fend for himself in the woods of Washington State, young Joe Rantz turns to rowing as a way of escaping his past. What follows is an extraordinary journey, as Joe and eight other working-class boys exchange the sweat and dust of life in 1930s America for the promise of glory at the heart of Hitler's Berlin. Stroke by stroke, a remarkable young man strives to regain his shattered self-regard, to dare again to trust in others - and to find his way back home. Told against the backdrop of the Great Depression, The Boys in the Boat is narrative non-fiction of the first order; a personal story full of lyricism and unexpected beauty that rises above the grand sweep of history, and captures instead the purest essence of what it means to be alive. 'The Boys in the Boat is not only a great and inspiring true story; it is a fascinating work of history' Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea 'I really can't rave enough about this book . . . I read the last fifty pages with white knuckles, and the last twenty-five with tears in my eyes' David Laskin, author of The Children's Blizzard and The Long Way Home 'A thrilling, heart-thumping tale of a most remarkable band of rowing brothers' Timothy Egan, author of The Worst Hard Time