Five Great Books You Never Heard Of
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January 16th, 2007
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It's a new year and time to think about vacation. Last year was a great vacation year and this one should be no different. It will also be filled with several weeks of relaxing on sun drenched beaches while admiring the stunning women beautiful ocean and drinking alcohol. Of course without with the children. If you can manage to distract yourself from the laptop and the free Wifi connection, I have a few excellent book suggestions. Park the kids in the sand with their favorite toys, order a few drinks, and start reading. Biggest problem with these books will be to stop reading, they are addictive page turners:
Blind Mans Bluff (1998): Talks about some fascinating ultra-secret submarine operations by the Americans during the Cold War. Most of them are untold in this kind of detail. Reminds me of the famous book/movie "The Hunt For Red October" except this stuff is true. Amazon grade, 4/5 Stars.
Liars Poker (1990): An exciting book by well known Michael Lewis about his years at Solomon Brothers in the late 80's. If you don't think a story about the financial markets can be a funny page turner you need to read this classic. Instead of boring financial theory, this book is filled with amazing personal stories from his years at the firm. How can you not love a book where the super star is called "A Big Swinging Dick"? Amazon ranking 4.5/5 Stars
Puzzle Palace (1983): One of the best and most amazing books I've ever read. The author, James Bamford, takes a very close look at the NSA and talks about the jaw-dropping things they can do. The NSA is larger than the CIA and FBI together and the most incredible and secretive spy agency in the world. You might have heard of them recently since the White House decided that they now can tap the communications of Americans at will. After you read the book you will realize that this has been done on a large scale for the past 40 years. It's a fascinating read and proof of what technology can do. This book reads like a high tech thriller, with technical details, was incredibly written in 1983. Just imagine what the NSA can do today……. Amazon ranking:4/5 stars
Crypto: How the code rebels…. (2002): Well known author Steven Levy describes how a small group of people were responsible for one of the most important discoveries in the digital age, how two entities can easily and securely communicate with each other. in other words, encryption. People don't realize it but without these people simple things like online banking and shopping would be nearly impossible. This amazing struggle and discovery is told without complicated formulas in an easy to read way. Who would have thought encryption could be this exciting? Amazon ranking 4.5/5 Stars
Killing Pablo (2001): The story over how one of he worlds most powerful men, Colombian drug boss Pablo Escobar, was hunted for years and finally caught. The author Mark Bowden, more famous for his book/movie Black Hawk Down, gives details of how Pablo escaped massive U.S. electronic surveilance and just how powerful he really was. Amazon ranking 4.5/5 Stars
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They all sound interesting, but I hate to admit, other than Harry Potter, I haven’t READ a book in a long time. Books On CD (so I can rip them to MP3s) for the ride or nothing for me.