Hmm. Well, according to my phone, I need to crank through: Currency Wars by James Rickards. Ain't gonna happen. I made it a third of the way through this after Mauldin & Tepper's Code Red and Rickards is ridiculous. Basically a screed about why we should return to the gold standard. Average is Over by Tyler Cowen. I think Ryan Holiday recommended this one. I've made it as far as "This is Audible." Debt: the First 5,000 Years by David Graeber. This is one that comes up a lot in financial literature. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Because classics. Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournelle. Have read it 3 times as a novel; it was cheap. The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sachs. Because Sachs. It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. Gets mentioned a lot by bleeding-heart 'wingers about totalitarianism. Might as well. Love in the Time of Cholera by Marquez. See: Oscar Wilde. Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney. Because it was $5 and I've read enough of these that you can start to piece together what they aren't telling you by what other people aren't saying in other books. Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill. His analysis of Blackwater was pretty damn good, and I have that on the authority of a good buddy of mine whose cousin's body was dragged through the streets of Fallujah and whose aunt was interviewed extensively as a consequence. Definitely read The Martian. Don't go into it expecting too much. It's a long-form story problem turned into narrative, which has its limits... but Earth Abides is, too, and I would say Earth Abides is one of the best sci fi novels ever written. It's certainly the hands-down best post-apocalyptic novel ever written. I haven't recommended it up til now because I've read it six times but never listened to it. If you haven't delved into the hundreds-of-hours nightmare that is George RR Martin, you should. Roy Dotrice narrates all but one book (he was on stage in London for Feast for Crows) and they're incredibly good. Slow at times... and you'll hit a point in Clash of Kings where you never want to read again... but you'll be glad you did. I found the Millennium Trilogy to be deeply engaging. They're pop, to be sure, but they're fun. Have not listened to, but deeply enjoyed reading, much of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. There's some great writing there; not sure how it translates into audio. Probably pretty damn well. Robert Charles Wilson's Spin is really, really good. The next book is mediocre. The last book is terrible. Read the first book and enjoy the mystery.Nothing in particular. I'd love to see how your library looks like right now.
Sci-fi is my go to. But I'm trying to dive into the other leagues too.
I bought this the other day, cracked it open this morning. And by page 19, after touching briefly on The Great Recession and bailout of 2009 and predicting something even more disastrous in the not too distant future, it made me think of this All of this to erratically ask, do you think it still wise to invest heavily in retirement as a 23 year old? I feel that when I'm putting money away to invest, I'm not only worrying about the quality of the investments I'm making, I'm making existential considerations of future financial systems that, typically, past investors aren't even making. Or is it hubris to think that my generation is the first to have to deal with questions like "will anything even be around in 40 years?"Debt: the First 5,000 Years by David Graeber. This is one that comes up a lot in financial literature.
By the time you get to the end of that book, you'll discover that one of Graeber's arguments is that capitalism cannot be considered by its participants unless they have a sense that the world will end soon. 'Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is either mad or an economist.' - Kenneth Boulding Here's how I look at it: I may never retire. I may never get to retire. That doesn't mean I can't invest. It's all about understanding the rules and how to get the most out of them.
Got most of them on my drive now. Exactly what I was looking for. This list should become a sticky for Hubski haha. I am starting with The Martian over the weekend. Excited. I think the Ken Auletta which I am reading currently would take up a lot of time to get done with. I have had to pause and fire up Google quite a lot through this one. What's your views on Googled by Ken Auletta, which I believe you have completed.
See Also: https://hubski.com/pub?id=194409 (There are probably audiobooks of many of these)
I think it was a useful book that was a bit too long. There were some good points made - primarily that Google is a company for, of and by engineers which explains most of its successes and also its tone-deaf social mis-steps. It wasn't particularly insightful, though. insomniasexx recommended Brad Stone's The Everything Store and I found it to be a much more insightful, much more compelling exploration of Amazon than Auletta's take on Google. I'll say this: Audible on Android is much more intelligible at 2X than Audible on iPhone is at 1.5x. On the iPhone I generally did 1.25x. On Android I generally do 2x and if it's a real grind 3X. I did the 2nd half of the Auletta book at 3X. Edited to add: I realized 2 hours into "Average is Over" that I've attempted that book once before and it made so little impression on me that it took 2 hours before I recognized any of it. It's mostly "the future sucks for the middle class, eat it" without any solutions or insight.
Sorry for my late replies. I am hardly getting time to sit on my desktop — I don't hubski from my phone as it's a pain in the ass. I wonder if Android has a decent app for hubski at all. Anyway... I totally agree on your views about Googled. I personally felt he dragged a bit 3/4th into the book. I hardly remember what went on towards the end of the book. But all in all it's quite insightful. I'll go ahead and get The Everything Store in my drive tonight. Gotta stack em like pancakes! Off topic: I have been a lurker and only recently made this account on hubski to discuss books. And I love this community. A lot. I have been on Reddit since its inception. In fact I was addicted till like 4 years back for a period of year or two. Most of the site has gone to shit. /r/foodforthought and /r/truereddit are the only places worth going to, IMHO. There are some other good subreddits but most of /r/all is shit. All this means, hubski is the place to be on. I hope hubski doesn't turn out like how Reddit did. I doubt I'd have had a decent and insightful discussion on audiobooks on reddit at all. Hubski didn't disappoint. Kleinbl00 and the rest of you on this thread are awesome. Please keep this place going strong. I'll too. Still trying to figure out setting up my hubski feed. And I have to get going with the tags too! saved, saved, saved and saved!