Richard Feynman is a Nobel prize winning physicist and this book includes stories of his time in undergrad at MIT, graduate school at Princeton, working at Los Alamos in New Mexico, teaching at Caltech and Cornell, and purely analyzing and living life. It is composed of...
This is an intimate story based in India that is about seeking, peace, and spirituality. As a young man the main character, Siddhartha, grows discontent with his current life and sheds himself of all worldly possessions to roam the forest as a destitute ascetic. One...
The Private Equity Playbookby Adam Coffey In one of the more white collar moments you could have in prison a guy showed up who had extensiveexperience in private equity. We've become good friends over the last several months and he shared this bookwith me. You hear...
Crito is a play, a dialogue really, between Socrates and his friend Crito. It focuses on death, justice, and theappropriate response to one's circumstances. While their conversation doesn't reveal what Socrates did whichresulted in his incarceration and subsequent death sentence, it does highlight his commitment...
Madhouse at the End of the Earthby Julian Sancton Madhouse at the End of the Earth arrived in Yankton a couple of months back, and I have no idea who sent it to me, but my best guess is with Paul - he's always one to...
Corruptibleby Brian Klaas I cannot seem to get enough of hunter-gatherer references when analyzing our modern world and writing on the variance and evolution of our lives between that time period and now. This continues to appear in many aspects of my reading and it is...
A couple months ago I was in the legal library and a friend passed this book to me. He mentioned that he enjoyed it to the point he read it twice. Books can find their way into your life in fairly random ways and this...
Me Talk Pretty One Dayby David Sedaris This is going to be a brief book report as not much can be said about a series of short stories by a creative and smug author. I wanted to read the works of someone moderately well known to...
Zen in the Art of Archeryby Eugen Herrigel This was a read it twice book. Sometimes you have to take it all in before you can really take it all in, ya know? A German philosopher moves to Japan for six years to subject himself to the...
By Gregory David Roberts This was one of those books that was so good I found myself overtly slowing down the pace at which I was reading, or going back to reread and fully take in the way the author so eloquently worded portions of his...
The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains by Anthony Lewis This book caught my attention in a different way than anticipated. In Yuval Noah Harari's book "Sapiens" he has a chapter on money. How it came to be, what roles it serves in society, and the ways in...
I felt like I needed a good beachside-esque book. I may be reading from a bunk bed in South Dakota instead of a lounge chair in the sand, but you understand the idea. A murder mystery to get lost in. Something to balance out the...
Homo Deus - A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari This book was a grind in all the good ways. It's like a can-opener circling everything you thought you knew, then popping open your mind to expose you to an entirely new perspective. The author...
Mark came through with another riveting book. This story is a globe trotting memoir of John Perkins, a former "economist" with a US based consulting firm. I recently read Robert F. Kennedy's memoir on the Cuban Missile Crisis titled "Thirteen Days." In the book, you...
The Psychology of Intuition, Influence, Decision Making and Trust by Jacob Burak This book is a compilation of studies from the field of behavioral science, viewed through a unique lens. The broader question addressed is how are we all confined by how other humans behaved in these...
by James Clear Each morning when at work detail and waiting for count to clear I read the newspaper. This book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for a while and I decided to give it a go. The author provides tips, tricks...
Both Allison and my mother sent this book to me and the timing was exquisite. Nothing like Covid quarantine (after leaving the isolation unit) and a National Lockdown to make you appreciate a 600 plus page fiction novel that takes place in the three different...
Emily B has become a bit of a pen pal while I've been away and the conversation recently turned to literature. She said she would like to send me something to read. I took her up on the offer and asked her to send a...
My friend Stacy sent me this endearing novel. She's a realtor in Boise and the story takes place under unique realty related circumstances. At first glance I thought this was a non-fiction self help book on anxiety, then I thought maybe she found it because...
Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisisby Robert F. Kennedy This is one of those books I didn't picture myself reading but then it finds you and you're engrossed. As a society we are constantly bombarded with news and we're all trying our best...
Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado Humans can end up torturing themselves with possibilities. If only this had happened or that hadn't. What if I said no instead of yes? I should have gone in this direction instead of that one. I used to know...
My friend Allison works as a rural family medicine PA in Idaho and she sent me this book. Besides being a thoughtful gift it caught my attention for a multitude of reasons. One being the book is about pleasure, pain and finding a balance between...
My friend Mark sent me the first book I read on Stoic Philosophy. We've had a few email exchanges on Stoicism and various other topics since then and he followed up with another book - A Guide to the Good Life. I was eager to...
I thought I wouldn't take much away from this book as I was told the concepts are fairly basic. However, I figured that since it was a gift from a good friend and I have the time I should read it. I have to admit,...
The first book I read on the Holocaust was about the psychological component of suffering and how the author made it through several years in multiple concentration camps. This story focuses on the nuanced aspects of daily life in a another mans journey through what...
I am writing a report on a writer's writing on writing. Fortunately, the book does not include any stories about a she selling seashells by the seashore. I never used to write for entertainment, therapy, or any reason other than emails or a birthday card. ...
A close friend here recommended this book. He and I eat breakfast together most mornings and we begin our days with my favorite: luke warm oatmeal, child size cartons of milk, mealy apples and good conversation. The book begins as a witty diatribe about life,...
I have been enjoying reading so many thought provoking books but felt it was time for something lighter. Reading is often times a search for knowledge, perspectives and opinions but it can also be a time to relax and unwind. So with that in mind,...
Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins After reading the autobiography of Malcolm X I wanted to include more autobiographies in my reading. It's calming to read about the challenges people face and their victories. I also wanted to get a "pump me up I can handle anything!!"...
A friend of mine in Boise is a psychologist. We went skiing together one day this past winter and talked about making sense of the past, faith, struggles and changes in direction one's life can take. At one point in time he recommended this book...
A friend of mine in Boise is a veterinarian and although our town is filled with adventurers he is at the top of the list of those who end up on some of the most far flung ones. He recently sent me a book about...
This book was written by the same authors as the blockchain book I recently read. I enjoyed their writing style and the layout of the first book so I decided to give this one a go. Learning about technology, or anything new, keeps my mind...
This book was recommended to me last year and unfortunately I wasn't in the headspace to read it - which was a shame. There was so much ruminating in my mind about everything that had recently occurred, what life was going to look like moving...
I chose this book because I've become a fan of not only the author's work, but his inspiring attitude towards challenging times. Just look at the title - he had already spent over 8,000 days in prison, and was still meticulously documenting his efforts to...
You are a badass by Jen Sincero I don't think I would have grabbed this book off the shelf under my own volition. I was in the law library one day and a friend of mine was in there looking for a new book to read. ...
This was a timely follow up to Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, and a good reminder that I should take what I can from each book I read, while not letting differing opinions overly sway me. To someone practicing Zen you seek to completely disregard your mind. ...
I decided to dive in deeper and read the work of Marcus Aurelius, one of the main contributors to Stoic Philosophy. He was a Roman emperor who at one point was considered the most powerful and the most wise person in the world. It would...
After all the philosophy books lately I felt it was time to get back to a fiction novel. This book is exactly that, a wild story of two men driving all over Florida appreciating the run down, timeless aspects of the states past while also...
Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl While walking the track recently I had a conversation with someone about Stoic Philosophy. We spoke of the lessons it has taught me and how I am using it to manage my perceptions of this experience. Based on...
There are two ways you can approach philosophy: You can read it as it is enjoyable to read, to think, and to be inspired by new perspectives and ideas. Or, you can read, learn and practice. In that sense, no one may directly be aware...
Mindset - The Psychology of Success Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. Admittedly, I was unenthused about this book when it arrived. I have been enjoying fiction and philosophy, which is a jump from a "business book". The book, however, came from a family friend and included a letter...
A close family friend was an English teacher for 45 years. She has an deep appreciation for literature and wrote me an absolutely lovely letter talking about her current life, retirement, and three of her favorite recent books. Letters like this are such a reprieve...
Dave Eggers You Shall Know Our Velocity I had heard of the authors previous book, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and enjoyed it many years ago, but this one was new to me. It showed up during mail call one day and there has been no...
I chose this book because my mother sent it to me...
As a society we are constantly overwhelmed with choices, and if I had access to Google this is the place where I would put in a link referencing the "dilemma of choices" and how when a consumer is faced with too many options they choose...
Bubble or Revolution—The Present and Future of Blockchain and Crypto Currencies I decided to read this book for a couple of reasons. One, I enjoy technical subject matter. Two, while digital currency is not new, I think it is a technology that is here to stay,...
Earning Freedom - Conquering a 45 Year Prison Sentence By Michael Santos I finished this book on July 5th, having read it in 3 days but spending an equal amount of time pondering as I did reading. I will be thinking about this book and the lessons...
The Honeymoon- by James Patterson I need to own it. After reading my first murder mystery novel I wrote that I was done with that genre of books. I was in quarantine and wanted my reading list, which I didn’t have access to. But now that...
Book number 3 and I knocked it out in 24 hours. After enjoying novels by Michael Cohen and David Baldacci, I figured it was a good idea to continue with the crime-solving novels. Plus, there are literally no other types of books available to us...
I finished this book on the morning of June 17. In a letter dated a few days earlier, I may have mentioned to my family that after reading my first murder mystery novel (which included plenty of courtroom and legal proceedings scenes) that I had...
Someone once told me that when you are in prison you should read with a purpose. I had a plan for reading with a purpose, but it was derailed. Just like my plans for life. I had over 20 books I wanted to start with...