Back in August, 24 Greg Ellifritz asked, “does anyone else miss bloggers posting recommended reading lists?” This inspired an article listing some of my favorite authors, their books I’ve read, and my favorite book from each. I had so many favorite authors on that list that I broke it up into two parts. Today I offer you the second part, with a few more of my favorite authors.
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Michael Pollan
I got hooked into Michael Pollan’s books way back in 2008. I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma in my bunk at the embassy annex in Afghanistan. Though this is a fairly heavy tome, I was fascinated by Pollan’s take on food. Next I read In Defense of Food while commuting back and forth to work at the Special Operations Schoolhouse. I have read just about everything he has written since. His work on food hooked me in, but his writings on on drugs are absolutely fascinating, as well.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
In Defense of Food
Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
How to Change Your Mind
Botany of Desire
A Place of My Own
Second Nature: A Gardner’s Education
My Favorite Pollan: I enjoy all of Pollan’s books. Pollan’s immersive style is what makes is books so addictive. In A Place of My Own he builds a cabin, in Second Nature he takes up gardening, in Cooked he gets deep into cooking (and eating), and in How to Change your Mind he does drugs. No Pollan work has so influenced my day-to-day life as In Defense of Food. In this work Pollan takes on the industrial food system we all take for granted, and looks at how to eat better through his three “food rules:” eat food, mostly plants, not too much. Don’t get hung up on “mostly plants;” Pollan is very much a meat-eater and is not, in any way, shape, or form, advocating a vegetarian lifestyle. I have modeled much of my eating behavior on this book and am probably far healthier for it.
Hampton Sides
Hampton Sides has been “my favorite author hiding in plain sight.” The first book I read by Hampton Sides was Ghost Soldiers, which I checked out from the library at Camp Pendleton as brand-new Corporal. For years I told people that this was one of the best books I’d ever read. Years later, while attending training at Blackwater someone loaned me Blood and Thunder, which was amazing! Inexplicably, I didn’t actively seek out more books by this author. Years later, while visiting Dallas, TX I purchased Hellhounds for the flight home. Not until looking at the lists of authors I read a lot did I realize I really, really love the work of Hampton Sides.
On Desperate Ground
Ghost Soldiers
Hellhound on His Trail
Blood and Thunder
Americana: Dispatches from the New Frontier
My Favorite Sides: Choosing a favorite book from Sides is difficult because two of them were so good. On Desperate Ground is an absolutely brutal, unflinching look at the Marines’ battle of the Chosin Reservoir. If you’re in the mood for a war book, check that one out. Alternatively, Hellhound On His Trail is about the manhunt for James Early Ray. I purchased a copy of this book after touring the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (where JFK was assassinated). Ray actually managed to make it overseas, on a fake passport. This is a cracking good tale of an international manhunt, investigation, and intrigue.
Erik Larson
Erik Larson is without peer in the historical narrative genre. His books read like fiction with narratives, internal dialogues, thoughts, and feelings. It is so well done that on my first reading of Devil in the White City, I barely noticed it (also this book is incredibly exciting). After finishing it, I wondered how he had done it and remained historically accurate. Don’t worry, he explains it how he does it by relying on historical records. Larson’s work is incredibly well done and unique.
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Dead Wake by Erik Larson
The Splendid and the Vile
My favorite Larson: Hands down, without a doubt it is Devil in the White City. My first time was on a drive down to Camp Lejeune; I stopped on a whim at a Barnes and Noble that was visible from the interstate and purchased this on CD. Since then I have listened to it again, and read it – something I can’t say about many books. I have recommended it to countless people. Hell, I have even purchased several copies and given them away. Universally everyone has loved this book. All of Larson’s books are good, but he truly caught lightning in a bottle with Devil.
John Krakauer
Jon Krakauer is an incredibly gifted outdoor writer. I started with his works while stationed in Okinawa. I was on a boat-ride to the Philippines and read Into Thin Air, an epic story of of ascent up Everest. Several years later I listened to Under the Banner of Heaven while immersed in self-study of various religions (the book is centered around a family of very austere Mormons). I finally found Into the Wild, the tragic story of Chris McCandless, a young man who did what I dreamed of doing: walking into the woods in an attempt to live off the land. Krakauer’s books are somewhat varied in topic, from campus rape in Missoula to the tragic death of U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tilman in Where Men Win Glory, but all are excellent reads.
Into Thin Air
Into the Wild
Under the Banner of Heaven
Missoula
Where Men Win Glory
Three Cups of Deceit
My Favorite Krakauer: Not to be on that bandwagon, but Into the Wild. Everyone knows of this one because of the movie, but the book was optioned into a movie for good reason. It is a cracking good book! Not only is the idea of disappearing into the wilderness compelling, so are the nitty-gritty details of how McCandless survived as long as he did. This was an incredible read, and one I may revisit soon.
Annie Jacobson
I will read anything Annie Jacobsen writes. All of Jacobsen’s works are about the military/industrial complex. She has written about CIA paramilitary operatives, Area 51, DARPA, and more. All of these books go into far more detail than the government is probably comfortable with. If you want books that go deep inside the military, intelligence community, and top-secret programs, Jacobsen should be on your radar. Even better, she reads her own audiobooks, and is good at reading them.
Nuclear War: A Scenario
Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins
First Platoon: A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance
Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Most Top-Secret Military Base
The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top Secret Military Research Agency
Operation Paperclip: the Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
My Favorite Jacobsen: Jacobsen gets a tie between Nuclear War and Surprise, Kill, Vanish. Nuclear war is the most recent Jacobsen work I read and it is absolutely terrifying. The prospect of a civlization- (and possibly humanity-) ending nuclear war is very real. We are closer to it at all times than all but a few realize. This book literally kept me up at night. It is always interesting to read about topics with which you are already intimately familiar. Surprise, Kill, Vanish details a life I was very close to in my immediate post-military days. I can’t get into much detail, but much of the content was familiar to me, and I know a lot of guys who are still doing this work. If you want to read about America’s classified operators, Surprise, Kill, Vanish is for you!
