I’m a big fan of Charles Bukowski, with Post Office prob. being my favorite.
More recently I’ve been reading a great book called “Paddy Whacked” which tells the origins of the Irish and irish gangsters in america.
Anything by Joe R Lansdale.
As far as health, fitness, strength, etc. books, Dave Tate’s Under the Bar was awesome. Supertraining by Mel Siff is a must for anyone involved in the iron game. Siff’s Facts and Fallacies of Fitness was also a good read. Vladimir Zatiorsky’s Science and Practice of Strength Training taught me a lot as well.
If I’m not reading about some aspect of lifting, I like nonfiction books. There’s just something about reading a story so amazing that you can’t believe it’s true. Some of my favorites include:
D. B. Cooper, What Really Happened, by Max Gunther. Story of the most successful airplane hijacking in history.
Alive, by Piers Paul Read. 16 men trapped in the Andes for 72 days and have to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. The movie version was pretty good too.
Touching the Void, by Joe Simpson. Picture this, your friend is hanging off a cliff and he’s attached to you. You start to fall and realize either you cut the rope and kill your friend or you die as well. This one’s really great.
Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer. Tragedy on Mt. Everest, why not.
In Harm’s Way, by Doug Stanton. If you’ve seen Jaws, this story is skimmed over when the three stars of the movie are talking about scars while aboard the boat. The sinking of the ship the USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered parts to Japan for the A-bomb. “1100 men go into the water, 335 come out. Sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945.”
Enjoy…
I think my favourite book ever is the autobiography of Malcolm X. That is so amazing, such a journey, such a story. Another brilliant book is ‘on the road’, by Jack Kerouac.
Finally, i’d also recommend anything written by Hunter S Thompson. Or me, if i ever get published hehe
Oh and i really like ‘The Prince’ too, deep things about statesmanship which can be applied to life, like “either crush a man or pamper him, since he can avenge partial injuries but not fatal ones.”
The art of war, on the other hand, seemed to be all about the ballistics of battering rams and catapults, quite useless.
Chuck Pahluniak is a great writer.
My friend Shake is quite a writer, and his book can be bought here
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
The only book that ever really kept my young interest was Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Extremely well written and literally laugh out loud funny at times.
you can get the big 5 or 6 book edition for like 20 bucks too, its a steal.[/quote]
It is a helluva trilogy. Just don’t ask Prof X if he liked the movie.
Old buddy of mine…used to be next door neighbors for years. He’s a prof now at Syracuse and hes written some interesting things. He even had Ben Stiller visit him at the house and bought the rights to one of his novellas for a future movie?
George Saunders:
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, Pastoralia and In Persuasion Nation, the children’s book The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, and the novella The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
Pretty good if you like sci-fi/furturistic/humor?.not sure how to describe it.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Lonnie123 wrote:
The only book that ever really kept my young interest was Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Extremely well written and literally laugh out loud funny at times.
you can get the big 5 or 6 book edition for like 20 bucks too, its a steal.
It is a helluva trilogy. Just don’t ask Prof X if he liked the movie.[/quote]
psycho-cybernetics
new lies for old
the new testament
art of war
If you are interested in contemporary novelists, I would recommend the following:
“White Noise” by Don DeLilo is a funny look at some forms of post-modern absurdity. One of the protagonists is a Professor of “Hitler Studies” who agonizes over the fact that he doesn’t speak German. Another is a Professor who longs to start an “Elvis Studies” Department along the lines of the “Hitler Studies” dept 
“Blindness” by Jose Saramago is a fascinating contemporary novel of dystopia.
Any of Cormac McCarthy’s novels. These “Westerns” look at the unique American blend of violence and religion.
Now if you want to go back a little further and you want to read something HILARIOUS, read John Kennedy O’Toole’s “The Confederacy of Dunces”. This is hands down the funniest novel EVER.
I could go on and on…but I will limit myself to these few books.
I was forced to read a lot of books in high school, which resulted in me hating many of them. The ones I liked, I figured, must really be great since I was forced to read them and still liked them. Good reads:
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
1984 by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Anything by Haruki Murakami
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is good. The first book is called The Gunslinger, it’s excellent.
[quote]dannyrat wrote:
I think my favourite book ever is the autobiography of Malcolm X. That is so amazing, such a journey, such a story. [/quote]
I’ll second that. If I had to pick a favorite book, it’d probably be that.
[quote]diesel25 wrote:
FHM.[/quote]
Hate to break it to you but that Magazine went out a print like a month ago. It was great while it lasted. Maxim is a great alternative though.
Btw,S.E. Hintons “The Outsiders”
Man,it must have been great being a greaser.
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
Harlan Coben is a great writer…especially his Myron Bolitar novels.
Also, Clive Cussler is a great easy read.[/quote]
I’ll second the Myron Bolitar series by Harlon Coben and add Robert Crais starting with “The Monkeys Raincoat.” True T-man novels.
I can’t say that I have ever read a bad Tom Clancy book, if thats your kind of thing.
Alot of very vividly detailed violence in some of his books. I especially liked the rainbow series.
[quote]eric9 wrote:
Your Favorite Books?[/quote]
I had none until this thread.
[quote]throwloud wrote:
More recently I’ve been reading a great book called “Paddy Whacked” which tells the origins of the Irish and irish gangsters in america.[/quote]
This book is tremendously interesting, I’m reading it now.
Also, for fiction, “A Star Called Henry” is still the best novel I’ve ever read, by Roddy Doyle.
“You Shall Know Our Velocity” by Dave Eggers is a close second.
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.
Very interesting book about how the things that have happened in the past 20 years have shaped our lives, and prepare us for the future.