2014 Book List

Nonfiction:
> Jon Meacham: American Lion; Andrew Jackson in the White House (It is fortunate for us that the man who could have been our Caesar was so dedicated to popular liberty and bank busting. The personal turmoil throughout this administration is astonishing and may have helped limit the already expansive increase in executive power. Long, long read.)
> G. J. Myers: A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 (Truly a masterpiece representation of the the first World War. Extensive provision of context, welcome portraits of the men who changed the war, and an unyielding sense of the weight of the subject)
> Peter L. Bernstein: The Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation (Having an even greater impact then even the transcontinental railroad, the project that made New York an economic triumph. Delightful work on an oft neglected subject matter.)
> Alexander Rose: American Rifle: A Biography (Rifles. Industrial Development. Personal machinations of inventors, soldiers, acquisition officers. generals. industrialists. Recommended for anyone with an interest in firearms or military development. 
> Paul M. Barrett: Glock (Lightweight, benevolent history of a pistol that changed the face of the worldwide firearms industry)
> Amity Shlaes: Coolidge (I learned an enormous amount of US history through the eyes of one of my favored presidents, a hand of character attempting to stay the progressive tide. Long but worthy read for minds interested in what it takes to reduce a federal budget)
> Susan Cain: Quiet The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking (This TED Talk has all of the book)
> Jim Powell: FDR's Folly (Good documentation of the mess that was the New Deal. Hard to get through, but each chapter is an essay worthy of completion in its own right)
>John C. Wright: Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth (Highlights include a keen review of the Hobbit movies, strong female characters, and the warping of the modern man by a worldview excluding the Creator. Recommended for scifi and apologetic types).
> Nathaniel Philbrick: The Last Stand: (Custer, Sitting Bull, Little Big Horn, a battle that is full of characters richly canvassed. If you like history told with notes on the footnotes and lively personal drama, this is it. )
> C. S. Lewis: Mere Christianity: (Exemplary apologetic, rarely shows it's age as Lewis discourses through timeless truths)
> Steven Dubner & Steven Levitt: Think like a Freak (Thin and repeats a lot of the podcast material. Did not care, they bring an A game to the table and it's worth the short time investment. I will be telling more stories as a result of this book.)
>Thomas Cahill: How the Irish Saved Civilization (intriguing survey of the classical world's collapse and the effect of Patrick's conversion of Ireland on Ireland and continental Europe)
>Maury Klien: The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men who invented Modern America (Workman like prose, takes a lot of pages to describe the evolution of electricity
 in the US. Not for idle reading but I found it informative)
> Danny Silk: Keep Your Love On! (Could have been condensed to 24 pages, not compelling or revelatory or terribly helpful)
> Michael Pollan: The Omnivore's Dilemma  (Food Inc sourced a lot of material from Pollan's writings, but even after viewing Food Inc I still found fresh and engaging content throughout,. It did accomplish it's unstated goal, to have this reader review my food choices)
> Cityview Church: Perseverance; True Stories from Mineral Wells
>Margaret MacMillian: Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World
>Mark Kurlansky: The Big Oyster; History on the Half Shell
>Michael Lewis: Boomerang

Fiction:
> Isaac Asimov: The Currents of Space (Asimov brings a sci-fi who-dun-it. Fun and engaging)
> Douglas Adams: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Hilarious and unrelenting in surprise)
> Douglas Adams: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Funny and continues the humor)
> Douglas Adams: Life, the Universe, Everything (moments of hilarity, too oft a story lost)
> Neal Stephenson: Snowcrash (Clever conceits, a collapsed world run by 'franchise city-states', skateboarding delivery teens, enormous virtual reality engagement, Sumerian myth, the Holy Spirit as an information virus transmittable from humans to virtual reality, a world spanning monopoly on the internet run by a renegade Pentecostal, an Aleut man with a hydrogen bomb... fun concepts which require enormous suspensions of disbelief to overcome chronic biblical mis-information. Audio version was dull. may be better in paper. Tremendous tongue-in-cheek humor. Frustrating characters due to thin thought processes. Unbelievably contemporary for being 22 years old, worth a looksee for sci-fi readers)
> Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes)
> Larry Correia: Hard Magic: Book 1 of the Grimnoir Chronicles (Story. Plot. Characters. Historical context. Magic. Steampunk. So. Good.)
> Larry Correia: Spellbound: Book I1 of the Grimnoir Chronicles (An equal to the excellence that is Hard Magic)
> Edgar Rice Burroughs: Princess of Mars (classic interplanetary romance adventure science fiction, for boys young and old)
> David Liss: Whiskey Rebels: (Mediocre historical fiction in the period following the war for independence. Yawn.)
>Larry Correia: Warbound Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles. (Corriea manages the Everest of multi-part fiction, a conclusion worthy of its mighty predecessors. I listened to the audio versions all and they were tremendous, I will be seeking out paper copies to keep on the shelf.) 
>John C. Wright: City Beyond Time (Short stories of time travel and the people who live at the end of time and have to deal with the obnoxious consequences of those who travel in time. Thought provoking in the way good science fiction ought to be)
> Edgar Rice Burroughs: At the Earth's Core: (Fun and fanciful Sci-Fi/Fantasy of a long time ago. Felt like a compilation of a magazine serial feature)
>Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sign of the Four
>Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles
>Victor Davis Hanson: The End of Sparta (I didn't think it was this way when I read it, but this book has a great stick-to-the-ribs-of-the-mind quality about it, and that is a good thing)
> Homer: The Illiad
> John Stienbeck: The Pearl (Deserving of the term 'classic' for its treatment of the heart of man)

In Process:
Homer: The Odyssey
John Piper: What Jesus Demands from the World