I know we do a lot of TV and movie discussion on here, but I thought it would be good to talk a little about books as well. My one request is that we avoid books from the political realm whether they be books specifically about politics or written by individuals in the political sphere (e.g. Tapper's Hellfire Club or O'Reilly's Killing series). With that, the best books I've read lately are:
Astroball by Ben Reiter - This book is billed as the Moneyball version of the Astros, but what I found even more fascinating is how he goes back to Luhnow's time with the Cardinals and the development of their system. It's also pretty awesome to relive the World Series win with the guys who were playing and in the management office.
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover - This is the story of a woman who grew up in a survivalist family in Idaho who goes on to earn her PhD from Cambridge. She never had a birth certificate as she was born at home and didn't step into a classroom until she was 17. Her fanatical father raised her to prepare for the end of days while she decided to leave everything behind to pursue her education.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari - Harari has become one of my favorite writers/thinkers with his previous books, Sapiens and Homo Deus. In this book he starts to look at how the world is responding to current issues and what questions we should be asking going forward. What's nice is that as an Israeli, he avoids the politicization that occurs with so many issues in the US while offering useful insight.
Special shout out to Case's book, Playing for More. About half of each chapter is a dedicated to a particular stage in Case's life with the second half focusing on a religious/Christian message. As not the most religious person myself, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book for his personal story and found the second half of the chapters to be good life advice.
Astroball by Ben Reiter - This book is billed as the Moneyball version of the Astros, but what I found even more fascinating is how he goes back to Luhnow's time with the Cardinals and the development of their system. It's also pretty awesome to relive the World Series win with the guys who were playing and in the management office.
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover - This is the story of a woman who grew up in a survivalist family in Idaho who goes on to earn her PhD from Cambridge. She never had a birth certificate as she was born at home and didn't step into a classroom until she was 17. Her fanatical father raised her to prepare for the end of days while she decided to leave everything behind to pursue her education.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari - Harari has become one of my favorite writers/thinkers with his previous books, Sapiens and Homo Deus. In this book he starts to look at how the world is responding to current issues and what questions we should be asking going forward. What's nice is that as an Israeli, he avoids the politicization that occurs with so many issues in the US while offering useful insight.
Special shout out to Case's book, Playing for More. About half of each chapter is a dedicated to a particular stage in Case's life with the second half focusing on a religious/Christian message. As not the most religious person myself, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book for his personal story and found the second half of the chapters to be good life advice.
