Thank you for resurrecting! I ordered The Art of Fielding based off an almost 10 year old rec from GB54- always enjoyed his posts. Send it to OT but I hope people stoke the thread from time to time.

I can't believe I have a post on this original thread. I just realized I've wasted over 10 years of my life on this website - oh my!

I found the thread by hitting the arrow to go to previous page until I found it. It was on page 13,651. It took me 300 hours to accomplish…..but then again I might just have searched the terms bearinsider + books.

I looked up a few of the posters that haven't posted for years. Either they have lives and stopped posting or they don't have lives at all anymore.

The last book that I've really read from page one to the end! It has all the answers related to how to have a very happy, happy life!

slotright20 said:

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Pat Conroy's "My Losing Season" about his senior basketball season at The Citadel.

"The Fifties" by David Halberstam - touches on all aspects - political, cultural, social of a fascinating decade.


An oldie but classic - South Pacific by Michener. I defy anyone to read the scene at the cemetery near the end of the book and not get a little misty eyed.

Ike by Michael Korda. Anything on Truman ( David Mc Culloughs bio is probably the best ) - two fascinating underrated Presidents. And don't tell me Truman is a top 10 President in many rankings - he is top 5 in my eyes.

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I love South Pacific and have read it multiple times!

Aggie Bear said:

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A River Runs Through It...Quite possibly my favorite 100 pages of all time. Short, but still incredible. I think totally under appreciated as a piece of American Literature.

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Everything by Norman MacClean is fantastic. The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky is a great short story...

pingpong2 said:

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The entire Game of Thrones series.

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<-- sad face

that said, they are incredible. the basic pattern has always been:

1. read books a first time, which can be a intimidating for some and there are some slow areas, but generally its much richer and real-feeling than the show
2. go to internet to ask a question
3. find the reddit / asoiaf forum
4. get your mind blown
5. re-read the entire series and notice all the detail you missed
6. rinse / repeat

pls george, give us winds

Red Notice by Bill Browder is an incredible book (granted he's a stanford guy, but its still a great story.. and very relevant today)

Red Storm Rising if you're looking for a Tom Clancy fix. Read it in a single night back in high school and still remember a stunning amount of detail

A Gentleman in Moscow - pretty charming look into both victorian aristocracy and the backstories to a communist revolution in Russia

... seems like I have a bit of a thing for novels set in and/or regarding Russia, hmm

Sebastabear said:

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StayGold;842107631 said:

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In my opinion, the last two books of the series have been much weaker and far too bloated than the first 3

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First three Game of Thrones were amazing and in many ways unlike any piece of fiction I'd ever read (thinking here of how Martin dealt with principal viewpoint characters). Fourth book was terrible - he'd clearly run out of things to say. But a Dance with Dragons was a treat - Martin seemed re-energized by the long hiatus. Book was engaging and series was interesting again. Can"t wait for the next installment.

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Really, the 4th (A Feast for Crows) and 5th (A Dance with Dragons) book were all the same volume... just too big to print in manuscript (And George was late with parts, per usual). Because of this it got split, but they aren't truly separate volumes like most books (including the first 3 installments) are.

They can be combined, as some chapters are clearly simultaneous with others and there are other signals (the phase of the moon, context for rumors as they come in, the trnasit time for ravens, etc) that allow one to sync the two books.

Naturally, the internet has sliced together a few different variants, where they are combined into a single read.

If you google "A Feast with Dragons", you'll probably find it. If not PM me.

In general, quite a few people find AFfC much, much more satisfying when combined. Additionally, the Forsaken sample chapter for the next book (the Winds of Winter, aka Winds or TWoW) has shed a *lot* of light with what was going on in Feast, and its a much darker deal than you'd have thought.

Two must reads for all OG's that grew up in the Bay Area:

https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/books/leon-russell-biography-tells-definitive-story-of-rock-roll-hall-of-famers-life-career/article_136e712c-bc26-11ed-89f7-87a9ddf0cb9f.html

https://americansongwriter.com/leon-russell-life-and-legacy-to-be-chronicled-in-new-biography/








https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/983872.Hunter

bearister said:

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It's usually mom that has the rehab issues in those vintage John Cheever novels. Dad is a functional alcoholic exec/compulsive philanderer.

bearister said:

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Two must reads for all OG's that grew up in the Bay Area:

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Two that I enjoyed on Bay Area

"Creativity, Inc" a book about the founding of Pixar. You know how they just nail every movie that just fits the national mood. My biggest takeaway and the book doesn't say it explicitly, but if the audience falls in love with the story and characters, they will ignore technical flaws.


To tie it back to Cal Sports and the PAC-12, outside of the Stanford rivalry (USC and UCLA are gone), there is no story and a cast of characters that are neither loved nor hated. So, the audience doesn't care. And there are technical flaws.

Season of the Witch* was A+. I will have to check out the other. Thank you, Sir. Just ordered the paperback on your recommendation. Wow! The hardback is expensive.

Steve Stills and Al Kooper from Super Session (1968):




*I was going to concerts at Winterland during the peak of the Zebra killings, many of which occurred in the Fillmore. What was I thinking?

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1379779-the-songlines

https://www.silverandblackpride.com/2023/3/17/23645230/raiders-news-jimmy-garoppolo-signs-quarterback

Great thread, funny I missed it for ten years! Thanks for starting it, contributing to it and resurrecting it, Bearister.

My recommendation is "The Wave" by Susan Casey.

Summary:
"From Susan Casey, bestselling author of The Devil's Teeth, an astonishing book about colossal, ship-swallowing rogue waves and the surfers who seek them out.

For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100-feet high or taller. Until recently scientists dismissed these storieswaves that high would seem to violate the laws of physics. But in the past few decades, as a startling number of ships vanished and new evidence has emerged, oceanographers realized something scary was brewing in the planet's waters. They found their proof in February 2000, when a British research vessel was trapped in a vortex of impossibly mammoth waves in the North Seaincluding several that approached 100 feet.

As scientists scramble to understand this phenomenon, others view the giant waves as the ultimate challenge. These are extreme surfers who fly around the world trying to ride the ocean's most destructive monsters. The pioneer of extreme surfing is the legendary Laird Hamilton, who, with a group of friends in Hawaii, figured out how to board suicidaly large waves of 70 and 80 feet. Casey follows this unique tribe of people as they seek to conquer the holy grail of their sport, a 100-foot wave.

In this mesmerizing account, the exploits of Hamilton and his fellow surfers are juxtaposed against scientists' urgent efforts to understand the destructive powers of wavesfrom the tsunami that wiped out 250,000 people in the Pacific in 2004 to the 1,740-foot-wave that recently leveled part of the Alaskan coast.

Like Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, The Wave brilliantly portrays human beings confronting nature at its most ferocious."
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7997104-the-wave

And her "The Devil's Teeth" is an excellent account of the natural history of The Farallon Islands, also worth reading.

Michael Lewis' "The Big Short" is another favorite of mine.

bearister said:

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Season of the Witch* was A+. I will have to check out the other. Thank you, Sir. Just ordered the paperback on your recommendation. Wow! The hardback is expensive.

Steve Stills and Al Kooper from Super Session (1968):




*I was going to concerts at Winterland during the peak of the Zebra killings, many of which occurred in the Fillmore. What was I thinking?

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Like us Bearister, Gary Kamiya grew up in the east bay. His father was a Cal professor and his mother was a well known city planner for the City of Berkeley and later did planning work for Cal as a Vice Chancellor. (Disclosure: My dad dated her in the last couple years of his life .) Having grown up in the Bay Area, I still learned a lot from Cool Gray City, and enjoyed his entertaining writing style. I also enjoy his column in the Chron--Portals of the Past.

100 Foot Wave (TV Series 2021 ) - IMDb


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14126234/

Riding Giants (2004) - IMDb


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389326/

~ 200 ft NorCal wave, anybody?

https://www.sfgate.com/california-news/article/largest-wave-to-hit-California-in-history-16785301.php

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/20/arts/music/mary-mccaslin-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/arts/design/david-lance-goines-dead.html

The last book I read was "The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S Grant" (annotated). It was superb. I do recommend the annotated version as the annotations add quite a bit of context that helps the reader.

Books are way off topic as they have nothing to do with homoerotic paens to offensive linemen or rugby.

I recently finished this book, as it has helped me deal with a problem I've been facing.

okaydo said:

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I recently finished this book, as it has helped me deal with a problem I've been facing.

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Also known as the Unauthorized Biography of John C. Holmes.

Currently listening my way through Nasim Taleb's Black Swan, far more entertaining than I thought it would be. It sort of ties in with my last big listen that I thoroughly enjoyed which was Neal Stephenson's Anathem.

I just read and recommend this if anyone likes horror.

But seriously:


https://bearinsider.com/forums/2/topics/112863

Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels

by Paul Pringle

very interesting account of corruption in LA, USC and Pasadena

prospeCt said:

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https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/books/leon-russell-biography-tells-definitive-story-of-rock-roll-hall-of-famers-life-career/article_136e712c-bc26-11ed-89f7-87a9ddf0cb9f.html

https://americansongwriter.com/leon-russell-life-and-legacy-to-be-chronicled-in-new-biography/








https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/983872.Hunter

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Saw him perform in Portland OR, late 1969 early 1970. During one number, a real barn burner, he slammed the piano lid down on the piano in time with the beat. His back up singers (all women) were in top form, strutting it out in high top boots, sparkly shirts and short shorts. Brought the house down. When he backed Joe Cocker, the combination was unbeatable.

1. I first got into LR at age 17 in 1971 when I saw him on a music special on KQED called Full Circle: Leon Russell & Friends. Claudia Lennear,a former Ikette, was in his band. What a beauty. (video excerpt below);

2. That show led me to buy his album with Mark Benno, Asylum Choir;

3. In the summer of 1972 I saw Leon at the Berkeley Community Theater. He played dueling pianos with his tour sideman, the Rev. Patrick Henderson. THEY SCORCHED THE PLACE;
4. I remember when I attended freshman orientation at Cal in 1972, Carney was a top selling album with a two radio hits, Tightrope and Masquerade (a few years later George Benson had a cover hit with it)






One need look no further than the personnel listing on his debut solo album, Leon Russell, to see how highly regarded he was by his fellow musicians:


Leon Russell piano, guitar, bass, vocals
George Harrison guitar[9]("Dixie Lullaby", "Shoot Out on the Plantation" and "Hurtsome Body")[10]
Eric Clapton guitar ("Prince of Peace", "The New Sweet Home Chicago" and "Jammin' With Eric")[10]
Delaney Bramlett guitar
Alan Spenner bass guitar
Klaus Voormann bass guitar ("The New Sweet Home Chicago")[10]
Bill Wyman bass guitar ("Roll Away the Stone" and "Get a Line On You") [10]
Steve Winwood keyboards ("Roll Away the Stone")[10]
Chris Stainton keyboards ("Dixie Lullaby" and "Hurtsome Body") [10]
Ringo Starr - drums[9] ("Dixie Lullaby", Shoot Out on the Plantation", "Hurtsome Body" and "Get a Line On You")[10]
Charlie Watts drums ("Roll Away the Stone")[10]
Buddy Harman drums
Jim Gordon drums
B.J. Wilson drums ("Hurtsome Body") [10]
Jon Hiseman drums ("The New Sweet Home Chicago")[10]
Mick Jagger vocals ("Get a Line On You")
Bonnie Bramlett vocals
Joe Cocker vocals
Merry Clayton vocals
-Wikipedia

Hawaii Haas said:

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"Creativity, Inc" a book about the founding of Pixar. You know how they just nail every movie that just fits the national mood. My biggest takeaway and the book doesn't say it explicitly, but if the audience falls in love with the story and characters, they will ignore technical flaws.


To tie it back to Cal Sports and the PAC-12, outside of the Stanford rivalry (USC and UCLA are gone), there is no story and a cast of characters that are neither loved nor hated. So, the audience doesn't care. And there are technical flaws.

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Troll. Why are you trying to wreck a perfectly enjoyable thread with a discussion of Cal football? ;-)

Agreed, we are losing a lot of our history and what was left of our semi-compelling story line… 40 years (+) in the desert and now there is no Promised Land? No Egyptians? No Philistines?

I laughed, I thought, I laughed some more.

https://www.amazon.com/Canticle-Leibowitz-Walter-Miller-Jr/dp/0553273817

In the depths of the Utah desert, long after the Flame Deluge has scoured the earth clean, a monk of the Order of Saint Leibowitz has made a miraculous discovery: holy relics from the life of the great saint himself, including the blessed blueprint, the sacred shopping list, and the hallowed shrine of the Fallout Shelter.

In a terrifying age of darkness and decay, these artifacts could be the keys to mankind's salvation. But as the mystery at the core of this groundbreaking novel unfolds, it is the search itselffor meaning, for truth, for lovethat offers hope for humanity's rebirth from the ashes.