Surprisingly to many, I can read and I am actually going to try to read more. I just got back from my trip to Cocoa Beach, Fla and I was able to finish a book I received over a year ago and it was very good. (More on that below) I’m looking for some book recommendations. I’m pretty open on topics (Travel, business, sports, etc).

Here are a few of the suggestions I have gotten that I plan on reading when I have some money.

Barbarians at the Gate The leveraged buyout of the RJR Nabisco Corporation for $25 billion is a landmark in American business history, a story of avarice on an epic scale. Two versions of the fierce competition for the largest buyout ever consummated are presented by skilled journalists with contrasting styles. Burrough and Helyar are clearly fascinated with the personalities of the players in the deal and with the trappings of corporate wealth. The restless, flamboyant personality of Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR Nabisco, is portrayed as the key to the events that were to unfold. The colorful description of all of the players and the events will likely have broad appeal. Lampert signals the complexity of her story by introducing her narrative with a three-page cast of characters. Her focus on the strategy of the players and on the fast-paced action provides a more concise description of a deal big enough to augment the wealth of many rich people. Business libraries will want both versions of this story of capitalism drawn to the extreme, but students, looking for a more comprehensive treatment, will favor Lampert’s version.
- Joseph Barth, U.S. Military Acad. Lib., West Point, N.Y.

Eddie Would Go
Eddie Aikau was the most famous and respected Hawaiian surfer since the legendary Duke Kahanamoku brought surfing to national attention in the 1920s. Coleman’s thoughtful and detailed biography is the best look at Aikau’s story since the surfer died in 1978 paddling for help after the historic Canoe Hokulea (a twin-hulled boat modeled after the ancient Polynesian vessels that brought the first settlers to the islands of Hawaii) was capsized in a huge storm. Coleman brings his skills as an essayist and poet to weave the many strands of Aikau’s life into a coherent picture of how Aikau’s story “was also the story of modern Hawai’i.” Coleman nicely describes how Aikau-born in 1946 into a “spiritually divided” postwar Hawaiian culture torn between “Hawai’ian roots and American dreams”-helped define a new image of Hawaii in the 1950s and ’60s, as part of the first modern surfing expeditions to the Oahu’s North Shore and its huge waves at the now-classic Pipeline and Waimea Bay beaches. (“Eddie would go” is now the standard surfing phrase used to determine if a surfer should attempt to ride a particularly daunting wave.) Coleman shows how Aikau’s life between 1967 and 1977 was “a strange mix of calm and chaos,” with Aikau working as a Waimea Bay lifeguard between local and international surf competitions, culminating in his winning the prestigious Duke Kahanamoku Classic in 1977. But Coleman also smartly observes how Aikau’s desire to join the crew of the voyaging Hokulea-which was attempting to show that ancient Polynesian sailors had purposely sailed to the islands-was itself an example of the resurgent interest by Hawaiians to explore and reclaim their cultural identity and further added to Aikau’s ongoing status as a Hawaiian hero.

Diamond Jim Brady: Prince of the Gilded Age A cunning businessman, “Diamond” Jim, made huge deals and lived a lavish lifestyle. He beleive the best use of spending his money was living large.

Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw Silver or Lead? That was Pablo Escobars creed. Either your accepted his bribe or he killed you. Killing Pablo is further proof. It describes the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, a notorious Colombian drug lord who became one of the narcotic trade’s first billionaires. Pablo–Bowden refers to him by his first name throughout the book–started out as a petty thief and wound up running a massive smuggling empire. At his height in the 1980s, he owned fleets of boats and planes, plus 19 separate residences in Medellin, each with its own helipad. Violence marked everything he did: “He wasn’t an entrepreneur, and he wasn’t even an especially talented businessman. He was just ruthless.” He bought off police, politicians, and judges throughout his country, and killed many others who wouldn’t cooperate. The Colombian government tried to capture him, but without much luck; he evaded them time after time. “Now and then the police achieved enough surprise to catch him, literally, with his pants down. In [1988], about one thousand national police raided one of his mansions,” writes Bowden. “Pablo fled in his underwear, avoiding the police cordon on foot.” He got away, again, but his days were numbered. He was making powerful enemies in both Colombia and the United States. The final straw probably came when Pablo’s men murdered a popular politician and, three months later, planted a bomb on a plane, killing 110 people, including two Americans.

The Book I just finished

Travels by Michael Crichton The first quarter of the book chronicles his gradual disillusionment with medical school and his decision not to practice medicine, I found this a little slow but once I got past it the book was of more interest to me. His accounts of visits to remote places in Asia and Africa present a perspective on his personal life. We should all have the same perspective. Shuffled among these chapters are accounts of psychic experiences that include channeling, exorcism, and spoon-bending and end with a defense of “paranormal experience.” Crichton has had an interesting life, which he writes about in a crisp and disarmingly frank manner. His inner “travels” offer something for almost everyone.