read as many books as possible, starting with all the books I own but haven't read

By Edward Dolnick

Loved it! A nobody artist begins to forge and sell paintings by Vermeer and other artists. His biggest target?  Second in Command of the Nazi Reich, Hermann Goering..

by Algernon Blackwood

He created the psychic detective genre. John Silence is the first example of this. He is a ghost hunter and seeker of weirdness. His psychic powers help him in the stories.

I normally don’t go for self help books, but I gave this one a try, and was pleased.
New hope for people with Bipolar Disorder
Jan Fawcett, MD and Bernard Golden,PHD
It goes into great details on bipolar disorder. It talks about MRI studies, considers all therapies, and does a good job describing all the aspect of the condition. It is in plain language. It was helpful.

by Nigel Trantor.
A retelling of the story of William Wallace (Braveheart)
the movie was totally wrong on the story. So much myth has crept in, no one what is really true anymore.
The author has a reputation for meticulous research, so I’m willing to bet this is close to the real story. No princess, no crazy Irish. What actually caused the Scottish rebellion to fall was simple in fighting, backstabbing and politics from the Scots. Some things never change.

by Richard Feynman

He's a scientist and teacher. It's a series of essays and lectures on life in general. He discusses religion, life, science, and social problems. He had a lot of interesting views.

by Arthur Miller
Great book about the Salem witch trials. It shows
how pettiness and personal agendas can take
over the investigations of the so called crimes.
Neighbor turns on neighbor for personal reasons.
In the end many are hung.

by James W Loewen.
Anyone interested in American history has to read this book, because what you learned in school wasn’t all that happened. A lot of it was “hero worship” where people were made to be flawless, and other stuff in their lives wasn’t considered “important”
Helen Keller, as we all know, overcame deafness and blindness to learn how to speak. However, when she became an adult, she joined the Socialist party, and tried to overthrow the government.
Many American History books portray the Indians as virtual beggars at the first Thanksgiving, ignoring the fact that they were the ones that taught the settlers how to survive. Also, they weren’t the first permanent European settlement in the New World,the Spanish had them.
Abraham Lincoln got the US through the civil war despite being bipolar and having severe attacks of depression.
The author backs this up with a bibliography, so that the reader is free to pursue their own studies.
I suppose I could also cross this into my goal of fight mediocrity.

A Policy of Kindness

One of his older books, bur the first one of his I have read. It really show what a remarkable man he is. He can forgive and love the people that invaded and took over his people and exiled him. Wow.

“Spiritual teachings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”
I have always been an Emerson fan, but this opened my eyes to him alot more. Part biography, and part an attempt to explain what he was trying to say in his writings.
He also wrote far more than I knew, which means I have to find more of his writings, of course.

y Peter Ackroyd
Boy did I go through this one fast. It’s a biography of Edgar Allen Poe from birth to death. He had such a sad life, then to die at 40. He was orphaned, adopted by ambivalent parents,ignored as an author until late in life, and failed in every editing job he ever had.
He also had a loveless marriage (sexless) to a 13 year old cousin who died of consumption.
Of course his binge drinking did not help. he would go on 3 or 4 day benders and take several days to recover.
his whole life seemed to be one long tragedy. Sad.