IGX

Ahhh. I like the pulp style shoot-em ups as well.

Bram wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 5:08 pm "The Biggest Bluff" - this came out last month. A woman with zero experience in poker sets out to play at the World Series of Poker a year after starting. She ends up winning 300,000$ and is trained by some of the best poker players in history. There is a wealth of lessons transferable to whatever you're into, I've found things I can apply to surfing, for example. My favorite lesson, "There are no bad beats." A bad beat is when you have strong cards but still lose. Her teacher says he never wants her to complain or brag about the cards she was dealt. Only discussing the decisions she made and the reasons for them.

+1 on this recommendation. Just finished it. Poker as a metaphor for life. Particularly interesting is the 'sunk cost fallacy'-staying in a crap hand (or situation) because you've already spent so much to get to that stage.

I'm still stunned at the idea poker can teach people about life when every single big time poker player is an absolute wreck or profoundly autistic.

It's like thinking chess players have solid life advice to offer.

Or some Chinese dude has BASED wisdom about military strategy.

Bennyonesix1 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:27 pm It's like thinking chess players have solid life advice to offer.

I dunno, you can learn a lot from, say, Bobby Fischer.

POINT TAKEN

Bennyonesix1 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:27 pm I'm still stunned at the idea poker can teach people about life when every single big time poker player is an absolute wreck or profoundly autistic.

It's like thinking chess players have solid life advice to offer.

Or some Chinese dude has BASED wisdom about military strategy.

Must be great not having to read books or ever learn

It is. It really is great.

lasalle wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 5:50 pm
+1 on this recommendation. Just finished it. Poker as a metaphor for life. Particularly interesting is the 'sunk cost fallacy'-staying in a crap hand (or situation) because you've already spent so much to get to that stage.

Glad you enjoyed it too! Though I've still another 100 pages to go :)

"Sunk cost" comes up a lot. I know it's a common pitfall for investments of any kind. Pay X, don't want to let it go for less, even if it's not doing you any benefit. Relationships too. Stay with someone because of the time spent up until now, but things aren't great.

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:43 pm

Bennyonesix1 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:27 pm It's like thinking chess players have solid life advice to offer.

I dunno, you can learn a lot from, say, Bobby Fischer.

Hey all -

Seeking a book recommendation. I'm looking for something along the lines of a Lonesome Dove....or Shogun. One of those 8...9 hundred page turners that while they could be made into a movie also contain wisdom and I might just learn something. They satisfy the need for action and for love. Not lame and boring. Fiction. Genre open. But again, I want to emphasize...I'm not looking for an 1300 page character study. Plot. Some action. Mystery. Adventure. Etc.

newguy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:30 pm Hey all -

Seeking a book recommendation. I'm looking for something along the lines of a Lonesome Dove....or Shogun. One of those 8...9 hundred page turners that while they could be made into a movie also contain wisdom and I might just learn something. They satisfy the need for action and for love. Not lame and boring. Fiction. Genre open. But again, I want to emphasize...I'm not looking for an 1300 page character study. Plot. Some action. Mystery. Adventure. Etc.

The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:36 pm

newguy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:30 pm Hey all -

Seeking a book recommendation. I'm looking for something along the lines of a Lonesome Dove....or Shogun. One of those 8...9 hundred page turners that while they could be made into a movie also contain wisdom and I might just learn something. They satisfy the need for action and for love. Not lame and boring. Fiction. Genre open. But again, I want to emphasize...I'm not looking for an 1300 page character study. Plot. Some action. Mystery. Adventure. Etc.

The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas

On the real....does this hold up well or is it going to be one of those old things that people read and then pretend it is good when really it's just old. And dont get me wrong.....I'm not against old things. Great Expectations is on my reread list this year and going finally get around to reading Bleak House.

But what I'm asking is....is this more Great Expectations or more IDK....Last of the Mohicans?

It's a fun adventure, but I haven't read Great Expectations so I can't compare it. It's waaaaay better than James Fenimore Cooper.

newguy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:30 pm Hey all -

Seeking a book recommendation. I'm looking for something along the lines of a Lonesome Dove....or Shogun. One of those 8...9 hundred page turners that while they could be made into a movie also contain wisdom and I might just learn something. They satisfy the need for action and for love. Not lame and boring. Fiction. Genre open. But again, I want to emphasize...I'm not looking for an 1300 page character study. Plot. Some action. Mystery. Adventure. Etc.

War and Peace, obviously. Romance, dying scenes, battle scenes, interludes of big ideas. Great characters. Perfect fit for your requirements.

The Master & Commander series. Every book great, all of it literature.

newguy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:30 pm Hey all -

Seeking a book recommendation. I'm looking for something along the lines of a Lonesome Dove....or Shogun. One of those 8...9 hundred page turners that while they could be made into a movie also contain wisdom and I might just learn something. They satisfy the need for action and for love. Not lame and boring. Fiction. Genre open. But again, I want to emphasize...I'm not looking for an 1300 page character study. Plot. Some action. Mystery. Adventure. Etc.

Glen Cook's Black Company series if you have any tolerance for Fantasy.

Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps if you have any tolerance for Sci-Fi.

Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer if you like Fantasy.

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series.

Flashman is good too.

Abercrombie is excellent Fantasy as well.

newguy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:47 pm

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:36 pm

newguy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:30 pm Hey all -

Seeking a book recommendation. I'm looking for something along the lines of a Lonesome Dove....or Shogun. One of those 8...9 hundred page turners that while they could be made into a movie also contain wisdom and I might just learn something. They satisfy the need for action and for love. Not lame and boring. Fiction. Genre open. But again, I want to emphasize...I'm not looking for an 1300 page character study. Plot. Some action. Mystery. Adventure. Etc.

The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas

On the real....does this hold up well or is it going to be one of those old things that people read and then pretend it is good when really it's just old. And dont get me wrong.....I'm not against old things. Great Expectations is on my reread list this year and going finally get around to reading Bleak House.

But what I'm asking is....is this more Great Expectations or more IDK....Last of the Mohicans?

Three Musketeers is fantastic dude. So is Monte Cristo. The problem with Cristo is that everyone has been ripping him off since he wrote it. So it can seem a little familiar. But he was first.

^^^That's a pretty fair assessment. There are things in the book that have become tropes. At the same time, his writing is really fluid and descriptive in a way that elevates it, and it is the ultimate tale of revenge served cold.

Bennyonesix1 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:50 pm Flashman is good too.

Some of the funniest, and funnest, adventure writing of all time. One of the only series where I've read every single one.

Flashman is so good.

Have you read any Hopkirk?

He's a historian who specializes in the Great Game era. Incredibly good. Readable.

Makinder's World Island has destroyed every empire that pursued his theory but it really did and I guess does dominate European Foreign Policy for generations.

newguy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:30 pm Hey all -

Seeking a book recommendation. I'm looking for something along the lines of a Lonesome Dove....or Shogun. One of those 8...9 hundred page turners that while they could be made into a movie also contain wisdom and I might just learn something. They satisfy the need for action and for love. Not lame and boring. Fiction. Genre open. But again, I want to emphasize...I'm not looking for an 1300 page character study. Plot. Some action. Mystery. Adventure. Etc.

I know I already recommended him, but Glen Cook is the best pulp style fiction writer going. He's just the best.

I'd also recommend Ellroy. If you like detective stories he's a must read.

Ellroy MIGHT have an argument as to being better than Cook. And maybe so, if you like a more historically based style of fiction.

Cook is the more ambitious as regards themes for me. Black Company is an amazing Hindu or perhaps even buddhist meditation.

Cook is pure Boomer and Ellroy is much more Gen X.

Bennyonesix1 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:13 am Flashman is so good.

Have you read any Hopkirk?

He's a historian who specializes in the Great Game era. Incredibly good. Readable.

Makinder's World Island has destroyed every empire that pursued his theory but it really did and I guess does dominate European Foreign Policy for generations.

Nope, but I'll look into it. Thanks for the recommendation.

Added to my list, thanks!

Great recs everyone. Thank you. Much appreciated.

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:32 pm
War and Peace, obviously. Romance, dying scenes, battle scenes, interludes of big ideas. Great characters. Perfect fit for your requirements.

The Master & Commander series. Every book great, all of it literature.

War and Peace. Definitely one of those that has always been on my get around to reading list. Thank you. And I've forgotten about the Master and Commander Series.

Bennyonesix1 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:50 pm

Glen Cook's Black Company series if you have any tolerance for Fantasy.

Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps if you have any tolerance for Sci-Fi.

Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer if you like Fantasy.

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series.

Flashman is good too.

Abercrombie is excellent Fantasy as well.

Thank you good sir. I've the Dragon Never Sleeps on my list since you recommended it in the product reviews. Love the Black Company. I do not believe I ever finished the series and it's also been on my list of must get back to.

I do like Gene Wolfe a lot. Shadow of the Toturer was one of those I read and felt I needed to read again at a later date. I liked his Knight duology a lot. I consider that one of my favorite almost stand alones of all time.

Never heard of Flashman. I will have to give it a look.

In regards to Ellroy, I enjoyed the Underworld USA trilogy. Other than that, haven't read much more of him.

I will definitely be giving The Count of Monte Cristo a go. Thank you Mr. Cat. And I'll had a lot of these to the pile.

Again, many thanks everyone.

newguy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:30 pm Hey all -

Seeking a book recommendation. I'm looking for something along the lines of a Lonesome Dove....or Shogun. One of those 8...9 hundred page turners that while they could be made into a movie also contain wisdom and I might just learn something. They satisfy the need for action and for love. Not lame and boring. Fiction. Genre open. But again, I want to emphasize...I'm not looking for an 1300 page character study. Plot. Some action. Mystery. Adventure. Etc.

'Exodus' by Leon Uris is good. 'August 1914' by Solzenitzyn if you're feeling up to it. Anything by Tom Wolfe is excellent-- 'The Right Stuff' (not fiction) and 'Bonfire of the Vanities' are fantastic.

Re really old stuff that holds up-- Don Quixote, and the Fitzgerald translations of the Odyssey, Iliad, and Aeneid are all fantastic.

Re the Flashman series-- you'll either love it or you won't. I don't think there's any middle ground.