This past month, we approached 2 years of when the world shutdown and turned upside-down. Now we have war in Europe, high inflation, and talk of a recession. The news can really bring you down. To help me escape the troubles of current events, I read. I tend to read historical non-fiction books like the biographies of U.S. Presidents, Baseball, and the Mafia. Here are some of the books I have read over the past two years:
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams - Ben Bradlee Jr.
The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball - Frank Deford
Terror in the City of Champions: Murder, Baseball and the Secret Society that Shocked Depression-Era Detroit - Tom Stanton
Being Nixon: A Man Divided - Evan Thomas
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt - Edmund Morris
Herbert Hoover: A Life - Glen Jeansonne
Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President - Robert J. Rayback
Code Name: Johnny Walker - Johnny Walker with Jim Defelice
Out of the Silence: After the Crash - Eduardo Strauch
Scarred - Sarah Edmondson
Gotti's Boys:The Mafia Crew that Killed for John Gotti - Anthony M. DeStefano
Killing The Mob: The Fight Against Organized Crime in America - Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard
The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created - Jane Leavy
I am not a speed-reader by any means! I mostly read at night before going to sleep. You may notice, there are not any books on financial planning, stocks, or business. There is a purposeful reason for that. I read those items throughout the day through many different formats, and I like to allow my mind to take a break from those items at night. Thinking about work before bed is just not helpful in my opinion.
The two I would recommend from the list are the biographies on Ted Williams and Herbert Hoover. The Ted Williams biography is over 850 pages, so it is not a quick read by any means. However, when it comes to Ted Williams, there is so much more than just baseball, and this goes into his times in military service during World War II and the Korean War, as well as the intriguing story of cryonics at his death.
Herbert Hoover was president during the Stock Market crash of 1929 which lead to the Great Depression. However, after reading this book, I find it hard to believe that anyone would have been more qualified for the job of President at that time. With the supply chain issues and shortages the past couple of years, it would have been nice to have someone with his acumen "behind the helm."
If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them with me in our next meeting or message me.