Howdy friends,

I hope your 2017 is off to a great start. Thanks to all of you who’ve forwarded these emails to your friends and colleagues—I’ve been amazed at how this list continues to grow. If you’re new to the list and want some of my past recommendations, a good place to start is My Ten Favorite Books of 2016. Otherwise, here’s what I’ve been reading the past two months and wholeheartedly recommend to you:

Hellhound on His Trail: The Electrifying Account of the Largest Manhunt in American History by Hampton Sides - Hampton Sides is a damn genius. As far as I’m concerned, he is the best non-fiction writer alive. His ability to write in-depth, detailed, scholarly history on a wide variety of subjects and deliver it in entertaining, fun-to-read books is second to none. This one covers the stalking and assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. by the loner/pervert/nutcase Eric Galt aka James Earl Ray. The lead-up to the assassination and the subsequent international manhunt for Ray is a perfect example of truth being stranger than fiction. If you’re like me and are embarrassingly uneducated about the Civil Rights movement, the life of Martin Luther King Jr., and the turbulent 1960s, this book will serve as a solid jumping-off point to learn more. Excellent book. [One of my favorite books of all time is Hampton Sides’ Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West]

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides - I doubled down on Hampton Sides with this book about an ill-fated expedition to discover the North Pole. While the adventure narrative about the actual expedition is entertaining, I found some of Sides’ insights into the Gilded Age to be the more interesting parts of this book. The Gilded Age is my favorite chapter in U.S. history, and the amount of knowledge gained and myths busted during that time period is amazing. For example, when the USS Jeannette left on its adventure, the world’s leading scientists (as well as the boat’s captain) were absolutely convinced that the North Pole was an open warm-water sea created by thermal energy emanating from the earth’s core—turns out it was a deadly frozen wasteland that killed almost everyone on board. Once again, Hampton Sides knocks it out of the park with this one. [For more cold-weather adventure, you can’t beat Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing.]

Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferriss - Given the amount of driving I do for work, Tim Ferriss’ podcast has been a godsend. I’ve listened to almost every episode, and each one invariably offers a few new ideas, actionable advice, or interesting book recommendations. Many of the books I've recommended on this list were a result of Ferriss' in-depth and lengthy interviews with “world-class performers." Tools of Titans is basically the CliffsNotes version of the podcast—hundreds of hours of audio distilled down into the “greatest hits” from each episode. The 700-page book is gargantuan—ridiculous really—and I’ll likely never read it all the way through. But it serves as a great reference for all of the excellent material covered in the podcast. [Check out his podcast interviews with author Sebastian Junger, former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink, and music producer Rick Rubin.]

Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk - A commonplace narrative in biographies of despondent or depressed people is a heroic story of how the individuals fought through their emotional challenges and eventually had a breakthrough that allowed them to conquer their demons once and for all. This book does no such thing. Instead, it explores how Abraham Lincoln’s chronic, sometimes debilitating, depression was a constant struggle his entire life, and how his battles with “melancholy” made him a stronger and more effective leader during one of our nation’s most tumultuous times. It’s an interesting examination of how a person’s greatest weakness can simultaneously be their greatest strength. [For more on the links between mental health and greatness, I recommend A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness by Nassir Ghaemi]

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser - I’m a firm believer that the only way to learn how to do something is to actually do it. For instance, reading a book about how to run 100-mile ultra marathons won't do you any good unless you lace up your shoes and go on six-hour training runs. A book may offer some good tips, but the learning is in the doing. So no, this book did not transform me into Hampton Sides overnight, but it did give me a useful toolkit to dig into every time I drag myself to the keyboard and struggle to bang out a few coherent sentences. The book is entertaining, surprisingly hilarious, and offers tips that run contrary to the rules and regs of freshman English class. I will refer back to this book often. [The best book on writing, or any creative endeavor, is The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield.]

I usually read and recommend at least one book related to the American West, but time got away from me this go-round. So that you're not penalized for my laziness, I’d like to offer up some recommendations from the all-around interesting dude Connor Coleman, whom I interviewed on my podcast: Connor Coleman - How to Build a Meaningful Life in the West. Scroll down to the “episode notes” for his full list, which includes books about TR, Ted Turner, wildfires, buffaloes, and one of the greatest books of all time, My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.

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Thanks again for subscribing to my bimonthly book recommendations. I've discovered most of my all-time favorite books through suggestions from friends like you, so the whole point of this email is to encourage more discussions about good books. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, and feel free to forward this email to any of your friends who may be interested.

If you were forwarded this email and want to receive future editions, you can either sign up here or send me an email (edroberson@gmail.com). One email, every other month with a few books that I’ve recently read, enjoyed, and highly recommend.

Thanks,

Ed

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Blog: www.mountainandprairie.com
Podcast: www.mountainandprairie.com/podcast
Book Recommendations: www.mountainandprairie.com/reading