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Just add water - Katie Ledecky - 2024

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  I found this book when Scott and I were touring Barnes and Noble during his visit to Pittsburgh. It is not that long. It is actually very recent. She is 29 now and published this when she was 27. It was weird to read this book because most of the time the information in the books I read have happened before I was alive. But she is younger than me so a lot of the things she references I remember or have heard about. Also she grew up about 1 hour from me and I worked like 6 miles from Bethesda so I know the area a little bit.  This book makes you ask yourself a very important question. If you wake up at 430 everyday and eat plain Greek yogurt and swim and then go to school and then after school you swim again and you get a good night sleep and you have a supportive family and you are rich and you have good coaching and you have lots of discipline and you never drink alcohol or party or smoke weed or make a dumb decision, can you become an Olympic gold medalist??? And so I thin...
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Evicted - Matthew Desmond - 2016

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  Kind of long. Thanks to google for recommending. Strong academic basis for the data in the book and it is basically easy to read. The way Matt collected the stories for this book is cool. He lived in a trailer park and then in the hood of Milwaukee and personally got to know everyone.  This book is nonfiction. It really shows the ins and outs of being an inner city landlord including attending court. On a macro level it discusses problems tenants face and proposes some policy solutions. He proposes more legal representation for tenants and more housing vouchers for tenants. These are good ideas but I am not sure who is going to pay for it. Matt’s idea is that if we stop evictions now there will be fewer costs later. I don’t disagree with this but I am not sure if evictions are the main or only problem that causes other problems and then more money. I think his book does a great job showing that evictions are a huge problem (and they are) but probably there are a variety of f...
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How to live - Derek Sivers - Scott Goggins

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  Ok so picture you just got done a family function and you and your drunk uncle who has lived a crazy life get to talking. Your uncle is going on a massive rant about his life. This includes all his mistakes, highs and lows, good advice and bad advice and how he used to date 3 women but then realized he wanted to become a pastor for 2 years. Meanwhile you are a straight edge young adult who's craziest story is sneaking out with your buddies to drink in a field. That's essentially what this book is like. It's a whirlwind of sentences and claims of how you should live your life from one extreme to the next. It has you questioning if you are 'living life' or is 'life passing you by'. You will be in a state of uptight justification saying sentence such as 'I can't just move to Russia, who would pay for that?'. That is the beauty of it because it shakes up your life with such extremes that there is a little bit of truth behind it. It's very comic...
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The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem - Nathaniel Branden - Scott Goggins

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  I found myself enjoying this book more after I finished than while I was reading it. It mainly just had me reflecting and thinking about self esteem and especially looking out for it more. It's like when you notice everyone all of a sudden wearing blue but that's probably everyday in a different form. I'd say this book is broken into two parts. The first part are the six pillars and the second half is applying the pillars to aspects of life. As for the first half I did enjoy the concepts, how they were broken down and applied to life. I agree with the pillars and have experience them in my own life. The only put down I have is at some points it can read very academically and I start to gloss over or my mind would wander and I'd have to re-read. Some people might like this due to the detail but I didn't care for.  I honestly didn't know there was a 'second part of the book', I thought it was just the pillars. There were some interesting pieces but gener...
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Frankenstein - Mary Shelley - 1818

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  Ok so I definitely thought going in this book was going to be so so. However, the classics are starting to grow on me. One flew over the cuckoo’s nest encapsulates my personality perfectly (fight the power). And Last of the Mohicans is one of my favorite stories ever (I think that one is considered a classic but I could be wrong).  The author of this book was a genius. Mary Shelley wrote this at age 19 in the year 1818. How the hell did she come up with this story??? I will have to read about her.  I just spent the last 2.5 hours straight reading so I could finish and write this review. If I am reading the book a lot, that means it is good. This one is worth reading.  The story touches on a lot of themes that are still relevant. The protagonist is very intelligent but this knowledge eventually destroys him: is too much knowledge bad?? Victor creates a life but his creation goes awry: should humans be able to create things as a God would??? Frankenstein is huge and ...
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In the Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson - 2011

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  I have read many of Erik Larson’s books. I think I have a few remaining. He is one of my favorite authors. He lives in Seattle.  So yeah I would say read this one. It shows in depth how Hitler rose to power and how the U.S. did not really care or even supported his actions. At least for me, I have read a lot more about once the war began but I knew very little about how we arrived at the war. This book fills in a lot of the gaps.  The protagonist of the story is mostly disliked by his colleagues even though his perspective turns out to be exactly correct. That is a shame. In life you have to do your best regardless of what other people think and say. That is a hard thing to do. Ambassador Dodd was a smart and good man whose views were ahead of his time.  I am sick today and not very happy about it. I am not sure what I am reading next. But yes, read this one. Have a great day friends!
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Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - 2015

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  Recommended by: Not specifically but Scott read this (see his review on the blog) Length: 8 hours audio (short) Thesis: The team leader is responsible for everything. If your team is underperforming, it is your fault. If your commander is unhappy with your team, it is your fault. What I liked: Really good true stories from the Iraq war. The audio is funny because Jocko and Leif are so intense and sometimes they used real sound effects such as explosions. What I did not like: The ending was weak. It ended with a business example and then went into an excerpt from their other book. Should you read it: Maybe - def some good advice here but not the best book ever. Other: A big thank you to all who served and now serve in the U.S. armed forces. What I am reading next: In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson  
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