Post: #1

I challenge you... to read a 500+ page book in 14 days. Here's why:




Here are reviews I've done of big ass books, from most liked to least:

Pacific Crucible
http://www.rooshv.com/more-book-reviews-13#pacific

Dark Alliance
http://www.rooshv.com/more-book-reviews-8#dark

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
http://www.rooshv.com/more-book-reviews-5#stalin

Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege
http://www.rooshv.com/more-book-reviews-7#stalingrad

The Rise & Fall Of The Great Powers
http://www.rooshv.com/more-book-reviews-6#greatpowers

Secrets: Memoir of the Pentagon Papers
http://www.rooshv.com/more-book-reviews-14#secrets

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (>1000 pages!)
http://www.rooshv.com/more-book-reviews-11#thirdreich

Russia Against Napoleon
http://www.rooshv.com/more-book-reviews-12#napoleon

The big ass book I will be reading for this challenge is...

The Landmark Thucydides - 700+ pages.

Post: #2

I've always been into biographies of great figures. Usually I have one or two guys I'm really interested in at a time. It doesn't matter if they're a hero or a villain really, just someone who did a lot of shit. Like I had a Warren Buffett phase, a Steve Jobs phase, a several Roman Emperor phases, etc.

Note: currently reading "Civilization: The West And The Rest" by Niall Ferguson.

Post: #3

Good Post.

I love reading bios of great figures, although it's been some time since I've read a big ass book.

This is a good reminder.

Post: #4

There's that track jacket again, fucking love that one.

Post: #5

Anybody ever read Hope and Tragedy cover to cover ? The full version with all 1300 pages ? I have been staring at it for a couple months now.

When is this challenge starting ? Might be the motivation I need to rip thru it

Post: #6

I read "Watch My Back" in two or three days. Not exactly a huge-ass book but I also read "Centennial" and "The Covenant" in under ten days. When you get your ass snowed in and there's nothing to do outside of chip ice off the car so you can get groceries and heave wood into a stove, you need something to fill in the dead time or you'll pull a "Ma Grebe" on everybody.

Post: #7

Quote:The big ass book I will be reading for this challenge is...

The Landmark Thucydides - 700+ pages.

Great choice. Took me almost 2 months to read that, doing it in 2 weeks is a disservice. Probably one of the greatest books of all time, there's just no way to absorb it all in under a month.

Fuck, Thucydides DIED writing it for gods sake, it's the result of over a decade of work...

Post: #8

Nice. I'll give this a shot. Definitely a few figures I'd like to read about. Great post.

Post: #9

I got http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago this badboy for a few bucks at a thrift store. Taking a course on Russian Literature from that time next semester so I might as well get a headstart.

Wow, just looked it up. I only have the first volume and its 600 pages. Maybe I'll read something else.

Post: #10

Heh, the James Clavell or George R R Martin books are page turners that I've comfortably been finishing within 14 days previously. These days I have problems finding good new material though.

Post: #11

(12-11-2012 07:08 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  When is this challenge starting ? Might be the motivation I need to rip thru it

As long as it takes you to buy a big ass book.

Post: #12

I actually read Stalingrad: The Fateful siege in 2 weeks after your recommendation.

Couldn't put it down.

Seeing as you like those genres Roosh, try 'Stuka Pilot' by Heinz Ulrich Rudel a German dive bomber pilot stationed on the Eastern Front. It talks about his exploits. I've almost finished it, I'm sure you'll like it.

The next one I intend to read is 'Panzer Leader' by Heinz Guderian. I find books about the Wehrmacht fascinating. A mighty military machine.

I'm gonna pick another one of those from your recommendations and go for the 2 week challenge.

I read The Peloponesian war which in parts was interesting. But I couldn't hack the matter of fact prose it's written in to maintain my interest for the whole book.

Post: #13

Currently reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - doesn't get much bigger than that.

Lots of great men in there and an incredibly broad sweep about an important time in history most people know very little about. Highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Decline-Empire-Mod...0375758119

Post: #14

(12-12-2012 07:37 AM)Caligula Wrote:  Currently reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - doesn't get much bigger than that.

Lots of great men in there and an incredibly broad sweep about an important time in history most people know very little about. Highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Decline-Empire-Mod...0375758119

I've read this, it's brilliant.

I read the Count of Monte Cristo in a couple of days, it's close to 1200 pages and the translation into English seems a 19th century style of English. Really raw.

This is similar to the Gibbon's book

http://www.amazon.com/History-England-Se...ume+volume

6 volumes around 3000 odd pages, old man bought it for me when I was younger. It is immense, covers the Roman period to 1688 in England, written in 1750 so patience is still required at some points. Other authors have attempted to continue on his work to take you through the Hanoverians and American Independence.

some smaller books you can power through are the various Myths and Legends books collated by E M Berens in the late 19th century.

Post: #15

I ordered the Marx and Engles reader after watching Roosh's video. I won't be able to finish it in fourteen days though (currently working through an audio book and a literature book).

I do like how Roosh set the bar though.

Post: #16

Go read about sula, he was a badass roman general/consul

Post: #17

Roosh, is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich a book you would actually recommend?

Your blog post including the book (More Book Reviews 11) isn't especially enthusiastic.

Post: #18

Does a large stack of Hustler Magazine's count?

Post: #19

Check out The Winds of War by Herman Wouk. It's about 1,000 pages but it moves pretty quick.

Post: #20

Currently reading Blood & Rage: a cultural history of terrorism by Michael Burleigh. I can't put it down.

Post: #21

(12-12-2012 07:37 AM)Caligula Wrote:  Currently reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - doesn't get much bigger than that.

Lots of great men in there and an incredibly broad sweep about an important time in history most people know very little about. Highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Decline-Empire-Mod...0375758119

Good recommendation Caligula. I will pick this up this weekend and get started. Thanks bro!

Post: #22

Just under halfway through Stalingrad. The scope of the battle is awesome.

On the topic of history I have recently been listening to history lectures from coursera.com while I commute. Very cool, I recommend the history of the world since 1300. It's heavily market-oriented, and the lecturer is an old friend of Bernanke.

Post: #23

(12-12-2012 05:31 PM)MSW2007 Wrote:  Roosh, is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich a book you would actually recommend?

Your blog post including the book (More Book Reviews 11) isn't especially enthusiastic.

You have to have a sharp interest in WW2 to really enjoy it. The amount of detail was insane.

Post: #24

I'm reading "Men of Wealth" by Flynn right now(550 pages or so). Next is "Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism" by Jorg Guido Hulsmann which is nearly 1200 pages.

I really wish more people would read Rothbard and Mises. This world would be a lot less 'blue pill'.

Post: #25

(12-12-2012 10:33 PM)Roosh Wrote:  

(12-12-2012 05:31 PM)MSW2007 Wrote:  Roosh, is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich a book you would actually recommend?

Your blog post including the book (More Book Reviews 11) isn't especially enthusiastic.

You have to have a sharp interest in WW2 to really enjoy it. The amount of detail was insane.

I'm going to pick up a copy as soon as I can. I love World War II history but hour-long cable TV documentaries are not fulfilling.

I hope there's a book containing such detail written from an Allies perspective, because I'd want to read that, too.