The Books I Read in 2006
by Patrick Ruffini :: December 28th, 2006 9:39 pmStealing a page from Auren Hoffman, here’s a list of the books I read in 2006. I’m calling myself out. It’s a skimpy list — 18 books. (Flipping through dead tree matter is the first casualty of the RSS reader.) I think I will take Auren’s advice and listen to more books this year — being away from a computer actually forces me to do it. The really good ones are in bold-ital.
The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright (currently reading)
Naked Conversations, by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
Reagan in His Own Voice, edited by Kiron Skinner, Martin Anderson, and Annelise Anderson
Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim and Renee Maubourgne
The Way to Win, by Mark Halperin and John Harris
Applebee’s America, by Matthew Dowd, Douglas Sosnik, and Ron Fournier
The Elephant in the Room, by Ryan Sager
Voting to Kill, by Jim Geraghty
In Defense of the Religious Right, by Patrick Hynes
Strategery, by Bill Sammon
The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson
Good to Great, by Jim Collins
An Army of Davids, by Glenn Reynolds
Crashing the Gate, by Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga
Politics Lost, by Joe Klein
The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowieki
The Google Story, by David Vise and Mark Malseed
Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell
Moneyball, by Michael Lewis
Has political writing gone downhill? All my favorites this year were business/trends books (though admittedly, I’m skimming the cream of the crop here). The Way to Win was solid, though I suspect 2008 will change things in ways the authors don’t anticipate. Read together, the Sager/Geraghty/Hynes trio is a good primer on the tripartite Republican coalition (economic/national security/social). And though thoroughly afflicted with MSMness, Joe Klein’s book is a good look at authenticity in politics, which I think is making a comeback.
What were your favorite books in the last year?
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The Way to Win focused to much on Hillary. But I did like the focus on IMAGE, a person must be aware of their IMAGE to be considered presidential material. With all the buzz right now about Rudy and his baggage, he is going to have to work extra hard to repair his IMAGE.
Also, James Baker has a good book about Working Hard and Staying out of Politics. It is very historic and gives a viewpoint of many world events based on Baker’s own experience.
He had to resign as Secretary of Treasury in order to become the national chairman for VP Bush’s race in 1988. The campaign laws prohibit Cabinet members from working on a presidential campaign, so they have to resign.
Overall, very interesting for a Republican reader.
Next is a book by Doro Bush Koch, about her Dad. In fact, President Bush was carrying her book and said he was reading it. Again, very historic from a woman who grew up in the home of a president and is the sister of another.
Finally, I read the Dossier on Hillary Clinton by Amy Carpenter. Wow. What a wealth of information for any Republican or Democrat who would be seeking the 2008 nomination. Hillary has the most baggage of any contender and I think this book might be a key reason Hillary might not run in 2008. You heard it here first.
I do most of my reading online. I had to read so many books
as I re-wrote much of the degree-completion curriculum when
working at the college I sort of burned-out for a while,
much like a post-masters/doctorate book-reading burnout.
I rarely read anything cover-to-cover, skimming/speed-
reading instead. Little of what I have seen justifies the
time and dedicated synapses to read in detail. 
I did read a personally recommended book, Under Cover by
John Bevere, then created a detailed outline and taught it
to the men of our church … the professor keeps breaking
loose! I had to correct a couple of theological miscues but
found it very worthwhile. The outline is here:
http://www.springhillfbc.com/UnderCover.dsp&PATH=&SITEID=UnderCover.dsp
I’ve also been trying to fill the many gaps in my radio and
electronics knowledge, am learning/re-learning math as we
homeschool our children, and am learning more about Linux.
Among my New Year’s resolutions are the submission of one
or two book proposals (one based on my doctoral thesis) and
the submission of multiple articles. If we sell our home
and relocate and build that may constrain my writing some.
If anyone reading has good suggestions re. getting published
I am “all ears” (and no, that does not mean that I am asking
Ross Perot to return to politics)!
dcolburn in florida
I also enjoyed Patrick Hynes’ book on social conservatives and the GOP. It comes from the unique perspective of a sympathetic outsider (to the social conservative movement), which is how I consider myself in many ways.
I’m currently reading Bill Bennett’s first volume history entitled America: The Last Best Hope. It is excellent, and I would recommend it to anyone who is forced to go through the PC history curriculum seen in many high schools and colleges today.
Next on my shelf is John O’Sullivan’s book on Reagan, John Paul II, and Thatcher. I am looking forward to kicking off my 07 list with that book.
Mark Steyn, “America Alone.”
Should be required reading in every high school civics class in the country, if only for the number of coronaries it would induce in the school administration.
Mark Steyn, “America Alone.”
A bit more varied, at the top of list are two which, while “political” in nature, aren’t really political books. Robert Harris’s fictional “Imperium” and Goldsworthy’s great bio “Caesar, Life of a Colossus”.
Among many others, two more stand out, “Redefining Sovereignty”, edited by Orrin Judd, and Gertrude Himmelfarb’s wonderful “The Roads to Modernity”, actually this a 2004 book, but I just read it in 2006.
In the wings for 2007, Fritz Stern’s “Five Germanys I Have Known” and Robin Fox’s “The Classical World”.
Mike
I’ve read all of Robert Spencer’s books. Which I also say should be required reading…for every American.
The only problem with that is that we would have an immediate national riot to bomb almost every Muslim county in the world.
Including some in [e]urope.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
I would love to read “The Looming Tower” as it seems to be the definitive work on the lead-up to 9/11. After reading “America Alone”, I think my frustration would boil over, so I am delaying reading “The Looming Tower” as well as “Londistan” by Melanie Phillips.
So far my favorite reads have been:
**The Closing of the American Mind, Alan Bloom
**Christianity and the Crisis of Culture, Joseph Ratzinger
**America Alone, Mark Steyn
**Of Paradise and Power, Robert Kagan
On deck: Dangerous Nation, Robert Kagan
Guests of the Ayotallah, Mark Bowden
Values in a Time of Upheaval, Joseph Ratzinger
I read very few books this year. I have read very few books since becoming a mom, come to think of it. Reading at night either puts me to sleep or keeps me up all night now. Books on tape on long trips and dead tree books on long flights are the best ways for me to read a complete book these days.
I liked Arthur Chrenkoff’s Night Trains. It was a combination of sci fi (time travel), mystery and history with many of the events in the story being based on real experiences of Chrenkoff’s grandparents in Poland during the Holocaust. I also really liked David Limbaugh’s book, Bankrupt, on the current state of the Democrats.