Four books that Jason McCarthy and Blayne Smith recommended in their recent Selection wrap-up. Here it is if you missed it:
1. The Wright Brothers by David McCullough 2. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel 3. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho 4. Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
I decided to ask YOU for recommendations – what books would YOU recommend to a fellow GRT?
Now you guys really delivered – here’s over 60 MORE book recommendations. Send the below to anyone who is going to be shopping for your Christmas present soon.
1. The Wright Brothers by David McCullough 2. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel 3. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho 4. Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden 5. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink 6. The Long Walk by Stephen King (my essay on this book here) 7. Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield 8. The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive by Jim Afremow 9. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand 10. In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick 11. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick 12. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing 13. Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll 14. The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer 15. Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps’ Combat Program Can Save Your Life by Patrick Van Horne and Jason A. Riley 16. The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday 17. Survival Psychology by John Leach 18. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl 19. The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance by Steven Kotler Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler 20. The Darth Bane Series by Drew Karpyshyn 21. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott and Stefan Rudnicki 22. Ranger Games: A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime by Ben Blum 23. No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen 24. The Killing Zone: How & Why Pilots Die by Paul A. Craig 25. Delta Force: A Memoir by the Founder of the U.S. Military’s Most Secretive Special Operations Unit by Alan Sklar 26. About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior by Colonel David H. Hackworth 27. The Velvetine Rabbit by Margery Williams 28. The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers 29. The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander by Pete Blaber 30. Frog on a Log? by Kes Gray 31. You Can Do It, Stinky Face! by Lisa McCourt 32. Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi 33. Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown by Eric Blehm 34. 81 Days Below Zero: The Incredible Survival Story of a World War II Pilot in Alaska’s Frozen Wilderness by Brian Murphy 35. Guadalcanal Diary by Richard Tregaskis 36. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz 37. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown 38. In The Company of Heroes by Michael Durant 39. Rushing Waters by Danielle Steele 40. Start With Why by Simon Sinek 41. How Bad Do You Want It by Matt Fitzgerald 42. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (my essay on this book here) 43. Science, Strategy, and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd (Strategy and History) by Frans P.B. Osinga 44. Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer 45. Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces by Linda Robinson 46. A Sky Without Eagles by Jack Donovan 47. See You in a Hundred Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America by Logan Ward 48. Lest We Forget by Leo Jenkins 49. Unbreakable: A Navy SEAL’s Way of Life by Thom Shea 50. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth 51. The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield 52. The Road to Character by David Brooks 53. The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness by Jeff Olson and John David Mann 54. I Could Never Be So Lucky Again by Jimmy Doolittle 55. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov and Stefan Rudnicki 56. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson 57. Lead Yourself First by Michael Erwin and Raymond Kethledge 58. John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy by Evan Thomas 59. Theodore Roosevelt Trilogy by Edmund Morris 60. 8 Seconds of Courage: A Soldier’s Story by Flo Groberg and Tom Sileo 61. The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL by Eric Greitens 62. Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger 63. Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss 64. With The Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge
Get yer reading glasses ready.
P.S. And, of course, an actual ruck would make a great Christmas present too, yes? Check out my GR1 review here, and how I use it as a ONE bag for short-term travel. Perhaps, GR2 is next…
And for more GRT related reading, check out my recap of Toronto GORUCK event in 2012 where I met Stony Smith (holy moly, that was long ago), and in 2013.
Hugs, SOLO