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November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

Collaborate in choosing our next NON-FICTION book for group discussion within this forum. A minimum of 5 posts is necessary to participate here!
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Chris OConnor

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November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection


This thread is for Non-Fiction book suggestions for group discussion in November and December. If the book discussion ends up being active enough we'll extend the discussion period through January 2013. But for now this will be a 2-month discussion period.

So what NON-FICTION book would you like to read and discuss in November and December 2012?

Please read and follow these simple rules...

Don't make suggestions in this thread if you have less than 10 posts on our forums.
This is not the place to market your book if you're an author or trying to help an author promote a book. Create a new thread and share your book there. Do NOT do it in this thread unless you fully intend to actively participate in the discussion. And if you really plan to participate go make 10 quality forum posts and THEN make your Non-Fiction book suggestion. We know from a decade of experience you will never participate if making 10 forum posts is too tedious or a challenge. All book suggestions from people with less than 10 posts will be deleted.

Include all the necessary info in your post.
We need the book title, author name, a link to where we can read reviews or a book description, and most importantly we need to know why you're making the suggestion. You don't need to say much but show that you care enough and respect the book selection process to share a few of your thoughts on why your suggestion might make for a great group book discussion.

Please read every suggestion in this thread and leave feedback.
The most crucial step in our book selection process is considering the feedback people leave on the books that are suggested. So look carefully at all the non-fiction books you see suggested here and share your thoughts. Would you join a group of us in reading and discussing each particular book in the event it gets selected for group discussion? This is what we need to know. If this thread generates 25 book suggestions but only 4 of those 25 suggestions receive any positive feedback we'll only put the 4 books that received positive feedback on the poll. Why would we include books on the poll that only the people suggesting them apparently like? So please tell everyone which of the suggestions you like and which you do not like. Don't be shy or worry about hurting feeling. We need your honestly and openness.

Let the suggestions begin!
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Chris OConnor

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Re: November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden
For the first time anywhere, the first-person account of the planning and execution of the Bin Laden raid from a Navy Seal who confronted the terrorist mastermind and witnessed his final moments.

From the streets of Iraq to the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean, and from the mountaintops of Afghanistan to the third floor of Osama Bin Laden’s compound, operator Mark Owen of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group--commonly known as SEAL Team Six-- has been a part of some of the most memorable special operations in history, as well as countless missions that never made headlines.

No Easy Day puts readers alongside Owen and the other handpicked members of the twenty-four-man team as they train for the biggest mission of their lives. The blow-by-blow narrative of the assault, beginning with the helicopter crash that could have ended Owen’s life straight through to the radio call confirming Bin Laden’s death, is an essential piece of modern history.

In No Easy Day, Owen also takes readers onto the field of battle in America’s ongoing War on Terror and details the selection and training process for one of the most elite units in the military. Owen’s story draws on his youth in Alaska and describes the SEALs’ quest to challenge themselves at the highest levels of physical and mental endurance. With boots-on-the-ground detail, Owen describes numerous previously unreported missions that illustrate the life and work of a SEAL and the evolution of the team after the events of September 11. In telling the true story of the SEALs whose talents, skills, experiences, and exceptional sacrifices led to one of the greatest victories in the War on Terror, Mark Owen honors the men who risk everything for our country, and he leaves readers with a deep understanding of the warriors who keep America safe.
I've already started reading this book and would love to have a discussion with you guys here on the forums. Mark Owen has stirred up a great deal of controversy with the release of this first-hand account of SEAL Team 6's assault on Bin Laden's Pakistani compound. This alone makes the book a good choice for us here on BookTalk.org as we all seen to thrive on discussing and analyzing controversial topics. Should Owen be legally allowed to share US Navy SEAL tactics with the general public? Is there anything in this book that could tip off our enemies to how our elite military teams operate? And will Mark Owen eventually pay some sort of price for what he reveals here?

No Easy Day is the #1 Book on the market right now.

Who would like to read and discuss this one? Being so popular surely we can attract some new members to the book discussion.
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Re: November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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I would be interested in and hopefully my November it might not be quite as hot so I could find a copy at the library. I will see if I can think of any others that might be good.
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Re: November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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Please do!

Where is everybody? Am I moving too fast with calling for suggestions this early?
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Re: November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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Well it would be a change from psychology or god. Not sure though
Life's a glitch and then you die - The Simpsons
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Re: November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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This thread has been up for 22 days with no suggestions. :-(
Karen Fisher-Alaniz
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Re: November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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May I suggest my own book?

It is a memoir and published by Sourcebooks.

Title: Breaking the Code: a Father's Secret, a Daughter's Journey, and the Question That Changed Everything.

A short synopsis: When my father, a WWII veteran began having terrible nightmares and vivid flashbacks, I set out on a journey to find out why. You see, he'd told me many, many times as a little girl and adult too, that he hadn't really been in the war, that he'd sat behind a desk. So why was he so troubled, at the age of 81? We began meeting once a week for breakfast, so I could try to figure out a way to help him. Eventually, he gave me more than 400 pages of letters he'd written during the war, and the stage was set for me to learn what he'd really done. He had worked in naval intelligence, and this work set the stage for the biggest tragedy of his life.

As I've attended in-person book groups, some of the subjects that we've discussed are; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), gathering stories from the Greatest Generation, memoir writing, history, patriotism and on and on. Every group is different.

If you select my memoir, I'd be happy to stop by for a discussion. It would make a good selection for November because of Veteran's Day.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Karen Fisher-Alaniz
http://www.storymatters2.com
My website: http://www.storymatters2.com
Breaking the Code - a Father's Secret, a Daughter's Journey,
and the Question That Changed Everything (Sourcebooks) came
out on 11/1/11. Buy at your local bookstore, or on Amazon
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Re: November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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Just thought I'd add a note about the other book proposed. I haven't read Owen's book yet, but I've had people ask me at book signings what I think of the situation. I really don't have an opinion. I can only speak from my own experience and journey with my father. He too, was sworn to secrecy. He kept those secrets for more than 50-years. In fact, many of the WWII generation did. That's why just now, we're starting to finally hear their stories. My father suffered dearly and continues to suffer. Secrets have a way of taking a toll on their keeper.

That said, it might be interesting to read one book and then the other. It would make for an interesting conversation, I think. Just a thought. ~Karen
My website: http://www.storymatters2.com
Breaking the Code - a Father's Secret, a Daughter's Journey,
and the Question That Changed Everything (Sourcebooks) came
out on 11/1/11. Buy at your local bookstore, or on Amazon
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Re: November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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I'm a sucker for Navy SEAL stuff, so I'd read No Easy Day.

There's a great Discovery channel documentary on SEAL training you can find on YouTube.
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Re: November & December 2012 Non-Fiction Book Selection

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I got sucked into the fiction discussion forums and forgot about my suggestions. I do have two though. The first would be Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalvan and Bret Witter. I will put the link below to the page on Amazon, but this was a really great book and it talked not only about the war in Iraq, but also the difficulties soldiers face coming home (that I think are typically glossed over by the media) but also about a soldier on the ground and what his thoughts were on the war. It also has great info on the amount of time and training for service dogs and how unique a bond that can be. My husband typically doesn't read books and he is reading this one, so it has to be good. I think it pulls together a lot of different issues and gives an honest opinion about them.

http://www.amazon.com/Until-Tuesday-Wou ... il+tuesday

The other one I would throw out there is The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary" by Simon Winchester. I haven't read this one but it sounds really interesting. Link below and the book description from Amazon.
The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- and literary history. The compilation of the OED began in 1857, it was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.
http://www.amazon.com/Professor-Madman- ... winchester
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