I Meme, You Meme, We All Scream for Book Memes!

You just have to love "copy and paste"...and see my post By the Book, Yes, I am.. to figure out why this post looks so much like Yankee Sailor's... Memes, memes, what would we do if it weren't for memes? Probably get something productive done, I suppose. The Yankee Sailor tagged me, so I must comply. I guess there's utility in it, because it gives us a collective knowledge of one another, and helps us put things in context. Today it's books. I am also a book person, and I've got a lot, though not as many as I'd like, nor the time to even read all that I have. Here's the reply to today's tasker: (1) Number of books I own: About 30-40. I keep them on shelves, in boxes, in drawers, in the back of my car, you name it. (2) Last book bought: The Language of Leadership by Marlene Caroselli. Bought it because I once sat through this course with Dr. Caroselli. It was an outstanding week, and I got to thinking about some of the material covered back in 1993, and realized some of what I did in my presentation has resurfaced. Think "buckyball." Long story for another time. (3) Last book I read: To Be Told by Dan Allander. Have about 50 pages left to go, and then...there is a workbook, which also was purchased, so that's next...I'm counting it as done. It's making me really think... (4) Five books that mean a lot to me: - The Bible. An old standby, perhaps a cliche, but I do read it a lot and it keeps me away from shoal water....most of the time. (Yankee Sailor says this,...and ditto for me) - The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors : The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour by James Hornfisher. Besides being a well written documentary of the last ship-to-ship sea battle in history, my own life has become linked to this battle. I was XO on CARR (Paul Carr died in this battle), my college professor on computers was Cdr Amos Hathaway, who was CO of HEERMAN at this battle and was awarded the Navy Cross for the action, I trained the Combat Systems crews for the pre-comm units for both CLIFTON SPRAUGE (FFG-16) (named for Taffy 3's commander) and COPELAND (FFG-25)(CO of SAMUEL B ROBERTS (DE-413)) and, I was born again on Oct 25th, 1998 when I was 44 years old. The battle was Oct 25th, 1944. As you might see, it's a little more than a good book to me, it's a connection to that day. By the way, the Battle of Agincourt, memorialized in the St Crispian's Day Speech in "Henry V" by Shakespeare was Oct 25th, 1415. The Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War was on Oct 25th, 1854 and memorialized by Lord Tennyson's poem. My analysis may be shakey, but Oct 25th seems to be a special day for epic battles around the world. - Into the Mouth of the Cat: The Story of Lance Sijan, Hero of Vietnam. I read this about 20 years ago and it is my inspiration whenever I think I'm having a bad day. I don't have a prayer of ever having a bad day like his last few months alive. - "Our Own Worst Enemy" by William Lederer (co-author of "The Ugly American"). There are many lessons for us, even today, in this book that was later proven to be accurate in the postulations of the author. The book was written about Vietnam, published in June 68, with a thesis is we had not carefully studied the Vietnamese culture well enough to be able to fight the war effectively. His investigative reporting is deadly accurate. - The Creature from Jekyll Island : A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. An intriguing view into the history of money and cetral banking. It's like taking a college course, so don't take this one on lightly. You will have a comprehensive understanding of how money, inflation, the "Fed" and the IMF interact with our daily lives. And, like most social diseases, memes are best when shared, so I will tag Dr. Sgt Foley's Fire-Eaters, The Irish Lass and the 74 at the Bow Ramp.