currently trying (and failing) to get through all of these. I am only re-reading foucault and the econ textbook, I have in fact read them before, but the others I have never been able to finish.
The 48 Laws of Power - Very interesting book, apparently it's one of the most requested books EVER by prison inmates. All about how to influence other people and the rules to follow for success in influencing and manipulating people. He uses a story about a king, queen, emperor, general etc., to illustrate every rule and how it's supposed to be followed. Not sure who Robert Greene is or what he knows about power, but it was a fun read nonetheless. Got through the first half and then got lazy.
Journey to the end of the night - It's a story somewhat based on the author's experiences in WW2. French guy gets drafted into the military, he's afraid of war and wants to quit. Gets stuck doing exhausting labor, risking his life, treated poorly by his commanding officer and eventually "lucks out" by getting injured and sent home. It was pretty interesting, I think I like the author's writing style, I mean to read the rest but so far have only gotten about 100 pages in.
Discipline and Punish - This one I actually HAVE read, but I am planning to re-read it soon alongside an analysis of each chapter. All about the history of prisons, from the 18th to 20th century. The author says that in the 17th century, new fields of knowledge were established in order to analyze, categorize, and judge criminals. Motive became important, psychology became important, and the law was no longer applied equally to all criminals, instead the "soul" of the convict is judged. He also discusses torture and capital punishment versus the disciplinary punishment of the prison system, which is more focused on rehabilitating people. Argues that prisons incorporate a system of discipline based upon surveillance and labor, and discusses all the methods by which they discipline the inmates. There's WAY too much stuff to explain in a short post here but I thought it was interesting. Apparently its pretty influential in the world of philosophy.
Exercise of Power - Another one I haven't finished, but from what I've read there's a loooot of information to digest here. Former secretary of defense talks all about foreign policy, going case-by-case starting with the Cold War era and Iran, what he thinks we did right and wrong, etc. and what the US needs to do in the future. Despite sounding complicated it's actually a very accessible, easy to understand book and the author speaks completely from first-hand experience. What I was most interested by was how he explained the aggression from Iran during the cold war era and how the US used propaganda and "surrogate militaries" instead of directly fighting other countries. Very interesting, but it's a long book and I've only read the first couple chapters.
And finally, the textbook from my economics class... This one I HAD to read, but I am studying economics so I don't mind reading it again. I actually enjoy reading about this kind of stuff. Supply and demand, trade controls, the fed, controlling interest rates and the money supply... Really just an overview of a lot of topics which I think are good to know.
Whew, sorry for the long blog. I never got the chance to talk about any of these books with other people, so now's my chance to post some reviews. Hopefully once my current college semester is over I can finish ALL of them. I really wish I had more free time to read, lol.