Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre. One of my favorite books, and one of the true classics of the psychological makeup of risk. It is the biography of one of the world's greatest risk takers of all time, Jesse Livermore.
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Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Nothing needs to be said about this classic. If you haven't read it, then you are truly a heathen...
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Sailing Alone Around The World by Captain Joshua Slocum. This is the classic first hand tale of a single handed passage around the world in a small boat. Captain Slocum set sail in April of 1895 and proved-after 3 years and 46,000 miles- that one man could sail around the world alone.
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Cruising in Seraffyn by Lin Pardey, Larry Pardey. A marvelous escape from reality by two of the most experienced ocean crusiers of all time.
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Golden Bough by James George Frazer. This is a monumental survey of man's evolution from primative to sophisticated. It shows the result of those members of the different societies that formed who realized that the fears of their lesser brethren could be turned against them. These men became, first, the magicians of the tribe, then the priests, and finally the King. The name of the book comes from one of the issues of folklore that forms the overall three themes of the book: Who was the King of the Wood, what is the Golden Bough, and why did The King of the Wood have to be killed with the Golden Bough? Fasinating stuff!
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Outline of History by H.G. Wells. This is undoubtedly the greatest book on the history of civilization ever written. Nothing dry about this! Wells even comments, "…The standing of the present writer, however, who is by nature and choice as remote from academic respect as he is from a dukedom, enabled him to interest the public in history without any such sacrifice of dignity and distinction, such risks from hostile criticism, as a recognized authority would have had to incur. … He has merely made a digest of a great mass of material, some of it very new material, and he has done so in the character of a popular writer considering the needs of other ordinary citizens like himself."
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Case Studies in Object-Oriented Analysis and Design by Edward Yourdon, Carl A. Argila. I took a course in OOAD in Boston, MA from Dr. Argila in the summer of 1996. The book covers the analysis and design of two complete object oriented applications: a small magazine subscription application for the applications view, and an elevator control system for the systems view.
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Object-Oriented Analysis and Design With Applications by Grady Booch. Booch is the man. He is Mr. Object Oriented. Together, Booch, Rumbaugh and Jacobson combined talents and developed the Unified Modeling Language (UML).
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A Crusing Guide To The East Coast by Hank and Jan Taft. The crusier's bible for northern New England crusing. I have had many very satisfying experiences saling along the coast of Maine as a result of recommendations and suggestions from this book. Makes a nice winter's read as well! If you have a yearning for Maine gunkholing, then treat yourself to this book! Try this link as well.
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The Coast of Summer by Anthony Bailey. I happened onto an article about the summer reading selection of President Clinton for his 1999 Edgertown, MA Cape Cod vacation. The Coast of Summer was one of them. It is a marvelous story of the author and his wife on a 3 week sailing vacation aboard their 27' Tarten Lochinvar as they sail from Shelter Island to Cape Cod in 1991.
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A Cruising Guide to Narragansett Bay and the South Coast of Massachusetts by Childress, Childress, and Martin. This book not only gives complete coverage extending to the headwaters of Narragansett Bay and miles offshore to Block Island and Nantucket, but the rich description of the experience of sailing these historical areas is a joy to read- if you are into gunk-hole sailing.
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Buffett : The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. Traces the career of stockbroker Warren Buffett from its modest beginning in 1956 to the nearly uncountable fortune he holds today. Journalist Lowenstein draws on three years of access to his family, friends, and colleagues to draw a portrait of Buffett as honest, unpretentious, humorous. He finds parallels between his personality and his fundamental investment strategy of buying into a company that is undervalued then waiting for its worth to surface.
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Eastward: A Maine Cruise in a Friendship Sloop by Roger F. Duncan. One of the most enjoyable small boat crusing books I have ever read. Duncan takes us on a summer's cruise in his 32' Friendship Sloop from East Boothbay, Maine to Saint John, New Brunswick and back. It is a celebration of sail and the human spirit to bond with Nature.
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Refactoring : Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler. Besides an introduction to refactoring, this handbook provides a catalog of dozens of tips for improving code. The best thing about Refactoring is its remarkably clear presentation, along with excellent nuts-and-bolts advice, from object expert Martin Fowler. The author is also an authority on software patterns and UML, and this experience helps make this a better book, one that should be immediately accessible to any intermediate or advanced object-oriented developer.
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Java Design by Peter Coad. A guide introducing design with Java, incorporating two ongoing design examples. Coverage includes interfaces, composition, threads, and notification. It discusses strategic issues associated with Client/Server development projects and identifies projects where Java would be an ideal language to use. The book is heavily illustrated with a full case study throughout the book.
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Sailing Three Oceans : Building and Sailing Schooner Appledore by Herbert Smith. The engaging story of how Herb and his wife Doris built and sailed their 48' schooner to many far away places, including around the world in a later Appledore.
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Playboy's Book of Backgammon by Lewis Deyong. Deyong combines an excellent tutorial on winning backgammon from a very winning player interwoven with marvelous stories of his play and experience playing the game all over the world. Where most books are very dry and academic, Deyong's style is sparkling and filled with the pure joy of the game and the striving for going for the throat for the money win.
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Object Oriented Design Heuristics by Arthur J. Riel. Provides specific experience-based guidelines to help developers make the right design decisions. This book offers the next step for readers that know the basics of object-oriented development and now need to know if they are doing it right and making the right choices.
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Ideas Behind The Chess Openings by Reuben Fine. Written in 1943, it is still the best book I have ever read on how to look at the overall picture of a chess game as the opening phase unfolds.
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My System- A Chess Treatise by Aron Nimzowitsch. Very old- 1930, but what a correlation between battle over the chess board related to all of life. Nimzowitsch describes postions as living campaigns. Each position is a psychological study as well as a technical analysis.
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Last Lectures by Jose Raoul Capablanca. Though not published until 1966, this book is the way to learn chess after you know the basic movements of the pieces. Capablanca begins teaching chess with the endgame rather than the openings with the thought that if you don't understand where you are trying to get your positions to finalize, you will never understand how to get them there! A quite different teaching approach loaded with deep theoretical insight.
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Backgammon by Paul Magriel. Considered the classic work on backgammon by one of its foremost players and theorist. Written in 1976, it painstakingly covers each area of the game in an easy to read and understand style. It just doesn't get any better than this! It is considered the "Bible" of backgammon- a must read for any serious player.
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Centennial by James Michener. This is just one of the most magnificient stories and intricate character development that you can imagine. Michener is the master story teller, weaving historical fact with fictional characters. The scope of time covered is huge, but he keeps the fluidity of the book alive as we watch interrelated characters enter, do their part in the development of the story, and then are gradually put in the background as the next generation of characters are brought forth. Though 1080 pages in the paperback version, this is a great read. Over the years I have read this at least 5 times, and the made for tv mini-series is compelling.
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Modern Backgammon by Bill Robertie. Though Magriel's book was the classic of its time, Robertie's book goes beyond. He shows how over the board play through the years coupled with the introduction of backgammon bots and computer programs since that book was written has improved players ability to the point where new stragegic thought must be applied to the modern game. Robertie has a terrific ability to clearly express complex theory. In fact, I introduce his book Backgammon for Serious Players to anyone just starting out in backgammon. Robertie is not only a two time World Backgammon champion, but is also a recognized chess master and currently high stakes poker expert and author.
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Agile Software Development by Robert C. Martin. Best selling author and world-renowned software development expert Robert C. Martin shows how to solve the most challenging problems facing software developers, project managers, and software project leaders today. A pragmatic tutorial on Agile Development and eXtreme programming, written by one of the founding father of Agile Development
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Backgammon for Serious Players by Bill Robertie. Robertie has a terrific ability to clearly express this complex game in an easy to understand manner. He covers all of the base tactical and strategic concepts someone new to the game can use to really appreciate backgammon. It's not a beginner's book as it really doesn't teach you the game but rather it teaches you how to play the game. I introduce this book to anyone just starting out in backgammon. Robertie is not only a two time World Backgammon champion, but is also a recognized chess master and currently high stakes poker expert and author.
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