Title: “Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win”

Authors: Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Rank: 2

Blurb: “Jocko Willink and Leif Babin share hard-hitting, Navy SEAL combat stories that translate into lessons for business and life. With riveting first-hand accounts of making high-pressure decisions as Navy SEAL battlefield leaders, this book is equally gripping for leaders who seek to dominate other arenas.”

Special Bonus Blurb: “This is the SEAL Leadership book we have been waiting for.” —Roger Ailes

Read more »

Title: “Good Profit: How Creating Value for Others Built One of the World’s Most Successful Companies”

Author: Charles G. Koch

Rank: 10

Blurb: “In 1961, Charles Koch joined his father’s Wichita-based company, then valued at $21 million. Six years later, he was named chairman of the board and CEO of Koch Industries, Inc. Today, Koch Industries’ estimated worth is $100 billion — making it one of the largest private companies in the world.”

Blurbs From Fellow One-Percenters…

“Charles Koch is a genuine patriot, and his lifelong mission is to make America as strong and free as she can be.” (John Schnatter, CEO Papa John’s Pizza)

Read more »

Title: “A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties”

Authors: Ben Carson and Candy Carson

Rank: 9

Blurb: “I believe that making a difference starts with understanding our amazing founding document, the U.S. Constitution. And as someone who has performed brain surgery thousands of times, I can assure you that the Constitution isn’t brain surgery.”

Review: “America needs his wisdom and evidence-based problem-solving skills.”

Customers Also Bought: “Agents of Babylon: What the Prophecies of Daniel Tell Us about the End of Days” by David Jeremiah

Footnote: Where’s the evidence that suggests rushing a gunman who bursts into your classroom is possible, or even conceivable in the moment?

A More Perfect Union [Amazon]

In pondering the significance of the Umpqua Community college tragedy, one of a seemingly unbroken string of mass killings to shake the nation since the shocking Columbine massacre 16 years ago, the first and perhaps most distasteful truth we have to acknowledge is that this shooting will not change anything. I’m sorry to be so blunt. I’m sorry if this sounds defeatist. But any honest assessment of the politics and the culture of firearms in America must come to the simple and inescapable conclusion that thanks to our nation’s out-sized love of firearms, at this very moment somewhere in the Midwest a mother is preparing dinner for a daughter who won’t live to see her 21st birthday, somewhere down South a father and son are restoring an old car that will be completed by just one of them under a somber cloud of loss, somewhere in New England a young couple are planning for a future life together in a world that has a place set aside for only one of them, and this is a scene that is being replayed hundreds, if not thousands of times this very moment all across our country.

Read more »

Title: “The Martian”

Author: Andy Weir

Rank: 1

Blurb: “After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.”

Review: “I don’t really read that much, but after reading The Martian I’m beginning to think that maybe I should pick up reading as a hobby.”

Customers Also Bought: “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”

Footnote: Yes, yes, explorers, adventure, the New Frontier. Speaking of which, the European (and European-descended) track record with various forms of colonization ain’t exactly encouraging.

The Martian [Amazon]

Title: “The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies”

Authors: Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick

Rank: 76

Blurb: “Prayer can accomplish what a willing God can accomplish. It should be your first plan of attack in all of life’s battles, not your last resort.”

Review: “Written in the format of a true battle plan, the book is divided into seven sections. Enlistment, Basic Training, Conditioning, Strategies, Targets, Ammunition and Reinforcements.”

Customers Also Bought: “Prayers for Victory in Spiritual Warfare”

Footnote: We want to read that awesome Bible where Jesus hung out with mercenaries instead of fishermen.

The Battle Plan for Prayer [Amazon]

Boehner says he is leaving “for the good of the institution.”

How is letting the mental patients take over “good” for the “institution?”