5 books I recommend for you this summer

I am looking forward to your summer reading lists. Here are five really rewarding non-fiction books, that I have found tremendously worthwhile:

1. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. The author has pulled off a difficult trick. This is a serious academic book that is tremendously easy to read and very entertaining. He sets out the basic principles of persuasive techniques using anecdotes and experiments. You will really enjoy this book and, if I am right and how to persuade people becomes an important part of the political debate, you will also be really pleased you read this.

2. Fear No Evil by Natan Sharansky. This is the story of nine years spent as a KGB prisoner. It is a great read, and an inspiring one. Sharansky's strength of mind and his spirit are extraordinary.

3. Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee. The author gives a famous class on screenwriting, but you can save thousands by purchasing this book. Dogmatic, witty and innovative - it looks at the structure of stories. Since narrative is now the basis of politics, you don't have to be a film buff to find this well worth reading.

4. The Lyndon Johnson books (Path to Power, Means of Ascent, Master of the Senate) by Robert Caro. More than a million words on LBJ and he hasn't even launched his 1960 Presidential run? You're kidding, right? No, I'm not kidding. These are magnificent books and essential for anyone who wants to understand American politics. Practitioners - Gordon Brown, Michael Howard, William Hague and George Osborne - have all told me they regard these books as the finest political history books they have read. I agree.

5. The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam. The story of how America became embroiled in the Vietnam War gives a fascinating insight into how political decisions are made. Like the Caro, it's long. But it is compelling.

Comments

[Candadai Tirumalai]

I lived through the LBJ era in the 1960s, which was heady as well as difficult: the Great Society and Vietnam. He scorned those protesting againt the War as "bums". But before he entered the White House at the end of 1963 in the wake of the Kennedy assassination he had been a masterful figure in Congress, the House first and then the Senate. If Johnson set his mind on passing a piece of legislation, nothing could stop him. His powers of persuasion, cajoling, and arm-twisting were phenomenal. A schoolteacher from Texas who responded strongly to Franklin Roosevelt, he had a special feeling for those left out in American society, apart from its being shrewd politics.
In some respects, he was a force of nature, crude and earthy from time to time. He said of J.Edgar Hoover, the mighty Director of the FBI, "I would rather have him inside the tent p......g out than have outside p.....g in". LBJ would have fully entered into Julius Caesar's sentiment that he would rather be the first man in an obscure village than the second man in Rome. An intense man living from to moment and given to gulping down his food, he had a massive heart attack while in his forties and died in his sixties. His wife outlived him by some 35 years.

[Candadai Tirumalai]

I am sorry but I have allowed memory to play a trick on me. Lyndon Johnson did not think favorably of Vietnam War protesters but it was his successor, Richard Nixon, who pronounced them "bums".

[Tom]

Story is such a fantastic book. I'd also recommend 'Understanding Comics' by Scott McCloud. I have no real interest in comics, but this is a fantastic book about visual storytelling of all kinds.

[Anthony C]

Can only isolate 2 from a potentially endless list right now:

1) David Gaulula - "Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice". It's old-school counterinsurgency 101. It's short, it's easy to read and it gets the fundamental principles across very well. Anyone who is interested in ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan should read it.

2) Gyles Brandreth - "Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries". I got hold of this when it first came out and I think it's a great book. Revisited it recently to check up on a few things in light of the various party reshuffles and I still think it's a great book. A joy to read and it paints a very colourful picture. It also features a certain Danny Finkelstein...