Books that everyone should read

[66Park]

I just picked up these 3 books at the shop I work at.

Pistol and Revolver Shooting by Walter Roper

In The Gravest Extreme by Massad Ayoob

Fast and Fancy by Ed McGivern

All classics, and all very good.

 

[05CarbonDRZ]

History Of Smith And Wesson:No Thing Of Importance Will Come Without Effort by Roy Jinks.

 

[shouldazagged]

Zhuk, A.B., The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Handguns: Pistols And Revolvers Of The World, 1870 To The Present

Lovette, Ed, The Snubby Revolver: The ECQ, Concealed Carry And Backup Standard

Masters, John, Bugles And A Tiger (Though the tiger in question plays a limited role, it's a fascinating book. He took the tiger with a .303 SMLE service rifle.)

Roosevelt, T.R., any of his books on hunting and conservation. Noted as a hunter, his views on game management and responsible hunting were way ahead of his time.

 

[akriet]

The novel: Pale Horse Coming, by Stephen Hunter, is neat. About some old-time shooters dealing with a situation.

 

[Checkman]

Some of my favorites

The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns by Jack O'Connor
Shooting by J. Henry "Fitz" Fitzgerals
The Complete Catalog of Smith & Wesson by Supica and Nahas
Sixguns by Elmer Keith
No Second Place Winner by Bill Jordan
Book of Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting by Ed McGivern
Dangerous Game Rifles by Terry Wieland
Handgunner's Guide by Chic Gaylord
Small Arms of the World by W.H.B. Smith

 

[hotrod150]

The novel: Pale Horse Coming, by Stephen Hunter, is neat. About some old-time shooters dealing with a situation.

The old-time shooters in the book are (thinly-disguised) Elmer Keith, Jack O'Connor, Charley Askins, & Ed McGivern (and maybe a couple otehrs I forgot).
As far as hunting books goes, "Aagard's Africa" by Finn Aagard and "Hunting the Rockies " & "Hunting on Three Continents" by Jack O'Connor are pretty good reads.

 

[civil1977]

I'd agree with most of the above and add The Custom Revolver by Hamilton S. Bowen. Great read and great photography.

 

[Gyrene6891]

Add anything by Masaad Ayoob to the list.

 

[WaMike]

We've had several Stephen Hunter threads; his books are well-researched and he doesn't get his firearms screwed up.

The Man-eaters of Tsavo (Patterson) is a pretty good read.

 

[El Biblioitecario]

I make it a point to reall all the books on the American Library Association's "Banned Book List." Those are the books that the ALA deems unfit or politically incorrect for society. The stuff we aren't able to handle.
QUOTE]

Given that the ALA has consistantly challenged censorship, I find that an extraordinary statement. I would like to see a link to this list. I suspect that in fact it is a list compiled by the ALA of books which have been banned or attempted to be banned by groups _other than_ the ALA.

 

[tipoc]

El Bibliotecario is correct. The ALA's "banned book list" is a list of the books that have been or are banned in the U.S. in various school districts, local libraries, etc.

The American Library Association itself does not ban any books.

Here is a link to that...http://www.ala.org/bbooks/banned

tipoc

 

[Autococker07]

No Second Place Winner - Jordan
Sixguns - Keith
Hell I Was There - Keith
The Custom Revolver - Bowen
Fireworks - Cooper
Single Action Sixguns - Taffin
Any book by Skeeter Skelton.

This is what crossed my mind. Others may add at their discretion.

This is an awesome list, however, all of our local libraries have none of the above. (Including Hurlburt Field's library!). I cannot believe that I cannot find these titles at a library, has PC really gotten that bad?!?!

LOL well so much for reading before I post... I should have known PC would have caught up to the library... don't want kids knowledgeable about all those guns and whatnot! sheesh....

 

[hotrod150]

While your local library may not own these books, they can probably get them. I filled out a request form at my local library and they borrowed some books from other libraries for me:
"Sixguns" and "Sixguns and Loads" by Elmer Keith
The S&W Manual by Jerry Mickuelen (sp?)
and some others I can't recall.
Besides the title and author, it helps to have an approx publish date as well as the ISBN number.

 

[tipoc]

My local library, at least the main branch, has maybe a dozen books on firearms. Most are useful and basic ones. General history and development, military firearms, guns of the old west, hunting rifles, etc. The local branch can borrow from other area libraries titles that I may want.

But given the large number of books written over the decades on the shooting sports, self defense, law enforcement weapons, tactics and training, hunting, etc. it isn't reasonable to expect the library to have everything. Add to that budgets and the desire for folks for books on baseball, basketball, football, etc.

Fortunately many titles are available used or low priced reprints. Amazon, AbeBooks, EBay, etc. are all sources. Some useful ones are available in PDF form free.

tipoc

 

[nawilson]

Though not a classic like many of the others listed here, "The Book of the Revolver" by Grant Cunningham is pretty good. He covers most everything from revolver "fit" to the double action pull to reloads to custom work.

I wish someone would reprint Skeeter's old books. I've read both "Sixguns" by Keith and McGivern's "Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting," but both were reprints. It is high time some more of the classic shooting books were reprinted.

 

[Doug M.]

"Sixguns" was and is an excellent read because of the historical lessons left over from a long time ago. Likewise "In the Gravest Extreme", which nicely brings in the concept of layered defenses in the home setting. I would also consider "Principles of Personal Defense" by Cooper as excellent for mindset, and while it is directed at cops, "Officer Down, Code Three" by Brooks is an excellent read about mindset and learning from errors in the LE context.

 

[mtgianni]

Bob Hagel wrote three books on hunting and loading. All are excellent and reasonably priced. The Game Rifle, Game Loads and Practical Ballistics for the American Hunter and Hunting North Americas Big Game. There were a couple of reprints by Book Clubs under different titles as well.

 

[Cyrano]

"Shots Fired in Anger" by John George.
"The Handgun" Geoffrey Boothroyd.
"The Rifle Book" Jack O'Connor.

There are peciality books on everything from the Sten Gun, through Winchesters, Lugers, etc, etc, to Iver Johnsons.

 

[yashua-p]

Unintended Consequences by John Ross should be required reading for every American...won't happen but if you care about the US read it.

regards,

yashua

 

[Maze 686]

Stay In The Fight, by Kyle Lamb (good handgun teaching book)

Force Decisions, by Rory Miller (Use of Force explained)

American Sniper, by Chris Kyle (Seal Sniper)

Uniform Decisions, by John Caprarelli (cop story about North Hollywood )