Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best book you ever read

Ever read the Jefferson Bible? I am going to order a copy.

The Jim Corbett books on hunting man eaters. The Brits have a writing style that’s easy to read and Corbett’s descriptions put you right there in India tracking a Tiger or leopard. Kenneth Andersons books on maneaters in southern India aswell

By far, the most important book I've ever read.

Hard to say, but I haven't read fiction in decades and it used to read mostly fiction. I like biographies and history these days.

Favorite quote is "Ask not for who the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."

"Unintended Consequences" by John Ross

Read most of the Hemingway books at least twice.

Folks keep mentioning Louis L'Amour. I don't get it.

I have read every book written by L'Amour and by Zane Grey. While they both had a wonderful talent for painting scenery with the written word. That need was supplanted by celluloid.

L'Amour's "The Californios" being a notable exception. I found it riveting and remember it well almost fifty years after reading.

We had a 1952 set of World Book encyclopedias that were pretty much my only books from 5-10yo so I just looked at pics and eventually read what was in them. For that reason, my writing “style” if you can call it that is technical which is fine considering my job.

I read “Rifles for Watie” by Harold Keith and “Where the Red Fern Grows” in 5th grade. I probably read R4W ten times in a 2yr window after that first time. I loved that book…still do. Can’t wait to introduce it to my kids.
“Where the red fern grows” devastated me and made me aware of the incredible power of literature on a readers emotions…especially as a boy with a beloved dog.

I’ve read lots of classics and great books over the years, but none affected me like those two.

Yep - this would have been my vote.
Rex

Most enjoyable; All the Russel Annabel books. Just absolutely stokes the adventure gene in anyone loving the outdoors and hunting. My highest recommendation.

Most thought provoking; Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984. Visionary work and so relevant today.

Most helpful on self-hunt in Alaska; Dennis Confer's Hunt Alaska Now. Every point made in the book proved prophetic twenty years ago.

Most inspiring; Alfred Lansing's Endurance on Shackleton and crew. A lesson on perseverance.

I am a reader, there have been many.
The most influential, Brave New World by A Huxley
It s playing out in 2023, secularism, soma( a state required mood enhancing drug) State required conformity.
Just look around today and yes, It is happening and there is nothing brave about it. It should of been called " Sad New World", imo

Excellent books to add to the rereading list!

Gun Gack series by Mule Deer!

We can not leave " Working" by Studs Terkel off the list.

I don't care who you are, or what you do. That book will make you appreciate your position in life, and the sacrifices made by many of our immigrant ancestors.

Not to mention the impact it had on the USDA, FDA, and food safety laws in America.

The Illiad was a fantastic read!

Was he a Creedmore fan?🤣🤣

No, why? 40 acres in the mountains

This:

I have a pretty eclectic reading list from sci fi to westerns and most in between..

Probably the most influential book I've read in my life was The Gulag Archipelago. Solhzhenitzyn was a master in describing the pain and humility prisoners in the Russian prison camps felt and the cruelty the guards used in controlling the prisoners....

Wilbur Smith is excellent also but I can't pick out one book of his I prefer over another..

Dune was a good read- both times I read it...

Sometimes it is the setting you read in that makes you remember a book. I had all of Louis Lamour's books (at the time) in paperback when I was in the Army. They were a quick read and I could take them wherever I was at the time a kill some time while the usual Army "hurry up and wait" cycles were repeating themselves... He did a fair amount of travel in areas I have been and still hunt to this day and I can recognize the landmarks he describes in his books, which makes them interesting to me. He was no Hemingway, but he could hold my interest as long as needed when I was in places I would have preferred not to be...

No one has mentioned Patrick McManus? For some laugh out loud relief he is hard to beat....

Also, I reread sections of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran- especially his chapter about children...

Flight of Passage, by Rinker Buck. A true story about two teenage brothers from a large family who restored an original Piper J3 Cub and flew it from NY to Califirnia with a wet compass, charts and a watch. No radio and no GPS. Incredible story and the only book I've ever read that I stopped reading before I got to the end because I didn't want the story to end. Picked it up about a year later and reread it from beginning to end. I've bought several copies for friends.

Guaranteed to please.

Frank