Best Books for 2018

“The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.” ~Voltaire

These are the books that repeatedly come up as recommendations in conversations with our subscribers as they ask for good sources on important topics.

PERSONAL FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT

• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: Catherine started reading Meditations inspired by several references to Secretary of Defense James Mattis traveling with it. Was this the 21st century Catcher in the Rye?  It turns out to be a treasure of inspiration and sound advice.
• Family Wealth: Keeping it in the Family — How Family Members and Their Advisers Preserve Human, Intellectual, and Financial Assets for Generations by James Hughes: Hughes outlines the steps to success and wealth preservation for wealthy families. His ideas can help families that want to be wealthy get there too.
• Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales: Gonzales translates the lessons learned in wilderness survival to practices we can use for a successful life. Beautifully written, this book is hard to put down.
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg.  Duhigg maps out what science tells us about how we form habits and how we can change them. You will never look at organization quite the same after reading it. And you will be much smarter about management and leadership, and inspired by some of the stories of leaders who got it right.
• Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level by Mark Divine: Divine is a retired US Navy Seal who offers his philosophy and methods for developing maximum potential through integrated training. He proposes forging deep character and resiliency drawing on years of practice in martial arts, physical training, yoga, and exercising leadership in dangerous environments. If it feels as if you are living in a war, warrior training by the best can help.
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money–That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter: Robert Kiyosaki tells his story about how he learned to manage money and the different philosophies that can mean the difference between success and failure.
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey – a great introduction to basic skills that will help young people learn how to navigate life.
• The Parents Guide to Texting, Facebook, and Social Media: Understanding the Benefits and Dangers of Parenting in a Digital World  by Shawn Edgington – the digital neighborhood is a dangerous place for kids. Make sure the children you love are safe in managing their cyber lives.

INVESTMENT

• Behavioral Investing: A Practitioner’s Guide to Applying Behavioral Finance by James Montier: Montier does a masterful job of documenting the intersection of psychology and investment. The result is actionable intelligence that can help you protect your investments from bias.
• Value Investing: Tools and Techniques for Intelligent Investors: Montier unpacks the hard, cold facts of investment history and what it means to investment process and strategy. This book will make you a more intelligent, disciplined investor.

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

• The Oil Card: Global Economic Warfare in the 21st Century by James R. Norman Read this book and listen to our interviews with the Jim Norman. You will not understand the role of energy in our economy until you do.
• Unbalanced: The Codependency of America and China by Stephen Roach This is my top pick for understanding the US-China economic relationship and the rebalancing of the global economy.
• Black Money by Michael Thomas: When I called Bill Hamilton to talk to him about the relationship of PROMIS software to mortgage fraud, he told me to read Black Money and call him back. This is a fiction beach reading introduction to how digital systems turbocharged fraud and money laundering.
• Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserveby G. Edward Griffin: A look into the machinations of the Federal Reserve and its political and economic impacts.

GEOPOLITICS

• Trading with the Enemy: An Expose of the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949 by Charles Higham: I keep recommending Higham’s well-researched history of WWII  as it does a remarkable job of helping subscribers understand the real governance system running our planet.
• IBM and the Holocaust: the Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation by Edwin Black: Black’s investigative thriller of IBM’s critical role serving Nazi Germany throughout the war provides more insight into the real governance system running our planet.
• Hess and the Penguins: The Holocaust, Antarctica and the Strange Case of Rudolf Hess  by Dr. Joseph P.  Farrell: This is the most recent in Dr. Farrell’s series on the Nazis. Sit down and read Dr. Farrell’s entire Nazi series if you want to understand how strange things really are.
• The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government by David Talbot: Talbot has written the best book about the Kennedy assassination to date. He nails those responsible while weaving a fascinating story of American history. If you want to understand the US “deep state,” this is not to be missed.
• Mary’s Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace by Peter Janney:  Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, Mary’s Mosaic is an essential read  – not just to understand the Kennedy years and the Kennedy assassination but also to understand how America became a prisoner of its intelligence and black budget complex.
• Technocracy Rising: The Trojan Horse Of Global Transformation by Patrick Woods:  Technology is being used to centralize control. Woods provides significant documentation that makes the invisible shift in power visible. 
• The Essential Saker II: Civilizational Choices and Geopolitics: The Russian challenge to the Hegemony of the Anglo Zionist Empire: The Saker’s new selection of his writings is an outstanding way of understanding the transformation to a multipolar world.
• The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward Baptist:  You can’t understand slavery until you understand how profitable it is and the conditions that made it possible to exist and to outlaw. Let’s keep it that way.

THE COVERT SIDE

• Under an Ionized Sky: From Chemtrails to Space Fence Lockdown by Elana Freeland. Foreward by Clifford Carnicom: Freeland documents who controls the most powerful secret technology and is using it to reengineer everything – from war to our DNA. This is an essential read for understanding the real governance structure, where our tax dollars are really going and why climate change is a cover story for something much more disturbing.
• People of the Lie by Scott Peck: Peck’s classic provides powerful insight on identifying, understanding and managing people who do evil.
• The Secret of Secret Societies: Liberation of the Planet in the 21st Century by Jon Rappoport: Rappoport takes you into the inner sanctum of power and how reality is created.
• Secret, Don’t Tell by Carla Emory: Mind control has been going on for centuries. Emory starts in the 1400s and brings you down through history. This is one of the best books for understanding the core technology at the heart of rigging the global financial markets and just about everything else.
• The Franklin Cover Up: Child Abuse, Satanism and Murder in Nebraska by John DeCamp: To understand how a “control file” system is used to govern America, it is essential to understand pedophilia. One of the best documented cases is the Franklin scandal. Several people gave their lives so that this story could be told. Unfortunately, the slave trade continues in America on a covert basis.
• Political Ponerology by Andrzej M. Lobaczewski: Political Ponerology is “a science on the nature of evil adjusted for political purposes.” The author describes himself as a Polish psychologist who — with many other colleagues — found meaning living through Nazism and then, Communism by studying how evil happens and triumphs in a wider political and economic system.
• The Secret Team: The CIA and It’s Allies in Control of the United States and the World by L. Fletcher Prouty: A look into the CIA and its historical influence in politics domestically and abroad.
• 9/11 & the New World Order by Mujahid Kamran: Kamran dives into the history and culture that would allow an event like 9/11 to happen.

CULTURE

• The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe by Lynne McTaggart: McTaggart explores the work of physicists, biochemists, and other scientists searching for evidence in their respective fields that there is a force, that she calls the Field, which connects all beings and matter at a fundamental level. And our involvement with and connection to this Field can explain many things that, heretofore, have either been unexplainable or considered not possible, including things of a psychic nature.
• Emily Post’s Etiquette, 19th Edition: Manners for Today: The deterioration of civil discourse is profound –  many of us have lost our appreciation of the good things we attract when we treat other humans humanely. Emily Post said that “Etiquette requires the presumption of good until the contrary is proved.” That is good advice – and there is lots more in this updated edition from the Emily Post edition.

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

• Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. & the Aristocracy of Stock Profits by Catherine Austin Fitts: If we are going to make America great again, we need to understand what has been destroying it. This is Catherine’s case study of how the US prison industrial complex made Washington and Wall Street rich while bankrupting American communities and taxpayers.

SPACE

• UFOs for the 21st Century Mind by Richard Dolan Who’s really in charge? Dolan is one of the best minds on the planet to help you sort out the unanswered questions of outer space and its connections with covert finance and operations.
• The Ringmakers of Saturn by Norman R. Bergrun – Dr. Bergrun reveals that NASA’s Voyager I (1980) and II space probes took photographs of an estimated 7000-mile-long elliptical (cigar-shaped) craft docked in the rings of Saturn.

FOOD & HEALTH

• Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon & Mary Enig: If you have not discovered Sally Fallon’s cookbooks, you are in for a treat!
• In the Dark: New Ways to Avoid the Harmful Effects of Living in a Technologically Connected World by Jason Bawden-Smith:  EMF Radiation is a major challenge. Environmental scientist and businessman Bawden-Smith is our go-to source for trustworthy information on both the science a lay-person can understand and practical advice.
• Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction by Gary Wilson: When you get online, you need to understand the powerful technology people use to make money.
• The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Jimmy Moore and Dr. Jason Fung: If you want to be inspired, watch Dr. Fung’s videos and read this book.  I literally could not put it down and finished it in one sitting the day it arrived. This is hard science combined with practical, well-presented advice. I was so impressed with Dr. Fung’s analysis that I started fasting the next day.
• Genetic Roulette : The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods by Jeffrey M. Smith: An analysis on the health dangers of GMO food.

COMMUNITY

• A Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for your state and local county or municipality and their latest budget, financial statement, and bond official statement.

STATISTICS

• World Almanac 2018: Each year I use the new World Almanac to review the basic statistics of life on Planet Earth. You can too!

SOLARI 2017 BOOK REVIEWS

The Crypto-Terrestrials by Mac Tonnies:
Mac Tonnie’s cryptoterrestrial hypothesis proposes that extraterrestrial beings are actually mysterious and secretive races of earthly origin. These races have existed upon Earth for at least as long as humanity, and present themselves as extraterrestrials or occult beings.

Glow Kids by Nicholas Kardaras: An analysis on video game and technology addiction and its potential psychological impact.

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil: Examines the impact of artificial intelligence on decision-making.

Follow the Money: A Citizen’s Guide to Local Government An introduction on how to understand your local municipal budget process as well as how to get involved.

Hess and the Penguins by Dr. Joseph P. Farrell: Dr. Farrell looks at the story of Rudolf Hess, and its inconsistencies.

Adults in the Room by Yanis Varoufakis: Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis documents his efforts and struggles in seeking a Win-Win scenario in the EU’s Greek austerity measures.

The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu: An analysis of the history of media and news and techniques used to capture people’s attention.

Bailout by Neil Barofsky: A look into the bank bailouts by the Special Inspector General for TARP.

The Fourth Turning: An American Prophesy, What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny by William Strauss and Neil Howe: Strauss and Howe look at generational cycles that span 80-100 year periods. These cycles tend to follow predictable patterns that could potentially be applied to future generations.

The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe by Lynne McTaggart: Lynne explores the work of various physicists, biochemists and other scientists who have stumbled across or purposefully searched for evidence in their respective fields that there is a force, which she calls the Field that connects all beings and matter at a fundamental level.

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter: Adam Alter is an associate professor at New York University. His new book Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked is a light review of what Alter calls “behavioral addiction.”

Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes: Throughout the US presidential campaign of 2016, reporters Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes spoke with numerous members of the Clinton campaign on the understanding that the conversations were off-the-record until after the campaign. Now they have published a tell-all tale; Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign.

Titanic: A Perfect Crime by Patrea Patrick: Titanic: A Perfect Crime is a novel by Patrea Patrick that describes one of the theories of how the Titanic sank.

Gotcha Capitalism by Bob Sullivan: Gotcha Capitalism, according to the book’s author, Bob Sullivan, represents the latest evolution in capitalist business tactics designed to extract the most profits possible in the form of “sneaky fees.”

The Reporter Who Knew Too Much by Mark Shaw: Earlier this year, the New York Post reported that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had opened an investigation into the death of Dorothy Kilgallen, who died 51 years ago while investigating the death of President John F. Kennedy.

Dark Money by Jane Mayer: In US politics, “dark money” is money given to social welfare and trade association not-for-profit groups and funneled to think tanks with a goal of influencing elections and government policies. Spending by organizations that do not disclose their donors has increased significantly and is having a powerful impact on American politics.

Tracking Mr. Global by Thomas Hupp: Thomas Hupp writes about the topics and sources that would best inform the seeker of truth about governance.

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal: A book that examines the attributes of modern technological products and services that make them so compelling that users form a habitual relationship with them and use them over and over

Esoteric Hollywood: Sex, Cults and Symbols in Film by Jay Dyer: Jay has published a significant new review of the relationship between Hollywood, geopolitics, the CIA and the covert world told through the prism of twenty movie reviews that take you deeper than most readers are used to going.

Technocracy Rising – The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation by Patrick Wood: Wood documents the Orwellian combination of invasive digital technology and covert operations and finance to build a new form of centralized governance to succeed where communism failed.