Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

My latest read was Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow.  This book was on my sister-in-law's to read list.  I read the description and thought, I have never read a political non-fiction book before, might as well give this a try.  I was so pleasantly surprised to find this book to be REALLY interesting.

The book is about how the United States military has really drifted away from it's original ideals and how we seem to now be moving from one war to the next.

Apparently, going to war used to be hard.  It was also a big deal that affected many of our country's citizens directly.  Since Reagan's time in office, things have moved far away from that.  Now it's much easier for us to go to war and less people feel it directly.  I found the part of this book about Reagan's time in office to be fascinating!  I had no idea this guy screwed us up so badly, lol.  There are tons of facts, figures and information but it is presented by Maddow in a very engaging manner.  I don't consider myself to be affiliated to a political party, but I feel like this book would appeal to anyone, no matter what their politics.

I highly recommend reading this book, you will learn a lot!  If you are like me and have never picked up a political non-fiction book before, this is a good one to start with. 

Ender's Game

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is about a young, gifted boy in the future who is thought to be the one to save mankind.  In the past, the human race defeated an enemy known as the Buggers, however their threat has returned and Ender is seemingly the only one who can save them.

This book was on my to read list from last year and I didn't get to it.  It's a science fiction/fantasy novel and though it was written in the 90's is still currently very highly rated.  I'm sure if you enjoy science fiction you might really like this book, I however was not a big fan. 

This book is short (226 pgs) and very easy to read, however I had a hard time finishing it!  I found it to be slow moving and very descriptive but not in an easy to visualize way.  The story is about "gifted" children, who in this case are supposed to be super smart.  I get that, but the way they talk to each other and such is hard to relate to when Ender starts out at as a six year old who talks and thinks like someone much older.

Overall, if you are into science fiction you might want to give this book a go, otherwise I'd skip it.  Not a must read in my opinion.