Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and The Doors by John Densmore

I finished reading The Devil We Know: Dealing With the New Iranian Superpower by Robert Baer a couple weeks ago. It was fascinating, especially given what's been going on in the Middle East and North Africa the past several months. As I mentioned before, Baer is a former CIA officer who spent a lot of time in the Middle East and still has a lot of contacts in the Middle East. The book looks at how Iran has transformed from what we Westerners would consider a terrorist state into a rational state set on becoming the superpower of the Middle East. It's amazing how little Americans (myself included) know about Iran and Iran's role in the Middle East, and, from what I learned, that may have a lot to do with the fact that a majority of Iranians are Shia Muslims, and the Shia have a tenet (if you can call it that) of secrecy. Baer explains how the fall of Iraq essentially cleared the way for Iran to swoop in with proxies, as it did in Lebanon, and slowly take control of Iraq from the inside. He explains the difference between Shia and Sunni Muslim beliefs, and briefly talks about the Kurds as well. At the end of the book, Baer puts forth some good strategies for American relations with Iran, most of which include increased dialogue and more cooperation. I highly recommend the book for anyone who is interested in foreign relations, and certainly anyone interested in Middle Eastern affairs.

I have moved on to Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and The Doors by John Densmore. For those who don't know, Densmore was the drummer for The Doors -- who I consider to be the greatest American rock and roll band of all-time. Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't read this book before now. I'm about 100 pages in, and it's great so far. Better yet, it has made me listen to some Doors albums that I haven't listened to in a while.

Books read in 2011:
Life by Keith Richards
Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Devil We Know: Dealing With the New Iranian Superpower by Robert Baer