The paper version of reading material still has a lot of appeal to me and I read as much as I'm able to of everything.
Dead Trees
Ocean Titans
Ocean Titans by Daniel Sekulich has become one of my favorite books. Most books about ships and the sea are either written about the Navy or about Sail boats/Yachting/Crazy People trying to sail to the North Pole in a dingy, not merchant vessel with which I have a much stronger interest. When I found this book at the local Borders I picked it up right away and then proceeded to read it almost straight through in the course of a few days. Mr. Sekulich looks at the whole life of a vessel, from the builders to those who operate it, to the last days at the breakers in India. There is a section in the book about the boat owners which I found interesting because while they are a vital part to the whole effort, they are often sort of brushed over even in the small amount of literature about commercial ships that is out there. Overall I found the book to be very enlightening and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in commercial ships as the book is written in a way that makes it an excellent starting place for all manner of considerations.
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman
I've read this book multiple times now and it is one of my favorites. It is one of the books written by Richard Feynman, a noble prize winning physicist who went to MIT, Princeton, and worked on the Manhattan Project. Feynman was a great intellect but he was very well grounded in reality. Some other lessons that I took away from the book were not to take anything to seriously and no matter how smart you are someone smarter will come along, just be yourself and do what you are good at and enjoy.