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Welcome to Dedicated with Doug Brunt. You have just gained access to an exclusive insider's look at the lives and works of some of your favorite authors and hear conversations with the world's greatest writers as they discuss their writing lifestyle, creative process, latest work, and behind the scenes revelations.

Happy New Year. I've got four book picks for you to get you started in 2026, and I'm going to get

right into it. The first is by Jeff Dyer. He's one of the most talented writers working now.

He's not exactly a household name, but he should be. This is a short book by Jeff called

Broad Sword Calling Danny Boyd.

It's a satirical review of the movie where Eagles Dare, starring Richard Burton and

Denise Wood. Jeff goes on scene by scene through the movie with this hilarious take on things.

I was at a book festival a few years ago where I saw Jeff give a multimedia presentation about

the book was so good. I bought it,

and I read it by the hotel pool where I bothered everyone because I was belly laughing through

the whole read. It's hilarious. You'll love it. Jeff Dyer, broadsword calling Danny Boy.

Next, nonfiction, The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt. He won't pull a surprise for this a few years

ago. It's a terrific book. It's about these ancient documents preserved in monasteries throughout Europe. And just as these documents were about to disintegrate into nothing, these monks were copied over by hand. Through the centuries, they preserved these ancient documents. And then they were rediscovered toward the end of the Middle Ages, in particular On the Nature of Thing by Lucretius.

And this inspired a broader frenzy around ancient wisdom that in part caused a swerve

in history to lead to the Renaissance.

A really terrific book, Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve.

Third, The Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel by me.

This is a terrific book about Emmanuel Nobel, who was a pioneer of the Russian oil industry in the late 1800s.

You cannot understand Vladimir Putin, nor the mindset of the people he rules without understanding Russian history.

And this book gives you that.

It's nonfiction, but written in a novelistic way.

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