As I just posted in the Infinite Jest thread, I finally finished reading IJ in 2025.

As weird as it sounds after I finished, I was left with the feeling of loss, it had been with me so long - however, I didn't want to become of the 'Infinite Summer' fans who reread IJ every year.

I started thinking about what could possibly follow IJ and the Robert Caro (author of Power Broker) biography series of LBJ popped up for a variety of reasons (we used a chapter for a case study when I got my MBA 10 years ago). It is a 5 part series of books and each one is over 1000 pages! I am almost done with the first book.

I think anyone who loves the Texas Hill Country should read the first 100 pages at least, as it provides a fantastic background of anglos history in the region. Has anyone read the first book, or even all 4 books (the 5th is yet to be published)?

I convinced my nearly 80 year old father to read the series with me as a mini book club, and it has been great. One unintended side effect is that he no longer watches Fox News every night for several hours, since he is reading. Between less TV and our current state of the world, in the last 3-4 months he has jumped off the MAGA train!

I’m about halfway through the third book. I (curiously) read the fourth book first, several years ago. Wife gave me the 4-volume series as a gift in the last year and I read the first couple pretty quickly. It’s so good. I always loved the LBJ library on campus and went back for the first time in a couple decades (since I was an undergrad, I’m not that old) in 2024 when I was visiting Austin.

And yes, the tie-in to the hill country and the history of it was great. LBJ was an interesting cat.

I think Caro’s yet-to-be-published fifth volume may be among the most anticipated books in a long time. Still no indication of when it may be published and available. I hope he is able to complete it, but I’m sure whatever he’s been able to get down will be published should he pass away before getting it to the finish line.

(I think the joke is that he’s accumulated 900+ pages of the long-awaited fifth edition…and he’s only gotten through 1965.)

The volumes are long and dense, but well worth it.

Edited July 10Jul 10 by Hank Chinaski

On 2/1/2026 at 7:37 AM, Bmore-Horn said:

As I just posted in the Infinite Jest thread, I finally finished reading IJ in 2025.

As weird as it sounds after I finished, I was left with the feeling of loss, it had been with me so long - however, I didn't want to become of the 'Infinite Summer' fans who reread IJ every year.

I started thinking about what could possibly follow IJ and the Robert Caro (author of Power Broker) biography series of LBJ popped up for a variety of reasons (we used a chapter for a case study when I got my MBA 10 years ago). It is a 5 part series of books and each one is over 1000 pages! I am almost done with the first book.

I think anyone who loves the Texas Hill Country should read the first 100 pages at least, as it provides a fantastic background of anglos history in the region. Has anyone read the first book, or even all 4 books (the 5th is yet to be published)?

Couldn't agree more.

While we're all waiting for the fifth book, check out The Power Broker if you haven't already. Who knew that local road and park planning could be so interesting? Robert Moses is like if Leslie Knope, from Parks and Rec, turned evil.