Sol wanted to voice his opinions, informed opinions. So he made a stack of books to see what others thought, what he might learn. This was his primary stack:

• Seeing What Others Don’t See: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights
  Gary Klein
• How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility Of Reason In Everyday Life
  Thomas Gilovich
• Thinking in Systems: A Primer
  Donella H. Meadows
  Edited by Diana Wright
• First We Read, Then We Write: Emerson on the Creative Process
  Robert D. Richardson
• Fictive Narrative Philosophy: How Fiction Can Act As Philosophy
  Michael Boylan
• Tempo: Timing, Tactics, and Strategy in Narrative-Driven Decision-Making
  Venkatesh Rao
• Empirical Research And Writing: A Political Science Student’s Guide
  Leanne C. Powner
• Write Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Reviewing, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis
  Joan Bolker, Ed.D
• Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past
  John Lewis Gaddis
• Battle: A History of Combat and Culture
  From Ancient Greece to Modern America
  John A. Lynn
• The Mystery of Courage
  William Ian Miller
• The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War
  Edited by Robert B. Strassler
  Introduction by Victor Davis Hanson
• The Odyssey
  Homer
  Translated by Emily Wilson
• Fistful of Shells: West Africa From The Rise Of Slave Trade To The Age Of Revolution
  Toby Green
• Wealth of Nations
  Adam Smith
• The Prince
  Nicolo Machiavelli
• Manifesto of the Communist Party
  Karl Marx
• Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World
  Hans Rosling
• It Can’t Happen Here
  Sinclair Lewis
• Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose
  Dierdre Barrett
• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religions
  Jonathan Haidt
• Henry Knox: Visionary General Of The American Revolution
  Mark Puls
• Mission Command: The Who, What, Where, When, and Why
  An Anthology
  Donald Vandergriff, editor
  Stephen Weber, editor
• On Obedience: Contrasting Philosophies for the Military, Citizenry, and Community
  Pauline Shanks Kaurin
• Redefining The Modern Military: The Intersection Of Profession And Ethics
  Edited by Nathan K. Finney and Tyrell O. Mayfield
• An Enquiry Concerning The Principle Of Morals
  David Hume
• The Evolution of God
  Robert Wright
• Holy Bible
  NRSV XL Edition
  with the Apocrypha
• God Speaks
  Meher Baba
• Discourses
  Meher Baba
• Divan of Hafiz
  English version by Paul Smith
  Edited by Ann Smith

At his desk, with his books, in solitude, Sol was in his happy place.