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Read any good books lately?

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  • Member since
    February 2011
Posted by GreySnake on Thursday, August 6, 2020 2:28 PM
Working on “tigers in the Mud” by Otto Carius. Think this is my third time rereading the book the last time was around ten years ago. The first few chapters are a little hard to get through but it picks up rather quickly. Still not as tedious as Albert Speer’s book.
  • Member since
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  • From: South Africa
Posted by ohms on Thursday, August 6, 2020 3:23 PM

"Bitcoin Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. Think of it as the sequel to The Social Network. Finished it in a few days, which I only do for really engrossing books.

What's the most accessible bio on Hitler? Anyone?

Into model building since September 2019. Also into books (mostly science-fiction), comic books, and gaming.

  • Member since
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  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Thursday, August 6, 2020 10:24 PM

ohms

"Bitcoin Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. Think of it as the sequel to The Social Network. Finished it in a few days, which I only do for really engrossing books.

What's the most accessible bio on Hitler? Anyone?

 

Mel Brooks did something... 

 

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
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  • From: Bethlehem PA
Posted by the Baron on Monday, August 10, 2020 2:40 PM

ohms

...What's the most accessible bio on Hitler? Anyone?

 
I recommend William L. Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."  It's a long book, but it still holds up well.  The chapters on Hitler's youth provide an excellent biography.

The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.

 

 

  • Member since
    July 2014
Posted by modelcrazy on Tuesday, August 11, 2020 11:18 PM

In the process of reading Shattered Sword.

Steve

Building a kit from your stash is like cutting a head off a Hydra, two more take it's place.

 

 

http://www.spamodeler.com/forum/

  • Member since
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  • From: Seattle, WA
Posted by Surface_Line on Tuesday, August 11, 2020 11:30 PM

Reading "Black Noon" by Art Garner, about the 1964 Indy 500, when Dave Macdonald and Eddie Sachs died.

  • Member since
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  • From: South Africa
Posted by ohms on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 12:14 PM

the Baron

I recommend William L. Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."  It's a long book, but it still holds up well.  The chapters on Hitler's youth provide an excellent biography.

 
Thanks. Yeah, I keep hearing of that one. 
 
Currently reading 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear, and Sekret Machines, co-authored by Tom DeLonge.
 
Other titles I'm in the middle of, although not reading day-to-day: Cixin Liu's Supernova Era; and Ed Brubaker's Captain America Omnibus.

Into model building since September 2019. Also into books (mostly science-fiction), comic books, and gaming.

  • Member since
    August 2020
  • From: Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia.
Posted by Dodgy on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 6:01 PM

I agree with the Baron, Shirer's book is the best. I have just finished reading 'Whispering Death', the story of the Royal Australian Air Force, [RAAF], in the SW Pacific during WWII. An excellent read and well researched, but so sad. To think of all those young men sent to fight in obsolete and totally outclassed machines. They knew their chances and still went.

I long to live in a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned

  • Member since
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  • From: Central Oregon
Posted by HooYah Deep Sea on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 8:19 PM

The book I wish I had 37 odd years ago, re-reading it just because it has so much good stuff in it; EXTREME OWNERSHIP, by Jocko Willink. Though it only came out in 2015, I could have really used it in 1983 when I shifted gears in my military career. 

Every person in a leadership position, warrior or otherwise, should read this book.

"Why do I do this? Because the money's good, the scenery changes and they let me use explosives, okay?"

  • Member since
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  • From: Philadelphia Pa
Posted by Nino on Monday, August 24, 2020 7:54 PM

modelcrazy

In the process of reading Shattered Sword.

 

 

Steve,  I bet you will want to see all the Midway Movies, including Ford's Academy award Documentary after reading that book. 

 

    I re-read it before seeing the latest Midway movie. I had some real fun posting over on MWS forum as there are many historically accurate scenes but it was difficult for most folks to figure what they were.   Unfortunately ModelwarShips forum took that Thread down. 

 

    Delving into that latest Midway movie really brings history alive once you have read about the first 6 months of the War. Recommend you look thru an empty toilet paper roll to watch the air battles and also the scenes of the Fleets .  Watching only a portion of the screen at a time makes the over-abundant CGI not be as noticeable.

 

   Glad you picked it for reading this summer. I think it is really a  book more for Naval Historians than someone who just likes to read.  However, it is very well written and the best battle of Midway book out there IMO. 

 

     Bet you will want to Build a Dauntless before you get to the end.  I picked up an F4F-3 and an F4F-4 model since that aircraft was skipped in the movie.  (How could they!?)

     Nino

 

  • Member since
    June 2008
Posted by lewbud on Monday, August 24, 2020 8:57 PM

Getting into The Good War by Studs Turkel. It's on oral history of WWII.  It's an easy read so far.

Hooyah,

If you get a chance check out Jocko's podcast on YouTube.

Buddy- Those who say there are no stupid questions have never worked in customer service.

  • Member since
    September 2014
Posted by rooster513 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 11:34 AM

Just finished Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson. I learned a lot about it's final voyage and German U-boats early in the war. For those who haven't read his books, he has a great way of writing non-fiction in a very interesting way. He reads more like historical fiction. Another great one of his that I recently read is In the Garden of the Beasts about ambassodor Dodd in 1930's Germany.

-Andy

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 12:19 PM

Spearhead, by Adam Makos

Tank warfare accounts by both Allied and German,great read.

  • Member since
    July 2014
Posted by modelcrazy on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 1:10 PM

Nino, not so much a Dauntless but it has definitely helped me with the Akagi. 

Tojo, good book. Finished one that before Shattered Sword.

Steve

Building a kit from your stash is like cutting a head off a Hydra, two more take it's place.

 

 

http://www.spamodeler.com/forum/

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 1:19 PM

modelcrazy

Nino, not so much a Dauntless but it has definitely helped me with the Akagi. 

Tojo, good book. Finished one that before Shattered Sword.

 

Loved Shattered Sword,still one of my favorites,love to re read it over.

  • Member since
    May 2020
  • From: North East of England
Posted by Hutch6390 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 2:18 PM

"Sicily '43" by James Holland - an excellent examination of Operation Husky, with views from British, Canadian, American, German, and Italian - civilian as well as military - participants.

"Troy" by Stephen Fry.  I've read (or tried to read) a few accounts of this classic tale, but found it hard to follow.  T.E. Lawrence's translation of Homer's Iliad was about the best up to now but it stopped short of the climax - no wooden horse!  This one still needs some concentration but - as the author repeatedly reminds the reader - you don't need to remember every detail, just the gist will do.  And it works!

 

Vell, Zaphod's just zis guy, you know?

   

TakkaTakkaTakkaTakkaTakkaTakka

 

  • Member since
    January 2020
  • From: Maryland
Posted by wpwar11 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 10:08 PM

ohms
Bitcoin Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. Think of it as the sequel to The Social Network. Finished it in a few days, which I only do for really engrossing books.

Going to pick this up.  I love his book on the MIT blackjack team.

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 3:47 AM

I've started my 10th book (yes ten) of 2021.

I've been reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower series and just started the final book, book VII. I first read the first book in the mid 80s as a college student and forgot about it. Last year, I found one of the later books in a thrift shop for a$1. I found others on eBay and I think it took me about $12-13 to collect the entire series.

For those of you not familiar with The Dark Tower (no, it's not horror), when he was younger, he wrote a story that was inspired by the spaghetti western movie, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

The main character is based on Clint Eastwood's portrayal of the gunslinger as he navigates the fantasy world in search of the Dark Tower. There's wizards, demons, old west towns and gunslingers who are akin to the old knights of the round table. But they look like Ol' Clint.

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Bethlehem PA
Posted by the Baron on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 9:40 AM

For me, "Shattered Sword" was also an introduction to John Lundstrom and his "First Team" books, too.  I wasn't aware of any research into the naval air war in the first year of the Pacific war, beyond the older works by Prange.  I enjoy Lundstrom's books very much.

The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.

 

 

  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 11:15 AM

Hi;

 I am still on Are Ke Jyre's 100 book series of Star Force. Interesting premise in them.

  • Member since
    September 2020
Posted by VintageRPM on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 12:38 PM

Presently, I am "binge-reading" the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. They are hilarious books about a bumbling New Jersey bounty hunter.

As a mystery & detective fan, I can also recommend the following series:

The Harry Bosch books by Michael Connolly. Yes, the Amazon Prime series L.A. detective.

The Marcos Didius Falco books by Lyndsey Davis. Hard-boiled detective in ancient Rome.

The Bernie Gunther books by Phillip Kerr. The books center around Germany and Germans from 1929-1959. Especially interesting if you are a student of the WWII.

 

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Vancouver, the "wet coast"
Posted by castelnuovo on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 1:47 PM

"Balkan Babel: The Disintegration Of Yugoslavia From The Death Of Tito To kosovo war". If there ever was a book that made me lose sleep, this was one. An excellent book on the situation before and during the war. All the rot and arguing that was going on and we, the youth, either didn't care about or did not understand in the few occasions when our parent talked to us about it. Just how much almost nobody actually wanted Yugoslavia, the artificialness of it all. It is sad and disturbing to read. And this after I have read quite a few books about us. A hard read but in some strange way almost liberating. 

 

  • Member since
    December 2020
  • From: Kansas
Posted by DM1975 on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 11:15 PM

To Hell and Back, The Last Train from Hiroshima. you won't regret it. 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, April 22, 2021 12:07 AM

I just finished a book about the (Big) Sur coast south of where we live, "South Coast, Lonely Coast".

Based on the old folk song, which is a good one and has been covered by Pete Seeger, the Kingston Trio and others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1psCACHj4as&ab_channel=ceb2633

 

Bill

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    April 2012
Posted by nearsightedjohn on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:15 AM

Agree with Surface_line's posting above, Black Noon is the best auto racing book I’ve ever read. Very interesting story about Mickey Thompson’s controversial history at Indy. The other best auto racing book is “Go Like Hell” by A.J. Baime, which was the book that the “Ford V Ferrari” movie was based on. Movie was entertaining but the book is much better, so good I read it twice.

  • Member since
    August 2019
  • From: Central Oregon
Posted by HooYah Deep Sea on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:24 PM

Which brings up a good point; are there any movies out there that are as good or better than 'the book'? I know that none that I've seen that were based on a book were as good as the book, and most were seriously sub-standard. 

"Why do I do this? Because the money's good, the scenery changes and they let me use explosives, okay?"

  • Member since
    August 2014
  • From: Willamette Valley, Oregon
Posted by goldhammer on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:37 PM

I think a lot of that is due to compressing a book into a two hour movie, and making it viable to a wider audience.  But yes, agree whole heartedly

I'd like to see Clancy's "Bear and Dragon" done, but doubt it will be made.

  • Member since
    January 2010
Posted by rob44 on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:42 PM

I finished Ian Toll's Magnificent trilogy about the war in the Pacific. I reccommend it highly

  • Member since
    January 2010
Posted by rob44 on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:45 PM

I also reccommend Rick Atkinson's trillogy of the war in Europe. Both trilogies are magnificent

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, April 22, 2021 10:30 PM

HooYah Deep Sea

Which brings up a good point; are there any movies out there that are as good or better than 'the book'? I know that none that I've seen that were based on a book were as good as the book, and most were seriously sub-standard. 

 

I don't know, but the Lord of the Rings comes close.

 

Bill

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

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