Read any good books lately?

While not exactly a thinking-man's books, I've recently completed re-reading my collections of Conan- The Barbarian  and Deadpool (continuing series) comics...  good stuff and no critical thinking is necessary.

The last real book I read was Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, a very interesting look into why the world's civilizations developed the way they did.   Truly a thought provoking read.

In my job I end up having alot of "free" time that I pass by reading:  Some that I have read or finished in the last year:

1. Atlas Shrugged.  Wow, the parallels between this book and what's happening in the US today are amazing.  I guess Ayn Rand knows what she's talking about.  For those of you who don't know this book is basically about government getting too big.  When reading it I kept thinking to myself these people sound like the Occupy Wall Street activists.  It took me about 2 years reading off and on to finish this one.

2. The Unseen Hand.  Have you ever asked yourself why the US government seems to be constantly making self destructive decisions?  Do you say to yourself "something's wrong but I can't put my finger on it?"  Read this.  Even if only half of what Ralph Epperson is saying is true its pretty eye opening.

3. The Stand.  My wife is into Stephen King and she talked me into reading this.  It was pretty good.  Its about a government virus that wipes out most of the population and the ensuing battle between good and evil.

4. The Gunslinger.  Another Stephen King book.  Didn't like this one.  Still not sure what it was about.

5. The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa'ud.  This was a pretty comprehensive history of how Saudi Arabia became what it is today, starting with Abdul Aziz back in the 1870's.  Very interesting and worth reading.  I just randomly picked this one up.

6. The Harbinger.  This one is a sort of a fiction book about Judgment on the United States.  It attempts to explain why things are getting so bad in the US from a Christian perspective using all the real events but told through fictional people.

7. Animal Farm.  I read this as a teenager but didn't really get what was going on.  As an adult I see it perfectly clear. Although George Orwell was pro socialist he perfectly shows us why socialism will always end in tyranny and despotism.  Its because of the one element that will never change...human nature.

8. 1984.  I never read this book, also by George Orwell, but like Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged this book is almost prophetic.  The bigger the government the more the intrusion.  Heck, yesterday I was reading news about a new TV that has facial recognition software built in to it so it can tell who's watching TV and taylor the experience to that individual.  I thought to myself wow!  That sounds just like Big Brother.

9. The Bible.  I set out to read the Bible cover to cover.  It's taken me almost 3.5 years reading it off and on again.  Technically, the Bible is a compilation of 66 books and letters.  I've read most of it as individual books but never from beginning to end.  As of today I'm in the Book of Revelation and should be finished in the next day or two.

10. Demonic.  Although I'm not a big Ann Coulter fan this was a very good book.  Just the section on the French Revolution was worth the read.  This book is basically about mob mentality and the results of succumbing to it.

11. The Everlasting Hatred.  This book by Hal Lindsey explains why the Arab-Israelli conflict seems to be never ending.  Very informative and eye opening.

12-14. The Hunger Games trilogy.  These were recommended to me by my wife.  The first book was really good, the second was ok and the third was the worst.

There are at least 2 other books but I can't recall their titles right now.  And yes...this was just 2012.

Yeah, getting in, as difficult as it is, often turns out to be easier than exfiltration, after the hornet's nest has been kicked.  I don't know if you have seen any of Osprey's "Raid" series of books. But they take a single incident and dissect it completely within the same format. Great reads, if a bit light compared to other writings on the same incidents.

Doogs sounds like the story of my life...

What varies from each story is the circumstances of extraction.

E/E they counted on being relieved.

Alexandria they planned to sneek away but it was a slim chance.

St. Nazaire fight their way out.

Gran Sasso who knows, Skorzeny was a nut.

Tirpitz sneek out tho it wasn't at all possible.

Cabanatuan and Son Tay run like heck.

Entebbe leave no chance of pursuit.

Just finished "The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing". 

Sounds hilarious, but it was actually rather enlightening and described my work habits to a frightening level of accuracy.

But it also helps with recognizing procrastination and, as the book says, "using the brain's amazing capacity for self-deception to actually get a lot done" while still procrastinating. 

I had seen on one source they used BTRs, so I would wonder perhaps a BTR-40 or 152. With the 152 being in the same weight class almost as a 113. The Hercs could likely do a RATO take off with that load but... To my mind that is probably the most classic special ops mission of all those listed in the book.

I got my copy on Amazon and it only took a few days.

I don't know either. I'll have to see if I can find a footnote in the book with a source- it's that kind of book because it's a thesis.

My guess would be captured BTR-60s, or perhaps Land Rover mods. McRaven did use the term Buffalo, but he had some of the other details wrong too. I assume they were NOT M113's, that would have been overkill and I doubt the Herc's could have taken off with two each plus a fuel load for 2200 miles. The main use seems to have been to thwart any counter attack from town, but in the event the time on the ground ended up being shorter than planned and the APC's mostly suppressed fire from the control tower.

Yes, this is one of those cases where I should have heeded my own standard advice of picking up something when you see it, because it might not be there later. Curious, but what is the Buffalo APC at Entebbe? I have read and seen several accounts of that mission, and they vary on what exactly the Israelis took in the way of vehicles. Except of  course the Benz.

stikpusher

I saw that "Special Ops" book at Barnes & Noble awhile back, but passed on it. What were the other operations in the book besides Eban Emael and Entebbe?

Alexandria Harbor 19 December 1941- Italeri's little Maiaile with Decima Flotiglia figs. Sank Valiant and Queen Elizabeth.

St. Nazaire 27 March 1942- Campbellton/ Buchanan, MBT's.

Rescue of Mussolini 12 September 1943- DFS 230, Storch.

Submarine attack on Tirpitz 22 September 1943- I am saving up for a 1/35 X Craft.

Ranger raid on Cabanatuan- Japanese light tanks and trucks,

US Army raid on Son Tay 21 November 1970- HH-53, H-3, C-130, A-1.

Entebbe 4 July 1976- C-130, Buffalo APC,

Obviously dioramas with figs would be ideal.

You would enjoy this book, Carlos. It's a methodical 6 point analysis of each raid, and makes it's points well.

I read "Helmet for my Pillow" while I was overseas. Definitely one of the better books of that type that I have read.  I saw that "Special Ops" book at Barnes & Noble awhile back, but passed on it. What were the other operations in the book besides Eban Emael and Entebbe?

GMorrison

I ordered " Special Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice" by William H. McRaven, 1996 Presidio Press. It's eight case studies from Eban Emael to Entebbe, and was McRavens Thesis at Naval Post Graduate School. Really am looking forward to that.

Just picked up a copy of Helmet for my pillow by Robert Leckie.

• Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard
• Armored Thunderbolt by Steve Zaloga
• Rangers at Dieppe (The first combat action of U.S. Army Rangers in World War II) by Jim DeFelice

I’m reading A Genius for Deception by Nicholas Rankin.
Don’t be fooled by first impressions.

Yes,  Star Trek Destiny, by David Mack. It's a compilation of a trilogy he wrote recently.  It is about the finial war of the Borg on the Federation, and the Klingon and Romulan worlds, in fact, pretty much every world in known space.  The Borg are not assimulating this time, they are exterminating.  In these novels, which involves pretty much everyone from the StarTrek universe, you learn the origin of the Borg and their purpose.  I found it a griping adventure and great on characters and action.  The ending may disturb some however, but it is true to Star Trek.   The author is quite know to Star Trek folks and had permission from those that be, to do this story. Not sure if is could be considered Canon, but it comes close.

Doug

Now I'm rereading "The Big E" for the 3rd time.  Of course it's about USS Enterprise CV 6 in WWII.

That's the guy, and yes it is an awesome book.

Just nabbed Shirer's book on Audible for $8...will be a good listen as I'm working on the Fw 190F-8 and Me 262A-1a/U4

William Shirer. That's the first book I ever read abt the Third Reich, when it was published in the early sixties. Still one of the best IMO.

Just about 200 pages into the "Rise and fall of the Third Reich" I can't recall the authors name off hand, but it is proving to be a very entertaining book.

Over the Holiday I read "The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden"; by Mark Bowden.

Highly recommended, although since it was published last June, it's already out of date.

I plan to grab and read "No Easy Day" by "Mark Owen".  I was a little skeptical because of all the controversy surrounding it's publication, but I then downloaded and watched the interview he did for "60 Minutes" and was pretty impressed.

I ordered " Special Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice" by William H. McRaven, 1996 Presidio Press. It's eight case studies from Eban Emael to Entebbe, and was McRavens Thesis at Naval Post Graduate School. Really am looking forward to that.

I read "German Boy" not too long ago. It was a great read about the dying days of the Third Reich and the early post war years.

Recently read "Low Level Hell" by Hugh L. Mills, Jr, which is an account of his time as a Loach scout pilot in Vietnam, with lots of Snake & Tadpole stories.  I thoroughly enjoyed it & although my eyes were already open to what these guys did, this book opened them slightly further......

I'm on the lookout for something decent from the Falklands campaign if anyone has any suggestions (already read Vulcan 607)?

Also not long ago,  I read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by  Laura Hillenbrand.  The true story of Louis Zamperini.

This book of non-fiction is one of the best stories I have ever read. Louis’s story is so incredible that I found myself wondering how it could all be true.  His story keeps coming back to me. I find it amazing what the will to survive is capable of.

I'm in the middle of The Most Dangerous Enemy, by Stephen Bungay, about the Battle of Britain.  I remember reading a kids book way back in second grade on the battle, and figured it was about time to read a good comprehensive history.  It's absolutely a great read and I highly recommend it.

Cool.  The author sounds familiar.  I might have read some already.  I will take a look.  Thank you.

       Finished a book recently about "Tom Crean" a member of Scott's expidition to the South Pole.

        Reading "Forgotten voices" by Joshua Levine at the moment both good reads.

Echo139er, If you liked "Empire of the Summer Moon", try the books of Terry C. Johnston. IIRC there are 32 books in the series, all written about the same time period and all written about different tribes and their leaders. I have them all and read all of them. Great reading.

Jim

Yes.  Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

The best book I have read in a very long time and I read a lot.

The last book I read was The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton which focused on the doping in professional cycling and Lance Armstrong's involvement in particular.  Outside of modeling my major hobby/interest is triathlons.  Very sad for me to read as a cycling fan.

Mark