Read any good books lately?

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

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.

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.

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.

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

In the process of reading Shattered Sword.

ohms

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

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... 

"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?

Do anyn  of you have a "shelf-of-doom" for books you can't finish?

I've got a couple on mine.

"Cattle Kingdom", the history of the 19th Century cattle industry in the west and the real story of cowboys.

"Gourmand's Way", a collection of short stories about food writers. The first story was about A.J. Leibling and his time in France as an Army and New Yorker magazine writer during and post WW2. It was a good read. But after that a lot of Julia Child retread stories. I met her once.

templar1099

 

 

stikpusher

written in 1984, set in 1993 about the aftermath of ”limited” nuclear war between the US and USSR in 1988

 

 

---

If you get a chance Stik,try " the Thirld World War ",General Sir John Hackett. 1978 publish date. Details a 1987 thrust through Germany by Warsaw Pact.

 

I think that I still have that one in my library. I’ve read it several times.

stikpusher

written in 1984, set in 1993 about the aftermath of ”limited” nuclear war between the US and USSR in 1988

If you get a chance Stik,try " the Thirld World War ",General Sir John Hackett. 1978 publish date. Details a 1987 thrust through Germany by Warsaw Pact.

This past week I was lucky to find a copy of Warday, and spent half of the week reading it. It’s a novel written in 1984, set in 1993 about the aftermath of ”limited” nuclear war between the US and USSR in 1988. 

"The Body, a Guide for Occupants" by Bill Bryson. He is a famous travel writer but this book is fascinating. It is written in very down to earth language, bunch of trivia. After reading many anatomy textbooks in school, this one is a very refreshing and informative read on how the body works and what is in it. Easy read for anybody interested in how you work.

I read a lot at work. Just this year, I finished the entire series of Edgar Rice Bourroughs' John Carter of Mars (like 6 books on my Kindle), World War Z (much different from the movie), Dead of Night (a zombie book that actually explains how the zombies were created), We Called it War (an infantryman's story about enlisting during the Korean War and serving on the front lines).

I'm about half way through the book Children of Men, another book that was made into a movie that doesn't seem to be very much like the movie.

I've read a few others on my Kindle, one was about the Vietnam War leading up to the Tet Offensive.

FORGOTTEN CACHE, by Justin Frye; about two eleven year old boys who find an American Revolutionary period cache tunnel. A great read, if you are in middle grades, (8-12 year olds). I know this because I wrote it! Forgotten Cache is my first kids book of hopefully a series of unrelated stories to help get kids reading again. Wish me luck, our youth need all the help we can give them. 

Over the Edge of the World, by Laurence Bergreen. Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe.Arguably the greatest single sea voyage ever undertaken.

No listing of Pricco in the index. And yes, modeling is a very good excuse for buying books. My library has expanded manyfold due to modeling related books!

stikpusher

 

 

Ish47guy

Dragons Jaw, by Stephen Coonts and Barret Tillman.

True story of Vietnam air operations by the USAF & USN to bring down the Thanh Hoa bridge from 1965 to 1972.  It covers the origin of Wild Weasel and Iron Hand missions, and the development & use of first generation laser guided precision weaponry.  The authors cover a lot of the human side of the efforts, especially covering the airmen that became POWs, and the failings of the exectutive leadership of the US goverment of the time, especially LBJ & McNamara.

 

 

 

i just finished reading US Navy A-7 Units of the Vietnam War a couple days ago...

 

Ish47guy

Dragons Jaw, by Stephen Coonts and Barret Tillman.

True story of Vietnam air operations by the USAF & USN to bring down the Thanh Hoa bridge from 1965 to 1972.  It covers the origin of Wild Weasel and Iron Hand missions, and the development & use of first generation laser guided precision weaponry.  The authors cover a lot of the human side of the efforts, especially covering the airmen that became POWs, and the failings of the exectutive leadership of the US goverment of the time, especially LBJ & McNamara.

 

 

Isnt Coonts the Vietnam vet former A-6 driver who wrote Flight of the Intruder?

It sounds like a book that I'd love to read.

i just finished reading US Navy A-7 Units of the Vietnam War a couple days ago...

Six Frigates. The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy, by Ian Toll.

This book is a real gem. It's really four books in one, covering the funding design and construction of the heavy frigates; the Jeffersonian defunding of the Navy; the Barbary pirates war, the War of1812.

Dragons Jaw, by Stephen Coonts and Barret Tillman.

True story of Vietnam air operations by the USAF & USN to bring down the Thanh Hoa bridge from 1965 to 1972.  It covers the origin of Wild Weasel and Iron Hand missions, and the development & use of first generation laser guided precision weaponry.  The authors cover a lot of the human side of the efforts, especially covering the airmen that became POWs, and the failings of the exectutive leadership of the US goverment of the time, especially LBJ & McNamara.

I just bought a really nice picture book at Barnes and Noble. It has 245 pages of high quality color and B&W photos of WWII airplanes and crew.

How about this photo, a 109B. You don't see those very often.

An english teacher freind of mine really got me hooked into audibooks.  Its so very convinent to listen to a book during the commute to/from work.  My list of last three books listened to.

Yes, this current book and I have another one and lots articles in a paleontology on line mag have pictures.  I did go a seminar with Dr. Bakker in 1980, before he became famous.  He did work at the University of Colorado for a time.  I do emember at Dinosaur Ridge, a Paleontologist that worked there was upset with Jack Horner because he felt the T-rex was a scavenger only.  At the Denver musem of Nature and Science we have a duck Bill with a bite mark on the tail done by a rex.  It survived the bite, and healed.  He just ignored her because she hadn't recieved her degree yet. The new fossils come from all over the world. China is really good.  Farmers over there make good money on fossils and the government realy encourages them.   There are lots of great early bird fossils, feathers and more.  I see more artwork with them like large velociraptors with feathers, even have seen some models of them.  It's a whole new world of Dinos.  I asked a dino artist what he thought of redoing a lot of his artwork and he was excited about it, lots of new colors! 

tankboy51

I just finished "The Pioneers" by David McCullogh.  Very good.  It's about the first organized settlements on the Ohio river in the 1780's.  I also finished a new book "Dinosaurs Redicovered" by Michael J. Benton.  Guess what.... Dinosaurs are still around, they are BIRDS.  Actually, we suspected that, now recent discoveries have shown it.   I remember in I think it was in 1972 or so, when I was in Geology, thinking about specialziing in Paleontology that one my professors told me  that we knew all there was to know, they lived millions of years ago, they are dead,  forget them,  learn Forams instead.  Oh well. I could go on.  Well, I have taught the new things at Dinosur Ridge here in Colorado.  We have bones and hundreds of footprints from both the Jurassic and Cretacious eras.  Fun. 

Yeah, reading Bakker and Horner, and Gould, too, back in the late 90s and early Aughts, they were re-examining and discussing new interpretations of the fossils, and a reclassificaion of Aves-birds, not the putty .  It's gained much traction since then.

Have you come across any good books that talk about feathers on dinosaurs, especially books that present whatever evidence we have, which species, etc?  I see a lot of dino art online, and it seems that every artist turns every dinosaur into a parrot.  But I haven't seen much reference to too many specific examples.