Read any good books lately?

I re read Catastrophe 1914:Europe goes to War by Max Hastings,enjoyed it so much that I ordered two others by him

Armageddon:The Battle for Germany

Inferno:The World at War 1939-1945

Enjoying Inferno now,and saving Armageddon for vacation next month

Presently, 3/4 of the way through "Band of Brothers"(2nd reading) and just started "Panzer Aces I" by Franz Kurowski.  It's battles stories of German tank Commanders of WWII.

TJS

Finished Over the Egde of the World, about Magelan's round the world trip.

Reading Captain Cook, about Cook's 3 trips into the pacific.

Vary good read both of them with Magelan's book being more dramatic.

Working my way through Attack on Pearl Harbor - Strategy, Combat,Myths, Deceptions by Alan D. Zimm. For all of the books, good and bad, about the attack on Pearl, This one is by far the best; not for it's story telling but for is eye-opening truth. A good percentage of 'Pearl' books are recitations of the same old drivel, half-truths, and make nice garbage. This one exposes the backstories, but is not a conspiracy theory thing. It is now, honestly speaking, my favorite work on the subject.

Reading Evader by Denys Teare.  I found the book doing some research on my mothers maiden name - Teare.  We're from the Isle of man so somehow this guy was probably a relative so I purchased the book.  Pretty good read so far.  He spent a year in occupied France after bailing out of his damaged Lancaster with the rest of the crew.  As the title indicates it's about his avoiding capture.

Welll!

 I am presently reading Both,  "Ardennes 1944"-Battle of the Bulge and General George S. Patton Jr. " War as I knew it". Trying to understand some of the stuff written by those who have researched The Man and those who followed him. Crusty Old War Dog for sure.

Spent the last two days with Dragon's Jaw by Coonts and Tillman.  Written in the style of "Spearhead", by using files and interviews of some of the aircrews.  They go into the failures, and lay blame where it belongs, IMO

"The Idiot Brain" by Burnett Dean is a funny and very down to earth book about how the brain works and why it does what it does. Easy read. It is written by a neuro scientist who is also a stand up comedian.

I'm reading at the moment, HELL'S ANGELS The True story of the 303rd bomb group in WW II, by Jay A. Stout.

Just finished "Battle Stations" by Stephen L. Moore.  He has authored a few other books, most notably a couple on fleet boats in WWII.

Is a first hand account, reports, and recollections of those who were on USS Yorktown at Coral Sea and Midway.

Have just picked up "Dragon's,s Jaw" by Coonts and Tillman.  Story of the efforts to knock out a North Vietnamese bridge.  Have to see how well it's written.  From his other books and his service history, there should be a few kernels of actual events.

the Baron

 

 

Bish

For years, my main historical interest has been in WW2 and Classical Greece and Rome. But more recently i have taken more of an interest in English history...

 

 

 

I have the companion book to Simon Schama's "History of Britain" series and that provides a good overview, from Neolithic times up to the beginning of the 20th century.

Looking at British history also provides new perspective on our own, because we were British, till 1776.

 

Thanks, i will check that out.

Bish

For years, my main historical interest has been in WW2 and Classical Greece and Rome. But more recently i have taken more of an interest in English history...

I have the companion book to Simon Schama's "History of Britain" series and that provides a good overview, from Neolithic times up to the beginning of the 20th century.

Looking at British history also provides new perspective on our own, because we were British, till 1776.

For years, my main historical interest has been in WW2 and Classical Greece and Rome. But more recently i have taken more of an interest in English history. So after building my ECW bust earlier this year, i decided to start with a book on that conflict. For years its just been refferred to as the English Civil War, but i think in recent years the involvment of the rest of the British isles has been more recognised and the ECW is now seen as one part of whats known as the war of the Three Kingdoms. So after reading some reviews this is the book i have been reading.

I am still a little war to go, but its been a really interesting read. I was really surprised at the role of the Scots in all of this period and their attempts to force their view of the Christian Church onto the English which lead to their rift with the King. It was also interesting to read about Cromwell's campaign in Ireland, over which the Irish are still rather bitter, but the book does explain his actions and i don't believe he was as bad as the Irish make out.

Once i have finished this i have a Bio of Nelson and a history of the Anglo Saxons to read. But i have a couple of more books related to the ECW on my Waterstones wish list, one on the New Model Army and another on the role of the Eastern Association i am looking forward to getting

I am towards the end of "Into the darkness" by Gitta Serenyi. She is an Israely journalist who interviewed Franz Stangl, the only commander of a concentration camp (Sobibor and Treblinka) who was brought to trial. It is more about his career path, how he become what he was, how did he feel about it, his relationship with other SS personel, interveviews his wife, how did she feel about what her husband is doing, how the survivors saw him. Very interesting.

Yea, lots of times I get my inspirition or ideas for my next build from either movies or books that I read.  For example after watching the movie "Greyhound" and reading "The Good Shephard" I built Lindberg's 1/125 Blue Devil destroyer kit.  After "Spearhead" I'd like to build that T-26 and after "Devotion" the F4U-4 flown by Jesse Brown.

TJS

MC passed on "Spearhead" to me for something to read while hospitalized in Boise.

Agree, a good read as told from one who was there, and still able to walk the ground he fought on.

While showing the author where he had been, and recounting the Panther/Pershing fight, they actually found one of the German crew.  By the time he had to leave they became friends.

I've been reading & enjoying a lot of Adam Makos's books lately- "Spearhead","A Higher Call","Voices of the Pacific", & presently reading "Devotion".  Great historial books.

TJS 

i just finished "A Final Valiant Act", about a young marine who was killed in Viet Nam on Easter Sunday, March 1967. His platoon engaged a larger NVA force infiltrating the DMZ. In the battle 28 of the 40 Marines were killed or wounded. one UH-34 was destroyed on the ground attempting resupply and evacuation.

The story follows the life of Doug Dickey, from high school through enlistment, boot camp and engagement in action. It also covers the rest of the platoon, which included a young man named larry Larsen who was a close friend of my wife's family and of her brother.

Larry was walking point and was shot and killed in ambush, which started the action. Enclosed on three sides, the platoon took position in a bomb crater.

Dickey was carrying the radio and threw himself on a hand grenade that was thrown into the crater. Before it exploded another one landed next to him and he grabbed it and shoved it under his body.

Very moving and follows the story to today. I actually got the book at a signing which was attended by the dozen or so survivors of that platoon here in Carmel.  

Bill

Picked up a copy of "Japanese Destroyer Captain", by Capt. Tameichi Hara.  

He was captain of the destroyer Shigure during and after the Solomons campaign, commander of the torpedo school, and captain of the cruiser Yahagi during the sortie of the Yamato mission at Okinawa.

He doesn't play favorites, telling the good and bad decisions in both sides, in the actions he was in.

Interesting read.

gregbale

Rob Gronovius

Non-movie books are Casca The Eternal Mercenary

Wow, that's a bulb going on!

I eagerly devoured the first dozen or so of the Casca series when they first came out in the '70s-'80s (about the same time as enjoying Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan 'the Executioner' series)...but sort of lost track after Sadler's death, when other authors picked up the franchise. Probably ought to go back and revisit them.

Enjoy!

As a young lieutenant living across the PX parking lot from the Stars & Stripes bookstore in Mannheim, Germany, I bought a lot of paperback books. I lent many of the Casca books to other lieutenants, but only have the first book, Eternal Mercenary and Casca: Warrior (he's stranded on a South Pacific island and becomes their ruler).

They are awesome "dime store novels" and a lot of fun. I think if anyone actually tried to timeline the stories, there would be instances where he was in two places at the same time or need some sort of transporter to get from one side of the Earth to the other.

Awsome photos Glenn. Thank you for service and thank you for sharing.

Rob Gronovius

Non-movie books are Casca The Eternal Mercenary

Wow, that's a bulb going on!

I eagerly devoured the first dozen or so of the Casca series when they first came out in the '70s-'80s (about the same time as enjoying Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan 'the Executioner' series)...but sort of lost track after Sadler's death, when other authors picked up the franchise. Probably ought to go back and revisit them.

Enjoy!

Nope. No time.

stikpusher

Rob Gronovius

I started reading Flight of the Intruder, I haven't seen the movie; it was released while I was deployed 30 years ago and by the time I returned to the US, it was long out of theaters.

 

Good book and good movie, but as usual, Hollywood changed things when turning the book into a film. 

The book I finished just prior to this book was The Lost World, a sequel to Jurassic Park. I bought the book (still had the original sales receipt inside) in September 1996 when I was stationed at Fort Leavenworth for my command and staff school.

Having watched the movie when it came out, the book almost bore no resembalance to the movie other than Jeff Goldblum's character, and to a lesser degree, the female lead uses the same name, but is an entirely different character with different skill sets and motivations.

This year's New Year's resolution was to read more books, so I decided to concentrate on books that were made into movies. Flight of the Intruder is book number 19 of the year. I've read other books not made into movies this year, but here is the list of just the "movie" books I've read so far this year:

• Congo
• The Dark Tower (8 books)
• Eaters of the Dead (movie name The 13th Warrior)
• Ender's Game
• I am Legend
• Jurassic Park
• The Lost World
• Flight of the Intruder

Non-movie books are

• Casca The Eternal Mercenary
• Full Dark, No Stars
• Brotherhood of War Book I: The Lieutenants

The Dark Tower was probably the most disappointing movie. Stephen King used the Lord of the Rings and Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name as inspiration for the series. While I like Idris Elba, he doesn't come to mind when you expect an older Clint and the movie would be like re-editing Lord of the Rings into a 2-hour movie where Bilbo finds the ring, gives it to Frodo and he tosses it into the volcano.

Hutch6390

I've just finished "Warburton's War" by Tony Spooner (updated edition, Chris Goss), about Wing Commander Adrian ("Warby") Warburton - a misfit who scraped through RAF pilot training in WWII & was eventually sent to Malta, where he proved to be an outstanding photo-reconnaissance pilot.

Seems a personality, career and...regrettably...a sad ending similar to ace 'Buzz' Beurling, in the same theater. Whether great artists or great military pilots, it seems exceptional talent often comes with difficult or misunderstood personalities.

I've just finished "Warburton's War" by Tony Spooner (updated edition, Chris Goss), about Wing Commander Adrian ("Warby") Warburton - a misfit who scraped through RAF pilot training in WWII & was eventually sent to Malta, where he proved to be an outstanding photo-reconnaissance pilot. 

He flew numerous aircraft types, and always got his pictures, however difficult the job.  During the seige of Malta, he was a figure of inspiration to service personnel and populace alike and became, quite literally, a legend.  He taught his skills to others, becoming first a Squadron Leader, then a Wing Commander, also forming strong links with American units on Malta and in North Africa.  On one occasion, he flew his Martin Maryland through the Italian fleet in Taranto harbour, at an altitude of 50 feet, in order to confirm exactly which enemy ships were present, which he and his crew did by reading their names from the hulls!  He had a difficult early life, and was something of an enigma, and a bit of an oddball, throughout his life, which ended at a tragically young age.

A thoroughly engrossing read about an extraordinary man.

Rob Gronovius

I started reading Flight of the Intruder, I haven't seen the movie; it was released while I was deployed 30 years ago and by the time I returned to the US, it was long out of theaters.

 

Good book and good movie, but as usual, Hollywood changed things when turning the book into a film. 

Liked the movie, Glover and Defoe were great in their roles, imo

I started reading Flight of the Intruder, I haven't seen the movie; it was released while I was deployed 30 years ago and by the time I returned to the US, it was long out of theaters.