Sturgeon Posted October 28, 2014 Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 I am currently working my way through The Hermetic Millennia, by John C. Wright. What are y'all reading? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T___A Posted October 28, 2014 Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 I'm reading Drive to the East by Harry Turtledove. I enjoy it, though I wouldn't recommend it due to the usual Turtledove wankery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter_Sobchak Posted October 28, 2014 Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 I just picked up a copy of "Dresden" by Frederick Taylor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeps_Guns_Tanks Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 I'm reading From Hot Air To Hellfire, the history of army attack aviation, by James Bradin. Sturgeon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted October 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Oh that is a good choice, Jeeps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Yeah, second that. I remember really liking that book. I just got a copy of Malcom Brook's debut novel Painted Horses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter_Sobchak Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 I'm reading From Hot Air To Hellfire, the history of army attack aviation, by James Bradin. That sounds interesting. Also, it's listed used on Amazon for $.01 plus shipping. Can't argue with that price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priory_of_Sion Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 Reading God and the Facsists. Pretty interesting on how the Vatican went along with Mussolini, Hitler, and the gang. There is anti-church bias, but it doesn't take away from the book too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeps_Guns_Tanks Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Reading God and the Facsists. Pretty interesting on how the Vatican went along with Mussolini, Hitler, and the gang. There is anti-church bias, but it doesn't take away from the book too much. That does sound intersting, I'll have to add it to the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xthetenth Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Sunburst. How I haven't gotten to it beforehand escapes me. It's as good as you'd expect from one of the guys behind Kaigun. Also read Infernal Devices by KW Jeter and it's pretty awesome fiction in the way you'd expect early steampunk as written by the guy who wrote the first cyberpunk to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donward Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Got through reading "Decision in Normandy" by Carlo D'Este. Of its 500 pages, 450 seem devoted to debunking Monte's efforts at Caen and the Field Marshall's claims that he always intended the British left flank to act as a shield while the Americans pivoted. For fun, I then read William Forstchen's "Rally Cry", book one in the Lost Regiment series where a Union Civil War regimented is transported to SB alien world with 10-foot tall aliens that ride horses like mongol warriors and feed on humans. At the moment I am flipping through a 1960 Paperback called "Invasion (Swastika in title) They're Coming" by Paul Carell and purports to tell the D-Day Invasion through the eyes of the enemy. For the first time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter_Sobchak Posted November 14, 2014 Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 I recently picked up a book called "The Sharp End: The Fighting Man in World War II" by John Ellis. It looks quite interesting. Anyone else familiar with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donward Posted November 16, 2014 Report Share Posted November 16, 2014 I've heard of it. Haven't read it. I'm sure a major theme will be how the Western Allies were consistently short on infantrymen from D-Day on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeps_Guns_Tanks Posted November 16, 2014 Report Share Posted November 16, 2014 Oh that is a good choice, Jeeps! I'm about half way through "From Hot Air to Hellfire”, and it's been a good read so far. It started with very detailed info about the Apache raid that kicked off gulf war one, and then moves into the history as far back as the end of WWII. I always wondered how much of the infighting between the Air Force and Army over them arming helicopters in the W.E.B Griffin’s “The Brotherhood of War” series was true. Not only was the overall story in the books true, it didn’t cover nearly enough how bad the air force was. Apparently the Army had to depend on the Air force for aircraft procurement, so when they went to them with a plan for purchasing more helicopters and bigger fixed wing assets, the main General in charge of procurement said no. They had to bypass them, eventually taking control of their own aircraft procurement. That’s just one example there are several more. The Air Force had issues with the Army arming the choppers that had as well, and tried to kill of programs like the Cheyenne. They didn’t want the Army doing close air support, but was unwilling to develop anything to do the job themselves. At least until the canceling of the Cheyenne forced the Air Force to keep the A-10, and they’ve been trying to kill it off almost from the time it deployed. It’s also interesting how the Huey Cobra kinda snuck it’s way into production after being basically developed on Bells dime. Anyway, so far so good heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donward Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I really enjoyed the movie "John Carter (of Mars)" and maintain that it is a far superior science fiction flick than the contemporary movie "Dances with Smurfs" (Avatar) in terms of acting, plot and not being a hypocritical anti-corporate, environmentalist, anti-American screed. My wife, who is an even bigger sci-fi fan than I particularly like Woola, the dog monster who very closely resembles one of our Akitas. With that said, I'm looking at the complete Edgar Rice Burroughs single-volume set on the bookshelf and I'm ready to take the plunge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted December 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Actually, yeah, that movie wasn't bad. I liked it just fine. However, this is for books you're reading.I am working on Our Culture, What's Left of It by Theodore Dalrymple, and Basic Writings of Nietzsche, by Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Kaufmann. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donward Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 As I mentioned, I've literally just opened the book. Finished the forward, and am looking at John Carter's first chapter, "On the Arizona Hills". And similar to the movie, Burroughs does write himself into the story as he re tells his encounter with "Uncle Jack". Sturgeon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted December 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Oh lol, I can into reading comprehension. Let me know how that is. I remember the film got me kind of interested in the books, as so few movies do these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter_Sobchak Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 The other day at the Thrift store I picked up a book called "Rising Sun Victorious" for a couple bucks. Its a "what if" history of how the Japanese could have won the Pacific war. I bought it because I pretty much will buy any WW2 related book at the thrift store. I have not read it yet, it's on my pile of "maybe at some point" will I read it. That said, I feel dirty just having it in my house. It seems like something Dai would get rather excited about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donward Posted December 22, 2014 Report Share Posted December 22, 2014 I own that book. It was in one of those give a book, take a book piles. It is rather fantastical with implausible theories covering a dozen or so scenarios. It's in my "two move" boxes of books that are lingering at my folks' place as we pare down stuff at my new place. If I recall, the most plausible one was if the Japanese had foregone the sneak-attack on Pearl Harbor and engaged the American Fleet as it steamed east to relieve the Phillipines, sinking the American battle fleet in the open sea where they'd be irrecoverable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priory_of_Sion Posted December 24, 2014 Report Share Posted December 24, 2014 I really enjoyed the movie "John Carter (of Mars)" and maintain that it is a far superior science fiction flick than the contemporary movie "Dances with Smurfs" (Avatar) in terms of acting, plot and not being a hypocritical anti-corporate, environmentalist, anti-American screed. My wife, who is an even bigger sci-fi fan than I particularly like Woola, the dog monster who very closely resembles one of our Akitas. With that said, I'm looking at the complete Edgar Rice Burroughs single-volume set on the bookshelf and I'm ready to take the plunge. The John Carter movie was also suppose to be a documentary according to Richard Hoagland, who is in the same boat as Mike Sparks. The more you know. I own that book. It was in one of those give a book, take a book piles. It is rather fantastical with implausible theories covering a dozen or so scenarios. It's in my "two move" boxes of books that are lingering at my folks' place as we pare down stuff at my new place. If I recall, the most plausible one was if the Japanese had foregone the sneak-attack on Pearl Harbor and engaged the American Fleet as it steamed east to relieve the Phillipines, sinking the American battle fleet in the open sea where they'd be irrecoverable. "Two Move"? GrossThere would have to be a bunch of circumstances for the Japanese to win such a battle outright. Got two books over the holidays. One on Napoleon(older book), the other is more of a pop history book on strange WWII factoids and stories. Decent so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donward Posted December 24, 2014 Report Share Posted December 24, 2014 Ouch. That spelling... I enjoyed listening to Richard Hoagland on the Art Bell Show back in the 1990s. I have chronic insomnia and I've always treated Coast-to-Coast as fun sci-fi entertainment, particularly when they talked about Bigfoot, scary ghost stories, Chupacabra and the one lady who described in rather lurid detail her romance with a lizard men. They're cold-blooded... The bullshit starting get a bit thick when Hoagland - if I'm remembering correctly - made some rather dumb predictions about the Hale-Bopp comet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted March 4, 2015 Report Share Posted March 4, 2015 Just finished Mike Spick's Designed for the Kill. It's a very good overview of the development of the fourth generation of fighter aircraft. The book was written late enough that good information on the flanker and fulcrum was available in the West, but early enough that the world at large hadn't lost interest in the subject of fighter jets. Thus, it is a large, lavishly illustrated book. The usual problem that this is a very technical subject with lots of jargon that is rarely explained does crop up, but it's not too bad for someone who has already read about the subject. An updated, or re-written volume would be interested, especially now since there's much more publicly available information about how stealth works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belesarius Posted March 4, 2015 Report Share Posted March 4, 2015 Going to start the newest Jack Ryan novel that Greenly wrote, presumably from notes left over. Will see how the writing stacks up. After co-writing for Clancy, maybe Greenly can be the spiritual successor to Clancy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priory_of_Sion Posted March 4, 2015 Report Share Posted March 4, 2015 We don't need more Clancy. We have enough already. Please. Stop. The book Unspun is a very good little piece on BS and why people fall face first in it. Should be a mandatory read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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