yet another book thread

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by GoT, Apr 21, 2013.

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  1. Fry

    Fry Welcome to the land of tomorrow!

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  2. CRUDS

    CRUDS Moderator Staff

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    Cool, start with Mindhunter..

     
  3. Dee

    Dee Pro Bowler

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    So I finished American Gods finally and it was legit.

    My first Neil Gaiman book and I'm now a fan.

    Would anyone recommend any of his other books??
     
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  4. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    Been a while since I posted here. I promised my next read would not be SciFi and I did not lie.

    This is more of an update because I have gotten myself halfway thru an epic tale of America At War. AAW is a collection of essays originally published in Military History Quarterly. The articles have been edited and an introduction to each provided by some dude named Calvin L. Christman.

    The essays are arranged in chronological order beginning in the Pre-USA Indian wars. I would consider this British military history myself. But still quite informative. Because the book was published in 1995 the First Gulf War is the end point of the timeline.

    I am a little over half thru the book and am at post Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

    I will just give an overview of my favorite chapter so far - Bywater's Pacific War Prophecy. I am a bit of a history buff. One of my favorite periods to read about is WW1 including the actions before and the period between the end of WW1 in 1945 (see what I did there). Anyways I had never heard of Bywater but WOW

    Bywater was a British journalist and an unofficial naval expert. Bywater spent considerable time in America and spoke fluent German. Anyways the essay talks about the 1921 book Sea-power in the Pacific. Bywater's book predicted a surprise Japan aerial attack on a major US Navy base to begin any Pacific war. The book also predicted that given time the USA would Island Hop their way to victory over Japan. The book was translated into Japanese and Yamamoto totally ripped Bywater off with his plan to attack Pearl Harbor. And of course we all know the US totally ripped Bywater off with their island hopping strategy. The original US plan was just a suicide charge across the Pacific - LOL

    It must be noted that Bywater predicted the surprise attack on Manila not Pearl Harbor. But still the guy totally nailed the grand stratey of the Pacific theatre of WW2 and he did it 20 years prior.
     
    #44 GoT, Nov 6, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2014
  5. Tuckfro42

    Tuckfro42 Frozen Donkey Wheel

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    Definitely! Big Gaiman fan, although I think American Gods is one of his weaker novels. Try The Graveyard Book next.
     
  6. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    Finally finished America At War

    what a slog. Some of the essays were of little interest to me. Some were really excellent but some, towards the end and most especially concerning Vietnam, were veering toward the PC.

    Of particular note were a couple of essays about POW's. 'Death and Life at Three Pagoda Pass' explained just how arbitrary living thru being a POW is. Too tall or short was bad. Raised in the city was bad but raised on a farm good. Have a sadistic dick in charge of your work detail ect... No man is an island everyone who lives has a buddy who attempted to watch their back. Some guys just stop attempting to live. Literally just sit down and wait to die. 'Thats Ocay XX Time is on Our Side' was about American POWs in Vietnam. Good essay about how they coped with the situation and how unlike other actions in Vietnam some of America's best and brightest were POWs instead of the typical grunts.

    excellent essay called 'The American Rommel' about US Major General John S. Wood or Tiger Jack as his troops called him. Wood's advocacy of speed, maneuver & force concentration was so radical he was eventually relieved of duty by Patton! Of course he was correct and everyone in charge of more than 1 tank attempts to be a modern Tiger Jack

    another good one was 'Murderers of Koje-do!' about a commie North Korean take over of an allied POW camp. They actually captured an American General and held him ransom. It was literally a case of the insane running the asylum. I had never heard of this particular episode of American stupidity before. Fascinating.

    Nice essay called 'The Christmas Bombings' explaining Nixon's thought process in 1972. Probably the most PC one was simply called 'MIA' written by a widow concerning her treatment by US State Department and foreign (French & Vietnam) governments and the US Navy. I will go ahead and spoil it. Her husband died on impact but nobody told her for like 30 years because she was being used as a political pawn by everyone.

    The Gulf War 1 stuff was not as good as when this was written it was more of a current event than history.


    overall excellent read and it was arranged in a timeline so that was good. But the material is not dumbed down. On the plus side it is dirt cheap on Amazon.
     
    #46 GoT, Jun 7, 2015
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2015
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  7. Fry

    Fry Welcome to the land of tomorrow!

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    I'm about half way through My Fight/Your Fight by Ronda Rousey. So far it's excellent. Highly recommend if you like biographies.

    See, guy, I don't hate women.
     
  8. Gunny

    Gunny Shoutbox Fuhrer

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    I'm reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
     
  9. Scarecrow

    Scarecrow All-Pro

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    Just picked up The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. Odd as @GoT seems to be the only reader in here, which I find ironic.
     
  10. Dee

    Dee Pro Bowler

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    @GoT can read?? holy **** lol

    I bought and want to start reading Anansi Boys, but just can't find time
     
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