Books - What are you reading?

[Diggun]

Started this a couple of weeks ago. While much more lucid than some of his other stuff (I crawled through Mason and Dixon last year; that was heavy going), it still has the same effect as a cocktail of strong narcotics, and at a fraction of the price!

Edited April 21, 2021 by Diggun

[Rodwonder]

I found this Gem...  

[Chief_Mouser]

 

For all you old Dr Who fans. Laugh-out-loud memoir of a great eccentric.

[Cybermat47]

27 minutes ago, 216th_Cat said:

For all you old Dr Who fans. Laugh-out-loud memoir of a great eccentric.

His novel writing is also laugh-out-loud, but also surprisingly creepy when it needs to be.

 

[Chief_Mouser]

1 hour ago, Cybermat47 said:

His novel writing is also laugh-out-loud, but also surprisingly creepy when it needs to be.

 

 

Thanks. I'll give it a go.

[cardboard_killer]

Two at a time, fiction and non-. [edit--couldn't finish either. Hamnet too depression and Handbook too scholarly]

 

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by cardboard_killer

[Bremspropeller]

@BlitzPig_EL ain't that something for you?

 

https://www.aviationmegastore.com/?action=prodinfo&parent_id=&art=174992

 

About to be released soon...

[cardboard_killer]

Onward.

 

 

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

Just read these 2, very good...

 

 

Now reading this...had a long time on Kindle finally getting around to it, quite interesting...

 

 

[cardboard_killer]

Currently on sale for $2.99 for kindle at amazon usa.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LWF5T3U/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i2

 

[Bremspropeller]

So, the UPS-man brounght this today:

 

[cardboard_killer]

Just finished this fiction, and quite liked it.

 

 

 

Next fiction/non-fiction pair I'm reading. I did not get through Begin Again above, but I will probably return to it at some point.

 

 

Non-fiction, Jill Lepore's recent book on the beginnings of commercial information predictive sciences.

[Rokychuchi]

On 2/11/2021 at 10:34 AM, Feathered_IV said:

 I don’t see Terror in the Starboard Seat by Dave McIntosh in there

I've actually looked up "Terror in the Starboard Seat" on reading your comment here, found it and have just finished reading it. Excellent recommendation, thanks! Written almost in screenplay style, it does show the author story-telling talent. The story of the low strafing pass over the Luftwaffe air base in Denmark, with the mechanic that was painting the hangar slowly falling off the ladders while being on the same hight as the Mossie cockpit and the author and the falling "painter" looking each other for a few seconds while the second one is free falling, priceless.

[Denum]

A dawn like thunder right now, 

 

Torpedo squadron 8 in the Pacific.

 

Next is either First light by Geoffrey Wellum or Ivan's war by Catherine Merridale

 

 

[ZachariasX]

 

A remarkable book.

[cardboard_killer]

On 5/18/2021 at 12:58 PM, cardboard_killer said:

Non-fiction, Jill Lepore's recent book on the beginnings of commercial information predictive sciences.

 

Took me a few weeks to get through this, but it was a great history book. It's an interesting story that spans three decades of US history. While mainly focused on the dawn of mass behavioral science and the end of what I would call Roosevelt liberalism through the Vietnam War, it touches on many subjects, from the rise of the admen, to the invention of email, to the publication of Failsafe (and its filming). An example of a (trivial) piece of the story--before the 1940s the NYT would use spotlights to signal the winners of elections, and that's where "new flash" comes from. A less trivial piece is that an unregulated internet was a plank in Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America".

As good as the story is, it is Lepore's writing, and especially her ability to relate history to the problems of today, which is the draw. Indeed, what fascinates me about Lepore's writing (although I've only read four of her books) is her passion for history's importance in our lives and in our decisions. It is the passion found in the best history, and is sorely lacking from the mediocre.

 

Still haven't started The Night Circus (re-read The Shining instead); was feeling non-fictional and started this instead

 

[farley]

2 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

 

A remarkable book.

Sounds like a great read judging from the reviews.

Wish +I could afford it!

[cardboard_killer]

[busdriver]

Just because...

 

[Luger1969]

Except for the Mirage F1AZ, Cheetah D, F14 Tomcat, Buccaneer, FA18D/F, Phantom and Sea Harrier my favourite aircraft. At some stage I wanted to be a strike navigator/wso/rio. Together with John Peters one of the faces of the gulf war. Low and fast and beautiful with great noseart.

 

Dammit guys sorry for uploading the whole tweet....

 

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Luger1969

[cardboard_killer]

More fiction

 

[palker4]

Arrived today special autographed edition with merlin on the cover. Ordered twice this time it actually arrived. The first one got lost in transit somewhere. It was the one with DB605 on the cover

[cardboard_killer]

My next non fiction. However, I'm thinking I won't finish it. I don't think I'm ready to tackle an 850 page book right now.

 

[cardboard_killer]

It will be awhile before I get to them, but I just bought the first four volumes of Alan Nevins eight volume history of the ACW. I understand the last four volumes, The War for the Union, are not nearly as good as the first four, Ordeal of the Union (v1 Fruits of Manifest Destiny, v2 A House Dividing), and The Emergence of Lincoln (v1 Douglas, Buchanan, and Party Chaos, v2 Prologue to Civil War).

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by cardboard_killer

[Gambit21]

 

[LukeFF]

2 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

 

 

He was interviewed on the Fighter Pilot Podcast not that long ago. A real no-BS, straight-shooter sort of guy.

[Gambit21]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

 

He was interviewed on the Fighter Pilot Podcast not that long ago. A real no-BS, straight-shooter sort of guy.

 

Really? I’d thought I’d heard every episode, (except recent F-106, P-38 etc that I’m saving for later) not sure how I missed him but I’ll take a look.

[ShampooX]

https://redpilltheory.com/2018/06/29/how-to-get-laid-in-vegas-the-comprehensive-guide/

 

kind of a book

[LukeFF]

17 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

Really? I’d thought I’d heard every episode, (except recent F-106, P-38 etc that I’m saving for later) not sure how I missed him but I’ll take a look.

 

Yes, it is this episode, on Wild Weasels: https://www.fighterpilotpodcast.com/episodes/113-wild-weasels/

[Chief_Mouser]

Tweets by ‎@JohnNicholRAF

Dammit guys sorry for uploading the whole tweet...

 

 

I should think so too! I leave the thread alone for a couple of weeks and BLAM! ?

 

Anyway, back to reality. Just re-read the Piper at the Gates of Dawn chapter in this:

 

 

 

No wonder Pink Floyd named an album after it. Descriptive writing and imagination at its very best.

Edited June 18, 2021 by 216th_Cat

[Irishratticus72]

I've a few days to kill. 

[cardboard_killer]

On 6/18/2021 at 5:15 PM, 216th_Cat said:

Descriptive writing and imagination at its very best.

 

Available for free download at Project Gutenberg.

[Gambit21]

Whoever posted that whole tweet f$&#s this thread on a mobile device.

[Lofte]

Right now I read this (russian translation of course)

 

[Chief_Mouser]

Next. Always liked Dee Brown's book; interested to see what else can be said about the battle.

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by 216th_Cat

[cardboard_killer]

I didn't know these existed until just now; thought others might not know either. This is a note from another forum I belong to.

 

"Senshi Sōsho Series
 

The third (and final) translation of the Senshi Sōsho volumes that cover the attack against the Dutch East Indies has arrived at my house today. This completes the translations sponsored by the Corts Foundation. This volumes has select chapters from volume 34 and 4 of Senshi Sōsho.

Besides the coverage of the prewar planning and the plan to gain air superiority in Southeast Asia, this volume has some added pluses. There is a brief note on Japanese military aviation by Dirk Starink. There are chapters on the air supremacy operations against the Malaya Peninsula and the Philippines, and one that covers the capture of Singapore Island. A chapter about air-ground support in Burma and the transition to the defense (May-June 1942) with inclusion of the capture of the Andaman Islands snd transporting reinforcements to Burma.

There is lot of material for those that are interested in more than the DEI."

 

.

 

and it can be downloaded in pdf at : https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3166103/view

 

[Irishratticus72]

29 minutes ago, cardboard_killer said:

I didn't know these existed until just now; thought others might not know either. This is a note from another forum I belong to.

 

"Senshi Sōsho Series
 

The third (and final) translation of the Senshi Sōsho volumes that cover the attack against the Dutch East Indies has arrived at my house today. This completes the translations sponsored by the Corts Foundation. This volumes has select chapters from volume 34 and 4 of Senshi Sōsho.

Besides the coverage of the prewar planning and the plan to gain air superiority in Southeast Asia, this volume has some added pluses. There is a brief note on Japanese military aviation by Dirk Starink. There are chapters on the air supremacy operations against the Malaya Peninsula and the Philippines, and one that covers the capture of Singapore Island. A chapter about air-ground support in Burma and the transition to the defense (May-June 1942) with inclusion of the capture of the Andaman Islands snd transporting reinforcements to Burma.

There is lot of material for those that are interested in more than the DEI."

 

.

 

and it can be downloaded in pdf at : https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3166103/view

 

Parshall and Tully extensively used Senshi Sõsho for their book, "Shattered Sword ", as did Toland for "Rising Sun", as also, I believe, did Spector for "Eagle against the Sun". 

[cardboard_killer]

Oh, I know that they exist in Japanese, I just didn't know of these English translations.

[Irishratticus72]

4 minutes ago, cardboard_killer said:

Oh, I know that they exist in Japanese, I just didn't know of these English translations.

I get ya. I too, have had questionable ramen. 

[cardboard_killer]