Books Read 2019

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Holman
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by Holman »

Scuzz wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 6:09 pm
hitbyambulance wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:09 pm 75% of the way through _Moby-Dick, or, the Whale_ ... i was super hoping to complete it this week. i'm not rushing it, but i do wish it were over several hundred pages ago - i really do not care to read about whale slaughtering any more. just make the ending 'all these mofos die slowly, agonizingly and horribly' and i'll be good.

i am also going to make the rest of this year the time to complete two of my three unfinished novels (Joyce's _Ulysses_ and Heller's _Catch-22_... Pynchon's _Against the Day_ can wait a while longer). annoying because i have other NEW SHINY UNTOUCHED books gestating on the queue, but i need to focus.
I have started The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It will probably take me forever to read the first 100 pages or so. Hopefully by then I will pick up on the language and the story. Whenever I read an older "classic" it always takes me awhile to catch on to the authors use of the language.
It pays to do a little research into newer translations. With older European novels, many of the English editions you encounter will be 19th- or early-20th-century translations that lack any real attempt at style. They hang around because they're out of copyright and cheap to publish.

I don't know if Victor Hugo has a high-quality English translator, but I'll bet you can find informative discussions of this online.
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by hitbyambulance »

in another thread i mentioned i went with a recent and well-acclaimed English translation of Don Quixote (the Edith Grossman one from last decade) and i was not disappointed - it was a subtle streamlining of the text phrasing and flow while not being a modernizing anachronism (which would ruin the atmosphere). there were even laugh out loud humorous moments (ones that were there originally), which is always a sign of a good translation.
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by Scuzz »

Holman wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:35 pm
Scuzz wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 6:09 pm
hitbyambulance wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:09 pm 75% of the way through _Moby-Dick, or, the Whale_ ... i was super hoping to complete it this week. i'm not rushing it, but i do wish it were over several hundred pages ago - i really do not care to read about whale slaughtering any more. just make the ending 'all these mofos die slowly, agonizingly and horribly' and i'll be good.

i am also going to make the rest of this year the time to complete two of my three unfinished novels (Joyce's _Ulysses_ and Heller's _Catch-22_... Pynchon's _Against the Day_ can wait a while longer). annoying because i have other NEW SHINY UNTOUCHED books gestating on the queue, but i need to focus.
I have started The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It will probably take me forever to read the first 100 pages or so. Hopefully by then I will pick up on the language and the story. Whenever I read an older "classic" it always takes me awhile to catch on to the authors use of the language.
It pays to do a little research into newer translations. With older European novels, many of the English editions you encounter will be 19th- or early-20th-century translations that lack any real attempt at style. They hang around because they're out of copyright and cheap to publish.

I don't know if Victor Hugo has a high-quality English translator, but I'll bet you can find informative discussions of this online.
I just assume this is like the Dickens I have read. You need a 100 pages to get used to the language. Now granted, Dickens did write in English but the English of his day was close to a foreign language.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Jaymann wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 1:36 am
hitbyambulance wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:58 am just finished Arthur C. Clarke's _Rendezvous with Rama_ - after a rough start, i got into this one - too bad i didn't read this in grade school; i would have been super into it. i see the next books in the series are coauthored, which makes me wary. should i leave this one to stand on its own, or get into the next three?
I think I was in grade school when I read it, but I seem to recall only the first one was any good.
I just read RwR a year or two ago. I really liked it and I can't imagine a sequel or two could possibly add to it. It seems to me like it would answer too many of the mysteries.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Scuzz wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 2:10 pm
Archinerd wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 1:02 pm Every Tool's A Hammer by Adam Savage
A good, light read and the perfect palate cleanser after finishing up a big series (the Black Company).
The book is loosely a "how to" be a maker/creator, part motivational, part memoir, and part documentation of some of his own hobby work. Which is mostly cosplay and movie props like a space suit from 2001 or Deckard's gun.

Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
Dark comedy about an well-intentioned American who becomes a well known propaganda mouth piece for the Nazis during WWII. Though the story is fictional, it is unfortunately all too true.
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
I read Mother Night probably 40 years ago during by Vonnegut period.
I wasn't born yet during your Vonnegut period. :)

Sorry, I had to.
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by Scuzz »

Archinerd wrote: Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:41 am
Scuzz wrote: Thu Sep 05, 2019 2:10 pm
Archinerd wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 1:02 pm Every Tool's A Hammer by Adam Savage
A good, light read and the perfect palate cleanser after finishing up a big series (the Black Company).
The book is loosely a "how to" be a maker/creator, part motivational, part memoir, and part documentation of some of his own hobby work. Which is mostly cosplay and movie props like a space suit from 2001 or Deckard's gun.

Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
Dark comedy about an well-intentioned American who becomes a well known propaganda mouth piece for the Nazis during WWII. Though the story is fictional, it is unfortunately all too true.
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
I read Mother Night probably 40 years ago during by Vonnegut period.
I wasn't born yet during your Vonnegut period. :)

Sorry, I had to.
That was mean. :) Have you read Player Piano?
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Nope.
Only Mother Night & Slaughterhouse V.
I have The Sirens of Titan loaded up on my kindle too, but I'm currently reading the latest Dungeoneers.
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by hitbyambulance »

Archinerd wrote: Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:40 am
Jaymann wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 1:36 am
hitbyambulance wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:58 am just finished Arthur C. Clarke's _Rendezvous with Rama_ - after a rough start, i got into this one - too bad i didn't read this in grade school; i would have been super into it. i see the next books in the series are coauthored, which makes me wary. should i leave this one to stand on its own, or get into the next three?
I think I was in grade school when I read it, but I seem to recall only the first one was any good.
I just read RwR a year or two ago. I really liked it and I can't imagine a sequel or two could possibly add to it. It seems to me like it would answer too many of the mysteries.
yeah, i'm going to skip those - i can't imagine them being worthwhile..
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by Scuzz »

Archinerd wrote: Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:18 pm Nope.
Only Mother Night & Slaughterhouse V.
I have The Sirens of Titan loaded up on my kindle too, but I'm currently reading the latest Dungeoneers.
I think Player Piano is one of his best.
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by hitbyambulance »

finished Moby-Dick and (spoilers for a 168 year old novel)
Spoiler:
hitbyambulance wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:09 pm just make the ending 'all these mofos die slowly, agonizingly and horribly' and i'll be good.
mostly got the ending i was hoping for
it's funny how there's a whole chapter on how it's inconceivable whaling would lead to the extinction of whales because [weird reasons listed - is this the narrator's view or actually Melville's?] and the afterword goes well actually the whale population experienced such a precipitous decline 30 years later that whaling itself began to be phased out.

reading Joyce's _Ulysses_ has convinced me that, if it were possible to insert one's consciousness into someone else's brain and be privy to all their thoughts in real time, one'd crack from the strain in very short order.
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by Archinerd »

Scuzz wrote: Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:14 am
Archinerd wrote: Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:18 pm Nope.
Only Mother Night & Slaughterhouse V.
I have The Sirens of Titan loaded up on my kindle too, but I'm currently reading the latest Dungeoneers.
I think Player Piano is one of his best.
Added to the list.
Might be awhile, I'm not a fast reader.
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by Jaddison »

Only a third of the way through it but Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead is very very good. Right now i am in the Afghanistan and Iraq War2 time and he is pretty unflinching of his criticism of senior leadership but it is well defined and backed up with facts.

Mattis is the real deal. He says right upfront that he will not criticize a sitting President. Imagine that someone with a sense of personal honor.
Humble, incisive and always paying tribute to his mentors and to his troops this is an inspiring read and with some great insights on how to lead effectively no matter what your situation.

I am wishing someone like Mattis would run for President but he would never make it through the primaries because he isn't fanatical enough for either side to get through primaries.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Jaddison wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:21 pm Mattis is the real deal. He says right upfront that he will not criticize a sitting President. Imagine that someone with a sense of personal honor.
How bad would the sitting president have to be for this to be evasion rather than "personal honor"?
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Re: Books Read 2019

Post by Jaddison »

It is a ingrained in military culture that you don't criticize a sitting President. That he embraces that ethos makes me admire him even more. I also think he wants the book to be his take on leadership not look like a cash grab for a tell all about Trump.

The man is a leader. He studies. He covets differing viewpoints. He empowers subordinates. He relishes command for the privilege to lead not for perks or having his butt kissed. He reads. He reflects and learns from mistakes and fosters and atmosphere where you aren't afraid to make mistakes.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Jaddison wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:49 pm It is a ingrained in military culture that you don't criticize a sitting President. That he embraces that ethos makes me admire him even more. I also think he wants the book to be his take on leadership not look like a cash grab for a tell all about Trump.

The man is a leader. He studies. He covets differing viewpoints. He empowers subordinates. He relishes command for the privilege to lead not for perks or having his butt kissed. He reads. He reflects and learns from mistakes and fosters and atmosphere where you aren't afraid to make mistakes.
I've known Mattis' USMC reputation for a long time, and I wasn't surprised when Trump (who obviously asked around for "the best general") picked him for SecDef.

But we're at a moment where even normally disinterested citizens are wondering if the U.S. military (traditionally apolitical and disengaged from politics) can be trusted to do its duty. Trump has hinted several times that he is not bound by constitutional limits, so now it is vitally necessary for people like Mattis to affirm those limits.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Our oath is to "I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

The military is acutely aware of the grand experiment of having civilian control of the military. I hope that people like always err on the side of never giving anyone pause to think the military would stage a Seven Days in May style coup to "save" the country.

I am not sure what you would have the military do as right now there is no clear violation of the Constitution. No Supreme ruling being ignored. The power of the Executive branch has been expanded so greatly under W. and Obama that it will take the will of the people at the ballot box and a Congress that can get its head out of its ass (Republican controlled or Democratic controlled) to actually try and govern instead of exercise power of the "winning side"

Mattis is very clear in the introduction about why he accepted the SECDEF job even though he had never met Trump.

Mattis is a rare breed.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Fall of Berlin 1945, by Anthony Beevor.

This is about, as one might guess from the title, the fall of Berlin at the end of World War II in 1945. The same guy did a book about the Battle of Stalingrad that I read a long time (10+ years) ago and I really liked, so I decided to pick this up as well. It's pretty interesting, but not amazing. It picks up at the beginning of 1945. The German army is in the process of disintegrating as a fighting force, so the only question is how fast everything moves and who winds up in charge of what. It was kind of hard to follow the actual military stuff because there weren't any maps, so a lot of the battle stuff is "The Soviets advanced to [town I've never heard of], and the Germans fell back to [other town], then they hit [forest name], and ran into trouble...". A lot of the most interesting stuff was battle-adjacent, in that I didn't realize that it would have been a lot more viable (if they had wanted to) for the Americans to get to Berlin ahead of the Soviets. In general the Germans vastly preferred to surrender to the Americans and British than the Soviets, so a lot of the fighting was focused on keeping the Soviets at bay than the west. There are real questions about how the Soviets would have reacted had the Americans made a push for Berlin, and in any event the Americans had already agreed (at Yalta) on the zones of occupation, so unless they were going to go back on that it didn't make a ton of sense to get Americans killed in the future Soviet occupation zone, but it's interesting. It's also interesting the rather sharp divide between the Americans and British on the Soviets - in general Eisenhower and the American leadership were more focused on getting along with the Soviets, while the British wanted to advance as rapidly as possible to keep the Soviets from occupying too much of eastern and central Europe.

A lot of the book is focused on how brutal the Soviets were in eastern Europe, including to otherwise friendly local communists (who were regarded as insufficiently strong in resisting the Germans during the war) and even to Soviet prisoners of war (who were regarded with suspicion for 'allowing' themselves to be captured and spending too much time with the Nazis). Also about just the enormity of the violence and rape visited by the Soviet army on eastern and central Europe - thoroughly brutal.

So overall there was some pretty interesting stuff in there, although overall the writing and book itself were good but not amazing.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Jaddison wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:22 pm Our oath is to "I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

The military is acutely aware of the grand experiment of having civilian control of the military. I hope that people like always err on the side of never giving anyone pause to think the military would stage a Seven Days in May style coup to "save" the country.

I am not sure what you would have the military do as right now there is no clear violation of the Constitution. No Supreme ruling being ignored. The power of the Executive branch has been expanded so greatly under W. and Obama that it will take the will of the people at the ballot box and a Congress that can get its head out of its ass (Republican controlled or Democratic controlled) to actually try and govern instead of exercise power of the "winning side"

Mattis is very clear in the introduction about why he accepted the SECDEF job even though he had never met Trump.

Mattis is a rare breed.
Is Mattis still a general, or did he leave that behind when he became Sec. Def? It makes a ton of sense to have a culture of avoiding criticism for a current general (because civilian oversight of the military is absolutely essential to democracy, and it can be a fragile thing if not constantly maintained), but once he's not a general it seems different. Though maybe he has enough clout with soldiers that even that would be risky - is that the thinking?
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Re: Books Read 2019

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El Guapo wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:28 am Is Mattis still a general, or did he leave that behind when he became Sec. Def?
He retired in 2013.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Personal honor is everything to Mattis. His book is about leadership and a damn good one. Had he dumped on Trump with some sort of tell all it would cheapen the message and cheapen Mattis. So far he has had no problem criticizing W., Paul Bremer and more than a few in his CoC in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The military needs more people like Mattis and less bullshit politicians but politicians are the ones most likely to get promoted. We need more politicians with some sense of honor but that won't get them elected these days as they wouldn't get out of the primaries.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Got my copy of:

Image

today, delivered on release day! I am gonna savor this one.

Sorry for the big image, but I couldn't beat it down. And this is a BIG event.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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So that guy killed The Witcher?
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Jaymann wrote:Got my copy of:

Image

today, delivered on release day! I am gonna savor this one.

Sorry for the big image, but I couldn't beat it down. And this is a BIG event.
I forgot that I pre-ordered this and it popped up on my phone today! After reading The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (good read btw) I'll be starting it to get my fix of light hearted sunshine and rainbows fantasy! (heh heh heh. I wonder if the Bloody Nine makes an appearance...?)
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Re: Books Read 2019

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MonkeyFinger wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2019 10:07 pm
Kasey Chang wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:13 am Finished Spearhead a WW2 history about one of the few cases where the M26 Pershing actually dueled with its nemesis, the Panther tank, and the story of the tank crew. For those who know a little history, M26 was supposed to be the allied answer to the German Tiger and Panther. Armed with a 90mm cannon, it outclasses the German tanks, but it arrived almost too late for the war. There were only like 20 of them in Europe, and at first, they didn't dare lose it, so they kept it inside a formation, but enemy kinda ignored it. And the regular Shermans suffered heavy losses, so it ended up being used as the spearhead... to take the hits and hope none penetrates. It was a good tale, as it also includes the German side.
What an awesome book. Just finished the Audible version and I thought everything about it was great, highly recommended. 8-)
I checked this out of our local library based on these recommendations. I highly concur. Great read! I like the maps that lay out the tactical disposition of the tanks. Really helped me visualize what was going on.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Finished The Operator by Robert O'Neil

Robert O'Neil is best known as "the guy who killed OBL", but he was on A LOT of missions (400+ in over a decade as a SEAL), including the various rescue attempts and anything else involving SEALs. He was a part of the group trying to recover Marcus Luttrell and his team (see "Lone Survivor"), he was one of the backup teams that stood by while other SEAL snipers took down the Somali pirates that took Captain Phillips hostage, and so on. First half of the book reads like your typical SEAL book... lots of emphasis on how bad BUD/S and hell week was. Though this one has a lot of humor, sometimes black. For example, he explained that the drill instructors in BUD/S will fail a bunk inspection no matter what, even throw sand and step on shoes to fail, so those people who tried to spit shine and spot clean everything are just wasting their time, just do the regular thing and accept you will fail, and there's nothing "fair" about it. It's when he started to describe the missions when things went from good to outstanding, as he's an operator, and he knows things we civvies, even well-connected civvies like reporters (such as Mark "Blackhawk Down" Bowden) and such, are not privvy to, like "I was next to one of the snipers that took down the Somali pirates on the OBL raid", or "The guy who breached 3rd floor ahead of me tackled two of OBL's wives, fearing they are wearing suicide vests, and was giving me a chance to live (should they be armed) and that's how I ended up as the guy who put three rounds into OBL's head". 7/8 tentacles
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Finished "The Finish" by Mark Bowden

Guess what... it's about the killing of OBL. Though this one started just before 9/11 and discussed how OBL came to be. Bowden presented OBL as a devoutly religious man who, through some coincidences (like creation of Al-Masa and how the failed Russian siege emboldened him, but in reality it's due to the collapse of the Soviet Union), believed he is the chosen one destined to lead the new Caliphate. It also discussed how Obama came to be, and how his contemplation style is very different from Bush but also a true lateral thinker, but there was no disagreement that OBL needs to be dealt with, even for the symbolism. But the sympathy probably because Bowden get to interview Obama several times. Quite a contrast from "The Operator", as this gives a better overview of the overall operation and manhunt.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Finished Dam Busters: the true story of the inventors and airmen who led the devastating raid to smash the German dams in 1943 by James Holland

Everyone has seen the movie, but what's the REAL story? It's both much better and worse than you'd ever suspected. Half of the planes left that night didn't come back. They were flying at less than 100 ft, AT NIGHT, at 230 mph, in a FOUR-ENGINE WW2 Bomber that has a wingspan of 102 ft. They were dropping the skip bombs that were green-lighted before it was actually tested, and very few actually dropped a dummy one, much less a live one in practice. Yet 2 dams were destroyed, and German war machine was brought to a halt not long before the Kursk offensive was to start. Yes, the dams were rebuilt very quickly (within 3 months), but as a result, the Atlantic defenses were never built, those conscript workers moved to fix the dam instead. And the delay caused by the devastation downstream (every bridge 50 miles downstream were destroyed), factories, power plants, etc. that needed water have to stop, and that's not including the human toll, on the conscript workers in the area and the German farms and villagers. In a way, this may have been the impetus for Hitler to accelerate research for "wunderweapons". Kinda makes me want to watch the movie again. 7/8
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Finished Tomcat Fury by Mike Guardia

Subtitled "A combat history of the F-14", it's interesting to note that while US fielded the F-14 for decades, it's the Iranians that that did most of the combat with it, fielding it with superb scrounging skills and cannibalization to keep them flying. It's gotten to the point that Iraqi planes fly away when they see AWG-9 on their threat scope during the Iran-Iraq war. And it's gotten bad enough that US actually ordered Grumman to DESTROY the foundry after all the contracted upgrades from the old model to the final "D-model" have been completed. Now, other than the few display models (with no parts inside) EVERY F-14 has been destroyed (not just dismantled, but shredded) so Iran will NEVER get any parts for what's left of their squadrons. There are no mothball stuff in the boneyard to be reactivated. They are all GONE. Didn't know that.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, by Matti Friedman.

This was a great book. This is about Israeli spies at the dawn of the country's independence fight in 1948-1949. Specifically it's focused on the "Arab Section" also known as "The Dawn", which were a group of Israeli Jews who grew up in Arab countries who were recruited to spy for Israel during the war of independence. They wound up forming the core of what became Israel's intelligence service after the war. Because it was the dawn of Israeli intelligence and of Israel itself, there weren't any procedures or much in the way of funding, so they were in the position of making a lot up as they went along. Also gets into the complicated issues of identity that a lot of these people went through, having grown up in Arab countries but then fleeing them for the nascent Israel, so being Jews to the Arabs but also being Arabs to the Jews. Also I haven't read much (other than this) on the Israeli war of independence, so it was interesting to get a primer on that through this book as well. And Friedman is a great writer - I'd read some of his magazine articles before, but not any of his books.

Would highly recommend.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

It took me awhile to get used to Hugo’s travelogue style, but I eventually did and enjoyed this book. It was kinda like reading Stephenson where you just have to skip thru some things. Hugo’s characters though are very good. The book was much more of a tragedy than I knew though, having never known the actual plot. I can understand why Disney played with it so much. No, I haven’t seen any movie version but my daughter clued me in to some of the differences.

I don’t think I enjoyed this enough to want to tackle Les Miserables though.




Edit: Book 14 this Year.
Last edited by Scuzz on Tue Oct 08, 2019 12:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Finished 13 Hours in Benghazi bi Mitchell Zuckoff

This guy interviewed all five of the surviving operators from that night in Benghazi, and was able to reconstruct virtually everything that happened, with ZERO political agenda, no CYA by higher-ups, just people on the scene, talking about stuff that they lived through.

I like the ground-level narrative point, unlike other books I can see on the same subject, often laden with anti-Obama/Hillary agenda trying to spin a conspiracy or assigning blame. One of these days I may want to read the SOFREP.com guys' take on the subject (Jack Murphy and Brandon Webb) but this book is surprisingly neutral, just contractors, who are there for the pay, but will nonetheless try not to leave any Americans behind.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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It took a little over 3 months, but finally finished Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

This may be the first non-fiction book I've read as an adult (ignoring training/learning materials related to work) and I really enjoyed it. I may even read more non-fiction books based on the experience. Since I have nothing to compare it to, it's hard to judge, but I now know more about the founding of the US than I ever learned in school. I was a little surprised to find many of the founding fathers were petty asshats much like our current leaders. I could say more, but you would all be embarrassed to learn how little I knew about US history going in.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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coopasonic wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2019 9:10 am It took a little over 3 months, but finally finished Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

This may be the first non-fiction book I've read as an adult (ignoring training/learning materials related to work) and I really enjoyed it. I may even read more non-fiction books based on the experience. Since I have nothing to compare it to, it's hard to judge, but I now know more about the founding of the US than I ever learned in school. I was a little surprised to find many of the founding fathers were petty asshats much like our current leaders. I could say more, but you would all be embarrassed to learn how little I knew about US history going in.
Read that back around July 4th or so. Finished on 7/7. It's a good book, pulls no punches. I didn't know half the stuff mentioned in the book either.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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I had a very similar experience when I read John Adams by David McCullough last year. Ultimately I haven't gone back to non-fiction yet because the books take so dang long to read!
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Re: Books Read 2019

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His book about the Wright Brothers was an amazing read! So many details I had never known before. I find myself reading more non-fiction as I get older.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Looks like I've only read 21 non-fiction books so far this year. Last year I still had access to a much larger audiobook library than I do right now, so that has a lot to do with it. A few of the books were on Kindle but they were pretty quick reads. My Kindle queue is booked with novels for the rest of the year, but perhaps I can find a few more non-fiction audiobooks in the library's selection.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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msduncan wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2019 11:09 pm Has anyone read the Rally Cry series?

It’s about the 35th Maine civil war unit that gets aboard a transport ship to North Carolina and gets swallowed up by a river of light and transported to another world. This world is populated by humans from past civilizations. It’s also populated by a race of hairy orc like aliens who ride around the world in a horde harvesting the humans for food.
There's a couple versions of this premise around.

For the record, you're talking about William R Forstchen's "The Lost Regiment" series.

David Drake did "Ranks of Bronze", where a Roman legion was captured by aliens to be used as shock troops as their laws don't allow superior technology to be used to subjugate primitives. But eventually, the legionaires managed to revolt despite inferior technology.

David Weber did a riff on the same theme, this time, taking a British unit roughly 14th century, with the same premise... used as shock troops, and they managed a successful revolt, killing their "master" and took over the ship with help of some of the other "slaves".

The alternate history novels "Destroyermen" (already up to 14 books in the series) featured various human ships transported to an alternate Earth where humans never existed, and thus, technology took a very different turn and major species are Lemurs and Velociraptors, and other critters.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Rumpy wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:20 pm His book about the Wright Brothers was an amazing read! So many details I had never known before. I find myself reading more non-fiction as I get older.
I probably read non-fiction about every third or fourth book. I do it to "cleanse" the pallet after reading a couple sci-fi, fantasy or pulp fiction type books. They do take quite a bit longer to read, and are generally slower to get started with. But I read McCullogh, or I like reading books about an era or year. There are interesting books out there with 1959, 1961, 1908, 1968, 1920 and 1960 in the titles. Halberstam also did a good book about the Fifties.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Infinity's Shore by David Brin

This is book 2 of the second Uplift Trilogy. Unlike the first trilogy the second one is a continuing story. It is in the same universe as the first trilogy, but all the action takes place on the same world, whereas in the first trilogy each book involved a different world and different characters. This book is full of action for the most part, as the characters have pretty much been set. A good book, and I will be going straight into the third book, Heavens Reach.

As an aside, I have noticed references both direct and indirect to Clarke, Heinlein and Asimov, that I remember.
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Re: Books Read 2019

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Finished African Samurai by Thomas Lockley

This is NON-fiction. This documents Yasuke, who is a real African sent with the Jesuits as a bodyguard and arrived in japan in the late 1500's, having survived slavery, and became a samurai under Nobunaga himself. It is believed he survive the night when Nobunaga and his son died in the coup-de-tat, having failed to protect his liege, and was sent back to the Jesuits and either went back to guarding the Jesuits and occasionally lent out as trainer for their allies or went rogue and became a sailor or pirate. Or he may have found employment to serve another lord in Japan. Who really knows? But there was no doubt he really existed. What a fascinating story. 8/8 tentacles.
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