What are you currently reading ?

Started by goat major, 03 November 2012, 06:40:05 PM

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marie

how to wire an N Gauge railway...selfridge on hold....

kipt

Just finished "Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II".  Great detail of ship to ship and aircraft to ship combats.  Detail is amazing.  Last week finished "Fast Carriers", which is also WWII (obviously), and also has great detail.  Halsey does not come off well.  The author has a lot of critique of the different carrier admirals.

pierre the shy

Found a very good book in the local library that I'm ploughing through at the moment - Peter Barton's "Battlefields of the First World War - Unseen Panoramas of the Western Front" put out by the IWM.

its a fairly weighty tome but fantastic detail and gives a very good idea of typical terrain for 1914 - 5 games for people like me who are somewhat removed from the actual locations (I live in NZ) - great for our upcoming Arretez game :)

I've seen Peter Barton on a few programmes about military subjects that have been on the telly over here - he certainly knows his stuff. 
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
we are not now that strength which in old days
moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are.

kipt

Just finished "Under the Shadow of Napoleon: French Influence on the American Way of Warfare from the War of 1812 to the Outbreak of WWII".

Up to 1812 the American way of war (drill and tactics) really didn't follow anything, although there was British influence.  Winfield Scott's success in 1812 led to a following of French tactics, which continued to and through WWI.  During the next 2 decades technology shifts and then the German successes led to a move away from the French ideas.

Interesting looks at battles of 1812 (Chippawa and Lundy's Lane), the Mexican War, the Civil War (ACW), Spanish-American War and WWI.  The author is a major in the US Army.

fsn

12 July 2014, 10:32:34 AM #634 Last Edit: 12 July 2014, 10:50:26 AM by fsn
Just started reading "Wellington's Guns" by Nick Lipscombe.

Apparently he called all artillery officers "Nancy" and blocked the development of a milllatreuse type machine gun.
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

fsn

Though I may be misremembering those bits.
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Steve J

Spanish Civil War Tanks by Zaloga. As you'd expect from Zaloga an excellent and informative read. I've already got ideas for some SCW forces as well as AVBCW ones, and I'm only half-way through.

kipt

Just finished "Battle Exhaustion: Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the Canadian Army, 1939 - 1945".  Lots of psychiatry but the interaction between casualties, fatigue, leadership and how it affected units (battalion level) I found most interesting.

cameronian

'Moon over Malaya', 2nd Batt Argyll & Sutherlands in Malaya/Singapore.
Don't buy your daughters a pony, buy them heroin instead, its cheaper and ultimately less addictive.

kipt

Finished "1636: Seas of Fortune".  This is the 15th book in the series "1632"  It is alternate fiction where the US town of Grantville gets deposited in Germany during the Thirty Years War.  The latest book takes place in South and North America, which is influenced by the "uptimers" encyclopedias and maps.  Didn't like it as much as those that take place in Europe.

fsn

I've read quite a few of the Max Mad series by MJ Trow.  He's a aging history teacher who falls into murder mysteries.

He spends his spare time recreating the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1:1 in 54mm.

Great fun.
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Hertsblue

JUst finished Engineman by Eric Brown. Middle-of-the-road science fiction, tending a little towards the theistic. Capable story-teller, though.
When you realise we're all mad, life makes a lot more sense.

www.rulesdepot.net

toxicpixie

Quote from: kipt on 20 July 2014, 03:13:16 PM
Finished "1636: Seas of Fortune".  This is the 15th book in the series "1632"  It is alternate fiction where the US town of Grantville gets deposited in Germany during the Thirty Years War.  The latest book takes place in South and North America, which is influenced by the "uptimers" encyclopedias and maps.  Didn't like it as much as those that take place in Europe.

I quite liked the first couple (1632 & 1634?) but after that it all got too hard to track; well, too much by too many people that I could be bothered to track! Love the shared world idea for writers, and I like the amusing clash of culture and technology and societies but too much wandering around from too many people. Too many cooks and all that...
I provide a cheap, quick painting service to get you table top quality figures ready to roll - www.facebook.com/jtppainting

kipt

Just finished "A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire" by Geoffrey Wawro.  Its amazing how bad, naive, unprepared, delusional the Austrian leadership was.  Even though I know the history, one expects the Austrians to collapse before 1915.  Only thing that saved them in the beginning was the bad logistics of the Russian Empire (later it was the Germans that saved them).  Conrad was worse than McClellan in my mind, and I don't like McClellan.

Techno

Got through about seven talking books in the last three weeks, the last of which was "Transition" by Iain Banks.
That one was fun. A bit difficult to follow at times, as it dealt with 'folk' who zipped around alternate versions of earth....But I enjoyed it.
Hope today's library van is going to bring me one of the 'historical' tales about ancient Rome, (which Ray recommended in an earlier post).
Cheers - Phil