What are you currently reading ?

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

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Orcs

Thanks for that confirmation of what the stats should be, I was pondering with the information the vets had said.  Sultanbev. As you say it does complicate things somewhat.
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

steve_holmes_11

The Fall by Albert Camus

I can't see how this won a prize.
I'm two thirds of the way through and no tanks have appeared.

hammurabi70

Quote from: fsn on 24 July 2020, 06:48:18 AM
For those of you with busy lives ...



At the risk of sounding like a cracked record, I gather there is doubt about the veracity of this.  One reviewer described it as total fiction.  What was your impression?

I have enjoyed Through German Eyes: The British and the Somme 1916.  A good read although not all that people are inclined to wish for.

kipt

Finished "Winning A Future War: War Gaming and Victory in the Pacific War" by Norman Friedman.  This is about the US Naval War College war games in the 1930's.  Parts of rules are discussed, but there is no overall rule set.  As ships and planes developed, the rules would change.

Some of the information seemed to be used at the London Naval Treaty conferences as to ship types and sizes.  While there was still gun vs airpower dissension in the fleet, the games did point out how many planes would be needed in a Pacific campaign.  this also led to how big carriers should be, all within the various treaty limits.  Long discussions on flight deck cruisers (none built) but also on cruiser size.  the British wanted to try and limit them to smaller, 6" gun cruisers, as they needed many for the empire trade routes.  Large cruisers were too expensive.  Of course when Japan did not sign an extension to the treaty, numbers and sizes increased in the British and US navies.  However, only modifications in ships already approved could happen quickly.

A very interesting book.

Orcs

hammurabi70 , Having looked at some of the comments on the internet you may be right - it may be a fake.

Some of the reasons stating its a fake are open to question themselves.

eg-
The author cannot be found in the telephone directory.   -  I cannot be found in the telephone directory, as I suspect many of the forum can't. having chosen to go ex directory.

The names of the soldiers mentioned cannot be found - Perhaps they wished not to be named, Perhaps they had assumed another name due to their actions during the war, or they assumed a less German sounding name in order to get work more easily.   Or perhaps the authors Grandfather deliberately altered all of them

The secondary accounts were supposedly obtained in 1954, when Germany was still in a mess.

Remember the "Official" version and the "Real" version that a soldier will tell you are often very different. I know this from my own father who was in Bomb disposal during ww2 and the things he got up to.

However Robert Kershaw the historian says that there is plenty of accurate information in the book. So read it and if nothing else it gives you a flavour of what it was like

The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Raider4

Quote from: Orcs on 11 August 2020, 06:40:57 AM
The author cannot be found in the telephone directory

Whut?? They still do telephone directories? And not being in one is proof you don't exist?

hammurabi70

Quote from: Orcs on 11 August 2020, 06:40:57 AM
However Robert Kershaw the historian says that there is plenty of accurate information in the book. So read it and if nothing else it gives you a flavour of what it was like

Good point.  If you read on Iraq you get more versions than the people writing.

sean66

currently reading
Descent into Chaos about the Afghan war and the effects it had on both Afghanistan and Pakistan for the years after the ousting of the Taliban.
its a decent read but the author does Pontificate a lot about the Americans walking away from Afghanistan to focus on the Iraq farce.
regards
Sean

kipt

Finished "Unholy Sabbath: The Battle of South Mountain in History and Memory, September 14, 1862" by Brian Matthew Jordan.

This battle(s) was the precursor to Antietam and has been overshadowed by that battle.  In this, DH Hill's division blocked the 3 passes over South Mountain and delayed the Army of the Potomac for a day as they battled to get in Lee's rear.  Notable about this battle, however, is that the Union won.  Up to this time morale was depressed by the result of the Peninsular fighting and Second Manassas.

Hard fighting and good descriptions of the regiments involved and the results.  A tactical look at these combats.

Ithoriel

Finished "Dawn of the Horse Warriors: Chariot and Cavalry Warfare 3000BC - 600BC" by Duncan Noble.

Lots of background that I pretty much already knew* salted with "we don't know much but here's what we know" arranged into geographical areas. The geographical split means there's a small amount of overlap and therefore repetition.

If you are interested in the development of chariotry and don't know your Ashurbanipals from an ashtray then this is a fairly gentle intro to the period and the subject.

For me Appendix A, detailing the author's foray into experimental archaeology by way of building and running a pseudo-Sumerian battle cart for Aunty Beeb's** "Chronicle" programme, was worth the cost of the book all on it's own. Though these days I suspect Social Work would remove his children if he did similar.*** I discovered my old Head of Department, Prof Piggot, was not only involved but actually rode in the contraption! A braver man than I am, Gunga Din! :)


*There again, I've been reading University level books on the subject for relaxation for the past several years

** aka The BBC

*** I'm imagining something along these lines,"Well yes my teenage daughter was holding a trace rein and my 14 year old son was in the battle cart with me when the donkeys bolted and I was trapped by the reins and couldn't pull the lever to detach the propulsion unit but my son did it and we were fine ... apart from the cart tipping over and me breaking ribs in two places ... but HE was fine ... really! The donkeys? Oh, they're fine. They soon stopped once they weren't being chased by a big rattly box"  :)
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

kipt

Quintin Barry's book "Bazaine, 1870, Scapegoat for a Nation" is now available from Helion.

Techno

A question....Sort of book related.

How long does it take to download a kindle book onto a tablet ?

Just had my first go at doing this.....And....as per usual I didn't have a blanking clue what I was doing.

Book ordered and paid for.......(I did this on the PC....perhaps I should have used the tablet.)
Anyway....'ta very much' mail back from Amazon...."Do you need help downloading this onto your tablet"

Oooh, probably....I'll plug the tablet in before I start investigating how to do it.
Within a couple of seconds, the book cover appears on the tablet's 'desktop' (?).......Does that mean it's done, already ? :o :o :o

Cheers - Phil


Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

Unles there is still a bar gradually filling yes, normally less than 10 secs, often much less. If you leave the books in the cloud you can access on both PC and tab, maybe even a phone.
FOG IN CHANNEL - EUROPE CUT OFF
Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

T13A

Hi Techno

I have a 'Kindle Fire' and and an I-pad (with the Kindle app on it). As Ian said mine also usually take just a few seconds to download (you can see a grey bar filling up as it does so) and bye the the way I can have the same book down loaded on both devices simultaneously.

Cheers Paul
T13A Out!

fred.

As the others say usually very quickly.

The only ones that take any time are those with pictures in them.
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