What are you currently reading ?

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

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steve_holmes_11



A cricket book: Not about war.

Brearley: 
Former England captain who led 2 remarkable comeback wins in the series dubbed "Botham's ashes" talks cricket tactics with a big emphasis on man management.
He is adamant that a team of eleven can only be led effectively when seen as "Not just numbers".

After sport, he forged a successful career as a psychoanalyst, serving as president of the British Psychoanalytical society for two spells.

This is an excellent book if you like cricket, particularly is you recall the era of Lillee, Thompson, Boycott, Willis, Botham, Sobers, Kanhai, Lloyd.
If you don't like cricket (I love it) - the book probably won't appeal.

I reflect that airport bookstores are packed with classics claiming "Lessons for the modern boardroom".
Such volumes include Sun Tzu (Possibly helpful if you're in the business of mass slaughter), and even an abridged Hamlet.

In my opinion, Brearley's treatment of leading talented, but quirky individuals in pressure situations would make a bar better management primer than most of these.

T13A

Hi

Just finished 'Operation Jubilee - Dieppe 1942: The Folly and the Sacrifice' by Patrick Bishop

Not the first book I have read on the Dieppe raid but pretty good with perhaps an emphasis in the lead up to and the planning of the operation rather than the action itself. This is an operation that simply should not have gone ahead, the planning was simply abysmal, the objectives were confused and what the 'raid' was meant to achieve unclear. In wargame terms it relied on the British/Canadians rolling 6's at every turn and at the same time the enemy rolling a series of 1's.

What made the whole thing worse was the effort by Mountbatten and co. in trying to shift the blame and twist the facts about what it was meant to achieve after it all went wrong.

The Canadians deserved a whole lot better.

Paul 
T13A Out!

kipt

Finished "Conquering The Valley: Stonewall Jackson At Port Republic" by Robert K. Krick.  I DO like his writing.  Tactical with maps (but theses maps are not as good as my previous note on "Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain").

Yankee raid on Port Jackson on June 8, 1862 by Shield's advanced guard caught the Rebels by surprise.  The Confederates were straddling the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, with Ewell north about 10 miles at Cross Keys.  So, the raid was beaten back and on the 9th, Ewell fought a battle against Fremont (who was not very aggressive.  The next day, the 10th, Jackson fought Tyler on the south side, bringing Ewell down to Port Jackson, where Jackson, after a repulse on his left flank by the river, took a hill (the Coaling) that had many Yankee guns.  This essentially decided the battle.  Fremont, slowly following Ewell, arrived north of the South fork late and was only able to use artillery as the only bridge had been burned by the Rebels.

Good book just made for a Brigade Fire and fury set up.

kipt

Finished The Journal of Military History, Vol.85, No.4.

Published 4 times per year with articles and book and journal reviews.

Articles this time are:

French and Allied Officer Casualties in the Peninsular War (1808-1814,
Meade and the Media: Civil War Journalism and the New History of War Reporting,
"The Devil is in the Details": Mao Zedong before and after the Luochuan Conference, August 1937,
Germany's Total War: Combat and Occupation around the Kursk Salient, 1943,


and three others.  Also 95 pages of book reviews.

I noticed one journal article that would be of interest to FSN.  It is in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 99, no. 396 (Spring 2021).  Its title is "Trial by Fire: Centurion Tanks in the Korean War".

Steve J

Crete, the battle and the resistance by Beevor. About half way through and an excellent read so far. Lot's of useful info for a possible campaign based upon the invasion for later in the year.

kipt

Did a quick read of "The Cardinal Of The Kremlin" a Tom Clancy novel.  This was to be made into a movie with Harrison Ford but he left and the movie was scrapped.

Cardinal is the CIA code name for a highly placed Russian war hero who feels betrayed by the Soviet regime.  Lots of field work, tense action and a satisfying ending.  Just something to clear out the cobwebs...

Rhys

Quote from: Steve J on 04 May 2022, 08:49:36 PMCrete, the battle and the resistance by Beevor. About half way through and an excellent read so far. Lot's of useful info for a possible campaign based upon the invasion for later in the year.
For a really good (and free) source on the battle for Crete, the official NZ History is online here. While it focus on the 2nd NZ Divisions battles it does cover the other troops in passing. The maps are extremly useful (and well done) as well.
We re-fought the divisons battles in the Maleme-Galatas sector A a local Wargames convention 20 years ago on a 16' by 6' board over 2 days . Unfortunately I have lost all the documentaion and photo's
Attack Attack Attack until;
A: They're all dead.
B: We're all dead
Delete where applicable.

Steve J

Thanks for the link Rhys, which I've bookmarked for future reference :) .

paulr

QuoteFor a really good (and free) source on the battle for Crete, the official NZ History is online here. While it focus on the 2nd NZ Divisions battles it does cover the other troops in passing. The maps are extremly useful (and well done) as well.
We re-fought the divisons battles in the Maleme-Galatas sector A a local Wargames convention 20 years ago on a 16' by 6' board over 2 days . Unfortunately I have lost all the documentaion and photo's

That really was almost 20 years ago :o  :o  :o

I've emailed you the few things I still have on the game.

Looking east from Maleme, if I recall correctly, with Galatas and Prison Valley in the distance


My favourite memory from that game was the confusion we caused at a local Fish & Chips shop while waiting for our lunch to be cooked. We were busily discussing the game and suddenly the shop owner asked why we were talking about his parents tiny village in Crete, most Cretans had no idea where it was ;D
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

pierre the shy

"Iron Men & Tinfish, the Race to Build a Better Torpedo during World War II" by Anthony Newpower

The US Navy went to war in 1941 with their submarines armed with Mk 14 torpedoes equipped with Mk 6 Exploders, not a good combination. In the early days of the Pacific war the US sub force had very limited success with lots of premature exploding torpedoes etc. The book tells the story of how this came, albeit slowly, to be recognised by the USN higher commanders and what was done by late 1943 to resolve the problems to allow the US subs to basically sweep Japanese merchant ships from the seas by mid 1945.

A very readable account without being too technically challenging for the average reader. Subspeak tends to be a foreign language for most folks, but the author balances things really well.       
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.

Steve J

That's a nicely done table there Paul 8) .

paulr

Rhys did most of the work on preparing that table, including sculpting, casting and painting all the buildings

Some of us helped paint on some of the roads on the Friday night before the game
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Rhys

last night I recovered all the long lost files from the Wayback Archive s I'll put it on my blog in a couple of weeks.

Top get back on topic I'm currently reading "German battle tactice on the Russian front 1941-1945". I've read quite a lot on Rusian operational art and thought I should have a look at the other side of the fence. Its also not based on German generals autobiographies but rather US interviews with POW generals right after WW2. Thus it's unfiltered.
Attack Attack Attack until;
A: They're all dead.
B: We're all dead
Delete where applicable.

collegialhoagie

Just recieved Det ulykkelige slag: Helsingborg 1710 by Karsten Skjold Petersen in the mail, and it looks very promising so far, in line with Oscar Sjöström's Fraustadt 1706: Ett fält färgat rött in terms of in-depth research and engaging prose.

I have previously been reading The War of the Spanish Succession 1701-1714 by James Faulkner to familiarise myself with that conflict (WSS is extremely marginal/non-existent in Swedish history education) but that may haveb been a mistake as I found it too broad and sweeping(probably neccessary by the scope of portraying the whole conflict from all sides in one book) to catch my interest.

toxicpixie

Quote from: Rhys on 09 May 2022, 08:13:36 AMlast night I recovered all the long lost files from the Wayback Archive s I'll put it on my blog in a couple of weeks.

Top get back on topic I'm currently reading "German battle tactice on the Russian front 1941-1945". I've read quite a lot on Rusian operational art and thought I should have a look at the other side of the fence. Its also not based on German generals autobiographies but rather US interviews with POW generals right after WW2. Thus it's unfiltered.

Bit less "we won really but they cheated" and "there were never any Nazis anywhere *I* commanded!"?
I provide a cheap, quick painting service to get you table top quality figures ready to roll - www.facebook.com/jtppainting