What are we reading?

Started by Martok, March 05, 2012, 01:13:59 PM

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Gusington

I think my invite was lost in the mail  :(


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We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

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MetalDog

Quote from: Airborne Rifles on June 09, 2019, 01:28:57 PM
Not to make you jealous, but in a couple of months I'm going to be leading a group of officers on a guided trip to Thermopylae and Platea. I went a few years ago on my own and the battlefields are exactly as you imagine them.

Jelly nonetheless.  :( 

Making a book order soon for the Ursula LeGuin Illustrated Earthsea volume.  I will definitely add Gates of Fire to that.
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Gusington



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We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

besilarius

Quote from: Airborne Rifles on June 09, 2019, 12:28:57 PM

    Not to make you jealous, but in a couple of months I'm going to be leading a group of officers on a guided trip to Thermopylae and Platea. I went a few years ago on my own and the battlefields are exactly as you imagine them.

Good choices, a lot has changed in the elapsed time, so bring good maps.
I wanted to see Leuctra, where the Thebans wrecked a Spartan phalanx, but unless the government has upgraded the site, it's totally unremarkable.  There was one pillar noting the battle occurred there.  Nothing else.
Salamis is worth a look, but again, you would want a good map or reference book.  It's an active seaway into Elefsis shipyards, and there was nothing to help understand the battle.
"Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out until too late that he's been playing with two queens all along".  Terry Pratchett.

During filming of Airplane, Leslie Nielsen used a whoopee cushion to keep the cast off-balance. Hays said that Nielsen "played that thing like a maestro"

Tallulah Bankhead: "I'll come and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late, start without me."

"When all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman." — Abraham Lincoln.

"I have enjoyed very warm relations with my two husbands."
"With your eyes closed?"
"That helped."  Lauren Bacall

Master Chiefs are sneaky, dastardly, and snarky miscreants who thrive on the tears of Ensigns and belly dancers.   Admiral Gerry Bogan.

Airborne Rifles

Yeah, I went on my own a few years ago and Platea is very unremarkable as well. The good thing about Platea and Thermopylae though is that the area for both battlefields is pretty much undeveloped and unchanged, which is remarkable after two and a half millennia.

besilarius

If you want a break on the way back to Athens, Schinias beach is right next to Marathon.  It's dominated by the burial mound, and the terrain is mostly the same as it was back around 1900.
There were some nice convenience stands, and the beach and water are gorgeous.
"Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out until too late that he's been playing with two queens all along".  Terry Pratchett.

During filming of Airplane, Leslie Nielsen used a whoopee cushion to keep the cast off-balance. Hays said that Nielsen "played that thing like a maestro"

Tallulah Bankhead: "I'll come and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late, start without me."

"When all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman." — Abraham Lincoln.

"I have enjoyed very warm relations with my two husbands."
"With your eyes closed?"
"That helped."  Lauren Bacall

Master Chiefs are sneaky, dastardly, and snarky miscreants who thrive on the tears of Ensigns and belly dancers.   Admiral Gerry Bogan.

Toonces

That sounds like a cool trip, AR.  Jelly!

I recently finished a bunch of books:  The Godfather (pretty good), The Wars of the Roses by Dan Jones which was also pretty good. I never quite could get through Alison Weir's version, but Dan Jones writes in a more accessible style.  The story was fascinating.  I read his Plantagenet history a few years ago so it was nice to close the loop.

The Last Dive, a sort-of autobiography of the author's adventures in extreme diving told around the story of the Rouses, a father/son team that both lost their lives diving on a German U-boat off the NJ coast that was the focus of the book Shadow Divers.  Wreck diving is huge in NJ and I used to dive the wrecks that could be accessed from a beach dive all the time when I was in college, but I had no idea just how challenging and dangerous true wreck diving is.  The writing was only average, but if you're into diving it's worth a read if you can get it from the library.

Raise the Titanic by Clive Cussler, about the 10th time I've read it.  It didn't quite hold up as well as I had hoped...I had to sort of dumb my brain down to that of 18 year old Toonces and try to just go with the flow.

Finally, I finished The Shining, about the 4th time I've read it.  Unlike Titanic, it does still hold up.  I don't think I've read the follow-on book, so I'll be adding that to the list at some point.

I'm at various stages of a handful of other books; about halfway through A Bright Shining Lie, part way through General Lee's Army, and just started Shattered Sword for the 4th or 5th time due to the thread in the computer gaming forum.  I have a whole bunch of new books loaded up on my Kindle, but haven't started any of them yet.
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

Toonces

Quote from: besilarius on June 04, 2019, 05:45:58 AM
Most (but not all) of Wittenberg's books deal with cavalry actions; Plenty of Blame to Go Around is about Stuart's G'burg ride (and completely revised my admittedly superficial estimate of him),

My mom bought this for me for Xmas like 10 years ago, but I still haven't read it.  I might have to pull it off the bookshelf soon.  Thanks for the heads up.
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

besilarius

http://www.navyhistory.org/2019/04/winning-a-future-war-war-gaming-and-victory-in-the-pacific-war/

"Despite the vast numbers of books written on World War II in the last seventy years, there is still much we do not yet fully understand or appreciate. Prominent Naval Historian Norman Friedman fills yet another of these gaps in our knowledge with his book Winning a Future War. More specifically, Friedman helps us to understand and appreciate the important interwar role the U.S. Naval War College (NWC) and its war gaming played in preparing the Navy and its officers to fight the Pacific War. Friedman convincingly argues that the NWC served as the Navy's think tank in the 1920s and well into the 1930s, influencing war plans, naval aviation, ship design, and many other important issues that proved critical to ultimate victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific."
"Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out until too late that he's been playing with two queens all along".  Terry Pratchett.

During filming of Airplane, Leslie Nielsen used a whoopee cushion to keep the cast off-balance. Hays said that Nielsen "played that thing like a maestro"

Tallulah Bankhead: "I'll come and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late, start without me."

"When all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman." — Abraham Lincoln.

"I have enjoyed very warm relations with my two husbands."
"With your eyes closed?"
"That helped."  Lauren Bacall

Master Chiefs are sneaky, dastardly, and snarky miscreants who thrive on the tears of Ensigns and belly dancers.   Admiral Gerry Bogan.

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Staggerwing

Toonces should have some insight into that stuff. After all, he got to hang out there.
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ArizonaTank

Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Toonces

That Friedman book sounds pretty interesting.  I think I posted this a while back in another thread, but that old wargaming floor you see in the pictures from the pre-war years isn't there anymore.  They turned that whole room into a beautiful international student lounge.  There are some cases with a piece of the old floor, the old ship models they used, etc. but it's otherwise pretty unrecognizable.

Having said that, the new wargaming building is huge, and those guys do a ton of wargaming all year long.  I got to participate in a few and it was pretty cool, but not quite as fun as you might think.
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

Gusington

Just began The Afghan Campaign by Pressfield. Already 40 pages in :)


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd