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What are you reading?
deadeyedick Offline
#601 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
The Fate Of The Species by Fred Guterl (How the human race may cause it's own extinction)

This was written in 2012 but every word in the first chapter aligned perfectly with the current COVID19 pandemic.

He also goes into cyber warfare, synthetic biology, global warming, etc. Interesting read.
8trackdisco Offline
#602 Posted:
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 59,992
deadeyedick wrote:
The Fate Of The Species by Fred Guterl (How the human race may cause it's own extinction)

This was written in 2012 but every word in the first chapter aligned perfectly with the current COVID19 pandemic.

He also goes into cyber warfare, synthetic biology, global warming, etc. Interesting read.


Sounds uplifting! Makes me want to blow the dust off of Death in the Grand Canyon.
deadeyedick Offline
#603 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
Well, you could read Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm I guess.
CelticBomber Offline
#604 Posted:
Joined: 05-03-2012
Posts: 6,786
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret!
teedubbya Offline
#605 Posted:
Joined: 08-14-2003
Posts: 95,637
A period piece huh?
cacman Offline
#606 Posted:
Joined: 07-03-2010
Posts: 12,216
Excited to begin reading my quarantine book order...

Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer
In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

Left For Dead by Beck Weathers
My fourth book about the 1996 Everest Expedition. Rescuers who reached Weathers saw that he was dying and left him. Twelve hours later, the inexplicable occurred. Weathers appeared, blinded, gloveless, and caked with ice - walking down the mountain.

Buried In The Sky by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan
When Edmund Hillary first conquered Mt. Everest, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was at his side. [Also on the 1996 Everest Expedition] Indeed, for as long as Westerners have been climbing the Himalaya, Sherpas have been the unsung heroes in the background. In August 2008, when eleven climbers lost their lives on K2, the world’s most dangerous peak, two Sherpas survived. They had emerged from poverty and political turmoil to become two of the most skillful mountaineers on earth. Based on unprecedented access and interviews, Buried in the Sky reveals their astonishing story for the first time.
fiddler898 Offline
#607 Posted:
Joined: 06-15-2009
Posts: 3,782
"American Dirt." Jeanine Cummins. Binge read the first half so far.
Speyside Offline
#608 Posted:
Joined: 03-16-2015
Posts: 13,106
The Story of Collapsing Stars: Black Holes, Naked Singularities, and the Cosmic Play of Quantum Gravity
Gene363 Offline
#609 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
The Train to Crystal City

By Jan Jarboe Russell

FDR's Secret Prisioner Exchange program and America's only family(*) interment camp during WWII

(*) The "Family" of a prisoner accused of being an enemy agent as opposed to the interment of most Japanese Americans. The families included US born natural citizens with root in Japan, Germany, Italy and other countries sympathetic to the Axis powers.

I read this one a while back but just got it back from a loan.
Gene363 Offline
#610 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
A Hell of a War

By: Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Quote:
One of the greatest stars of the silver screen recalls his experiences during WWII, including his stint in combat in the North Atlantic & in various parts of Europe. Includes profiles of the towering figures of the war, from FDR to General Patton. B&W photos.

Gene363 Offline
#611 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
On Valor's Side: A Marine's Own Story of Parris Island and Guadalcanal

By: T. Grady Gallant

Quote:
On August 7, 1942, the First Marine Division launched the first successful American land assault in World War Two.


The invasion of Guadalcanal was a long, cruel holding operation fought with too little equipment and support, not enough food and ammunition, and too few men.

The marines on the island were subjected to bombing raids and strafing by Japanese aircraft, bombardment by battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and land artillery, as well as being continually attacked by Japanese tanks and infantry.

For five long months they were attacked day and night before being eventually relieved by Army units.

Who were these men who faced overwhelming odds?

And how did they survive?

T. Grady Gallant, who fought at Guadalcanal himself, answers these questions in his brilliant book On Valor’s Side

Gallant’s account begins with an account of the grueling training that he and his fellow marines received in places such as Parris Island, before they undertook last minute preparations in New Zealand and made the journey towards Guadalcanal.

It is a fascinating work that gives an eyewitness view of one of the most ferocious encounters that the United States Marines had to face through the course of the Second World War.
Gene363 Offline
#612 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
They Call It Pacific (Annotated): An Eye-Witness Story of Our War Against Japan from Bataan to the Solomons

By Cleark Lee

It had a unique view of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and then Navy action up to the the invasion of Guadalcanal.

Quote:
Clark Lee was an AP reporter stationed in Manila when World War 2 broke out and the Japanese invaded the Philippines. They Call It Pacific is an insightful account of events leading up to the war and beyond from an authority on Japanese-American affairs at the time. It is also a thrilling journal detailing Lee’s unbelievable real-time escape from the Philippine Islands with the help of the Filipino resistance. The book contains extensive accounts of the battle for the Philippines on Bataan and Corregidor, interviews with soldiers including General Douglas MacArthur, talks with Japanese prisoners, and descriptions of combat as the author accompanied Navy pilots such as Swede Larson on flights over Guadalcanal.

This new edition of They Call It Pacific has been updated with footnotes and images from the Japanese invasion of the Philippines.
MACS Offline
#613 Posted:
Joined: 02-26-2004
Posts: 79,593
Joe Abercrombie - Last Argument of Kings
fishinguitarman Offline
#614 Posted:
Joined: 07-29-2006
Posts: 69,148
Bassmaster
BuckyB93 Offline
#615 Posted:
Joined: 07-16-2004
Posts: 14,111
Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know

Interesting read and gives me a new perspective on Google. Admittedly, I didn't really have a perspective or really think too much about it.

Normally I'm a hard copy kinda reader - would rather read the physical book vs an e-book. Since all the libraries are closed, I had to figure out how to borrow/download ebooks onto my tablet. Turns out I can access and borrow any ebook from a ton of library's in MA using my library card from my local library. Just needed to download this portal app called "Libby."

As long as they are members of this Libby thing of some sorts and there is an available e-book copy, I can check it out just as if you checked out a real book at the library. I've borrowed a couple from Amazon too through the app.... i think... not sure if its because Amazon is a partner with the system or if I'm getting them because I'm a Prime member.
frankj1 Offline
#616 Posted:
Joined: 02-08-2007
Posts: 44,211
one day, Theodore, you'll appreciate the better life you have been afforded in The Bay State
izonfire Offline
#617 Posted:
Joined: 12-09-2013
Posts: 8,642
frankj1 wrote:
one day, Theodore, you'll appreciate the better life you have been afforded in The Bay State

And it is then when you realize where you fit into the matrix...
frankj1 Offline
#618 Posted:
Joined: 02-08-2007
Posts: 44,211
oh how I have longed for that information...
Buckwheat Offline
#619 Posted:
Joined: 04-15-2004
Posts: 12,251
Bill Bryson's - The Body

BuckyB93 Offline
#620 Posted:
Joined: 07-16-2004
Posts: 14,111
The e-reader thing is pretty cool. There are many embedded hyperlinks within the text and bibliography that allow you to visit the various references, articles, definitions and such that author used in his research for writing the book.
BuckyB93 Offline
#621 Posted:
Joined: 07-16-2004
Posts: 14,111
frankj1 wrote:
one day, Theodore, you'll appreciate the better life you have been afforded in The Bay State


Theodore no likey and rejects being assimilated into the Bay State Collective.
ZRX1200 Offline
#622 Posted:
Joined: 07-08-2007
Posts: 60,476
Finished “Time to Murder and Create” and started “The Sins of Our Fathers”

~ Lawrence Block
8trackdisco Offline
#623 Posted:
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 59,992
Exposed by James Koeper.

To avenge his brother's death, John Sarikov, a New York City journalist, follows a trail of evil deep into the underworld in a no-holds-barred battle that makes the Cold War seem warm and friendly.
DrMaddVibe Offline
#624 Posted:
Joined: 10-21-2000
Posts: 55,301
Anne Rice - Memnoch the Devil

I'm cutting through The Vampire Chronicles one by one.
Panama Red1 Offline
#625 Posted:
Joined: 10-08-2013
Posts: 82
Reading a collection of books by CLAYTON LINDEMUTH. some great stories in these volumes
deadeyedick Offline
#626 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
Economism by James Kwak
CelticBomber Offline
#627 Posted:
Joined: 05-03-2012
Posts: 6,786
Oracles of Delphi by Marie Savage
Cereal City Cigar Smoker Offline
#628 Posted:
Joined: 03-30-2006
Posts: 14,587
Blood and Thunder - The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West by Hampton Sides.

Herfing
Gene363 Offline
#629 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Enigma: The Battle For The Code

Book by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore

A pretty comprehensive history of the struggle to decode WWII German communications encrypted with he Enigma machine. Starting with Polish cryptographers, then French, British and finally the USA, that worked to decode communications that helped the Allies win WWII. The book also covers the capture of code books and encryption machines from several German submarines and boats.

Quote:
Winston Churchill called the cracking of the German Enigma Code "the secret weapon that won the war." Now, for the first time, noted British journalist Hugh-Sebag-Montefiore reveals the complete story of the breaking of the code by the Allies--the breaking that played a crucial role in the outcome of World War II.
fr8boss Offline
#630 Posted:
Joined: 12-23-2007
Posts: 97
1) The Automotive F&I Selling Guide. (I do not work in the automotive business, but I study it indepth and always walk out of the dealership a winner).

2) Dragons of Autumn Twilight (re-reading a sci-fi / fantasy series from the 1980’s).
CelticBomber Offline
#631 Posted:
Joined: 05-03-2012
Posts: 6,786
fr8boss wrote:
Dragons of Autumn Twilight (re-reading a sci-fi / fantasy series from the 1980’s).



The Dragonlance Series. I own them all. Haven't read them in years but, I did just reread the first six Forgotten Realms Drizzt series this week along with Treasure Island.

Currently reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku.
8trackdisco Offline
#632 Posted:
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 59,992
Portnoy's Complaint
-Phillip Roth
Gene363 Offline
#633 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
One Damned Island After Another
The Saga of the Seventh


By Clive Howard, Joe Whitley · 2019

Quote:
Clive Howard and Joe Whitley were both sergeants and served as correspondents for the Seventh Air Force during World War 2. The men of the Seventh were forced to fly the longest missions in any theater of war, entirely over water and, at first, without fighter escort. They fought at Midway, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Truk, Saipan, Palau, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and finally Tokyo. One Damned Island After Another covers the history of this remarkable air force from the events at Pearl Harbor through to V-J Day, detailing events on every single island that the force landed on in between. This new 2019 edition of One Damned Island After Another includes annotations and original photographs from the Pacific campaigns.
Gene363 Offline
#634 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

Book by Eugene Sledge

Quote:
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa is a World War II memoir by Eugene Sledge, a United States Marine first published in 1981. The memoir is based on notes Sledge kept tucked away in a pocket-sized Bible he carried with him during battles he fought at Peleliu and Okinawa.


An excellent book, I could not out this one down. The content is intense, but not sensational, depicting the daily conditions of frontline Marines fighting in WWII in the Pacific Theatre. This book was a referenced in, On Valor's Side: A Marine's Own Story of Parris Island and Guadalcanal By: T. Grady Gallant.
gummy jones Offline
#635 Posted:
Joined: 07-06-2015
Posts: 7,969
Just finished another reading of cs Lewis's mere Christianity
Gene363 Offline
#636 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
gummy jones wrote:
Just finished another reading of cs Lewis's mere Christianity


A friend loaned me this audio book on CD, it was a good one.
Gene363 Offline
#637 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Gene363 wrote:
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

Book by Eugene Sledge



An excellent book, I could not out this one down. The content is intense, but not sensational, depicting the daily conditions of frontline Marines fighting in WWII in the Pacific Theatre. This book was a referenced in, On Valor's Side: A Marine's Own Story of Parris Island and Guadalcanal By: T. Grady Gallant.


A speech by Eugene B Sledge, The Old Breed and the Costsof War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCIJfM_CgWo

Gene363 Offline
#638 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific

By Bill Marvel and Romus Burgin


Quote:
A remarkable eyewitness account of the most brutal combat of the Pacific War, from Peleliu to Okinawa, this is the true story of R.V. Burgin
Gene363 Offline
#639 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
You'll be Sor-ree! A Guadalcanal Marine Remembers the Pacific War

By Sid Phillips

It's a short book, but very good, the author has a great sense of humor in spite of the seriousness of WWII.

Quote:
Sid Phillips joined the Marines at age 17 and found himself fighting in the Pacific War on Guadalcanal as part of H-Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division (H-2-1), the same unit as Helmet for My Pillow author Robert Leckie. Sid also was lifelong friends with With the Old Breed author Eugene Sledge.

Now publically available for the first time, these are the humble and candid tales that Sid collected during his Pacific war odyssey from the bloody banks of the Tenaru to the romantic respite of Melbourne to the monsoon-soaked jungles of Cape Gloucester.

deadeyedick Offline
#640 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
Unbound -How inequality constricts our economy

Heather Boushey
fiddler898 Offline
#641 Posted:
Joined: 06-15-2009
Posts: 3,782
Solid State: The Making of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles, by Kenneth Womack.

I really enjoyed it; the foreword is written by Alan Parsons.
frankj1 Offline
#642 Posted:
Joined: 02-08-2007
Posts: 44,211
was parsons projecting?
izonfire Offline
#643 Posted:
Joined: 12-09-2013
Posts: 8,642
frankj1 wrote:
was parsons projecting?

U.L.T.R.A....G.R.O.A.N.N.N.N.N.N.N.N....................
Dg west deptford Offline
#644 Posted:
Joined: 05-25-2019
Posts: 2,836
Frederick Douglass oration on the dedication of the emancipation proclamation Memorial
frankj1 Offline
#645 Posted:
Joined: 02-08-2007
Posts: 44,211
deadeyedick wrote:
Unbound -How inequality constricts our economy

Heather Boushey

any chance I could guess the ending?
Kidding aside, sounds like something I'd find interesting and enlightening.
deadeyedick Offline
#646 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
Tax and redistribute. Spend, spend, spend. Now you don’t need to read it.
frankj1 Offline
#647 Posted:
Joined: 02-08-2007
Posts: 44,211
ah, too bad.
Gene363 Offline
#648 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Red Blood, Black Sand: Fighting Alongside John Basilone from Boot Camp to Iwo Jima

By Chuck Tatum

This book is one of three that were the basis for the HBO series, The Pacfic. About as well written as Eugene Sledge's book, With The Old Breed.

n 1944, the U.S. Marines were building the 5th Marine Division—also known as “The Spearhead”—in preparation for the invasion of the small, Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima...

When Chuck Tatum began Marine boot camp, he was just a smart-aleck teenager eager to serve his country. Little did he know that he would be training under a living legend of the Corps—Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone, who had almost single-handedly fought off a Japanese force of three thousand on Guadalcanal.

It was from Basilone and other sergeants that Tatum would learn how to fight like a Marine and act like a man—skills he would need when he hit the black sand of Iwo Jima with thirty thousand other Marines.

Red Blood, Black Sand is the story of Chuck’s two weeks in hell, where he would watch his hero, Basilone, fall, where the enemy stalked the night, where snipers haunted the day, and where Chuck would see his friends whittled away in an eardrum-shattering, earth-shaking, meat grinder of a battle. This is the island, the heroes, and the tragedy of Iwo Jima—through the eyes of one who survived it.
Gene363 Offline
#649 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Island Victory: The Battle Of Kwajalein Atoll

By S.L.A. Marshall

Reading the story of the WWII US Army landing on an island held by Japan Vs a landing by the US Marines is quite a story contrast in organization and discipline.

Quote:
An on-the-spot history of a fight in the Pacific during World War II, Island Victory was the first battle history written by—then Lieutenant-Colonel—S. L. A. Marshall, a veteran of World War I who would serve in Korea and Vietnam and become a brigadier general in the process. After the Seventh Infantry Division drove across Kwajalein Atoll in the first days of February 1944, successfully wresting control of the strategic southern tip from the Japanese, Marshall was charged with producing an accurate and comprehensive account of the fight. His solution: bring the front-line soldiers together at once and interview them as a group, tapping the collective memory of a platoon fresh from battle.

In this book, readers get a rare, first-hand sense of all the emotions that soldiers in combat experience. Numerous maps and photographs help us visualize precisely what took place. A compelling work of military history, and the first book of its kind, Island Victory is itself an important chapter in the history of how military exploits are described and recorded.
fiddler898 Offline
#650 Posted:
Joined: 06-15-2009
Posts: 3,782
Finally got to Between the World and Me by Ta-Nahisi Coates.
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