Guard Dog Posted March 21, 2009 Posted March 21, 2009 Now reading The 5000 Year Leap by Cleon Skousen and Rebels and Redcoats by George Scheer and Hugh Rankin.. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
Calax Posted March 21, 2009 Posted March 21, 2009 Since I finished the first black company novel I've read The White Rose Shadow Games Dreams of Steel Bleak Seasons She is the Darkness and am working on Water Sleeps From the first trilogy to the later books there is a MASSIVE change in tone, that I particularly don't like to be honest. They're still good books, but the first ones seemed to be more fun and more down and dirty while the later ones were more disconnected from the character being a soldier first and foremost. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
Meshugger Posted March 21, 2009 Posted March 21, 2009 Still stuck with Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". My life is too dull to find any practical use of it. "Some men see things as they are and say why?""I dream things that never were and say why not?"- George Bernard Shaw"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."- Friedrich Nietzsche "The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it." - Some guy
Theseus Posted March 22, 2009 Posted March 22, 2009 (edited) I hear its highly effective in marriages. Y: the Last Man Edited March 22, 2009 by Theseus
Calax Posted March 22, 2009 Posted March 22, 2009 I hear its highly effective in marriages. Y: the Last Man That's a book? I kinda liked the concept but didn't really get into it very much. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
Guard Dog Posted March 22, 2009 Posted March 22, 2009 Still stuck with Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". My life is too dull to find any practical use of it. Start playing some of the Total War games. I read that when I was in the military, It was required reading at NCO school. I actually found it very interesting. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
Guard Dog Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 Now reading There is a God: How the worlds most notorious athiest changed his mind by Anthony Flew. I'm sending taks a copy I'd send one to Sand too but there's no pictures. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
Llyranor Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 Just finished reading 'It Never Snows In September' by Kershaw, which covers the German side of Operation Market-Garden. Pretty interesting read and provides good insight on the German perspective of the battle. I found it works as a very good complement to 'A Bridge Too Far', which covers some of the basics that Kershaw doesn't really touch (I suppose he expects the reader to already know the basics of Market-Garden). Next up is 'Arhnem 1944' by Middlebrook, focusing specifically on the British airborne troops in Arnhem/Oosterbeek and providing more detail. (Approved by Fio, so feel free to use it)
Calax Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 Finished reading through the black company novels (including the side story that tells about characters who depart the group at the end of the third book). Cook is homocidal on his characters. Only TWO characters are actually alive at the beginning of the first book and the end of the last, and they spend 15 years in stasis, and one of em was a sorceress who started aging at the end of the third novel. The other guy is like 60+ by the end of the final novel and has been cut, clobbered, burned, exploded, and had a ballista bolt go through his arm... then he swaps conscious places with a god (so he gets the gods immortal viewpoint and the god gets to live as a human and die). Hell in the side story every single character that starts in the book gets killed by the end except for THREE (out of a group of 15 ish) Soldiers live, and wonder why. Now to go search my bookshelf for something more. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
Walsingham Posted April 3, 2009 Posted April 3, 2009 I don't think I mentioend it, but I just finished a duo of books by Jeff Long: The Descent and Deeper Some of the most genuinely horrifying stuff I've read in a long long time. My threshold may be weakening, or my imagination may be better stocked with horror, but I loved this. I totally recommend the books, especially now they're going to be available second hand. Give them a shot. A book I'm more ambivalent about is House to House, a tale of urban fighting in Fallujah ghost written for /by former Staff Sergeant David Bellavia. It's a cracking read, but for that precise reason I'm suspicious of its truthfulness. I think some reviewers liked it more than I because it contains many nuggets of colour about soldiers under fire which my reading of history renders redundant. I'd recommend it mainly to anyone who is anti-coalition. "It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"." -Elwood Blues tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.
Shryke Posted April 3, 2009 Posted April 3, 2009 been rereading the Wheel of Time series a friend recently started it and she keeps bugging me about it and my memory is too hazy to answer her questions properly when your mind works against you - fight back with substance abuse!
Hurlshort Posted April 3, 2009 Posted April 3, 2009 I don't think I mentioend it, but I just finished a duo of books by Jeff Long: The Descent and Deeper That looks good, I put it on my list.
Theseus Posted April 4, 2009 Posted April 4, 2009 I hear its highly effective in marriages. Y: the Last Man That's a book? I kinda liked the concept but didn't really get into it very much. You dont count comic books as books? Im half way through book six and i love the series so far. I heard it dies towards the end though. After this I have another book in line, Don Quixote.
Calax Posted April 4, 2009 Posted April 4, 2009 I hear its highly effective in marriages. Y: the Last Man That's a book? I kinda liked the concept but didn't really get into it very much. You dont count comic books as books? Im half way through book six and i love the series so far. I heard it dies towards the end though. After this I have another book in line, Don Quixote. I do, dont' get me wrong, but Y kinda lost me after the third Trade. Don't know why but It just got really boring to me. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
Slowtrain Posted April 4, 2009 Posted April 4, 2009 I bought a collection of Glen Cook's Dread Empire novels published by Night Shade books. Given how much I love his current work, I thought I'd revisit his older stuff and give it another chance. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Oerwinde Posted April 5, 2009 Posted April 5, 2009 I hear its highly effective in marriages. Y: the Last Man That's a book? I kinda liked the concept but didn't really get into it very much. You dont count comic books as books? Im half way through book six and i love the series so far. I heard it dies towards the end though. After this I have another book in line, Don Quixote. I do, dont' get me wrong, but Y kinda lost me after the third Trade. Don't know why but It just got really boring to me. I thought Y was really strong right up until the big twist end, then everything went downhill. Kinda like BSG. The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.
Calax Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 I bought a collection of Glen Cook's Dread Empire novels published by Night Shade books. Given how much I love his current work, I thought I'd revisit his older stuff and give it another chance. Just picked up Instrumentalities of the Night book two (didn't have book one ) thus far it's been quite fun, but doesn't have the same feel as Company and Dread Empire. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
Guard Dog Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 I was going through some old boxes I had in storage before I moved. I came across the Sword of Shannara trilogy (one book, all three novels). I never read it so I sat down and gave it a look. My first impressions were that it was just a bad cliche following the same boring formula so many other fantasy books (and CRPGs) do. A party of young men/women set out in search of a magical sword to defeat the dark lord. Ugh. Its one of the reason I HATE the genre but enjoy GRRM's books. But I realized that since it was written in the 1970s it really is the story (along with Tolkiens work) that created the genere. But if it doesn't get better in the next 50 pages, in the trash it goes! "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
Gorgon Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar. It's riveting stuff. Na na na na na na ... greg358 from Darksouls 3 PVP is a CHEATER. That is all.
Hiro Protagonist Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 I'll be reading some Three Investigator books on the plane to and from China. I'm halfway through Secret of Shark Reef at the moment. It'll allow me to catch up on the books I haven't read yet (about 6 or so books in my collection).
Hiro Protagonist Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 I thought Y was really strong right up until the big twist end, then everything went downhill. Kinda like BSG. I agree.
Guard Dog Posted April 13, 2009 Posted April 13, 2009 I don't know how much anyone has been following this but it looks like the last Wheel of Time novel will be split into three volumes. The first will be coming out this year! I have to credit Brandon Sanderson for his work here. The very best he can hope for is to live up to the source material. If he botches it he will likely ruin his career. I tend to believe he will do well. I've read some of his writing and he has a good easy to read style. Anyway, check out his blog for the story of the last WoT book: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/56/Splitting-AMOL "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
Aristes Posted April 13, 2009 Posted April 13, 2009 I haven't visiting this thread in a while, so I don't know what I've mentioned. I've read Ulysses by Alistair MacLean in terms of fiction. Other than that, I've read a ton of Late Colonial/Early Republic US history and the attendant biographies.
Guard Dog Posted April 14, 2009 Posted April 14, 2009 The Yankee Years by Joe Torre. Yeah, he was pissed at the organization and this was a way to get "even". But still an interesting read. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
Tigranes Posted April 15, 2009 Posted April 15, 2009 I have recently found Saint Augustine's Confessions at an acquaintance's and will borrow asap. I wanted City of God, but will give this a go. He also had a Camus... the Sisyphus one. Also sorely tempted by the Borges collection in the local bookstore but it is rather pricey. Let's Play: Icewind Dale Ironman (Complete) Let's Play: Icewind Dale II Ironman (Complete) Let's Play: Divinity II (Complete) Let's Play: Baldur's Gate Trilogy Ironman - BG1 (Complete) Let's Play: Baldur's Gate Trilogy Ironman - BG2 (In Progress)
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