Your current reading list

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Re: Your current reading list

Postby AztecDave » Sat May 14, 2016 6:29 am

just finished a couple of very good books on Robert Rogers. real interesting character. great detail on the French & Indian War.

"War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier" by John F. Ross
"White Devil: A True Story of War, Savagery And Vengeance in Colonial America" by Stephen Brumwell


also finishing up "Shooting at the Moon: The Story of America's Clandestine War in Laos" by Roger Warner. great detail/info on that splendid little war. you can see the train wreck coming when the war goes from being in the shadows in the early 60s to broad daylight when in '65 we basically invade (yes, invade) South Viet Nam and that war zooms outta control. the Laos sideshow suffers directly from the same affects. side note: when I was a kid in the late 60s/early 70s, my family were expats in several SE Asia countries. One of the CIA paramilitary guys mentioned in the book was one of my dad's poker buddies.
The real Army, composed entirely of young enthusiasts in camouflage uniforms, from whom impossible efforts would be demanded and to whom all sorts of tricks would be taught. That's the army in which I should like to fight.”
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Darcy » Sat May 21, 2016 8:57 pm

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51dvXlRtUxL._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

This book is hilarious....crying I'm laughing so hard, and I haven't even gotten to the Selous Scouts bit...
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Darcy » Sun May 22, 2016 6:48 am

Darcy wrote:Image

This book is hilarious....crying I'm laughing so hard, and I haven't even gotten to the Selous Scouts bit...
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby friendlyskies » Fri May 27, 2016 4:36 pm

Image

Another interesting geography book. The "ten maps" are a letdown, they're basic Mercator projections and you've seen them before. The book is excellent.

Basically, Marshall divides the world into spheres of influence and explains the effect that geographical features have had on each region's economic and politics. India and China don't like each other, but they won't have a war because the world's highest and most impassable mountain range lies between them. Europe and the USA both have huge, navigable river systems, which makes trade and economic growth much easier than in, say, Africa or South America. Putin had to go to war for Crimea, not just because of the warm water port, but also because Ukraine is flat and has a border just 300 miles from Moscow.

He's very succinct, almost that succinct, and there are 260 pages of those little factoids. It's a shallow survey of world events, but I even learned a few new things in the Latin America section, which was very good.

He also adds a nice layer of human geography over the physical world, which he uses to explain conflicts in Africa and the Middle East ("Even the name, "Middle East," refers to the region's position vis a vis Europe.")

The book overstates the importance of geography on human culture and history, imho, but that's sort of the point. It's a ground-up perspective on what happened. His coda on Arctic and space exploration extrapolates his methods into crystal ball territory, which is very interesting. After reading it, you can't help but think that Russia will end up controlling the whole mess because Canada and the USA can't get our collective shit together.

Worth a look!
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Hitoru » Sat May 28, 2016 12:25 am

Darcy wrote:
Darcy wrote:Image

This book is hilarious....crying I'm laughing so hard, and I haven't even gotten to the Selous Scouts bit...


Good read, but not hilarious by any stretch to me.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Darcy » Mon May 30, 2016 5:20 pm

I found very little of the book to actually be about his time with the Scouts, but his childhood in Kenya (I lived there for years so can relate) and his adventures prior to his service are hilarious; at least it got me snickering, and I found his writing style throughout quite entertaining.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby snaark » Tue Jun 07, 2016 7:07 pm

I've been reading a lot of economics books of late. I don't know why; the more I read, the more I realise people of my generation a fucked. Just started this one:

Image
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Darcy » Thu Jun 16, 2016 9:33 pm

Image

Too cool...would make a great movie. I could see Lee Marvin.....
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Darcy » Thu Jun 16, 2016 10:23 pm

Never mind, this is the better account of Operation Postmaster, less obeisance..... (yeah, I googled a synonym....still not sure it's the right word)

Image

Still make a great movie....
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Chimborazo » Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:15 pm

I'm about to start my mother's first novel (on Kindle now, paperback release on August 1st).

Image
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby seektravelinfo » Wed Jul 13, 2016 6:59 pm

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg



Learning about my people; squatters, crackers, bad blood, 1/2 breeds, clay eaters.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Kurt » Wed Jul 13, 2016 7:32 pm

seektravelinfo wrote:White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg



Learning about my people; squatters, crackers, bad blood, 1/2 breeds, clay eaters.


Clay Eaters? That is a term for some Haitians too. They eat a loamy soil flavored with instant soup like those horrid Wyler cubes (not even sure if those are made anymore)

What is the origin of the term for poor whites?
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby michelle in alaska » Sat Jul 23, 2016 11:42 am

God's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre
by Richard Grant.

its an uneasy and well written read. :)
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Hitoru » Sun Jul 24, 2016 5:00 pm

michelle in alaska wrote:God's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre
by Richard Grant.

its an uneasy and well written read. :)


Loved it.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Darcy » Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:59 am

michelle in alaska wrote:God's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre
by Richard Grant.

its an uneasy and well written read. :)


He may have re-released it under another title...

Image

https://www.amazon.ca/Bandit-Roads-Lawless-Heart-Mexico-ebook/dp/B00GVG01DI/ref=sr_1_17?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1469440573&sr=1-17


Loved his Crazy River too. I was kicking around the same neck of the woods in Tanzania while reading it.
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