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Thread: What are you currently reading?

  1. #331
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    Last edited by LoSTBoY; 16-Sep-2015 at 01:15 PM. Reason: fix format

  2. #332
    Webmaster Neil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LoSTBoY View Post
    Looks interesting...

    Should I give it a go?
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

  3. #333
    has the velocity Mike70's Avatar
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    La Planète des Singes. Planet of the apes in the original french. Damned interesting so far. The book takes place on a planet orbiting Betelgeuse of all stars. A lot of it is very similar to the middle section, court room scenes, and the end of "Escape From the Planet of the Apes." i have always had this book on my list of things to read and have finally gotten round to it. A good read. Pierre Boulle was the author.
    "The bumps you feel are asteroids smashing into the hull."

  4. #334
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike70 View Post
    La Planète des Singes. Planet of the apes in the original french. Damned interesting so far. The book takes place on a planet orbiting Betelgeuse of all stars. A lot of it is very similar to the middle section, court room scenes, and the end of "Escape From the Planet of the Apes." i have always had this book on my list of things to read and have finally gotten round to it. A good read. Pierre Boulle was the author.
    Oh! So not set on a future Earth then?
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

  5. #335
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    Looks interesting...

    Should I give it a go?
    Absolutely! Usually I'm in the low fantasy books like the latter 3 and Game of Thrones, where there isn't an overwhelming difference to our own world. However this guy makes an amazing fantasy world with (as far as I know) many unique traits. There is also a contender for my favorite fictional character (Kaladin) in this book.

    Brandon Sanderson also does another series about a world where people suddenly get superpowers after a comet passes, however those with superpowers are all evil bastards and rule over those left untouched. The book is about a resistance of normal people trying to kill the main 'superhero' Steelheart.

  6. #336
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    Oh! So not set on a future Earth then?
    Nope. A planet around Betelgeuse. There is a back story about an ancient human society that was destroyed by a revolt of ape slaves. Many parts of the book were spread out over a couple of the movies. Reading it, you will recognize parts of the original movie, other parts were used as part of the plot for "Escape" and the whole archeological backstory is reminiscent of the original "Conquest." Some of it was even adapted in the version Mark Wahlberg was in. If you are a "Planet of the Apes" fan, you will.find it interesting.

    The book is told in the form of a found manuscript.
    "The bumps you feel are asteroids smashing into the hull."

  7. #337
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike70 View Post
    La Planète des Singes. Planet of the apes in the original french. Damned interesting so far. The book takes place on a planet orbiting Betelgeuse of all stars. A lot of it is very similar to the middle section, court room scenes, and the end of "Escape From the Planet of the Apes." i have always had this book on my list of things to read and have finally gotten round to it. A good read. Pierre Boulle was the author.
    Wow! The author wrote The Bridge over the River Kwai too!
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

  8. #338
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    Wow! The author wrote The Bridge over the River Kwai too!
    That is next up. I have not read the book but from what ex-pows say, the movie is, for the most part, a complete and total fabrication/misrepresentation of the actual events. I have no idea how close the movie is to the book.
    "The bumps you feel are asteroids smashing into the hull."

  9. #339
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  10. #340
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    "The Horla" by de Maupassant. A true classic. Reading it in the original...everything is better in the original.
    "The bumps you feel are asteroids smashing into the hull."

  11. #341
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  12. #342
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    In Audiobook form I've just listened to:

    The Third Reich Trilogy by Richard J. Evans
    A mindnumbingly majestic account of how the Third reich came to be, how it was and it's downfall. It's interesting but I think William Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" was a better read since the flow of it was much more enjoyable. These set of books were rather dull, I'm afraid (and sad to say, I even think the author meant it to be dull since he goes out of his way to dispense with what he calls "romantisizing naziism".

    and then followed it up by

    Helmet for my Pillow by Robert Leckie
    On his trials in the pacific theater of World war 2. Very good. One of the books upon which The Pacific was based. Leckie is a good writer. Almost half the book covers various pranks he got himself involved in. He seemed more interested in shenanigans than being a soldier.

    Since I'm stuck on a WW2 loop, I'm currently reading a book called, in Swedish/Norweigan "Med Viking och Nordland" by Odd Helge Brugrand. It's the war time memoir of a norweigan Waffen-SS voulenteer who signed up at the young age of 16 (Ivar Skarlo). It's good and it gives a good account of the eastern front (most they do is just ride trains, march or retreat) but I can't trust the account outright. Ivar describes himself as oblivious to the racial doctrine of the Third Reich, something which I doubt anyone could be when serving in the god damn SS.

    Next up I'm thinking Quartered Safe Out Here by George Macdonald Frasier. After that I might move on to something other than World War 2... Might.

  13. #343
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    Quote Originally Posted by EvilNed View Post
    In Audiobook form I've just listened to:

    The Third Reich Trilogy by Richard J. Evans
    A mindnumbingly majestic account of how the Third reich came to be, how it was and it's downfall. It's interesting but I think William Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" was a better read since the flow of it was much more enjoyable. These set of books were rather dull, I'm afraid (and sad to say, I even think the author meant it to be dull since he goes out of his way to dispense with what he calls "romantisizing naziism".

    and then followed it up by

    Helmet for my Pillow by Robert Leckie
    On his trials in the pacific theater of World war 2. Very good. One of the books upon which The Pacific was based. Leckie is a good writer. Almost half the book covers various pranks he got himself involved in. He seemed more interested in shenanigans than being a soldier.

    Since I'm stuck on a WW2 loop, I'm currently reading a book called, in Swedish/Norweigan "Med Viking och Nordland" by Odd Helge Brugrand. It's the war time memoir of a norweigan Waffen-SS voulenteer who signed up at the young age of 16 (Ivar Skarlo). It's good and it gives a good account of the eastern front (most they do is just ride trains, march or retreat) but I can't trust the account outright. Ivar describes himself as oblivious to the racial doctrine of the Third Reich, something which I doubt anyone could be when serving in the god damn SS.

    Next up I'm thinking Quartered Safe Out Here by George Macdonald Frasier. After that I might move on to something other than World War 2... Might.
    Ned- If you are on a WWII kick, have you read Von Manstein's book "Lost Victories"?
    The "Rommel Papers" is a great read too. It is a collection of letters, diary entries, etc. mostly from the North African campaign. "Panzer Battles" by Von Mellenthin is another really good read. Guderian's book "Panzer Leader" is good too but nowhere near as good as either Von Manstein or Rommel's stuff.
    "
    Last edited by Mike70; 07-Dec-2015 at 01:38 PM. Reason: d
    "The bumps you feel are asteroids smashing into the hull."

  14. #344
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  15. #345
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike70 View Post
    Ned- If you are on a WWII kick, have you read Von Manstein's book "Lost Victories"?
    The "Rommel Papers" is a great read too. It is a collection of letters, diary entries, etc. mostly from the North African campaign. "Panzer Battles" by Von Mellenthin is another really good read. Guderian's book "Panzer Leader" is good too but nowhere near as good as either Von Manstein or Rommel's stuff.
    "
    I haven't read Lost Victories (yet). I heard that he's very apologetic and holds firm that without Hitler's interventions, the army could have won the war. This view is largely discarded by modern historians I think, as things like lack of winter clothing and inexhaustible soviet manpower would still have been issues.

    Just finished
    The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire by John Tolland, which chronicles Japan's entry into the world war starting with conflicts in China. It also gives a sympathetic view of their anti-colonialist goals and their perceived struggle against the white man's exploitation of Asia. Overall, it paints a picture of how the Japanese were doomed from the start and knew it but decided to wage war anyway because A) They desperately needed oil, tin and other resources to build up an empire that could rival the commonwealth and the US, B) It was a Now or Never situation where they either acted now with a slim chance of gaining the upper hand or might as well give up any aspirations of taking the leading role in fighting off the White man in Asia and C) Their end goal, as with Nazi Germany, was to fight off the spread of Communism in their (hopefully) future controlled Asia.
    Other factors make it obvious that the Japanese style of war had no way to ever beat a Western power at war, since defeat and failure was regarded with such shame that many competent leaders and soldiers would rather kill themselves than live on to fight another day (and thus learning from their mistakes). Honor hampered the Japanese decision making on so many situations that the only victories they ever managed to scrape up were those of operations planned before the war started, and thus a margin of surprise was held - Singapore, Pearl Harbor, Bataan etc. etc., were all victories in the early phase of the war and after their defeat at Midway, a mere 7 months after Pearl Harbor, they had almost no victories. Escort duty for convoys was also considered undesireable due to other assignments being more honorable and protection of Japanese supply ships was more or less neglected until very late in the war - despite lack of supplies being the very reason Japan started the war to begin with.

    Also currently reading Luftwaffe Chief of General Staff Karl Koller's diaries from the last days in Berlin. They're not a very thrilling read, to be honest. Mostly just dry details about phone calls and decisions being made. It does manage to paint an apocalyptic picture of an ever shrinking landscape. It also shows a more sympathetic picture of Hermann Göering these last days and the author personally, on many times, defends Göering's actions when discussing Göering's subsequent arrest by the SS with other top tiper Nazi officials throughout the narrative.

    In addition, listening to Hans von Luck's memoire's Panzer Commander. It's a good listen. Not much to say. It's mostly anecdotes in the varying campaigns stringed together by some details of the war at that point in time.

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