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pkells posted:Does the paperwhite have a backlit screen? That's my only complaint about mine. I've got the basic, ad-supported one from the last generation, and I love it. It's like $69 on amazon now, and there's no excuse not to get it if you read a lot. Between amazon prime book lending, libraries, and Yep! Has an LED lit screen. The screen itself isn't lit apparently there's leds on the side that project over it. It's pretty awesome. I got a $8 leather case (turns it off/on with closing/opening. I always bring it to the field with me since we're always sitting around for days doing nothing. It's awesome cant recommend enough. I got mine refurbed from amazon for $103 or something with ads. Saved $20. The new one was on sale a week or two ago for $20 off I use calibre to convert PDFs. I guess the previous models it was hit or miss the quality of concerted PDFs. Looks great on the paperwhite.
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May 20, 2013 01:54
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you can build up a years worth of reading overnight.
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Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan by Sean Parnell. In my opinion one of the best books to have come out of the war in Afghanistan. Parnell is a fairly gifted writer and he tells his story honestly and in an easy to read way. Nothing ground shattering, but absolutely worth picking up.Amazon posted:A riveting story of American fighting men, Outlaw Platoon is Lieutenant Sean Parnell’s stunning personal account of the legendary U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division’s heroic stand in the mountains of Afghanistan.
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May 20, 2013 01:56
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Elendil004 posted:Riding Rockets. This is a book about being an astronaut. It's not a hoorah USA USA history book, it's a down to earth story about what it takes, and how sex works on the Space Shuttle. It's nice to see the veil stripped away and see that deep down, even the guy who flies the shuttle makes a fart joke here and there. Thanks Sharkytm Hey thanks for posting this thread- I read this a while back. It was a good read, the only problem I had with it was having to sit through him bitching about Sally Ride, and bitching about John Glenn flying in 1998. Otherwise it was a good time reading about space boners.
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May 20, 2013 07:59
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I read Lords of Judgement, about a small Southern school that is Not The Citadel on my last deployment and enjoyed it. Apparently the same guy, Pat Conroy, wrote The Great Santini about a Marine pilot. I don't know, I have not read it yet, but would be interested in starting.
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May 20, 2013 09:43
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hannibal posted:I don't think it's this one, but when I was in OTS (9 yrs ago) I read a really interesting book from a journalist's perspective about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan where the guy was traveling around, talking to Afghan fighters, etc. I tried looking for it once before but nothing seemed to match up with what I remembered about the book. I'm also interested in what this book might be. It sounds like Edward Girardet but I've only read his 2011 work Killing the Cranes which you could not have read nine years ago. Perhaps it was one of his earlier books though. He's got some pretty out-there stories, for example he claims to have spoken with the Arab journalists/suicide bombers the day before they assassinated Massoud. Also claims to have confronted Hekmatyar in the 80s when he found out Hekmatyar wanted him dead, then Massoud had his men shadow Girardet for weeks to protect him from Hekmatyar's goons. izorpo fucked around with this message at 11:39 on May 20, 2013 |
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May 20, 2013 11:33
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I'm trying to like Johnny Rico's Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green but, being about two fifths in, the pacing is starting to get really grating  House to House by David Bellavia was a big eye opener for me btw, I think it got mentioned in the earlier thread.
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May 20, 2013 21:28
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What was the book that was written by the Japanese soldier who holed up on some Pacific island for like, ever? I remember they had to get the guy's old CO to come order him to stop, and when he wrote the book he got some children's book publisher to publish it because he liked them or something? I remember it being quite good.
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May 20, 2013 21:49
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http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/soldiersurr_2.htm Was the dude. I think he's kind of a hero/celebrity now and such even though he killed a bunch of local Filipinos.
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May 20, 2013 23:24
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Koesj posted:I'm trying to like Johnny Rico's Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green but, being about two fifths in, the pacing is starting to get really grating House by house is a bad book and is most likely all made up.
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May 21, 2013 00:17
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FISTS CURE WOMEN posted:House by house is a bad book and is most likely all made up. Why do you say that? Just curious
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May 21, 2013 00:19
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mokhtar belmokhtar posted:Why do you say that? Just curious There's a part where he describes killing a man hand-to-hand. It goes into gory detail about the other guy being able to laugh/gurgle at him despite his face being totally smashed because he's hopped up on epinephrine. There's a bunch of stories like that in the book- nothing impossible, but the details and the way it's written makes parts improbable or embellished.
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May 21, 2013 00:34
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Eh, I guess it's only decently written fiction then 
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May 21, 2013 00:35
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Beating dudes to death with my plates erryday
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May 21, 2013 02:39
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EVA BRAUN BLOWJOBS posted:There's a part where he describes killing a man hand-to-hand. It goes into gory detail about the other guy being able to laugh/gurgle at him despite his face being totally smashed because he's hopped up on epinephrine. There's a bunch of stories like that in the book- nothing impossible, but the details and the way it's written makes parts improbable or embellished. Cool thanks I've never read it and can't find anyone else calling him out online so was a bit curious
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May 21, 2013 03:01
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Trolled by Moker. Should have seen it coming. 
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May 21, 2013 03:28
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EVA BRAUN BLOWJOBS posted:Trolled by Moker. Should have seen it coming. What I wasn't trolling at all :/
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May 21, 2013 04:16
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I'm sure if you read you've heard of "Lies my Teacher Told me" If not highly recommend
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May 21, 2013 04:18
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Elendil004 posted:What was the book that was written by the Japanese soldier who holed up on some Pacific island for like, ever? I remember they had to get the guy's old CO to come order him to stop, and when he wrote the book he got some children's book publisher to publish it because he liked them or something? I remember it being quite good. That would be Hiroo Onoda, and the book is No Surrender; My Thirty Year War I believe.
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May 21, 2013 11:22
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Go watch Armadillo because some weeping vagina doesn't want it corrupting your innocent minds. Oh and Denmark.
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May 21, 2013 17:53
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I just finished "Blind Mans Bluff" That was a seriously loving good read right there. Now I want a version of it that covers 1989-2013 in the kind of detail that most of the book was in. Great book, but it was quite obvious the Author didn't have nearly as much good poo poo to write about from about the end of the Reagen years to the (then) modern day. I guess I'll have to wait until I'm older and it gets written eventually. 100% recommend the book though, really captivating stuff and a great read. Rotten Punk posted:Geneva Convention - This is the illustrated edition, since you probably don't read so good. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time as I did when I read this. Well played. If your gonna carebear troll GiP at least be funny. Sorry you got probated man
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May 22, 2013 12:14
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GAS CURES KIKES posted:
The last one made me laugh
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May 22, 2013 15:18
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Rotten Punk posted:Geneva Convention - This is the illustrated edition, since you probably don't read so good. For what it's worth, I thought this was brilliant. If anybody's interested in Germany during the interwar period (that's between the world wars, you uneducated plebs), I've got a couple of suggestions. This one's a decent overview: James S. Corum, The Roots of Blitzkrieg (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1992) These were written by generals deeply involved in the development of German tank doctrine: Heinz Guderian, Achtung-Panzer! The Development of Tank Warfare, trans. Christopher Duffy (London: Cassell, 1999) Erich von Manstein, Lost Victories, ed. and trans. Anthony G. Powell (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1958) Note that in Guderian's book, depending on which edition you get, there's a passage that credits B. H. Liddell-Hart with being one of the early tank theoriests...this passage appeared after LH read the book and contacted Guderian to ask him to put him in it because he knew what a significant book it would become. LH had little/nothing to do even with British tank doctrine.
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May 22, 2013 16:08
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Updated to this point. Can someone post a better review of House to House? Right now it's kinda disjointed. Also I realize the cold war/modern is kinda jumbled, but it is what it is. Christoff, was your request filled to your satisfaction?
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May 22, 2013 16:32
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Elendil004 posted:Updated to this point. Can someone post a better review of House to House? Right now it's kinda disjointed. I don't mean to be a turd-lord, but "A Lonely Kind of War" belongs in the Vietnam section, my fault for not making that clear when I was listing them. As for other recommendations: Street Without Joy: http://www.amazon.com/Street-Without-Joy-Indochina-Stackpole/dp/0811732363 Pretty much a classic investigation of the French efforts in Indochina, leading up to direct American intervention. American soldiers in Vietnam had a tendency to make references to this book when seeing what the higher-ups were doing wrong. And from the other end, an overall investigation of the Vietnam conflict, in some cases going as far back as the Mongol invasions of Vietnam, to (assuming you have the 1997 edition) the curious modernization of Vietnam. It's a brick of a book, but I strongly recommend it: http://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Histo...etnam+a+history And for WW2, and this will be good for you navy pukes, Ian Toll's Pacific Crucible. http://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Cruci...acific+Crucible Essentially, it looks at the first year of the Pacific War, and for me it serves as a reminder of why I should never ever be on a ship at war, because holy God this guy gives you an idea what it's like to be on the damage-control teams.
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May 23, 2013 04:01
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BlueDiablo posted:I don't mean to be a turd-lord, but "A Lonely Kind of War" belongs in the Vietnam section, my fault for not making that clear when I was listing them. Bernard Fall wrote a lot of good poo poo about Vietnam. "Hell in a Very Small Place" is another good one by Fall. "A Savage War of Peace" by Allister Horne is another one about the end of France's empire. Always been a big fan of "Fields of Fire" by Webb about Vietnam. http://www.amazon.com/Major-Problem...am+War+Textbook Although it's an essay collection and a textbook, I liked it. vains fucked around with this message at 06:43 on May 23, 2013 |
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May 23, 2013 05:40
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Uh I posted about Fall on the last page, get with it. But yeah his stuff is excellent, if you read Street Without Joy and Hell in a Very Small Place, give the book his widow wrote a try. It's very personal, but it's well written and I found it really interesting to get the background story of why Fall was the way he was (mother died in Auschwitz, father executed by the Gestapo, he spent his teenage years fighting with the French Resistance). Horne's work is excellent. If we're talking WWII US Navy in the Pacific books, Neptune's Inferno is absolutely required reading. It basically picks up where Pacific Crucible ends. The naval battles in Ironbottom Sound and elsewhere around Guadalcanal were loving insane; in the space of 4 months the US Navy took over 5,000 KIA and lost over 160,000 tons of shipping (including 8 cruisers and 2 carriers). Almost three sailors died in the waters and air around Guadalcanal for every Marine/soldier that died on the island. The same author also wrote Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors (about the stand of Taffy 3 off Samar, where a bunch of lightly armored and armed destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers held off the bulk of the IJN combined fleet) and Ship of Ghosts (about the USS Houston, the Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast, a heavy cruiser who fought a hopeless delaying action in the Western Pacific during the opening months of WWII until she was sunk, after which her survivors spent three long grueling years working on the brutal Death Railway in Burma.) Also in this vein, A Dawn Like Thunder is excellent. It's a history of VT-8, the torpedo squadron that at Midway had all 15 of their Devastators get shot down, with 29 of 30 aircrew KIA, and 5 of 6 Avengers shot down, with 10 of 12 aircrew KIA. Earning a PUC for their performance at Midway (unit equivalent of the MOH), the squadron was re-established and thrown into Guadalcanal, where they flew from the Saratoga until she took a torpedo, which sent the squadron to Henderson Field where they flew as part of the Cactus Air Force, where they took such heavy casualties that eventually all aircraft were disabled, at which point they operated as a single aircraft squadron, with the bulk of the aircrew and maintainers fighting infantry. They were withdrawn from combat in November and the squadron was disestablished, after being awarded another PUC. Finally, if Blind Man's Bluff interested you, check out By Any Means Necessary. It's basically the Blind Man's Bluff of the sky...except here people died. Over 100 aircrew, to be exact. And some of them came down alive, were captured, and were executed after spending time in Soviet or Chinese prisons. None of which the US government ever acknowledged to the families they left behind.
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May 23, 2013 06:40
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Gwamp posted:eh, no fun books here at all. Seconding this. It's the one of the best anti-war/anti-military book I've ever read. Despite it being a scifi book, it has the most realistic enlisted.txt viewpoint I seen in mil-scifi books. (enlisted always get hosed over, Officers are Nobles, only officers deserve multiple "L"'s in their names). edit: free kindle copy claimed by kombatmedik Also, check out Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II, by George MacDonald Fraser http://amzn.com/1602391904 It's about the authors personal memior about his WW2 service in the mostly forgotten & ignored Burma campaign. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 01:22 on May 24, 2013 |
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May 23, 2013 16:13
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BlueDiablo posted:I don't mean to be a turd-lord, but "A Lonely Kind of War" belongs in the Vietnam section, my fault for not making that clear when I was listing them. Whoops. Yeah I just finished that book, it was great. Not the best FAC book, but top 3 I think. I meant to put it in vietnam.
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May 23, 2013 17:41
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When the Bullet Hits Your Funny Bone: The Essence of a U.S. Navy SEAL This was recommend in another thread in GIP and seems pretty good. Will have to give it a read when I get a chance. quote:When the Bullet Hits Your Funny Bone: the Essence of a U.S. Navy SEAL is a collection of true events about the author's time in U.S. Navy SEAL Teams and how SEALs use their humor to cope with all sorts of tragic events that they experience in their professional careers. My Portuguese friend told me a while ago about Codex 632: The Secret of Christopher Columbus He was telling me little bits about how it argues Columbus is Portuguese. Things like how Portugal sent him to Spain because they found all the gold in Brazil and wanted to distract them with North America. How he hit ports like Madeira (Portuguese island in the Atlantic) and knew where exactly to go. There's a city in Portugal named Cuba and that's where he was possibly from, etc. I'm not saying he is Portuguese but it's fun to think about. Apparently it's a historical novel about Columbus based around historical facts.
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May 24, 2013 03:51
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tuluk posted:Seconding this. Thanks again for this man, I can't wait to read it!
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May 24, 2013 08:18
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Booblord Zagats posted:The last one made me laugh If he's going to recomend manga, he should at least recommend  Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki, a based-on-real-life account of a Japanese infantry unit stuck on an island during WWII. The art style isn't really that anime if that's a problem. 
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May 24, 2013 08:38
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Can-O-Raid posted:If he's going to recomend manga, he should at least recommend Spoiler alert: Everyone gets the literal poo poo kicked out of them by their officers, finally see an american, and then all die. Book recommendations: SOG by John Plaster. Really good book written by a former SOG guy, so there's a lot of personal recollections from the men in the unit as well as a general strategic history of the program & its accomplishments. There's a story about a NVA sentry in there that would fit perfectly in the 0_o thread. WWII stuff: Is Paris Burning The liberation of Paris as seen by the people who participated in it. Bounces around from the French Underground, DeGaulle's men, Allied command, German occupation forces, civilians, etc etc. Coherent & fun to read despite all that. The Mammoth book of Eyewitness World War 2 Exactly what it sounds like. Diaries, interviews, letters, arraigned by chronology/theatre. Not much else to say about this one, its like having everyone's grandpa in your pocket. Not spectacular but great to have when reading other WW2 books because of the way things are organized, its really easy to find first-person accounts of whatever topic you're reading about.
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May 25, 2013 18:33
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US Civil War is cool right? http://www.amazon.com/Company-Aytch-Samuel-R-Watkins/dp/0452281245 Memoir of a Confederate soldier who served for four years. Nthing the Old Breed, it's a quality read.
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May 27, 2013 09:37
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I am still searching for a Falklands war book as well...any recommendations? E: This is one of the few books that I actually had to put down while reading it because it's that intense. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda is the memoir from the UN General who led the task force in Rwanda during the brutal genocide there. I believe he is still the highest ranking office diagnosed with PTSD due to the events there. It's a really gripping book and it will make you angry because there were so many warning signs, so many chances for other players to step in, and really so many people who DID care but couldn't get anyone else to give a poo poo. Him talking about having to drive around dying starving kids in the street because he just couldn't stop and save everyone is particularly gut wrenching. Elendil004 fucked around with this message at 14:09 on May 27, 2013 |
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May 27, 2013 14:06
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Not entirely war related but Legacy of Ashes is worth a read if you'd like to be depressed about our continuing and ongoing foreign policy and intelligence failures brought to you by the agency who thought the Bay of Pigs was a good idea. Even explains why they thought it was a good idea self delusion, they'd done it hundreds of times before with the same result, on a smaller scale. Find out about the guy the boat McCain wet started was named after and why it's a bad idea to have a sub organization in your organization that doesn't answer to the same people. Or anyone at all. Also has some insight on Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Mostly the same problem repeating itself in intelligence.
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May 27, 2013 14:10
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Couple of Falklands ones: Sea Harrier Over the Falklands by Sharkey Ward is very good read, you'll be left with no doubts about the author's opinions. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Harrier-Over-The-Falklands/dp/0304355429/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369661606&sr=8-1&keywords=sharkey+ward) It's definitely worth reading in conjunction with One Hundred Days by Sandy Woodward, which is a somewhat broader and more considered look at the campaign from the point of view of the Task Force commander. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Hundred-Days-Falklands-Commander/dp/0007134673/ref=cm_cr_dp_asin_lnk) I've yet to come across a decent book about the whole campaign from an academic/ historical perspective. Battle for the Falklands by Max Hastings is often recommended, but it's showing its age by now. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Falklands-Pan-Military-Classics/dp/033051363X/ref=pd_vtp_b_1) WW1 The Wipers Times was a trench newspaper published intermittently throughout the war by soldiers from the Sherwood Foresters. It's filled with all sorts of satirical content and gives a taste of the gallows humour in the trenches. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wipers-Times-Complete-Newspaper/dp/1906251177/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1369662226&sr=1-1 Wiki page (read this, there are a few sample items from the paper): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipers_Times It's also worth looking out for these http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Somme-Peter-Barton/dp/1849017190/ref=pd_sim_b_1 and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arras-Offensive-Panoramas-Including-Bullecourt/dp/1845294211/ref=pd_sim_b_2 They're collections of panoramas of the Western Front taken during the war by the British Army for planning and intelligence purposes. There are a couple of others which seem to be out of print, but they show very clearly what the battlefields were like.
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May 27, 2013 14:52
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Has anyone read this? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phoenix-Squadron-Britains-Topguns-dramatic/dp/0552152900/ref=pd_sim_b_2/275-8719812-6690232 It popped up, looks interesting, but could also be trash.
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May 27, 2013 14:56
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Black Hearts by Jim Fredericks is an incredibly interesting book. It's nominally about the whole Yusufiyah rape/murder in 2006, but really it's about an absolute lack of leadership and how no one really knew what the hell they were doing there. The Outpost by Jake Tapper is similar with regards to the story about lack of leadership, but it leads up to one of the most intense battles of the entire Afghan war.
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May 27, 2013 19:23
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Elendil004 posted:I am still searching for a Falklands war book as well...any recommendations? Seconding this, I have this book and it is very intense (but very good). There's also a movie version which I thought was pretty good.
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May 28, 2013 00:58
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hannibal posted:Seconding this, I have this book and it is very intense (but very good). There's also a movie version which I thought was pretty good. What's the movie version? I know Hotel Rwanda draws off the same themes... DRONES CURE HAJI posted:...one of the most intense battles of the entire Afghan war. Lions of Kandahar is one of the most intense fights that I have read about (though I am picking up the one you recommended) for that particular war. One part stuck out, at one point the author thinks he's gotten so shellshocked that he has lost hearing, so he wanders around a bit with no hearing...then he lifts his earpro, and they are full of sweat, so much so that his ears were 100% in "water" and that was affecting his hearing. He just dumped them out, put them back on and kept fighting. Elendil004 fucked around with this message at 01:26 on May 28, 2013 |
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May 28, 2013 01:18
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