Topic: What are you reading?

[z_randy]

He just died Christmas 2011.  Next time I talk to his son I'm going to ask him about it.
Haven't read Schwarzkopfs book.  I'll have to look into it

[Ramblin' Dad]

I just finished a book called - Walk with Me: A Vietnam Experience.  It was written by Lt. Colonel Gerald F. Kurth who I actually knew.  He is the father of my best friend when I lived in Missouri.  He recently passed away and in talking with my friend about him he mentioned that he had written this book.  I had to order it from Amazon but it was well worth it.  At the end of the book which was published in 2000 he offers his views on the current (in 2000) US and how we conduct ourselves as a nation and militarily.  He said we are a reactive nation instead of a proactive one and we need to learn from the past or else some event is going to happen and we will react to it with the military and not have an end game to finish what was started and get bogged down like we did in Vietnam.  Handcuffed by politicians controlling military decisions etc.  If you can I recommend you read this.  He had a pretty remarkable military career and tour in Vietnam.

Vietnam was one of the most controversial wars of the 20th Century. There has been so much speculation, historical inaccuracies and public confusion surrounding the war, but "Walk With Me: A Vietnam Experience" offers clarity from someone with first hand experience on the subject. Lt. Colonel Kurth gives readers a biographical account of his 13 month tour of Vietnam and leaves little to the imagination. From page one the reader steps back in time, August of 1967 to be exact, and receives a personal guided tour of Vietnam. As the reader becomes entwined with Kurth's fascinating experience, he or she gains a true understanding of what really happened in this controversial war, and why to many who fought in Vietnam returned to the United States forever changed.

That's pretty prophetic. I wonder did he live and see 9-11 and what that started? He hit it right on the head about the politicians and the reactive government we have. Imagine what it would be like if we did not have the checks and balances in place that we do?

This book looks like a good read.

Have you read "It Doesn't Take a Hero". It's Norman Schwarzkopf's Autobiography. It good and explains somewhat as to why we stopped during desert storm. We stopped because of politics, perhaps it was a good thing we did, perhaps not. If we hadn't we probably would have ended up in the same boat as we are in now.... not really knowing what to do with it. Wanting to leave because the cost is too high, and I mean more than the money, but also not wanting to leave because of what we have already paid and the realization that when we do leave it will go back to the way it was. Under a different leader and government sure, but the same basic culture. We cannot change a culture in decades that has been developing for millennia.

[keetedw]

Yeah, you could have saved yourself a pile of time and just watched the movie.  You'd have gotten just as much out of it.  Most of the stuff he used in the movie was available free on his website.  Funny stories, sure, but yeah, "egocentric" doesn't quite cover it.

I've been reading a pile of adventure novels lately (a la Clive Cussler):

The Doomsday Key: A Sigma Force Novel - James Rollins - Fast paced, relentless, amusing, but formulaic.  Fun enough if you're looking for chewing gum for your brain.  7 out of 10

The Hunt for Atlantis - Nina Wilde, Eddie Chase - Feels like it was written for a high school level.  The main character (an established female scientist) feels like a 16-year old with childish crushes, inane dialogue and just...it's pretty rough.  Skip it...seriously...run away.  1 of 10

Ice Station - Matt Reilly - Decent premise, impossible scenarios survived make this one tough get into when it's written with factual equipment and locations, but unreal situations.  I understand that's the norm for adventure novels, but this one went a bit far.  Characters are ok, if predictable.  Another brain gum book.  6 of 10

Eye of the Storm - Jack Higgins - Interesting twist for me as this is the first adventure novel I've read where the bad guy is the one you're rooting for.  The character feels like a wanna-be james bond, but when it feels like the character is a sociopath, it feels like he's imitating how he believes bond would act.  Ok, but don't pay much for it (or anything) if you want to read it.  5 of 10

[z_randy]

I just finished "I hope they serve beer in Hell" by Tucker Max.  A friend was reading it said it was funny so I gave it a shot.  While I did laugh at some of it, mostly I just thought he was an ass.

My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world. —from the Introduction

Actual reader feedback:

"I find it truly appalling that there are people in the world like you. You are a disgusting, vile, repulsive, repugnant, foul creature. Because of you, I don't believe in God anymore. No just God would allow someone like you to exist."

"I'll stay with God as my lord, but you are my savior. I just finished reading your brilliant stories, and I laughed so hard I almost vomited. I want to bring that kind of joy to people. You're an artist of the highest order and a true humanitarian to boot. I'm in both shock and awe at how much I want to be you."

[z_randy]

I just finished a book called - Walk with Me: A Vietnam Experience.  It was written by Lt. Colonel Gerald F. Kurth who I actually knew.  He is the father of my best friend when I lived in Missouri.  He recently passed away and in talking with my friend about him he mentioned that he had written this book.  I had to order it from Amazon but it was well worth it.  At the end of the book which was published in 2000 he offers his views on the current (in 2000) US and how we conduct ourselves as a nation and militarily.  He said we are a reactive nation instead of a proactive one and we need to learn from the past or else some event is going to happen and we will react to it with the military and not have an end game to finish what was started and get bogged down like we did in Vietnam.  Handcuffed by politicians controlling military decisions etc.  If you can I recommend you read this.  He had a pretty remarkable military career and tour in Vietnam.

Vietnam was one of the most controversial wars of the 20th Century. There has been so much speculation, historical inaccuracies and public confusion surrounding the war, but "Walk With Me: A Vietnam Experience" offers clarity from someone with first hand experience on the subject. Lt. Colonel Kurth gives readers a biographical account of his 13 month tour of Vietnam and leaves little to the imagination. From page one the reader steps back in time, August of 1967 to be exact, and receives a personal guided tour of Vietnam. As the reader becomes entwined with Kurth's fascinating experience, he or she gains a true understanding of what really happened in this controversial war, and why to many who fought in Vietnam returned to the United States forever changed.

[Quagmire]

Just finished:

Victory and Honor by W.E.B. Griffin
This was apparently Book #6 in the Honor Bound Series.  I hadn't read any of the others but this book stood alone pretty well.  I really enjoyed it.  Enough to get the others in the series.

I recently finished "The Outlaws," which is the last of the Presidential Agent series by the same author (WEB Griffin).  They were all good reads, and very entertaining.  The only thing that was a little frustrating was that a lot of the text in the later books was retelling the plot lines from earlier books in the series.  I suppose that's good for someone who wants to just grab a book and read without doing so in chronological order, but it's cumbersome if you do.

That notwithstanding, they were good books.  The right amount of detail-allows you to visualize things in your head without getting buried in too much detail.

I have read the entire Jack Ryan storyline of the Tom Clancy books.  I liked the plots a little more than the WEB Griffin books, but Clancy has a tendency to go into very great detail, and I sometimes lose track in my mind of who's who.

[z_randy]

Just finished:

Victory and Honor by W.E.B. Griffin
This was apparently Book #6 in the Honor Bound Series.  I hadn't read any of the others but this book stood alone pretty well.  I really enjoyed it.  Enough to get the others in the series.

Wars come to an end. But then new ones begin. Just weeks after Hitler's suicide, Cletus Frade and his colleagues in the OSS find themselves up to their necks in battles every bit as fierce as the ones just ended. The first is political-the very survival of the OSS, with every department from Treasury to War to the FBI grabbing for its covert agents and assets. The second is on a much grander scale-the possible next world war, against Joe Stalin and his voracious ambitions. To get a jump on the latter, Frade has been conducting a secret operation, one of great daring-and great danger-but to conduct it and not be discovered, he and his men must walk a perilously dark line. One slip, and everyone becomes a casualty of war.

[z_randy]

Just finished - Riptide by by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Thought it was pretty good.  Story moved nice and kept my interest.

For centuries, treasure hunters have sought the lost horde of the notorious English pirate, Edward Ockham. Clues led to the mysterious water pit on Ragged Island, Maine--but a curse left behind by the long-dead pirate still seems to be working. Every expedition has failed--with the treasure seekers dying in gruesome fashion. Now, however, a new expedition has been mounted with state-of-the-art computer technology and backed by millions of dollars. It will all be worth it if the treasure is found. But modern technology may not be enough to overcome the deadly secrets of the water pit.

[Big daddy Eis]

You did tell me, lol.  I may have to check out the next serious after this one

[z_randy]

Told you! He has another series with the main character in the British army. Like 1600s I think. Just as good and 20 books long

[Big daddy Eis]

Just finished "Marathon: the ultimate training guide" by Hal Higdon.  A great read for anyone into running, any distance. 

Just started he first book in the Starbucks Chronicles "Rebel" by Bernard Cornwell.  let me tell you, I find this book hard to put down.  I can not wait to read them all.  Thanks for getting me hooked on them Randy!

[z_randy]

Just finished  -  Cryptonomicon  by Neal Stephenson

A friend of mine recommended it.  I thought it was pretty good.  Long book.

Neal Stephenson's latest novel, Cryptonomicon, is an immense and extraordinary tale that unwinds with all the stylistic grandeur his fans have come to expect. With Cryptonomicon, the reader is quickly plunged into a bizarre, breakneck-paced story that interweaves World War II code making and code breaking with computerized global corporate takeovers, one that melds elements of Catch-22, A Man Called Intrepid, and a hefty dose of cyberpunk reality. Stephenson leaves behind the science fiction worlds of his previous novels — Snow Crash and The Diamond Age — to depict the madness involved in many of World War II's top-secret missions and to offer a view of how 1940s cryptography eventually led to technological developments in the world of computers.

Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, a brilliant mathematician at Princeton, is eventually lured away from luminous fellow students Alan Turing and Rudy von Hacklheber and enters the U.S. Navy. There he is considered so dim that he's only given the task of playing the glockenspiel in the Navy band. After the disaster of Pearl Harbor, however, Waterhouse's skills as a cryptoanalyst are finally noticed, and he's immediately sent to Bletchley Park, England, the base of the Allied code-busting operations. The "unbreakable" German code, Enigma, has been cracked, and the Allies want to use their newfound information without alerting the Germans and Japanese to the fact that their plans are no longer secret. It's Waterhouse's job, as a member of the ultra-secret Detachment 2702, to make all oftheAllied actions from this point on look "randomized," so that the Axis powers won't realize Enigma has been broken.

Paired up again with Turing, who is on his way to developing the first computer, Waterhouse learns that their old friend Rudy is now the chief German cryptographer. Waterhouse's insight into the peculiarities of fellow mathematicians might allow him to stay one step ahead of the enemy. Meanwhile, U.S. Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe, a survivor of Guadalcanal and a generally unstable personality, is brought in to make contrived events appear to be genuine. His missions include putting corpses into wet suits with fake documentation and flying into the heart of enemy territory. He's left in the dark as to the details of Detachment 2702's work, but that's what he's come to expect from his superiors.

When the novel shifts to the present, Waterhouse's grandson, Randy, an Internet commando and computer genius, is trying to make a bundle of money by setting up a so-called data haven in the Philippines, along with his paranoid partner, Avi. They envision a place where all data is safe from government interference, corporate attack, or hacker assault. Randy eventually hooks up with Bobby Shaftoe's granddaughter, Amy (short for America), who is interested in helping Randy lay deep-sea cable between the islands and make whatever she can from this new enterprise. In this area of the ocean floor, there is a sunken German submarine that carries the still undeciphered Axis code named Arethusa; investigated in the past by Waterhouse and Shaftoe, the code is eventually nabbed by Randy and America. The pair must outwit their nemesis, a wealthy, calculating criminal called the Dentist, and do whatever they can to decipher Arethusa and stay alive in the meantime.

Told in present-tense narratives from three points of view — those of Waterhouse, Bobby Shaftoe, and Randy — the overall story arcs, bops, and weaves in an engrossing and challenging way. The shifts between plots and timelines are abrupt but engaging, and the style is flashy, cool, and sharp. The author's stylistic pyrotechnics are never so blinding or distracting that the reader can't appreciate the skill of his craftsmanship. The characters are credible, if extreme, and are often placed in situations that are funny, exciting, outrageous, but believable. Here we see how mathematics can consume our brightest scholars to the point where they can barely function in the world and how, for them, even a look out the window at the city of London isn't a real view but a chance to graph and chart the ratios of building heights. Stephenson's juxtaposition of the real world with a virtual world of unseen numbers and equations adds a sense of near-fantasy to the work.

Despite his many forays into deeply technical jargon, Stephenson never takes on a lecturing tone — more often than not, such romps are meant to underscore the mathematician's character traits to humorous effect. Case in point: Waterhouse and Turing go into several pages' worth of equations to figure out the probability of when the chain will fall from Turing's bike. Stephenson's snappy, hip delivery adds new bombastics to the World War II scenery, and as past and present are blended into a single story thread, the reader discovers a genuinely diverting and wholly entertaining experience. Cryptonomicon is a must-read, don't-miss extravaganza that the world will be talking about for years to come.

[Big daddy Eis]

It's an awesome, quick book.  He also writes the penguin chronicles (although I have never read them). I am sending the book to my brother in PA, I can have him send it to you when he is done If you would like

[z_randy]

I want to read that book by John Bingham.  He has one about marathons also. That's my favorite quote of all time.

[Big daddy Eis]

Just finished reading "The Courage to Start" by John "The Penguin" Bingham.  AN awesome book, with lots of good tips for those wishing to start or continue running. 

Product Description
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
Take your first step toward fitness and a happier, healthier life.

Has the idea of running crossed your mind, but you haven't acted on it because you don't think you have the body of a runner? Have you thought about running but quit before you started because you knew that you would be breathless at the end of your driveway? Well, put aside those fears because you can do it. John Bingham, author of the popular Runner's World column "The Penguin Chronicles," transformed himself from an overweight couch potato who smoked into a runner who has completed eleven marathons and hundreds of road races.

Forget about the image of a perfect body in skintight clothes, and don't worry about how fast or how far you go. Bingham shows how anyone can embrace running as a life-enhancing activity -- rather than as a competition you will never win. In an entertaining blend of his own success story and practical advice, Bingham provides reasonable guidelines for establishing a program of achievable goals; offers tips on clothing, running shoes, and other equipment; and explains how anyone can prepare for and run distances ranging from a few miles to marathons.

After all, in running and in life, the difference between success and failure sometimes comes down to a single step. Waddle on, friends.

About the Author
John Bingham writes "The Penguin Chronicles," a monthly column in Runner's World, maintains a popular Web site, and trains other "slow and steady" runners nationwide. He lives in Tennessee.

I have started reading "Manhood" By Stephen Biddulph.  This appears to be a good book.  If it is as good as "Raising Boys" By the same author, then it will be a great book. 

Product Description
'Most men don't have a life' is the dramatic opening to Steve Biddulph's bestseller Manhood. Exploring two critical social issues: establishing a healthy masculinity and how men can release themselves from suffocating and outdated social moulds, Biddulph addresses the problems and possibilities confronting men in their daily life. Women have found the book to be a profoundly moving and revealing read; while men acquire recognition and a sense of hope that life can be different. Topics include:--Seven steps to manhood--You and your father - breaking down the defences--Sex and spirit - coming alive--Being a real father - turning your love into action--Real male friends - be proud of being male and much more-This edition has been revised and updated to meet the needs of younger men, who are struggling with these issues in the twenty-first century.'Steve Biddulph should be in the UK what he is in Australia, the household name in the business of raising boys and being a man' Dorothy Rowe, psychologist and writer

[z_randy]

Just finished this one: Toys by James Patterson

Hays Baker and his wife Lizbeth possess super-human strength, exceptional intelligence, stunning looks, a sex life to die for, and two beautiful children. Of course they do--they're Elites, endowed at birth with the most advanced genetic enhancements available. Elitesare the pinnacle of evolution; the triumph of man's ambitions.

The only problem in their perfect world--are the humans!

And their toys!

Now comes the most unbelievable shock of Hays Baker's life. Suddenly he's on the other side of the gun, experiencing a life he'd never dreamed possible--and fighting to save humans everywhere from extinction.

Not only that, Hays and Lizbeth just might lose their perfect family.

James Patterson's Toys is a thriller on a hyper plane--with a hero to rival both Bond and Jason Bourne.

It was very enjoyable

[Big daddy Eis]

Not sure why i am reading this, but thought it would be a good read, and it is.  Takes me away from my typical book choices.

"The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History" By: Kevin M. Sullivan

Theodore Bundy was one of the more infamous, and flamboyant, American serial killers on record, and his story is a complex mix of psychopathology, criminal investigation, and the U.S. legal system. This in-depth examination of Bundy's life and his killing spree that totaled dozens of victims is drawn from legal transcripts, correspondence and interviews with detectives and prosecutors. Using these sources, new information on several murders is unveiled. The biography follows Bundy from his broken family background to his execution in the electric chair. 

[Frobozz]

 

[z_randy]

Here are some images from your book

[Frobozz]

Just finished "Sex on the Moon"

Thad Roberts, a fellow in a prestigious NASA program had an idea—a romantic, albeit crazy, idea. He wanted to give his girlfriend the moon. Literally.
 
Thad convinced his girlfriend and another female accomplice, both NASA interns, to break into an impregnable laboratory at NASA—past security checkpoints, an electronically locked door with cipher security codes, and camera-lined hallways—and help him steal the most precious objects in the world: the moon rocks.
 
But what does one do with an item so valuable that it’s illegal even to own? And was Thad Roberts—undeniably gifted, picked for one of the most competitive scientific posts imaginable, a possible astronaut—really what he seemed?
 
Mezrich has pored over thousands of pages of court records, FBI transcripts, and NASA documents and has interviewed most of the participants in the crime to reconstruct this Ocean’s Eleven–style heist, a madcap story of genius, love, and duplicity that reads like a Hollywood thrill ride.

[z_randy]

Also just finished "Room" by Emma Donoghue (well listened to this one in the car)

In many ways, Jack is a typical 5-year-old. He likes to read books, watch TV, and play games with his Ma. But Jack is different in a big way--he has lived his entire life in a single room, sharing the tiny space with only his mother and an unnerving nighttime visitor known as Old Nick. For Jack, Room is the only world he knows, but for Ma, it is a prison in which she has tried to craft a normal life for her son. When their insular world suddenly expands beyond the confines of their four walls, the consequences are piercing and extraordinary. Despite its profoundly disturbing premise, Emma Donoghue's Room is rife with moments of hope and beauty, and the dogged determination to live, even in the most desolate circumstances. A stunning and original novel of survival in captivity, readers who enter Room will leave staggered, as though, like Jack, they are seeing the world for the very first time.

[z_randy]

Just finished the Grail Quest Trilogy by Bernard Cornwell:

1) Harlequin/The Archer's Tale    

Harlequin (US title The Archer's Tale) begins a series of stories set in the middle of the fourteenth century, an age when the four horsemen of the apocalypse seem to have been released over Europe. This first book tells how Thomas of Hookton leaves his native Dorset to fight aginst the French in Brittany and, afterwards, at the battle of Crecy in Picardy. It is a tale of longbows and butchery, especially when England's archers swarm into the Norman city of Caen. And over it all, like a dream, hovers the grail which is the epitome of chivalry and Christian decency, qualities which are in desperately short supply as the armies of France and England struggle at the beginning of what will be known as the Hundred Years War.

2)   Vagabond    

Vagabond is a follow-up to Harlequin (The Archer's Tale in the US) - and starts almost as soon as the earlier book ends, carrying on Thomas of Hookton's story. He has been sent back to England to pursue his father's mysterious legacy which hints that the Holy Grail might exist and gets tangled with the Scottish invasion of 1347. He survives that only to discover that various powerful folk in France are pursuing the same quest, a complication that takes Thomas back to Brittany and the brutal fighting about La Roche-Derrien

3) Heretic

Heretic is the third in the 'Grail Quest' series, and it takes Thomas of Hookton south into Gascony and to a final confrontation with his cousin, Guy Vexille. The novel begins with the fall of Calais, and most of the events occur in the subsequent truce, but for Thomas and his companions there can be no truce, only a vicious small war which ends with them being besieged, not just by enemies intent on finding the grail, but by the Black Death.

As with all Bernard Cornwell stories they are well researched for the time they are set in and a good read.  This series wasn't his best but still a fun read

[Woody]

I recently started reading 'Take Your Eyes Off The Ball' by Pat Kirwan.  If you are a hardcore football fan and think you know everything that is going on on the field, go check this book out.  If you go to patkirwan.com and order the book there, he personally signs every copy.  I bought the package that includes everything.  Once I get through the book, I'm going to check out the companion.  After that, I'll probably listen to the audio book.  And then maybe read the book again.

I'm so into this kind of stuff, I've been on the look out for other books like it.

[Big daddy Eis]

*** MODIFIED ***

I am in the process of finishing up  finished "Raising Boys" by Steve Biddulph

An awesome book on the difficulties of raising boys, and how different they are then raising girls.  The biggest takeaway from the book is that the lack of a father creates the greatest amount of problems for boys.

A friendly and practical guide to the stages and issues in boys'? development from birth to manhood. From award-winning psychologist Steve Biddulph comes an expanded and updated edition of RAISING BOYS, his international best seller published in 14 countries. His complete guide for parents, educators, and relatives includes chapters on testosterone, sports, and how boys' and girls' brains differ. With gentle humor and proven wisdom, RAISING BOYS focuses on boys' unique developmental needs to help them be happy and healthy at every stage of life.   

I am also in the process of finishing up "The Glorious Cause"  By Jeff Sharra

Shaara's hefty fifth novel, the second in a two-volume series about the American Revolution, is an epic saga of what Shaara calls our first civil war and the first truly world war, told with emotion, energy and historical precision. Using the formula of character-driven fiction employed by his father, Michael Shaara (The Killer Angels), Jeff Shaara presents the dramatic history of the revolution as seen through the eyes of the major players. In describing the battles, skirmishes, victories, defeats, blunders, intrigues, treason and bickering, Shaara illuminates the circumstances whereby a rebel collection of motley amateurs dared to confront a mighty empire and its vaunted army. The narrative establishes immediacy in its colorful profiles of the participants. Shaara depicts George Washington as a general whose force of will and strong character earn the loyalty of soldiers who are defeated by the British again and again. Washington's relationships with other principals are profound and surprising. Having regarded Gen. Charles Lee as a friend, he is stunned by the behavior of his second-in-command on the battlefield and behind his back. He thinks highly of Gen. Nathaniel Greene and the Marquis de Lafayette, and neither will disappoint him. Having enjoyed the "pleasantly sociable" company of Benedict Arnold, Washington discovers too late that there are two traitors at West Point. He also learns firsthand how "Mad Anthony" Wayne earned his nickname. Shaara takes equal pains to characterize the British, men like dawdling Gen. William Howe, arrogant Henry Clinton and the capable but hapless Charles Cornwallis. This is vivid and compelling historical fiction, but also a primer on leadership and the arts of war and diplomacy. Shaara reaches new heights here, with a narrative that's impossible to put down.

[z_randy]

Another cool fantasy series that I read a long time ago and just remembered now is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

http://www.amazon.com/First-Chronicles-Thomas-Covenant-Unbeliever/dp/073942548X/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309395753&sr=1-10