Just started reading Maverick, the biography of the great man (& enlisted Marine) Thomas Sowell.
I’ve been anxious to finish the books I had ahead of it.
So far a very good read.

Yesterday I came across Victor Hugo's Les Miserables in our bookcase and started to read it ... now I am hooked.

Meditations by Marcus Arelious

Plague of Corruption by Dr. Judy Mikovits

flight 232.

Just finished Man Without a Face, the autobiography of Marcus Wolf, the long time head of the East German foreign intelligence service, and Stasiland by Anna Funder about the internal East German security service. Both were recommended by a former US diplomat who had been stationed in West Berlin prior to reunification. I have read countless books about the Soviet KGB, but knew very little about the so-called “Stasi.”

A book about the history of the US Federal Air Marshal Service by Clay Biles. An interesting history.

The Scourge of War by Holden Reid, a biography of William Tecumseh Sherman that addresses much of the misinformation previously published about the man.

Another finished not long ago was On Killing Remotely: The Psychology of Killing with Drones by Wayne Phelps. Not the best-written book I’ve ever read, but it concerns the important subject of the US remotely piloted aircraft program.

Rereading The Second World Wars [sic] by Victor Davis Hanson. Another of his gems that examines virtually every aspect of the personalities, strategies, tactics, weapons, decisions, etc., that affected the conduct and outcome of the war in a way that I’ve never read by other authors. I.e., not just what happened, but the hows and whys.

And many thrillers by Stephen Hunter.

Currently reading "Patton At the Battle Of The Bulge" by Leo Barron.

When I drive for work I am listening to the audiobook "Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland". Read it, but trying the audiobook thing. Before this I listened to "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy: The Life of General James Mattis" and I enjoyed listening to it as I drove. Let's me think.

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity by Carlo M. Cipolla. It's a quick read (30 to 45 minutes) but very enlightening.

Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Sometimes I think we’ve all gone down the rabbit hole.

The Summons
John Grisham

Books I bought a long time ago but never read till now:

Jim Clark The Legend Lives On
It was such a tragedy he died at 32 in '68. A lot of fascinating auto racing lore. I was reminded of how dangerous (how few real safety measures) auto racing was in the '50s and '60s.

John M. Browning American Gunmaker
A great read. I am amazed at what a creative genius he was. I am in awe of what he accomplished.

quote:

Originally posted by airbubba:
flight 232.

Haven't read the book, but familiar with the story. If you wanted any one person on that flight, it had to be Denny Fitch.

Woke Inc.

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

Just finished "Empires of the Sea" by Roger Crowley, a history of the Battle of Lepanto and the events leading up to it. Recommended, FWIW.

Also finished "Fighting for America" by Jeremy Black. It's supposed to be a macrohistory of the various competitors for dominance in North America, but it wound up being a 400-page book that would have to be a two-volume set to really do the subject justice. It has pretensions to be a geopolitical history, but really just provides a bit of backstory to explain the choices made by America, Britain, France and (to a lesser degree) Germany and Russia between the mid-1600s and 1871. Recommended as an overview.

Finally, I polished off Rebecca Pawel's "Death of Nationalist". Historically very good, but kinda limps along as a mystery with an ending that the author just kinda pulled out of her butt.

Currently reading "Eternity Street", a history of street violence, vigilanteism, and the slow growth of law enforcement in Los Angeles from the days when it was founded as a presidio in the Spanish Empire. So far not too bad, but two chapters in and I could cheerfully strangle the author for jumping around in a technically clumsy attempt to hook the reader. We shall see.

quote:

Originally posted by John Steed:
Books I bought a long time ago but never read till now:

Jim Clark The Legend Lives On
It was such a tragedy he died at 32 in '68. A lot of fascinating auto racing lore. I was reminded of how dangerous (how few real safety measures) auto racing was in the '50s and '60s.

Reading Jackie Stewart's autobiography right now, might have to get Clark's, too, afterward.

I just bought a pack of Analog and Assimov’s from https://www.analogsf.com/store/print-magazine-1/ and I’m enjoying them.

Working through a couple of excellent books by Ward Farnsworth.

The Socratic Method: A Practitioner’s Handbook

The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual

Farnsworth's Classical English Style

Finally got around to the Aubrey / Maturin series

On about the 10th book


Really enjoy it

====================

Just finished “with the old breed” by Eugene Sledge. It’s his story of his part of WWII in the USMC and his battle on Peleliu and Okinawa . HBO made it into a series The Pacific.

And I am into the first chapter of Kurt Schlichter’s 4 th book of Kelly Turnbull character. Indian Country, People’s Republic, Wildfire and Collapse. A series hosted in the near future where America has split up into two countries Blue and Red and the differences and how they came to be.