A retired Army Colonel friend of mine was assigned to Spandau Prison in the late 50's/early 60's. He said Albert Speer: His Battle With The Truth was very good.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
On my Kindle reader, I am halfway through 'Wool', by Hugh Howey, book 1 of the Silo trilogy.

In 'real' books, I have just started 'Inside the Third Reich', by Albert Speer, Hitler's architect.
.

Here's something a little different, "Running With Sherman" by Christopher McDougall. It's much more than a book about a donkey, made me wish I was a whole lot younger. I read enough history or novels, this was refreshing.

https://www.amazon.com/Running...-ebook/dp/B07NKPW2NP

In fiction, a number of thrillers, especially by Stephen Hunter. In the middle of The Day Before Midnight.

Nonfiction:

Finished fairly recently:
On Killing Remotely: “The Psychology of Killing With Drones,” Wayne Phelps
Ends of War: “The Unfinished Fight of Lee’s Army after Appomattox,” Caroline E. Janney
The Goodness Paradox: “The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution,” Richard Wrangham
In the Devil’s Shadow: “U.N. Special Operations During the Korean War,” Michael E. Haas
Man Without a Face: Autobiography of Markus Wolf, former head of the East German foreign intelligence service.
The Second World Wars, Victor Davis Hanson (second reading), and others
George Washington’s Secret Six: “The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution,” Brian Kilmeade
The Zimmermann Telegram: “Intelligence, Diplomacy, and American’s Entry into World War I,” Thomas Boghardt (no, not the one by Barbara Tuchman)
The Unthinkable: “Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—and Why,” Amanda Ripley (second reading)
The Los Alamos Primer: “The First Lectures on How to Build an Atomic Bomb,” Robert Serber
The Fallen: “A True Story of American POWs and Japanese Wartime Atrocities,” Marc Landas

In the process:
The Scourge of War: “The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman,” Brian Holden Reid
Seduced by Secrets: “Inside the [East German] Stasi’s Spy-Tech World,” Kristie Macrakis
Clandestine Photography: “Basic to Advanced Daytime and Nighttime Manual Surveillance Photography Techniques,” Siljander and Juusola
Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution: “The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum,” Lee Smolin

In the queue:
Feet to the Fire: “CIA Covert Operations in Indonesia 1957-1958,” Conboy and Morrison
True Believer: “Inside the investigation and capture of Ana Montes, Cuba’s Master Spy,” Scott W. Carmichael
Battlegrounds: “The Fight to Defend the Free World,” H.R. McMaster
The Dying Citizen, Victor Davis Hanson
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer. My world history teacher in high school (1963) used the book as the basis for a semester’s focus on Nazi Germany and I read it myself a few years later. I recently decided I should read it again in light of so much I’ve learned about the subject since then.

Based on seeing Parabellum's choice, I decided to try it, so I'm now halfway through The Shootist.

Whitetail Wisdom a 12 step guide
Night of Thunder
I, Sniper
Dead Zero
Soft Target

The “Rise & Fall of the Third Reich” by Shirer is an excellent book for the historical background.

For another of his books, check out “Berlin Diary”. That book covers his time in Berlin up to early 1940, giving a behind-the-scenes contacts of what was happening daily. Notably missing is an entry for November 9, 1938, as he was out of the country (France, I believe), so any Kristallnacht references are for after-the-fact.

Just ordered, "The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry".

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
The “Rise & Fall of the Third Reich” by Shirer is an excellent book for the historical background.

For another of his books, check out “Berlin Diary”. That book covers his time in Berlin up to early 1940, giving a behind-the-scenes contacts of what was happening daily. Notably missing is an entry for November 9, 1938, as he was out of the country (France, I believe), so any Kristallnacht references are for after-the-fact.

I grew up near him (Shirer)as a kid but never read the book until about ten years ago.
Although it's long, it seems much shorter and keeps your attention. There are so many important lessons there and many I wouldn't have understood earlier in my life.
The book isn't so much a war story as an inside telling of the political maneuvering that brought a crazy psychopath into control of a modern country and caused a great tragedy.
Shirer lived there as this was unfolding and escaped at the last moments.
After the war he had access to many people and documents from the Nuremberg trials and created this book that makes you feel like you are in the room as this happens.

I recently watched a documentary, Final Account, that was done about 10-15 years ago. They interview a number of somewhat ordinary older Germans that were involved in this but survived the war and lived to old age.
Most had a part in the events but easily rationalize what they and other did.

Up from Slavery: An Autobiography
- Booker T. Washington

A great American that I recognize now, I should have been taught more about in school. Still have a ways to go in the book but the life he has lived up to this point is already most remarkable.

Mel Brooks, All About Me. Very friendly writing style. And funny-of course.

"Black Ice" by Brad Thor.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
Based on seeing Parabellum's choice, I decided to try it, so I'm now halfway through The Shootist.

Same here (based on...). I just finished it. It captured me and I didn't put it down, though that's not hard with a <200 page book. I never saw the movie.
 
 
I just picked up from the library Jeffery Deaver's latest, The Midnight Lock, Lincoln Rhyme book 15. It's up next.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
Based on seeing Parabellum's choice, I decided to try it, so I'm now halfway through The Shootist.

Same here (based on...). I just finished it. It captured me and I didn't put it down, though that's not hard with a <200 page book. I never saw the movie.
 
 
I just picked up from the library Jeffery Deaver's latest, The Midnight Lock, Lincoln Rhyme book 15. It's up next.

The movie and the book The Shootist pretty much tracked except for the last scene.

I'm now reading Sycamore Row by John Grisham.

I recently finished a re-read of Garrett Mattingly's "The Armada" which is a marvelous political and factual history of the events that lead to the Spanish Armada, and it's defeat.

I am currently re-reading John Toland's "The Rising Sun" paying greater attention to the internal politics of the Japanese war effort than when I was younger. I am now more interested in the decision making than I am the combat.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Started book 1 of The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes last night. 4 chapters in.
The show tracks really closely to the book, so far.
Got the first 3 from my girls yesterday for my birthday. Hefty mini-box set (hardback).

Finished Leviathan Wakes last week & dug into Caliban's War, about 1/3 through it.
Going to need to order the next 3 books soon, at this rate.

Recently started Brian Kilmeade's The President and the Freedom Fighter. Good read thus far.

James Patterson "Toys"

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I'm now reading Sycamore Row by John Grisham.

Sycamore Row is the sequel to A Time to Kill, Grisham's first book, written in 1989. 24 years between the two, but Sycamore Row's story line picks up only a few months after A Time to Kill. I found both to be excellent, perhaps his best work, and a vivid window into the Deep South during the 1980s.

Drums Along the Mohawk by Walter Edmonds. Most of the main characters are fictional but is based on actual events in the Mohawk Valley during the Revolutionary War. Excellent book.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Started book 1 of The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes last night. 4 chapters in.
The show tracks really closely to the book, so far.
Got the first 3 from my girls yesterday for my birthday. Hefty mini-box set (hardback).

Finished Leviathan Wakes last week & dug into Caliban's War, about 1/3 through it.
Going to need to order the next 3 books soon, at this rate.

And, done with Caliban's War
A few more deviations between the show & book, but still kept much closer than Game of Thrones

Pleasantly surprised how quickly these hefty books go by. Definitely expected it to take longer to get through them.

Starting Abaddon's Gate tonight.

Need to order 4-6 soon.
Also need to look into the Novellas & side stories. Edit: Looks like the novellas are being published as a compilation in March '22.