"Desert Star", the latest in the Harry Bosch/Renee Ballard series. I caught up on all the others by binge reading, the new one is good! I read a lot of history and fill in the cracks with some very good series, this is a good series.

Normally, I just try to catch up on a 2 year backlog of Analog Magazine (SciFi) but I took Mrs. PHPaul to the local library yesterday as it was too cold to walk and spied a paperback of Michener's "Space" in the freebie pile.

A topic I'm interested in to begin with and Michener is always a fascinating read.

I finished the main part of Reversing Hermon by Michael S. Heiser. It shows not only that the New Testament writers had the book of Enoch in mind when they were writing but also that Enoch 1 literally influenced the very mission of Jesus. It gives so much real meaning to the Kingdom of God and shows what that really even means.

I’m now digging into the appendices which shows every quote and every place that the pseudopigrapha was alluded to in the New Testament.

Trying to get back into my Bible…I’ve got a “Founders Edition” that is increasingly relevant in our day and time…just sayin’

quote:

Originally posted by George43:
"The Extraordinary Life Of An ordinary Man"
A Memoir by Paul Newman.

My wife, who reads (or listens to) 3-4 books a week said that was excellent.

"The Last Hill" by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin,the history of the Army Rangers from their being formed in WWII to their taking of Castle Hill (Hill 400) in Germany. The book includes their D-Day landing on Omaha Beach. I've read a few books by the authors, never disappointed. This is an amazing story, these guys truly were warriors.

Wow, that sounds fascinating!

I haven't finished 1984 yet, but have started Heat 2, and it's pretty good.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I finished the main part of Reversing Hermon by Michael S. Heiser. It shows not only that the New Testament writers had the book of Enoch in mind when they were writing but also that Enoch 1 literally influenced the very mission of Jesus. It gives so much real meaning to the Kingdom of God and shows what that really even means.

I’m now digging into the appendices which shows every quote and every place that the pseudopigrapha was alluded to in the New Testament.

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:
Wow, that sounds fascinating!

I haven't finished 1984 yet, but have started Heat 2, and it's pretty good.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I finished the main part of Reversing Hermon by Michael S. Heiser. It shows not only that the New Testament writers had the book of Enoch in mind when they were writing but also that Enoch 1 literally influenced the very mission of Jesus. It gives so much real meaning to the Kingdom of God and shows what that really even means.

I’m now digging into the appendices which shows every quote and every place that the pseudopigrapha was alluded to in the New Testament.

You can check out a lot of Heiser’s talks on YouTube or his “Naked Bible” podcast.

"Empire of the Summer Moon" by S.C. Gwynne. Chronicles the fall of the Comanches. I never knew they played such a huge role in Texas history.
Up next: "A Legacy of Spies" by John Le Carre.

Escape of the Free Fleet by Ryk Brown Episode 3.5 a great space opera read.

Thanks! I'll check it out.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:
Wow, that sounds fascinating!

I haven't finished 1984 yet, but have started Heat 2, and it's pretty good.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I finished the main part of Reversing Hermon by Michael S. Heiser. It shows not only that the New Testament writers had the book of Enoch in mind when they were writing but also that Enoch 1 literally influenced the very mission of Jesus. It gives so much real meaning to the Kingdom of God and shows what that really even means.

I’m now digging into the appendices which shows every quote and every place that the pseudopigrapha was alluded to in the New Testament.

You can check out a lot of Heiser’s talks on YouTube or his “Naked Bible” podcast.

I've heard of this but haven't read it yet. What are your thoughts on it?

quote:

Originally posted by PKFan:
"Empire of the Summer Moon" by S.C. Gwynne. Chronicles the fall of the Comanches. I never knew they played such a huge role in Texas history.
Up next: "A Legacy of Spies" by John Le Carre.

A couple over the last week or so. " Rising Up from Indian Country - The Battle of Fort Dearborn and the Birth of Chicago" by Ann Keating. This was OK, it was a gift from my God Daughter who lives in that area. I had recently read "Blood and Treasure", this kinda butted up geographically. I didn't need Ms Keatings liberal take on history. Quite a story, though.

Just finished "To Be A Soldier" by Tom McCourt. McCourt is a local Utah author that does not have/seem to want national exposure. But he writes some books that are of interest to me, Utah history. This is totally different, he was drafted in 1967 and sent to Viet Nam. He really tells of his experience, how he reacted to war. How he personally felt about it, his treatment by folks on coming home. It was good for me, we were both in artillery, though I was in Korea, same time period.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: UTsig,

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:
I've heard of this but haven't read it yet. What are your thoughts on it?

quote:

Originally posted by PKFan:
"Empire of the Summer Moon" by S.C. Gwynne. Chronicles the fall of the Comanches. I never knew they played such a huge role in Texas history.

Absolutely a great book. Get it. Read it.

I’m reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s interesting to read a book that has become so inseparable from the movie adaptation, and try to see, and then not see, Nicholson’s portrayal of McMurphy, while reading.

Wife got me Ready Player One for Christmas.
Been looking forward to reading it, after hearing it's much better than the movie, which I also have enjoyed.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Wife got me Ready Player One for Christmas.
Been looking forward to reading it, after hearing it's much better than the movie, which I also have enjoyed.

A bit over 50% through the book. Very different to the movie, hard to not picture/read in the characters as they are in the film.

Just finished the fifth book in the Lewis Cole series by Brendan DuBois.

Interesting stories of an ex defense department analyst who lives on the coast of New Hampshire and solves local mysteries.

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by Gwynne was recommended to me by a friend (among many others), and it is indeed excellent. One thing I particularly liked was its frank discussion of the good and bad of all the contending groups at the time. For example, the descriptions of the tortures inflicted by some of the native tribes on their victims are not for the squeamish.

Another book my friend loaned me that I’m in the midst of is Custer’s Trials by T. J. Stiles and is a full biography of George Armstrong Custer. Custer was a very complex man who was idolized by the public—and his men—during the Civil War, but became a hated martinet later and was flawed in many other ways. The book is interesting because it also covers his wife, Libby, and their hired cook and general servant, Eliza Brown, who escaped from slavery during the war. The author discusses the racism of the era, again in a frank way, but without wallowing in sanctimonious descriptions that are becoming so common in histories today.

I started Hell in a Very Small Place by Bernard B. Fall which is a history of the siege of Dien Bien Phu, and is considered an early classic about the Vietnam War. Unfortunately its detail makes it somewhat of a slog, but for those interested the information is there.

A Million and One Gods: The Persistence of Polytheism by Page DuBois is a slim volume about the history of polytheist beliefs and how they, especially Greek and Roman polytheism, influence Western culture to this day.

The Scourge of War by Brian Holden Reid, a biography of William Tecumseh Sherman. I tend to get bogged down in books about Civil War generals after the war is over, but it provides some excellent insights of Sherman’s activities during the war.

The Dying Citizen by Victor Davis Hanson. If you’re not familiar with the author, look for some YouTube videos that feature him.

The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood. “How a revolution transformed a monarchial society into a democratic on unlike any that had ever existed.” More background on period in American history that I was not familiar with.

Books I’ve finished recently (or otherwise merit mention):

Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt is a history of some of the women who worked for the wartime OSS and later CIA. Although a bit shallow, it filled in some of what I didn’t know about the history of US intelligence gathering organizations.

A Spy in Plain Sight by Lis Wiehl was about Robert Hansson a high level FBI agent who spied for the USSR and later Russia. Very good detail, but I could only wonder if the author ever changed her partisan support for the FBI (commentary at the end of the book that did not detract from the main story) in light of most recent disclosures. Probably not, but who knows?

The War on the West by Douglas Murray who has aired other commentary on the cultural attack on the US and other Western institutions and society. Depressing read but reinforces much of what many of us know or strongly suspected.

True Believer by Scott W. Carmichael is another tale of a US spy for the Communists, this time Ana Montes who spied for the Cubans and indirectly for the Russians.

Eight Days in May: The Final Collapse of the Third Reich by Volker Ullrich covers a short period of WWII history that is usually ignored.

FBI Miami Firefight by agent Edmundo Mireles who was one of the participants of the infamous 1986 incident.

Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict With China by Beckley and Brands: Just what the title says. Sobering descriptions and some useful advice for the leadership that will probably be ignored.

The Ruin of All Witches by Malcolm Gaskill is a history of witchcraft allegations, beliefs, and trials in 17th century Springfield, Massachusetts, that also offers a detailed description of life there during the period.

Japan’s Infamous Unit 731, Firsthand Accounts of Japan’s Wartime Human Experimentation Program, by Hal Gold. Details about one of Japan’s worst wartime atrocities.

World War II Snipers: The Men, Their Guns, Their Stories by Gary Yee was refreshing in that although it repeated much of what has been written about the subject by other authors, he pokes holes in some of the obvious myths that others have perpetuated in an effort to glamorize or dramatize certain stories. Although the accounts of each man or weapon are short, they often discuss things that others have ignored or distorted.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Wife got me Ready Player One for Christmas.
Been looking forward to reading it, after hearing it's much better than the movie, which I also have enjoyed.

A bit over 50% through the book. Very different to the movie, hard to not picture/read in the characters as they are in the film.

Finished RP1, I get why some of it was changed for the movie, to cut out what would be pretty 'boring' footage.
Will be starting Ready Player 2 next.

Restarted The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.