I just finished a strange biography of a very interesting person, Thomas Townsend Brown. The book is "The Man That Mastered Gravity" by Paul Schatzkin. It's self published available on Amazon. The story involves science, spies, intrigue, WWII, even UFOs. It took the author 20 years to complete the book, the story is amazing. There is now quite a bit on the Internet, including a website by the author, ttbrown.com.

Saul David's "Devil Dogs" is my best read so far. The book is a history Of the Marines in WW II that burns through the pages like a novel. The format takes one company from the beginning on Guadalcanal and follows that unit through to the last island, Okinawa.

Some of the hype compares it to "Band of Brothers" and I certainly agree.

Currently reading the Electric KoolAid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. It's one of those books that I've wanted to read for 50 years and never got around to. It's an interesting read. Chaotic, which in the author's notes is exactly the tone he was trying to capture. I'm not sure I can say I'm enjoying it, it's more like morbid curiosity. But having lived through the 70's, a full decade after Kesey's Merry Pranksters, it's interesting how they influenced that period of time.

Contact by Carl Sagan. Love the movie but Ellie's story is better in the book.

Just finished The Expanse book one: Leviathan Wakes.
I started watching the series after well into the book and am glad I started the book first.

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
Currently reading the Electric KoolAid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. It's one of those books that I've wanted to read for 50 years and never got around to.

A great book, chronicling that era. It has been 50 years since I read it. Among other things I learned was that the Grateful Dead got their start by playing at the Acid Tests.

^^^
My biological father was Kesey's lawyer and then the Grateful Dead's.He is mentioned in the book. I'll have to get a copy.


OZ

The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie, the latest in the Peter Ash series.
Next up: The Madness of Crowds - Gender, Race and Identity by Douglas Murray.

The Gun by C.J. Chivers
Won a Pulitzer Prize.

This is about the development of the AK47, but starts with the earliest machine guns - Gatling, Maxim and others.
It also goes into the US doing their “catching up” with the M16 and Vietnam in the 60’s. It then continues beyond that. Published 2010.
I didn’t read any fiction in the book, certainly none was intended. It is well footnoted and documented. When there is uncertainty of sources or information it is noted.
After all that, it is well written and easy reading.

Rereading Shogun. It has been some time since I last read it.

Watching the new TV series also.

I just finished reading the 20 Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian--for the third time. Last times were > 20 years ago, so it's all fresh!

I hated leaving that exotic, exciting world.

There is now a publication of "the 21st" novel--incomplete, with O'Brian's handwritten notes on the unfinished part. Haven't read that yet.

Starting the fourth of four books in Larry Correa's fantasy series "Saga of the Forgotten Warrior".
It's pretty good. Not usually a fan of fantasy as opposed to science fiction, but I like Correa's stuff a lot. Best was the Monster Hunters International series, with lots of gun trivia. That's when I decided my Grail Gun was a Carl Gustav.

Reading the Jack Reacher series in between other books. I just finished the lates by CJ Box, "Three Inch Teeth", a Joe Pickett novel. Fast moving, lots of violence, at the end you know where the next book is going.

I've got two going now that are worlds apart. First is "Hail Mary" by Andy Weir. Weir wrote "The Martian", definitely his best. This one is really out there, I'll get through it but not a favorite.

The other is "Blood Line" by Nelson and Alex DeMille. It's the second in series featuring a gut and girl team of Army CID investigators. Totally entertaining, easy reading.

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

Currently reading Theft of Fire, by Devon Eriksen.

If you're a fan of hard SciFi I highly recommend it.

Based on an earlier recommendation, I just finished The Grapes of Wrath. Absolutely haunting. I have a new appreciation for the easy life I have.
Mike

Finished "Mud, Blood, and Cold Steel" about the retreat from the Battle of Nashville (December 16-17, 1864). I recently read "Hood's Tennessee Campaign" about the lead-up to the Battles of Franklin and Nashville (which was also excellent), but this one was more detailed about the aftermath of the Battle of Nashville.

The first few chapters covered the Battle of Nashville itself, with a lot of detail about the collapse of the Confederate lines on the 2nd day of the battle. I grew up on the downslope of what is now Shy's Hill (Compton's Hill at the time of the battle), and it was fascinating reading in such detail stuff that I knew exactly where it happened.

The Confederates made a mad dash south from Nashville to try to escape the pursuing Union troops, in an effort to get across the Tennessee River in Alabama to some measure of safety.

It is hard to imagine the suffering those men went through. Freezing temperatures (down to 15°F), sleet, snow, ice, and rain, trying to ford or cross rivers on pontoon boats. Consider that they had to build a pontoon bridge across the Tennessee river (20' long boats 20' apart with planking 13' wide, swaying in the current), with Union gunboats trying to make it upriver to blow away your pontoon bridge, and you trying to cross with wagons, artillery, and animals, a river as wide as the Tennessee River.

One third of the men didn't have shoes; they wrapped burlap sacks around their feet to walk through the mush and snow and ice. Many of those that did have shoes tied the soles on with rope or wire.

And they had little food or supplies. One group of soldiers found some pigs on a farm, but the tinder was too wet to make a fire, so they slaughtered and ate the pigs raw.

Many were saved by the fact that the Union pontoon train was sent from Nashville toward Murfreesboro rather than south to Columbia, delaying the pursuit of the Union army.

I'm kinda on a Civil War kick right now. If you have any interest in the subject, both "Hood's Tennessee Campaign" and "Mud, Blood, and Cold Steel" are excellent.

Half way through "Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity" by Peter Attia M.D. It's a surprisingly entertaining book that is an easy read and doesn't get bogged down in a lot of jargon. Not interested in living forever, but I would like to hang around for a while. He makes the point that he is more interested in a longer healthspan (as he puts it) rather than a longer lifespan. That's the goal. But a by-product of a longer healthspan is a longer lifespan. If you have an interest in any health related topics, I recommend the book highly.

^^^ I read a similar book I really enjoyed called Younger Next Year.