What Are You Reading Now? - My Quarterly Survey of Freeper Reading Habits

9/29/08 | MplsSteve

[MplsSteve]

It's time again for my quarterly "What Are You Reading Now?" thread!

It can be anything...a NY Times bestseller, a technical journal, a trashy pulp novel...in short, anything!

DO NOT answer by saying "I'm Reading This Thread". It stopped being funny a long time ago.

Here's what I'm reading. I'm just about finished with "Blockaders, Refugees & Contrabands: Civil War on Florida's Gulf Coast 1861-1865."

It's a very interesting book about how the US Navy was able to turn a substantial portion of Florida's Gulf Coast population against the Confederacy, creating a civil war within that part of Florida.

So tell me...what are YOU reading now?

[VR-21]

"The advantage was lost because they ignored the need to supply their troops. Japan expected the army to live off the land."

I wouldn't say that the Japanese "ignored" that need, so much as it was thwarted by allied (primarily US) forces. Japan desperately tried to reinforce and resupply her forces at Guadalcanal (the so-called Tokyo Express) and our unrestricted submarine warfare against anything that hinted of logistical support was extremely successful (the "Black Cat" squadrons that were formed from the remnants of our pacific VP squadrons also existed for that very purpose).

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Japan’s Imperial Army had lived off the land, so to speak in China, Mongolia and Korea. In fact, the Japanese islands received foodstuffs, raw materials and even dismantled factories from these countries in the 1930s. Their merchant marine was never as developed as the US.

[Hyzenthlay]

Well, other than my textbooks, here’s what I’ve been reading:

Just finished:
Watchmen by Alan Moore - I highly recommend this for people who like film noir style stuff, or deep philosophical stuff. It’s a graphic novel, which is really interesting because there’s lots of stuff that the author does that couldn’t be done in any other format.

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

Currently reading:
Seize the Night by Dean Koontz

Next up:
Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs (I find forensic anthropology to be fascinating in real life)

World War Z by Max Brooks

If anyone’s got any further recommendations, preferably of the sci-fi, fantasy, horror, or nonfiction science genres, let me know. Although, don’t bother suggesting The Road, as I read it about a year ago and intensely disliked it.

[Little Ray]

Helfort’s War: The Battle of the Hammer Worlds.

A nice space opera.

Also listening to “Books on MP3” from librivox.org. I recommend “Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.” Also the books by Garrett P. Serviss, The Moon Metal and Edison’s Conquest of Mars. Both are Ancient SF and good for a laugh.

[VR-21]

I don’t disagree that Japanese forces lived off the land and captured foodstuffs and materials (some of them managed to well after the end of the war). Neither do I disagree that she had an inadequate merchant fleet. That was one of her fatal weaknesses which was aggravated by her failure to hit our sub pens when she attacked us. I guess where we differ is your assertion that she “ignored” the importance of logistical support. Nimitz’s strategy was largely designed to isolate Japans forces when possible and allow them to wither and starve.

[airedale]

Haven’t read Isaac’s Storm yet. I read and enjoy his books but he isn’t on my list of must read authors. Each of the two topics/characters he covers in a book would make fine stand alone books and while they can be connected the connection isn’t that solid. It does allow him to cover two different parts of society.

I read a book a few years ago about a hurricane that hit Florida. It was about the hurricane that hit on Labor Day in 1935. It’s called Storm of the Century by Willie Drye. Related to this hurricane and Florida history is Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean by Les Standiford which was also good. I also liked the Johnstown Flood by David McCullough (he is one of my must read authors). It’s about a different area and different disaster. I think you’d like all 3 books.

[AbnSarge]

You won’t be putting money into his pocket. All proceeds are being donated to Fisher House

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Perhaps ignored is the wrong word. The Japanese army was routinely expected to provide for itself, according to some Japanese vets I met in the 1950s and early 60s. Even a decade after the war, when Japan was reestablishing itself as a manufacturing center, the government was extremely callous in its manner toward survivors of the war. When I was a kid, (Army Brat) Japanese veterans would congregate around the various shrines and beg for money. They were pitiful.

[vharlow]

Yes, my kindle goes everywhere with me. There is much you can get free from gutenberg.org and also feedbooks.com has a download guide so you can download direct from the kindle. You can purchase books from Amazon as well with just a push of a button. I can read freerepublic.com on my kindle, and have about 26 books in it now. With the extra chip like one in your camera, you can put music on it and listen while you read! It keeps my place for me, and allows me to make notes and annotate in a my clippings file I can get into my computer to manipulate for arguments as well. It’s wonderful. I expect the technology to change rapidly and leave me behind, but I don’t care much, because there is so much to read already, it might last my lifetime! I’m homeschooling grandkids, and when they need quiet time to read and we away from home, they read from my kindle, and I don’t need to drag along lots of books. It has a built in dictionary,and you can search google from it as well. I’ve read so much since I got it. My daughter got it for my birthday in May. Wonderful gift! It’s light, easy to read, you can adjust the font, and if you put it down and forget it, it will go into save mode all by itself, saving battery life. Sheesh, sound like a salesman or something! But, I do love it!

[wtc911]

Re-reading Phillip Kerr’s Berlin Noir trilogy. I pull it off the shelf every five years or so and enjoy it again.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

'The Shakespeare Wars' by Ron Rosenbaum -- "What makes Shakespeare's language so thrillingly transcendent?" -- What makes Shakespeare "Shakesperean"? -- terrific book!!

'Mediterranean Summer' by David Shalleck -- an American chef cooks aboard a French yacht

[shibumi]

DoingDingDingDingDing!

[petro45acp]

Fair enough. I may have misunderstood...NLP as Neur-Linguistic Programming. As close to “Jedi mind tricks” as it gets.

Good hunting.

[mnehring]

You are right, it is Neuro Linguistic Programming, albeit, it isn’t a jedi mind trick. :-> Just a way to optimize communication.

[Paperdoll]

I just finished “The Kite Runner”, and have started “The Art of Dying”, by Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick. “Liberal Fascism”, by Goldberg is next.

[Tax-chick]

It’s very interesting and easy to read. I think they call it “The Persian Expedition,” though. I’m almost finished. This edition is much better than a different translation I checked out of the library.

[petro45acp]

So, these really AREN’T the droids we’re looking for. Cool.

[Straight Vermonter]

Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden

[Billthedrill]

Finally got back to War and Decision by Douglas Feith. A bit dry but it's a glimpse into how we got where we got and a preview of how we got out of it.

The Pierce Chronicles: Personal Reminiscenses of E.D. Pierce - interesting if not altogether likeable fellow. Mexican War veteran, led a wagon train west, then helped "encourage" the settlement of Idaho and eastern Washington, notoriously at the expense of the Nez Perce people.

Fear God And Take Your Own Part by Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy's 1916 take as an ex-President on the policies and events leading up to America's being scooped out of its collective shell before WWI.

[SunkenCiv]

I've been catching up on my delinquent reading, mostly history books, such as "The Myth of the Great War" by John Mosier, along with a couple of books about the Roman towns buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD, and just finished this one, which I *very highly* recommend to all:

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The Bottomless Well: The Twilight Of Fuel, The Virtue Of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out Of Energy by Peter Huber and Mark P. Mills Basic Books, 2005 Manhattan Institute page Google

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