Posted on 09/29/2008 7:19:37 AM PDT by 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?
Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki
***Interesting. Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” is a bit of a classic.
Just finished:
Stephen Hunter—”Pale Horse Coming” An Earl Swagger novel
Just started:
Greg Iles—”Third Degree”
Both are pulp of the best kind.
Check out my new tagline. It is a quote from Robert Heinlein
“5) Nam (Some collection of first person stories about soldiers in Viet Nam. I found it compelling. I wonder if there’s a corollary for Iraq? )”
Try “The Sandbox: Dispatches From Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan”. It’s a series of short stories from the guys who were there (including, I modestly admit, me)
Xenophon’s “The March up Country,” in the Penguin Classics edition.
***That’s one I’ve been meaning to read. How do you like it so far?
I also log many hours of “windshield time,” so I listen to an average of two books a month.
***Yup. I forgot about my current audio book: “Self Discipline and Emotional Control” ... interesting stuff about retraining the limbic system of the brain.
Self-Discipline and Emotional Control by Tom Miller (Audio CD - May 1993)
http://www.amazon.com/Self-Discipline-Emotional-Control-Tom-Miller/dp/1933328029/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222708441&sr=8-1
by A. E. Newman
***Is that Alfred E. Newman?
What, me worry?
You would like “Code Name Tricycle” by Dusko Popov. He was the spy that Ian Fleming was assigned to protect in WWII, and based his character James Bond on.
Meanwhile, I’m struggling with Nixonland (Scribner, 2008), Rick Perlstein’s tendentious, ponderous and flawd account of Richard Nixon during the years between Barry Goldwater’s defeat in 1964 and his re-election as president in 1972.
***Interesting. Someone else posted that they’re reading the same book, with a completely different take. Maybe the two of you could discuss why you look at it in your own viewpoints. It might help us to decide whether to read the book.
Books in the field of education...
***Have you read the criticisms of college by Prelutsky, or maybe from Professor Williams?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2091425/posts?page=34#34
Prelutsky and Professor Williams are asking the wrong question. They should be asking, “Is High School worth it?”
Prof. Walter Williams: Is College Worth It ?
Townhall ^ | August 27,2008 | Walter Williams
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2069487/posts
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 6:20:40 PM by SeekAndFind
.
.
Here’s a thread I started a couple of years ago.
High School Equivalency Exam
World Wide Web Links | 1/6/05 | Kevin O’Malley
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts
Posted on 01/06/2005 7:58:45 PM PST by Kevin OMalley
Meanwhile, I’m struggling with Nixonland (Scribner, 2008), Rick Perlstein’s tendentious, ponderous and flawd account of Richard Nixon during the years between Barry Goldwater’s defeat in 1964 and his re-election as president in 1972.
***Interesting. Someone else posted that they’re reading the same book, with a completely different take. Maybe the two of you could discuss why you look at it in your own viewpoints. It might help us to decide whether to read the book.
Books in the field of education...
***Have you read the criticisms of college by Prelutsky, or maybe from Professor Williams?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2091425/posts?page=34#34
Prelutsky and Professor Williams are asking the wrong question. They should be asking, “Is High School worth it?”
Prof. Walter Williams: Is College Worth It ?
Townhall ^ | August 27,2008 | Walter Williams
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2069487/posts
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 6:20:40 PM by SeekAndFind
.
.
Here’s a thread I started a couple of years ago.
High School Equivalency Exam
World Wide Web Links | 1/6/05 | Kevin O’Malley
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts
Posted on 01/06/2005 7:58:45 PM PST by Kevin OMalley
I should make that my next read. There is mention Ian Flemming and I think agent Tricycle (pretty vague) in “Agent Zigzag” albeit brief. Chapman also collaborated (though not directly) with agent Garbo (who convinced the Germans that the landing at Normandy was only a diversion for a larger landing at the Pas de Cailas) to misinform the Germans as to where their V-1s and V-2s were hitting to misguide their targeting corrections.
This one? By Doonesbury???? Isn’t that the same guy as the ultra liberal comic strip author?
Doonesbury.com’s The Sandbox: Dispatches from Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (Doonesbury.Com) by G. B. Trudeau (Paperback - Oct 1, 2007)
http://www.amazon.com/Doonesbury-coms-Sandbox-Dispatches-Afghanistan-Doonesbury-Com/dp/0740769456/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222710532&sr=1-2
Tricycle supposedly got his codename because of his penchant for...uhh... bedding down two women at the same time. But you won’t see that in his book because it’s an autobiography.
The Classic Philip Jose Farmer....Riders of the Purple Wage, to be precise.
That’s the one.
I don’t often find a liberal who can do this, but he is exceptionally supportive of the troops, and doesn’t let his overall attitude about the war interfere with accurately telling the Soldiers’ story. He also puts his money where his mouth is, often visiting Walter Reed. The strips where he draws the Soldiers/Marines in-country are very close to what I experienced.
The book contains one of my stories and four written by one of my platoon leaders, and they weren’t edited or changed.
Thank you oh so very much for mentioning Timothy!!!
Ironically it does mention the bedding down with two women as the source of Tricycle’s name in “Agent Zigzag”. You mentioning that jogged my memory.
Once I read the comments on the book at Amazon, I found it in my heart to addit to my wish list.
But it does give me pause to know I’d be putting money into GB Trudeau’s pocket.
Nixon was the first president I remember as I was born in 1962, but I was too young to experience his first term first-hand as I wasn't mature enough to read newspapers or follow the news. So by the time I started paying attention to things, Nixon was already consumed by the Watergate scandal so that was my impression of him - a scandal-ridden president who never did very much.
So after reading the book, it appears that he had quite a successful first term, in that civil and campus unrest quieted down, troops started getting withdrawn from Vietnam in large quantities (though the bombing increased) and he made large strides with improving the relationships with China and Soviet Union. About the only thing for a conservative to bitch about that first term seemed to be the wage-and-price controls he put in place and taking us off the gold standard.
Seems to me that he would have run re-election handily without using the dirty tricksters he had working for CREEP. Though I must tell you, I got a kick out of some of the stunts they pulled, reminded me of my high school days. And just imagine, if only they had taped the Watergate doors vertically instead of horizontally, they might never have been caught at all.
Next, I plan to start tackling the Haldeman diaries as that looks like fascinating reading as well. I skimmed over them a few years back but now the entries should make a lot more sense to me after having read "Nixonland."
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