[cavtrooper21]

Good reads, even if they are SF mind candy, are the various David Drake / SM Stirling books. SM by himself isn't bad, but Drake adds something of the "...been there, done that" touch.
Currently working on Sir Winston's History of WW2, and am awaiting the arrival of his "History of English Speaking Peoples"
Oh, and Jerry Pornelle, (I think I spelled that right..) always a good read.
There is a book I read here a while back by this new author named Matthew Bracken... very good, but I think he's holding out on the sequel... ;^)

[archy]

Oh, and Jerry Pornelle, (I think I spelled that right..) always a good read.

Almost. It's Dr. Jerry Pournelle, who himself, like me, is a particular fan of post WWII period sci-fi writer H. Beam Piper, who also turned out a few novellas for the pulp detective anthologies of his day.

Among my favourites from Dr. Pournelle: his series There Will Be War, interspersing short stories with technical and service academy reports, offering possibilities of the theoretical and possible, but even including a poetic form or two for spice.

Pournelle's co-authorship with Larry Niven of several other offerings is another swell source of both fun reading and a hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck feeling that these guys could be right, most particularly Lucifer's Hammer and The Mote in God's Eye. Pournelle makes a swell starting place for continuing your SF education once you've run out of Heinlein.

And for a quick and dirty [not in the porno sense] Pournelle starting place, Janissaries isn't too bad a place to begin to get a feel for the way the good Doctor crafts a tale.