Whatcha Reading?

[ironpony]

I'm about half way through the book. I have a few other books going and the letters I mentioned above so it's been a slow read. It seems to be filled with a lot of details that don't necessarily pertain to the story but some of it I'm enjoying. The parts about the U2 spy plane and the SR-71 Blackbird I really enjoyed. This wasn't in the book but I've read that when they fuel the Blackbird it will leak fuel until it gets to a specific altitude and the materials expand creating a seal. For a while I was really into going to air shows. I usually went to the shows on military bases to see the Blue Angels. I love feeling the power of those planes engines rumble through my chest. I would always be at show center because that's where the low altitude high speed fly over would happen. He comes from behind the crowd at about fifty feet and 700 mph. He's already in the distance by the time you feel the power or hear the sound. Awesome stuff!
I'm also amazed at the engineering and secrecy that was achieved as well. It was quite feat in itself but then think about the technology they had versus what we have now. I have lasers that I use for walls and ceilings and sometimes I think about past civilizations that did so much without anything we have now a days. The Romans and their aqueduct for one.
The spy stuff is pretty interesting also. I enjoyed the part where he mentions some of the tricks the Russians have used to obtain information.

Overall, so far so good.

I have another book on that story... it has a different conclusion about what happened in the end, and how much of the sub was recovered.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01C...r+explorer&dpPl=1&dpID=51VKokTXFOL&ref=plSrch
David H. Sharp
The CIA's Greatest Covert Operation: Inside the Daring Mission to Recover a Nuclear-Armed Soviet Sub

 

[ironpony]

Just finished "Code Girls" by Liza Mundy.

So, you heard about the one or two guys at Pearl Harbour who cracked the Japanese code that allowed us to win at Midway? Guess what? There were literally thousands of women doing the grunt work that allowed those two guys to do that... throughout the war. They were all sworn to secrecy, and most went to their graves with that secret. We were reading everyone's codes, and the reason a submarine ended up in the right place to sink a ship? One of these gals broke a message a Jap ship captain sent. Or a U-boat sunk? Or Admiral Yamamoto was shot down and killed? Your grandma just might have been the gal who figured that out.

Who knew?

 

[dave350]

James Lee Burke’s lastest. “Robicheaux”
This is my favorite novelist.

 

[ironpony]

Just finished LRRP Company Command by Kregg PJ Jorgenson. It's a history of E Company 52nd Infantry, and later, H Company 75th Rangers that performed the LRP mission for the 1st Air Cav in the '68 - '69 time period.

 

[dave350]

The little book of common sense investing.
John Bogle.

 

[Rigjockey]

The little book of common sense investing.
John Bogle.

I like that!
People are handling my money right now, but I want to have better control and make choices on my own.
I will have to buy that book, I am in debt with the library systemLate fee's, You know how it goes

 

[dave350]

I like that!
People are handling my money right now, but I want to have better control and make choices on my own.
I will have to buy that book, I am in debt with the library systemLate fee's, You know how it goes

I’m about half way through. I’m familiar enough with investing to recommend this book without having finished it. John Bogle was the founder of the Vanguard group and he was also a pioneer in index investing. If thats not good enough, Warren Buffet is huge supporter of Bogle and index investing.
I’ve read a lot of Buffett’s letters to shareholders and he mentions index funds in a few of them.

 

[Rigjockey]

I’m about half way through. I’m familiar enough with investing to recommend this book without having finished it. John Bogle was the founder of the Vanguard group and he was also a pioneer in index investing. If thats not good enough, Warren Buffet is huge supporter of Bogle and index investing.

Sweet!

 

[dave350]

Escape Clause. John Sandford.

 

[ironpony]

Islands of the Damned by RV Burgin - recounts his service in the Pacific with the 5th Marines in WWII.


The Tank Killers by Harry Yiede - a history of the independent tank destroyer battalions in Africa, Italy and the ETO in WWII.

Patton and his Third Army by Brenton G Wallace

Black Tuesday Over Namsi by Earl McGill - describes USAF B29 operations in Korea, culminating in the disastrous raid on Namsi near the the Chinese border, by one of the participants. One of the last mass bomber missions escorted by F84s and F86s that was shredded by Soviet MiG15s based in Manchuria. This convinced the USAF to drop ideas of escorting B29s or B36s with fighters into the USSR, and accelerated development of jet bombers. It also forced the USAF to develop tactics of penetrating Soviet defenses with individual bombers.

 

[ironpony]

The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw.

Times were tough in the thirties in rural Virginia. The farming economy tanked with the Depression, and the few jobs around towns like Roanoke, Lynchburg and Bedford didn't pay much. The guys for as much reason as a social club, or the remembrance of their ancestors stand with Stonewall Jackson's infantry, joined the National Guard for the $1 per month mustering pay. That money went a long way in depression-ravaged America. Besides, the girls were impressed with the uniforms. It was playing at soldier... not much more than that.

This is the story of the guys from a rural community who went to war together, Company A, 1st of the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. The "Stonewallers."

From the start, they had something to prove. The guard wasn't as good as regulars. They played at war in North Carolina, when the Big Red One bled at Kasserine. They spent months in England training, longer than any other division, and became known to their American compatriots as "England's Own." The 29th ID didn't like that, so they trained hard as amphibious assault troops, and they got their reward. One of the most difficult D-Day assignments: landing first wave, astride the Vierville Draw, beach Dog Green. They were probably the first Americans to set foot on the beaches of France that morning... exactly on time, exactly where they were supposed to be. That's the only thing that went right.

It was supposed to be lightly defended by second-rate troops. The Air Force was supposed to have bombed them into shock. The Navy was supposed to have blasted their pillboxes to smithereens. Tanks were supposed to be blowing up the opposition. None of that happened.

In the last week before the invasion, the 352nd Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht - a refitting formation returned from the Russian Front - was moved up from their permanent garrison to take part in exercises. On the morning of June 6th, 1944, it was these men who manned the defensive positions below Vierville-Sur-Mer.

Interesting book. It details the lives of these men and their families, both before and after the tragedy on that June morning. A good read.

 

[dave350]

The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw.

Times were tough in the thirties in rural Virginia. The farming economy tanked with the Depression, and the few jobs around towns like Roanoke, Lynchburg and Bedford didn't pay much. The guys for as much reason as a social club, or the remembrance of their ancestors stand with Stonewall Jackson's infantry, joined the National Guard for the $1 per month mustering pay. That money went a long way in depression-ravaged America. Besides, the girls were impressed with the uniforms. It was playing at soldier... not much more than that.

This is the story of the guys from a rural community who went to war together, Company A, 1st of the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. The "Stonewallers."

From the start, they had something to prove. The guard wasn't as good as regulars. They played at war in North Carolina, when the Big Red One bled at Kasserine. They spent months in England training, longer than any other division, and became known to their American compatriots as "England's Own." The 29th ID didn't like that, so they trained hard as amphibious assault troops, and they got their reward. One of the most difficult D-Day assignments: landing first wave, astride the Vierville Draw, beach Dog Green. They were probably the first Americans to set foot on the beaches of France that morning... exactly on time, exactly where they were supposed to be. That's the only thing that went right.

It was supposed to be lightly defended by second-rate troops. The Air Force was supposed to have bombed them into shock. The Navy was supposed to have blasted their pillboxes to smithereens. Tanks were supposed to be blowing up the opposition. None of that happened.

In the last week before the invasion, the 352nd Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht - a refitting formation returned from the Russian Front - was moved up from their permanent garrison to take part in exercises. On the morning of June 6th, 1944, it was these men who manned the defensive positions below Vierville-Su-Mer.

Interesting book. It details the lives of these men and their families, both before and after the tragedy on that June morning. A good read.

Wow. I did not know all that about D-day. Sounds like a good read.

 

[dave350]

A Painted House. John Grisham
Two Kinds of Truth. Micheal Connelly.

 

[r3gulator3]

Alice in Dead Land by Mainak Dhar.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Major fiction kick lately so anything by @Skateboard puller or @ironpony.

Sometimes it's drama but usually it's comedy.

 

[ironpony]

"The Real Custer," unlike all the fake ones.

 

[Electric Chicken]

"The Real Custer," unlike all the fake ones.

Sounds like a real Custerf*ck.

 

[ironpony]

Sounds like a real Custerf*ck.

I'm sure the 220 or so guys with him at the last party would agree...

 

[Electric Chicken]

I'm sure the 220 or so guys with him at the last party would agree...

Wait did you buy it off the grocery store rack?

 

[ironpony]

Wait did you buy it off the grocery store rack?

Kindle E-book...