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Panzer Operations The Eastern front meniors of Gen Raus
Which book are you reading now? Volume XI
- Thread starter NedimNapoleon
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Joke all you like, I've finally read each of the six books in the Asian Saga at least once. Now I'm onto Tai-panIt's in the name, isn't it?
Took me a couple weeks to read it last year. It's still worth the binging, almost as much as Freefall.I read The Order of the Stick.
JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
You are a true Clavellite.
JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
Isnt that his most well-known books anyway?
Future Crimes, Marc Goodman.
Just finished Michio Kaku's The Future of the Mind. Meh
I went through a James Clavell phase back in the 80s. First Shogun, because of the TV miniseries, then Taipan, King Rat, Noble House and Whirlwind. They were all reasonably entertaining.
I went through a James Clavell phase back in the 80s. First Shogun, because of the TV miniseries, then Taipan, King Rat, Noble House and Whirlwind. They were all reasonably entertaining.
Ain't My America: The Long and Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-Class Antimperialism, Bill Kauffman
Paul in Saudi
Emperor
Just this morning I finished Ardennes 1944 by Anthony Beevor which had an interesting British outlook on the battle and its personalities.
Just finished Taxi! A Social History of the New York City Cab Driver. Moving on to The War of the Three Gods: Rome, Persia, and the Rise of Islam.
SS-18 ICBM
Oscillator
The Story of Modern Skiing by John Fry. Should be self-explanatory, has nice pictures.
Ajidica
High Quality Person
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So, it is about deep-sea diving; right?
Still working through Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy by Adam Tooze but taking a quick break to re-read Demon by John Varley.
If you like quirky off-the-walls sci-fi I highly recommend it. Although Demon is the third book in the trilogy you can read it without reading the previous ones. The first Titan is pretty forgettable and really not all that important to the plot while the third book Wizard is just an explanation for the shift of Cirocco Jones's character shifts from Titan to Demon.
Paul in Saudi
Emperor
The Mainsky Diaries being an abridgment of Ivan Mainsky's journal he kept while he was Stalin's ambassador to the UK. The editor does not understand the role of an editor.
I have opinions about this book, but first: what do you think of it so far?
jackelgull
An aberration of nature
How was it? I'm kind of interested in reading a history book that explores the Roman Persian conflict and its consequences for the success of the Caliphate in conquering the Middle East.
Snerk
Smeghead
Re-reading I, Partridge. We need to talk about Alan by Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan & Co)
I cannot endorse this book enough.
The critics are mad about it too.
'Very thorough'
-The Norwich enquirer
'Man of the moment'
-TV quick magazine
I cannot endorse this book enough.
The critics are mad about it too.
'Very thorough'
-The Norwich enquirer
'Man of the moment'
-TV quick magazine
Okay, since old blue eyes hasn't dropped in since...
I did not have a high opinion of it. The fundamental problem with discussing what happened at the beginning of the seventh century is the paucity, unreliability, and lateness of sources. All other issues flow from this difficulty. There are wildly differing narratives of those events that are almost equally plausible, purely because the sources are so difficult.
The book does not really account for this.
Now, in most general-reader historical publications, sources don't really come up. That's apparently what the publishing industry has decided what the average reader can handle, so. Unfortunately, that mission directly clashes with the nature of the book itself. The author claims to be shining light on a period of history that is often underserved, and the early seventh century is undoubtedly underserved both by general history and by academic scholars. But the main reason for this is that the sources suck, so there's only so far you can reasonably go. The author ignores these problems and constructs a narrative anyway. In addition, that publishing imprint tends to turn out works that are relatively short (often less than 200 pages), which is, again, well and good for the average reader and absolutely insufficient for the massive topic chosen (the last Roman-Iranian war and the birth of Islam).
The book makes for a decent story, but I never got the sense that it was history.
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