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So ordered. Thanks, I hadn't even heard of that one.
What book are you reading now?
- Thread starter Ex-Dragoon
- Start date
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I'm just about done reading "The Origins of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt. Very academic and a tough slog. But interesting, particularly since it was written shortly after the end of WW2. I was motivated to see if I could draw any parallels between what she writes about and the current situation in the US. I can't say I've really found anything in particular, a totally different set of circumstances, but its an interesting, if challenging, read nonetheless.
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NinerSix said:
Agree a good series, have read them all several times. I met the author at a book signing (his one on Waterloo) and he promised several fans present that there would be more Sharpe books in the future. There was an annoying little kid there and he asked his name and promised him he would be a character in the next one, a drummer boy. He then assured the rest of us said drummer boy would be killed off by chapter 4 in a grizzly manner 8)
I just finished Command and Control, Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser, Penguin Books, 2013, 632 pages.
It is the story of nuclear safety in the context of the control of American nuclear weapons in terms of both bureaucratic controls, safety devices and physical security as well as the response to nuclear accidents. By way of disclosure in 1961 as a second lieutenant I qualified as a (tactical) nuclear target analyst on a course at the Royal Canadian School of Artillery in Camp Shilo and later was updated with unclassified fudged training material in Canada and highly classified real data in 4 CIBG. I also was fairly familiar with the launcher and fire production procedures and command and control arrangements of our Honest John rockets. Therefore I was more than a little taken aback to find how loose some of the early control and safety measures were.
A good deal of the book is a case study of the July 1980 fire and explosion of a Titan 2 ICBM in its silo near Damascus, AR. It in itself is a litany of the worse features of a highly centralized command control system reacting to a basic accident involving a pierced liquid fuel tank in its silo, and how a series of wrong decisions by people who did nut understand the missile system resulted in the loss of life of young airmen attempting to extinguish a simple fire.
The book also relates the story of the Manhattan Project and I learned for the first time that the project involved scientists from Canada. Indeed the first nuclear device detonated at the Trinity Site was assembled by a Canadian physicist.
The book is an interesting read if you are a bit of a geek like me with some interest in the matter.
It is the story of nuclear safety in the context of the control of American nuclear weapons in terms of both bureaucratic controls, safety devices and physical security as well as the response to nuclear accidents. By way of disclosure in 1961 as a second lieutenant I qualified as a (tactical) nuclear target analyst on a course at the Royal Canadian School of Artillery in Camp Shilo and later was updated with unclassified fudged training material in Canada and highly classified real data in 4 CIBG. I also was fairly familiar with the launcher and fire production procedures and command and control arrangements of our Honest John rockets. Therefore I was more than a little taken aback to find how loose some of the early control and safety measures were.
A good deal of the book is a case study of the July 1980 fire and explosion of a Titan 2 ICBM in its silo near Damascus, AR. It in itself is a litany of the worse features of a highly centralized command control system reacting to a basic accident involving a pierced liquid fuel tank in its silo, and how a series of wrong decisions by people who did nut understand the missile system resulted in the loss of life of young airmen attempting to extinguish a simple fire.
The book also relates the story of the Manhattan Project and I learned for the first time that the project involved scientists from Canada. Indeed the first nuclear device detonated at the Trinity Site was assembled by a Canadian physicist.
The book is an interesting read if you are a bit of a geek like me with some interest in the matter.
Colin Parkinson
Army.ca Myth
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3 Para by Patrick Bishop, focusing on life in a Platoon House in Afghanistan
Oldgateboatdriver
Army.ca Veteran
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Old Sweat said:
I have but one word for you Old Sweat: Chalk River.
Seriously though, few people realize how many Canadian scientist and engineers are involved, and in a major way, in a lot of the big "American" scientific and engineering fantastic breakthroughs. Kennedy set the "nation" on a course to reach the moon, but without the German and large number (almost 30%) of Canadian engineers - a lot of them from the old "aArrow" team, its hard to believe they could have achieved it as fast as they did.
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Another Canadian who was involved, but came to suffer an unfortunate death during the project was Louis Slotin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin
And a significant source of uranium was the Eldorado Mine in the NWT.
Another excellent read is Richard Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb". It follows the development of the science that lead to the bomb, the personalities involved in the scientific, military and political fields, and the events that occurred along the way. A very detailed coverage of the subject, and all in a simple easy to understand piece of literature.
I highly recommend it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin
And a significant source of uranium was the Eldorado Mine in the NWT.
Another excellent read is Richard Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb". It follows the development of the science that lead to the bomb, the personalities involved in the scientific, military and political fields, and the events that occurred along the way. A very detailed coverage of the subject, and all in a simple easy to understand piece of literature.
I highly recommend it.
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Just came upon this book in my local library.
"'Ghost Fleet' imagines a harrowing, realistic future of world war.
Very interesting interview with the authors here:
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-08/14/ghost-fleet-interview
Wonderfully geeky book it would seem.
"'Ghost Fleet' imagines a harrowing, realistic future of world war.
Very interesting interview with the authors here:
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-08/14/ghost-fleet-interview
Wonderfully geeky book it would seem.
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the fighting Canadians-history of the regimental system in Canada
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"The Insurgents" By Kaplan
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ModlrMike said:
The rest of the book series is on par (with the exception of one which was less than stellar) or better than LW. It's a great series and the Expanse definitely did it justice, despite *slight spoiler alert* Avarasala being much too toned-down in her use of expletives.
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Mike, would you consider adding a sticky to this thread encouraging people to post their thoughts on the book after they've read it?
Frankly, someone posting a title and author is pretty meaningless
[....unless, of course, you're familiar with the poster ("hell, Old Sweat is reading it; it must be awesome" ;D ).]
If it's worth posting that you're reading it, tell us why.
Frankly, someone posting a title and author is pretty meaningless
[....unless, of course, you're familiar with the poster ("hell, Old Sweat is reading it; it must be awesome" ;D ).]
If it's worth posting that you're reading it, tell us why.
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Wonderful read--Leigh Fermor's other books (at bottom of Amazon webpage) superb too:
"Ill Met by Moonlight" (aka "Night Ambush") with Dirk Bogarde as Leigh Fermor:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049357/
Book too:
https://www.amazon.ca/Ill-Met-Moonlight-Stanley-Moss/dp/1589880668/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462306463&sr=1-1&keywords=ill+met+by+moonlight
Mark
Ottawa
Abducting a General: The Kreipe Operation and SOE in Crete
by Patrick Leigh Fermor
...
One of the greatest feats in Patrick Leigh Fermor's remarkable life was the kidnapping of General Kreipe, the German commander in Crete, on 26 April 1944. He and Captain Billy Moss hatched a daring plan to abduct the general, while ensuring that no reprisals were taken against the Cretan population. Dressed as German military police, they stopped and took control of Kreipe's car, drove through twenty-two German checkpoints, then succeeded in hiding from the German army before finally being picked up on a beach in the south of the island and transported to safety in Egypt on 14 May.
Abducting a General is Leigh Fermor's own account of the kidnap, published for the first time. Written in his inimitable prose, and introduced by acclaimed Special Operations Executive historian Roderick Bailey, it is a glorious first-hand account of one of the great adventures of the Second World War. Also included in this book are Leigh Fermor's intelligence reports, sent from caves deep within Crete yet still retaining his remarkable prose skills, which bring the immediacy of SOE operations vividly alive, as well as the peril which the SOE and Resistance were operating under; and a guide to the journey that Kreipe was taken on, as seen in the 1957 film Ill Met by Moonlight starring Dirk Bogarde, from the abandonment of his car to the embarkation site so that the modern visitor can relive this extraordinary event...
https://www.amazon.ca/Abducting-General-Kreipe-Operation-Crete/dp/1444796585
"Ill Met by Moonlight" (aka "Night Ambush") with Dirk Bogarde as Leigh Fermor:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049357/
Book too:
https://www.amazon.ca/Ill-Met-Moonlight-Stanley-Moss/dp/1589880668/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462306463&sr=1-1&keywords=ill+met+by+moonlight
Mark
Ottawa
