What book are you reading now?

[armrdsoul77]

Go for Shakedown

Book about the Griffon helicopter in Afghanistan written by a Griffon Weapons Section lead.Written as fictionalized dialouge between characters based on true events.How the militarized Bell 412CF was employed as gunship support successfully .

 

[Blackadder1916]

The Last Ridge: The Epic Story of America's First Mountain Soldiers and the Assault on Hitler's Europe, McKay Jenkins

The Last Ridge: The Epic Story of America's First Mount…

When World War II broke out in Europe, the American arm…

www.goodreads.com

An easy and pleasant(?) read, especially for those who yearn for "the freedom of the hills"*. The first half of the book deals with the background that lead to the raising of 10th Mountain Division and its training; the second half deals with its short time in combat in Italy. Focusing mostly on the experiences of relatively junior soldiers, it does provide some lessons learned (and forgotten) that may be useful to anyone who needs a reminder about things to consider when leading troops in unusual terrain.




* extra credit for those who get the reference

 

[ModlrMike]

Splinter Cell. It's a fast read, but the writing is somewhat elementary.

 

[Dana381]

Audiobook if that counts. A man called Intrepid by William Stevenson.

The book is about William Stephenson the WW1 fighter pilot turned master spy from Winnipeg who was the inspiration for James bond.

P.s. the narrator is not helping the book any. I believe it would be much better with someone else but the content is fascinating.

 

[dangerboy]

Audiobook if that counts. A man called Intrepid by William Stevenson.

The book is about William Stephenson the WW1 fighter pilot turned master spy from Winnipeg who was the inspiration for James bond.

P.s. the narrator is not helping the book any. I believe it would be much better with someone else but the content is fascinating.

The sequel "Intrepid's Last Case" is also interesting, dealing with the Igor Gouzenko defection among other things.

 

[shiska]

For those unsure what to read next, I present the Canadian Army Reading List (from 2001) Canadian Army Reading List

I've recenly finished Call Sign Chaos and am currently reading What It Is Like To Go To War

 

[OldSolduer]

The sequel "Intrepid's Last Case" is also interesting, dealing with the Igor Gouzenko defection among other things.

That was a fascinating case. I am not really up to speed on it but when a cipher clerk defects.....

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Just received my two latest books and can't wait to dig into them (though gardening season will cut down on time available). They are two very recent history books by Yale university press:

1) Nick Hewitt's "Normandy - The Sailor's Story". Until now, if you were interested in the history of Operation Neptune, the naval side of the landings, either in preparation, execution or follow-on days, you were left reading a patchwork of history articles in reviews on various aspects or individual participating ship's history. No longer, this is the first global history book on the whole operation in all of its aspects, and one that does not shy from showing that on that day (I should say in those days in the case of the navies) fighting at sea was also vicious and demanded the ultimate sacrifice of hundreds, if not thousands of sailors.

2) Evan Mawdsley's "Supremacy at Sea - Task Force 58 and the Central Pacific Victory": This one is the history of the single largest carrier task force ever assembled, centered around no less than 16 aircraft carriers, and how it defeated Japan. It picks up after the Battle of Midway, when the US response was improvised, to dig into the assembly, tasking, operation and incredible support at sea that was the true, organized, response of the USA to Japan's war against them.

 

[dimsum]

I generally listen to audiobooks now (or to make me sound old, “books on tape” as a co-worker called them), but I’m really liking “Supercommunicators” by Charles Duhigg.

Supercommunicators — Charles Duhigg

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Habit, Supercommunicators is a fascinating exploration of what makes conversations work, and how we can all learn to be supercommunicators at work and in life. It focuses on the science of communication, conversation and connections.

www.charlesduhigg.com

I’m about halfway through and am pleasantly surprised by how its (simple) lessons really translate to communicating with family, co-workers, and people you don’t know. The chapter on “communicating in conflict” has a really good backgrounder about an experiment in 2018 where gun-control and gun-rights activists were invited to a conference in DC, to see how communications can bridge divided groups. Similarly, the next chapter focuses on picking apart what a study found were the differences between how married couples deal with conflict, and how that resulted in divorces or successful marriages.

It has also really made me think about bosses, peers, or subordinates that seemed to have the knack of communicating with people - I never thought about it back then but they subconsciously used many of the points in this book.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Just starting this one ....

THE CONSUL by Walter W. OREBAUGH on Antic Hay Rare Books

1994. Item #2644 OREBAUGH, Walter W. With Carol Jose . THE CONSUL. Cape Canaveral , Florida, Blue Note books, 1994 . 8vo., pictorial wraps; 310 pages. Second Edition, Retitled and Revised. The true story of an American diplomat who is captured by the Fascists during World War II in Italy...

www.antichay.com

Walter Orenbaugh was an American diplomat in Monaco during WW2, got arrested by the Italians when they occupied Monaco, shipped to Italy to be a "guest" of the Germans, then escaped to work with partisans in Umbria, including in/around the area where my parents were born & raised. More on Orenbaugh here ...

Walter Orebaugh - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[dimsum]

Finished The Mercy of Gods, the first book in a new series by James S.A. Corey (the duo who wrote The Expanse).

It’s…not exactly like The Expanse so don’t expect the near-future hard Sci-fi. I don’t want to spoil it too much but the authors seemed to research a lot about slavery. The premise is pretty interesting though and Livesuit (a novella that is part of that universe and fleshes out some important points) has really big Starship Troopers vibes.