Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Butcher on April 29, 2012, 08:02:45 AM
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Was speaking to CorkyJr last night, and it made me wonder why aces high never had a book club, basically people lists what books they have or currently reading so others can get an idea what to read if they are interested.
Here's a list I just ordered or have begun reading as of lately (its not my entire list):
Samurai! the autobiography of Saburo Sakai
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Battle of the Bulge by John S.D. Eisenhower
I have ordered these books as of lately - its a little heavier tone in the Luftwaffe department, but some books are rare to come by:
Escape from the Deep: A True Story of Courage by Alex Kershaw
The Black Sheep by Bruce Gamble
Greates Fighter Missions Of The Top Navy and Marine Aces by Edward Sims
Best Little Stories from World War II by Brian Kelly
Luftwaffe Fighter Aces: The Jagdflieger by Mike Spick
The World at War 1939-45 by Reader's Digest
Eagles of the Third Reich: The Men Who Made the Luftwaffe by Samuel Mitcham
The Luftwaffe War Diaries by Cajus bekker
The World War II - 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Figures by Howard Langer
The Few by Dilip Sarkar
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I always thought this was a great idea, that needed a Sticky somewhere :aok
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I always thought this was a great idea, that needed a Sticky somewhere :aok
I'm hoping so too, I really would like to have it broken down into sections - with a complete list for ALL countries, however it will be non-fiction only - I have enough tom clancy if I want a thriller :P
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Catch 22
Terror in the starboard seat
The latter is a missed classic. By far the best read of any of the aircrew memoirs that I read. Unlike most of these "personal account" books, the Mosquito navigator who wrote it is a very talented writer (and a poor navigator by his claims).
I just cycle these two and occasionally read something new in between.
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I'm re-reading Catch-22 right now, one of my favorite novels.
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Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
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The following site lists a lot of related reading material for this book club. Most if it deals with flight in general, but there a few that deal with specific periods of World War Two, or the Champions of Air Power: Billy Mitchell and Hap Arnold. I was looking for my own book published by the Air Force college "Rise of Modern Air Power", but I can't find it ( so i can list author and date). While my book, and the ones listed talk about Air Power from Theoretical terms, there are few good books that deal with specific people and squadrons... or detail the effects of Air Power in theater during World War II, so I think it deserves a mention as far as a suggested reading list goes.
here's the link:
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Air_Power/AP-OV.htm (http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Air_Power/AP-OV.htm)
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I read the Game of Thrones series as well as the 1st two books in a new series Name of the Wind. Both were good despite me not being a fantasy fan in general. Other than that just a bunch of random sci fi. Ender's Game was one I hadn't read but is actually quite good and a quick read, though I thought the ending was a bit weird.
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Fate is the Hunter, Ernest K Gann. Not a fighter pilot, though he did fly C47s during the war. Great stuff, read reviews here:
http://www.amazon.com/FATE-THE-HUNTER-Ernest-Gann/dp/0671636030 (http://www.amazon.com/FATE-THE-HUNTER-Ernest-Gann/dp/0671636030)
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Ender's Game was one I hadn't read but is actually quite good and a quick read, though I thought the ending was a bit weird.
Ender's Game is a classic. There is more to the Ender series then just Ender's Game, might want to pick up the next book.
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"Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss - Stuck on the second page, will keep you all posted!
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Now that's back in the office and not typing on a silly little tablet. Some of my favorite non-fiction titles off the 'ol shelf here...
The Flying Buccaneers - Steve Birdsall (good survey history of the 5th AF in the SW Pacific)
Fire In The Sky - Eric Bergerud (detailed analysis of the air war in SW Pacific)
Touched With Fire - Eric Bergerud (same but for the ground war)
Guadalcanal - Richard B Frank
The First Team - John Lundstrom (US pacific air operations in the opening months of the war)
The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign - John Lundstrom
Beaufighters in The Pacific - N.M. Parnell (Australian Beaufighter operations in the SW Pacific)
America's Hundred Thousand - Francis Dean (a look at all the major US fighter models and their variants)
Cobra! - Bell Aircraft Coporation 1934-1946 - Birch Mathews (production history of the P-39 and P-63)
B-25 Mitchell: The Ultimate Look - William Wolf (production history of the B-25)
The Lockheed P-38 - Warren Bodie
An Army At Dawn - Rick Atkinson (a look at Operation Torch and the battle for North Africa)
The Day of Battle - Rick Atkinson (Sicilian and Italian campaigns)
Unit Histories
Warpath Across The Pacific - Lawrence Hickey (345th bomb group, 5th AF)
Attack & Conquer - John Stanaway & Lawrence Hickey (8th FG, 5th AF)
Possum, Clover, & Hades - John Stanaway (475th FG, 5th AF)
The Eight Ballers (Eyes of the 5th AF) - John Stanaway & Bob Rocker (Photo recce P-38 squadron)
Revenge of The Red Raiders - Walter Gaylor, Don L. Evans, Harry Nelson, and Lawrence Hickey (22nd Bomb Group, 5th AF)
At last but not least, IMHO the greatest Pilot memoir written
Nanette: Her Pilots Love Story - Edwards Park
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Fate is the Hunter, Ernest K Gann. Not a fighter pilot, though he did fly C47s during the war. Great stuff, read reviews here:
http://www.amazon.com/FATE-THE-HUNTER-Ernest-Gann/dp/0671636030 (http://www.amazon.com/FATE-THE-HUNTER-Ernest-Gann/dp/0671636030)
Great book, recommended
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Finishing up Flyboys. WOW.. :O
Been a long time since I've done much reading, but I've gone through a lot of the ones mentioned already..
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Panzer Commander by Col Hans Von Luck
Panzer Leader by Gen Heinz Guderian
Panzers on the Eastern Front by Gen Erhard Raus
Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves (WWI UK officer)
The Road to Serfdom by FA Hayek (Nobel prize)
McCampbells Heros by Edwin P Hoyt (Cpt David McCampbell, MOH USN, F6F pilot)
Just to name a few...
Boo
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Panzer Commander by Col Hans Von Luck
Panzer Leader by Gen Heinz Guderian
Superb books, read them back in high school, they're what got me heavy into military history.
Panzers on the Eastern Front by Gen Erhard Raus
Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves (WWI UK officer)
The Road to Serfdom by FA Hayek (Nobel prize)
McCampbells Heros by Edwin P Hoyt (Cpt David McCampbell, MOH USN, F6F pilot)
Just to name a few...
Boo
You should check out Panzer Battles by Von Mellenthin, interesting experiences on the eastern front.
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Ender's Game is a classic. There is more to the Ender series then just Ender's Game, might want to pick up the next book.
I liked Enders Shadow as much as Enders Game. I'm getting ready to read those again.
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A Question of Honor: The Koscuiszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II Lynne Olson, Stanley Cloud
Awesome read! Thanks Masherbrum/Karaya for recommending it to me!
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"Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss - Stuck on the second page, will keep you all posted!
+1 fantastic
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"Cat in the hat comes back" is almost as good.
Higher budget, brighter explosions and less flowing rhymes. Another classic.
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The most recent on my Kindle carousel...
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Physics of the Impossible - Michio Kaku
The Nibelungenlied
The Home Distiller's Workbook - Jeff King
Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
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JG26..Top Guns of the Luftwaffe.
Great book. I actually had a hard time putting it down.
http://books.google.com/books/about/JG_26_top_guns_of_the_Luftwaffe.html?id=v60DAAAACAAJ
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AH related: "Piece of Cake" by Derek Robinson
THE vietnam helicopter memoir: "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason. ( I think there is more than one edition, the one I read had an afterword that just slapped you in the face.
Great novel about a boat trip by a premier american stylist "The Sea Runners" by Ivan Doig
What it takes to be an entrepreneur in india, in which getting your stake takes murder and turning your back on your family who will have to face the music: "The White Tiger" by Aravid Adiga
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AH related: "Piece of Cake" by Derek Robinson
Is that what they based the TV mini-series (same name) on? It was very good.
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Is that what they based the TV mini-series (same name) on? It was very good.
Yeah. book is great, mini-series pretty good too. Goshawk Squadron was Robinson's WW1 novel, and is pretty great. A Good Clean Fight has P40s in the desert war, also excellent.
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Just bought the book Shattered Sword, it goes into detail why the Japanese lost the battle of Midway.
I have admiration for the Japanese, but this book clearly shows in detail.
Here's some info:
Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange’s bestselling Miracle at Midway, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement.
Unlike previous accounts, Shattered Sword makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida’s Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, an uncritical reliance upon which has tainted every previous Western account. It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle. The authors examine the battle in detail and effortlessly place it within the context of the Imperial Navy’s doctrine and technology. With a foreword by leading WWII naval historian John Lundstrom, Shattered Sword will become an indispensable part of any military buff’s library. Winner of the 2005 John Lyman Book Award for the "Best Book in U.S. Naval History" and cited by Proceedings as one of its "Notable Naval Books" for 2005.
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Just bought the book Shattered Sword, it goes into detail why the Japanese lost the battle of Midway.
I have admiration for the Japanese, but this book clearly shows in detail.
Here's some info:
Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange’s bestselling Miracle at Midway, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement.
Unlike previous accounts, Shattered Sword makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida’s Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, an uncritical reliance upon which has tainted every previous Western account. It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle. The authors examine the battle in detail and effortlessly place it within the context of the Imperial Navy’s doctrine and technology. With a foreword by leading WWII naval historian John Lundstrom, Shattered Sword will become an indispensable part of any military buff’s library. Winner of the 2005 John Lyman Book Award for the "Best Book in U.S. Naval History" and cited by Proceedings as one of its "Notable Naval Books" for 2005.
That's of interest of me, I think I'll see if I can pick up a copy of that soon.
On a slightly related note, I have always been fascinated by Japanese culture and how it is so frequently misinterpreted by Westerners.
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Was speaking to CorkyJr last night, and it made me wonder why aces high never had a book club, basically people lists what books they have or currently reading so others can get an idea what to read if they are interested.
Here's a list I just ordered or have begun reading as of lately (its not my entire list):
Samurai! the autobiography of Saburo Sakai
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Battle of the Bulge by John S.D. Eisenhower
I have ordered these books as of lately - its a little heavier tone in the Luftwaffe department, but some books are rare to come by:
Escape from the Deep: A True Story of Courage by Alex Kershaw
The Black Sheep by Bruce Gamble
Greates Fighter Missions Of The Top Navy and Marine Aces by Edward Sims
Best Little Stories from World War II by Brian Kelly
Luftwaffe Fighter Aces: The Jagdflieger by Mike Spick
The World at War 1939-45 by Reader's Digest
Eagles of the Third Reich: The Men Who Made the Luftwaffe by Samuel Mitcham
The Luftwaffe War Diaries by Cajus bekker
The World War II - 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Figures by Howard Langer
The Few by Dilip Sarkar
Without actually doing combat I got a really good feel reading, "With The Old Breed" . Another good book, "Semper Fi, Mac". My wife's uncle was on Okinawa at the Battle of SugarLoaf in 1945. He and about 5 guys were all that was left of his regiment. "With The Old Breed," is written by a retired science professor, his autobiography as a Marine fighting there. Uncle was a Marine in a mortar crew. He and I talked as I was the only other military in our family. He only opened up to me within our family. Me training to Camp Geiger to Camp LeJeune as a Seabee is the only common bond we had. It was tent city in 1944. I was there in 1976. What started our talks, is, I asked him if he remembered the war? He told me, "like it was yesterday!" 31 years later. After he died, I got his stuff. I researched quite a bit about his unit. I need to visit the Marine Corps museum to Quantico.
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That's of interest of me, I think I'll see if I can pick up a copy of that soon.
On a slightly related note, I have always been fascinated by Japanese culture and how it is so frequently misinterpreted by Westerners.
The book gives a rare insight to what went wrong, the book "Fire in the Skies" gives a pretty good account far as the Air War is concerned. Americans for example had ingenuity, a prime example was the battleship bombardment of Henderson Airfield on Guadalcanal.
Most aircrafts were destroyed on the ground or damaged, a lone officer went around putting together a crew to repair the aircraft (VT-8) - they ripped apart a dozen aircraft to patch together a TBF Avenger.
When I say patched together, literally nobody wanted to fly the aircraft because it was such a hack job, instead the officer hopped in and they loaded bombs on it, he took off and bombed some japanese artillery positions.
Where this differences in the Japanese culture, for example Wewak was a japanese fighter base, most of the fighters were suffering down time due to lack of spare parts, the aircraft belonged to the royal family, to "butcher" one aircraft to repair another was just an insult.
In reality, they could of butchered one aircraft and repaired 2-3 to flight status, however the discipline would not allow it. The americans on the other hand used ingenuity to hack together 4-5 to piece together one regardless of the costs.
I'd source this information but i'm a bit to tired, it showed up in a magazine a while back thats all I can remember.
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Catch 22
Terror in the starboard seat
The latter is a missed classic. By far the best read of any of the aircrew memoirs that I read. Unlike most of these "personal account" books, the Mosquito navigator who wrote it is a very talented writer (and a poor navigator by his claims).
I just cycle these two and occasionally read something new in between.
That's the book that got me in to this whole Mosquito mularkey in the first place. I've managed to trace details of some of the stories he tells, some not.
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The Count of Monte Cristo-Alexandre Dumas
The Death of Ivan Ilych- Leo Tolstoy
Luftwaffe Eagle- Walter Schuck
The Blond Knight of Germany-Toliver and Constable
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
Lord of the Rings series by Tolkien
Canterbury Tales(not all of them) -Chaucer
Sir Gwain and the Green Knight- Tolkien Translation
Just read Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn
and now reading the first Game of Thones novel.
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The Count of Monte Cristo-Alexandre Dumas
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AWESOME book :aok
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AWESOME book :aok
Yeah something I did not know until recently about the book is it was released as a 18 part series through out a year.
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Game of thrones books are far better then the TV series, some reason I just can't get involved with the TV series, the books however I am on book #2 of the 4 set.
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I love the tv series.
I watched the first season before I started reading the book and it hasn't made the book harder to read. Its fun to see what they changed between them.
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Wheel of Time books are awful :<
I highly highly recommend Patrick Rothfuss' book The Name of the Wind and its sequel
also, ink, I think you would really like the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson
oh and Altered Carbon (and sequels) by Richard Morgan is excellent for any sci fi fans :old:
atm i am reading old Ed McBain cop stories :rofl
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Wheel of Time books are awful :<
I highly highly recommend Patrick Rothfuss' book The Name of the Wind and its sequel
also, ink, I think you would really like the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson
oh and Altered Carbon (and sequels) by Richard Morgan is excellent for any sci fi fans :old:
atm i am reading old Ed McBain cop stories :rofl
They get a little slow towards the mid but I really liked them.
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I cant get into reading out here, did most of my reading while locked down...now it just reminds me of where I was.
except Conan stories can read those over and over...
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I cant get into reading out here, did most of my reading while locked down...now it just reminds me of where I was.
except Conan stories can read those over and over...
You just need a book that can interest you, something with sex drugs and ink :D
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Wheel of Time books are awful :<
Agreed. First one was ok, but after that Jordan was just pumping out uninspired crap as fast as he and his publisher could manage it.
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You just need a book that can interest you, something with sex drugs and ink :D
:rofl :rofl :aok
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Boy was hoping this thread would be a lil more active and get stuck to the top, who do people hate books? :(
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Boy was hoping this thread would be a lil more active and get stuck to the top, who do people hate books? :(
Most of my friends don't read and you would be surprised at how many people don't.
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There was a post like this a little while ago. So many good books to read.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,323973.0.html (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,323973.0.html)
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Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan
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If anyone is a golfer, or enjoys fast-paced novels, I'll send you a digital version of my book at no cost. Just PM your email address and tell me what reader or format. It's available on Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, Palm Doc, etc. Tell me your Kindle email address and I'll send it directly to your reader.