What are you reading now...?

[incarcerated]

Originally Posted by Gypsy

Just finished Horse Soldiers and now reading Cobra II, The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael Gordon and GEN Bernard Trainor.

Gypsy,
let me know what you think of Cobra II.

[Bill S.]

I have just finished How to win friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. I can not recall the amount of times I have read this, but it really is a great book that I will continue to reread. I actually "got out of" a speeding ticket using almost the same dialog that he used to get out of a fine for having his dog at the park unleashed.

Today I am starting On War, by Carl Von Clausewitz. I started this book once before but got caught up in another and am just getting back to it.

I am also in the middle of Outdoor Emergency Care. It is the book which covers basically E.M.T. level care in the non-urban setting that The National Ski Patrol uses as the text for their course. I'm reading it to refresh and "get ahead" for the E.M.T. class this fall. This one... it is more fun than you can shake a stick at. Great pictures though.

I am "always" reading the works of Nietzsche, from The Portable Nietzsche . I can only seem to get into small doses of this at a time. It is a "slower" read, probably because it was written in 1883, and translated from German. Nietzsche's concept of "The Übermensch" is something I think anyone who is a member of this forum would relate to (overcoming oneself, etc.).

From Nietzsche:

All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment…

I wish I could push through the lot of Nietzsche without getting caught up in one of the million great works out there. I think there is a lot of good stuff buried in that translated German text.

[Sigaba]

Robert B. Parker, Taming A Sea-Horse, ISBN-10 0440188415.

The 14th Spenser novel sees the Boston-based private detective trying to save April Kyle from herself for a second time.*

The Spenser novels often explore the main theme of Parker's scholarship (he holds advanced degrees in English): modern urban life as a proving ground for the protagonists of American detective fiction. So he often offers bleak views of cities. Yet, it is still startling to read Spenser's take on Central Park (pg 43).**

I strolled across the park toward Lincoln Center. To my left the row of high-rise hotels on 39th Street gleamed in benign elegance over the burgeoning green swales of Olmstead's grand design. Roller skaters and Walkmen and joggers and Frisbees and dogs and kerchiefs. Lunch in brown bags and park rangers on horseback and outcroppings of dark rock on which people sat and got the early yellow splash of spring sun in their faces. Birds sang. Maybe ten years ago a group of young men raped a young woman in the park and left her naked, gagged, and bound hand and foot. Another group of young men came along and found her and raped her too.

Ah wilderness.

Just started Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939. Trans. Jefferson Chase. ISBN-13 9780805074529.

Mr. Schivelbusch treatment of the historiography of the topic would have benefited from greater detail but, surprisingly, he didn't ask me. Despite that small point, which is, as the saying goes "not meant as a criticism,"so far so (very damn) good.

__________________________________
* Spenser would save himself a lot of effort if he took Hawk's advice more often. Or if he just listened to hip-hop. The Geto Boys, The Geto Boys, ASIN B000000W8P, track 12. [Explicit lyrics].
** Complimenting Parker's frequent explorations of the urban landscape as a forge in which men craft their masculine identities (especially in A Catskill Eagle, Small Vices, and Cold Service) are his thoughtful discussions of feminism, most notably in Looking For Rachel Wallace and A Savage Place. (Sometimes being badly over educated in the liberal arts means that everything becomes a damn research project.)

[LarryW]

Just finished "Following the Alaskan Dream...My Salmon Trolling Adventures in the Last Frontier" by Marilyn Jordan George. She and her husband trolled for salmon in Alaska from 1946 until 1986. Many of those years she did it by herself. One heck of a piece of non-fiction by a straight shooting lady. V/r recommend it to anyone.

[jbour13]

Working on Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

Good book so far, even if he is controversial. I'm reading Collapse afterword.

These will be my layover and inflight readings.

[greenberetTFS]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

I have just finished How to win friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. I can not recall the amount of times I have read this, but it really is a great book that I will continue to reread. I actually "got out of" a speeding ticket using almost the same dialog that he used to get out of a fine for having his dog at the park unleashed.

Today I am starting On War, by Carl Von Clausewitz. I started this book once before but got caught up in another and am just getting back to it.

I am also in the middle of Outdoor Emergency Care. It is the book which covers basically E.M.T. level care in the non-urban setting that The National Ski Patrol uses as the text for their course. I'm reading it to refresh and "get ahead" for the E.M.T. class this fall. This one... it is more fun than you can shake a stick at. Great pictures though.

I am "always" reading the works of Nietzsche, from The Portable Nietzsche . I can only seem to get into small doses of this at a time. It is a "slower" read, probably because it was written in 1883, and translated from German. Nietzsche's concept of "The Übermensch" is something I think anyone who is a member of this forum would relate to (overcoming oneself, etc.).

From Nietzsche:


I wish I could push through the lot of Nietzsche without getting caught up in one of the million great works out there. I think there is a lot of good stuff buried in that translated German text.

I have to disagree with you on Nietzsche being consider great works..... I did an in depth paper on him a long while ago and my conclusion was that he was a madman...... I'm sure you know he died in an insane asylum in 1900. Hitler used his works to promote his superman concept on the german race in the mid 30's..

Big Teddy

[Richard]

The Great Betrayal: The Evacuation of the Japanese Americans During WW2 by Girdner and Loftis.

Richard

[greenberetTFS]

Just read this book and I really wish I had it when I was a young tiger..... The young men today that are going through SFQC are very fortunate to have material like this available to them.......................

Big Teddy

[TrapLine]

I just finished The Last Ridge by McKay Jenkins, Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis and Escape from Corregidor by Edgar D. Whitcomb. I found them all to be very good.

Now for the reason behind this post, as my reading choices are not important. I am reading Five Years To Freedom by James N. Rowe. I have found it to be a slow read, because I end up reading many of the pages two and three times. To think that many of you here knew and were friends with COL Rowe is amazing to me. Thank you to CPTAUSRET for what you have shared. God Bless you all. It is an honor to learn from this hero's friends.

just finished "Hunting The Jackal". GREAT READ, i could not put it down, i finished it in two days. i also had noticed Billy Waugh was in the Special Forces hall of fame at Bank Hall before i read it. Hes one bad dude!

[Merlyn]

Finished "Horse Soldiers" a couple of days ago and just finished "Certain Jeopardy" last night. Both are good books.

The only complaint I have about "Certain Jeopardy" is that the phrase "Special Ops" is used as if it were a unit.

The Author is Captain Jeff Struecker, who is a story all unto himself, look him up on the web. The book was written with the assistance of Alton Gansky, and that probably explains why the "Special Ops" is used throughout the book. In only one place ( I think the editors missed it) is "Special Forces" used.

Struecker is still active duty. The nature of the mission may have made the publisher nervous.

[Swank]

The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen

Just started reading "One Second After" By Wiliam R. Forstchen, Forward By Newt Gingrich. Started reading it yesterday and now am half way through it. This is fiction based upon fact. So far an excellent book.

[SF_BHT]

Just received the replacement of a long lost book of mine.

Special Forces of the US Army 1952-1982 #18 of 500 and signed.

Will be rereading a few parts in the next few days. Took a long time to replace it since the Ex sold my first on at a yard sale. Really went up in price also... but I just had to replace it in my collection.

[Automatic26]

While deployed I read CHOSEN SOLDIER: the making of an SF Soldier. Great insight into the accession pipeline. Great info for anyone looking into SF.
Also read ROUGHNECK91 in a few days in between patrols. Hard to put down. Dealt with and ODA in early OIF.
Just finished LONE SURVIVOR.
Currently reading BEYOND HELL AND BACK. It chronicles 7 different missions in history which shaped SOF into what it is today. Got through the Son Tay Raid, Rescue of BAT 21, and Operation Eagle Claw.