What are you reading now...?

[ZonieDiver]

I finished 'Blackjack-33' by James Donahue. It's about 5th Group's 'Mobile Guerrilla Force' in RVN. I've read 2 of his other books. All are good reads.

[Stingray]

Finishing up "The Code", extremely good so far.

Started "Patriots: A Novel of Survival In The Coming Collapse." Pretty interesting so far.

[mark46th]

I haven't read anything since Tony Hillerman died. Guess I should start up again...

[NoRoadtrippin]

I've just finished We Were Soldiers, and have started The Unforgiving Minute by Mullaney.

So far, I am liking it a lot. I didn't attend USMA, but I can relate strongly to some of his indoctrination experiences and the way he writes about them in order to express them to an audience that might have no context for the military life. Its been really enjoyable to read. He makes excellent points about how shared adversity and "embracing the Suck" becomes something you truly learn to love when sharing it with other men at your side. That's something I can't ever get seem to quite get my wife to grasp the meaning of.

[zeke]

Halfway through The Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock. Really good read. He was a SF medic in Vietnam then started watching grizzly bears in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks after leaving the military.

He intersperses memories of Vietnam with memories of observing/tracking grizzlies.

[Richard]

Will Eisner's The Compact With God Trilogy.

Richard

[swpa19]

Backbone of the Wehrmacht. A comprehensive study into the German K98k Rifle. 1934 - 1945 (Collectors Edition). by Richard D. Law

[Bushranger]

"Tracking: A blueprint for learning how", Jack Kearney

[RUCK NUT]

Book 4 of the Dark Tower series by Steven King. I heard they were making movies and wanted to get the jump on the bandwagoneers. Mind blowing sci-fi with a cowboy twist. Very good

[ReefBlue]

I just picked up two books:

Project Azorian, the CIA and the raising of the K-129. Just started reading it, I'm familiar with the story, but this is supposed to be the most detailed account ever put to paper.

<and>

Notes of a Russian Sniper--Vassili Zaitsev. This seems to be a revamping of the 1971 edition to ensure the translation was correct.

I'll wait until I finish Project Azorian before I start Zaitsev's book.

[craigepo]

Finished Decision Points by George W. Bush. Pretty damned interesting. I see why presidents leave office with lots of grey hair and more wrinkles.

[silentreader]

Originally Posted by craigepo

I see why presidents leave office with lots of grey hair and more wrinkles.

There's been a spate of articles in recent years discussing how the modern presidency has become an impossible job. This one is somewhat tongue in cheek, but makes the point well.

The national campaign to get President Obama to emote, throw crockery at oil executives and jump up and down in fury has failed. But here’s a long-term solution: Let’s anoint a king and queen.

Our king and queen could spend days traipsing along tar-ball-infested beaches, while bathing oil-soaked pelicans and thrusting strong chins defiantly at BP rigs.

All that would give President Obama time to devise actual clean-up policies. He might then also be able to concentrate on eliminating absurd government policies that make these disasters more likely (such as the $75 million cap on economic damages when an oil rig is responsible for a spill).

Our president is stuck with too many ceremonial duties as head of state, such as greeting ambassadors and holding tedious state dinners, that divert attention from solving problems. You can preside over America or you can address its problems, but it’s difficult to find time to do both.

Other countries often hand over ceremonial duties to a titular head of state with no real powers — sort of a national nanny.

In Japan, the head of state is effectively the emperor. In Germany, it’s the ceremonial president. In Britain, it’s the queen. Canada divides the job of head of state between Queen Elizabeth (a freebie since she’s on the British payroll) and her representative, the governor general.

A figurehead head of state is a nifty foreign policy tool as well. President Obama has twice had to delay his trip to Indonesia and Australia because of the press of domestic policy, but an American king and queen could spend days greeting crowds and cutting ribbons at new schools. And when they aren’t traveling, our king and queen could be kept busy hosting state dinners five nights a week.

Some folks complain that it’s silly to fret that Mr. Obama doesn’t emote. Of course, it is. It’s farcical that we have bullied our president into trash-talking on television about kicking some you know what.

One of the things I admire about this administration is its cerebral, no-drama emphasis on empirical evidence in addressing issues such as health, education and poverty. This is government by adults, by engineers rather than by dramatists.

But Mr. Obama also knows that drama and emotion are the fuel of American politics, and that’s why he’s struggling to feign fury.

As Stephen Colbert observed about the oil spill: “We know if this was Reagan, he would have stripped to his skivvies, put a knife in his teeth, gone down there and punched that oil well shut!”

But let’s be realistic. Most presidents just won’t look that good in their skivvies. And some may accidentally swallow the knives. Thus, the need for a handsome king and queen to lead photo-ops.

Small-minded critics will offer petty objections, complaining that it is undemocratic or inequitable to have royalty. Hmm. Considering that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans own financial wealth six times greater than the financial wealth of the entire bottom 80 percent, well, we already have an aristocracy.

Critics may also protest the expense of royalty. But we could save on housing by having royals stay in the castles at Disneyland and Disney World. In any case, think of royalty as an investment that could bring in billions of dollars in tourist revenue.

If we choose well and adopt royals who are prone to scandal, we might also give a much-needed boost to the newspaper industry. A particularly fecund couple might offer the prospect of regular royal weddings, with sales of enough commemorative kitsch to balance the federal budget.

How should we choose a king and queen? Frankly, we already have royalty: Hollywood celebrities. And they are well trained to emote and explode on demand.

Just imagine the Nielsen ratings for an Academy Awards-type evening in which Americans would choose a royal family for the first time — live!

Movie stars are mostly rich enough that we wouldn’t have to pay them, and they can often be counted on to indulge in enough adultery to make royalty entertaining and titillating.

They also tend to be gorgeous, and if we’re going to have a king and queen stripped to their skivvies with knives in their teeth, we may as well enjoy the sight.

What? You say that this would be un-American? It’s not who we are as a country?

Well, rage isn’t President Obama either. It’s not who he is any more than a monarchy is America.

So maybe we should just accept that we’re stuck with a presidential system — and with a ruminative and slightly boring president who tries to solve problems rather than fulminate about them.

[GratefulCitizen]

Currently reading:
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes.
It's a bit ponderous; probably not going to finish it.

The Drunkard's Walk by Leonard Mlodinow.
Interesting read, not overly technical, broad in application.


On deck:
Euclid's Window also by Leonard Mlodinow.

..

[alright4u]

Started with the newest edition of Robert's. Next went to another book Nancy Sylvester wrote about the bullies in an organization using Robert's Rules to take control, further agenda, etc. I shoud have started here.

[Sigaba]

Samuel Watson, "Continuity in Civil-Military Relations and Expertise: The U.S. Army during the Decade before the Civil War," Journal of Military History 75:1 (January, 2011): 221-250.