Reading Lists

Status
Not open for further replies.
H Beam Piper writes good stuff

Carebear, Thanks for your alaska answer on APS, I am really looking forward to going there.
H Beam Piper wrote good stuff all of his work is worth reading. If you can find any of it you should read it. There is a new series out by Eric Flint that started with 1632 that reminded me of Lord Kalvan. I liked that one after that it went downhill for me.
Jerry Pournelle has written some good stuff. I recommend any of his Falkenburg series esp Go Tell The Spartans. They are about a guerilla war/revolution in the future. I liked David Drake's The Reaches trilogy but many may not.
One book I just read was Iron Sunrise by Charlie Stross which I liked. It reminded me of the pre WW2 thrillers with agents and innocents running around through the Balkans.

pete
 
Piper wrote far more than that.

Four Day Planet/Lone Star Planet, Uller Uprising, Federation, Space Vikings :D

Just to name a few. :)

This Kind of War is definitely the best book on Korea, I also found S.L.A. Marshall's Pork Chop Hill a good read.

Brian Daley wrote a number of good books, his Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh series is very entertaining.

And of course David Weber writes all sorts of good stuff.
 
21H40:

I would disagree with your recommendation of a commentary-heavy The Art of War for the first go 'round.

Some of those translations/commentaries could be titled, The Art of War: with Enough Commentary to Obscure the Straight-to-the-Point Writings of Sun Tzu.

A nice first translation is the minibook, tiny 2"x5" pocket version. It is about 1/4" thick and can actually fit in your shirt pocket. I think the publisher was Shambala.

After reading up on the happenings 'round 'bout that time, a reader might get some value from the commentary-heavy translations.

Murderous Mao's book on guerilla war was heavily influenced by Sun Tzu, which is to be expected.

*************

I just finished A History of Engineering in Classical and Medival Times by Donald Hill. It is much inferior to The Ancient Engineers by L. Sprague de Camp, which I highly recommend.

I also finished Robert Frezza's Cain's Land & A Small Colonial War. Good "Xth" generation combat sci-fi, but not as good as Jerry Pounelle's similar works.

A book I found surprisingly good was Solomon Kane by Robert E. Howard (of Conan fame). It is a collection of short stories centered on a roundhead/puritan fanatic in the mid-17th century with a generous dose of witchcraft/fantasy. Rapiers, sabres, main gauches, wheel-locks, and sorcery. A bit more raw than his Conan stories. One warning to the easily offended: REH is not PC.
 
Anything By Jim Harrison esp. Legends of the Fall , Farmer , Dalva and Sundog

American Skin by Don de Grazia. A rough and tumble story set in Chicago in the Late 80's

Joseph Conrad is good. Great sea stories.

Father and Son and Joe by Larry Brown. Southern Lit at it's best.

i'll think of more later.
 
Just about anything by Robert Ruark. He wrote his 'Africa books' 50 years ago and they are still relevent given the on going African state of affairs. The Old Man and the Boy is a great collection of short stories each with a moral/lesson that is timeless.

Mark Twain (anything).

A good afternoon at the beach fictional unconventional war read (or a two hour airplane flight) - The Five Fingers.

SciFi: The first three Foundation books by Asimov; Childhoods End (I am not a SciFi afficianado like many on this forum but IMHO it is the best SciFi book I have ever read) by Arthur C. Clark
 
Here's two I just finished

Generation Kill, by Evan Wright
Follows the first "suicide batallion" that lead the attack on Iraq.

Shooter, Autobiography, Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin, Capt. Casey Kuhlman

Autobiography about the currently top-ranked US Marine Sniper and his experiences from Somalia, to training exercises, to Iraq.
 
carebear, that recommendation for Barry Eisler hit the spot!

I highly recommend Rain Fall and Hard Rain.
 
Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. :) Not published yet. Written, revised, rejected dozens of times, and negotiating. Trying to get something published is very difficult. This whole 99.9% rejection business sucks. Finally have some interest. Fingers crossed.

It is pretty darn good if I say so myself. Spawned in the dark corners of my mind by one too many threads on gun boards about what gun for when the zombies come. It is a book where all of the creatures of bad B movies are real, and how people like us deal with them for fun and profit.
 
Correia,

If a publisher cares to ask, I'm willing to prepay for a hardbound right now.

Those that can, write. Those that can't, edit. I'm an editor/critic/reviser at best.

You author types amaze me. :D
 
When I say people like us, I mean folks who think like the Gun Culture. :)

Thanks, carebear.
 
Back from the dead!

Finally got around to reading Col. Thomas X. Hammes The Sling and The Stone .

If you want a good explanation of fourth generation warfare along with some very astute commentary on the current situation and the near future, read this book. I highly recommend it. :)

For fun I got The Road to Damascus by John Ringo and Linda Evans.

I thought this would be pretty straightforward evil invading aliens vs. heroic Bolo. The vast majority of the 757 pages was something else entirely...

Just to give you a little taste here is a quote: "The right of the people to keep and bear arms for self-defense and defense of the homeland shall never be infringed, limited, rescinded, intefered with, or prohibited by any decree of law, decision by court, or policy by the excutive branch or any of its agencies. And this time, we mean it. :evil:

Read this one.

Thank me later. :D
 
trickasafox,

My wife and I joked about going out and standing in line to get it at midnight. The next day we bought it at Costco for about $16.

Good book.

If you like true crime books, anything by Ann Rule. Her first, "The Stranger Beside Me" is about Ted Bundy. She has a ton of them out.

DM
 
Got to bring this thread back. Have to add one that I just finished last night.

1632 by Eric Flint. Probably (next to Guns of The South by Harry Turtledove) the best alternative history that I've read. Lots of gun use. Lots of gun use by regular, everyday, folks. Very well researched. Actually a pretty sunny read.
 
Point of Impact - Stephen Hunter
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing
Anything by Kurt Vonegut (Cat's Cradle is my favorite)
 
Beast in the Garden by David Baron.
Very interesting book about Mountain Lions in and around Boulder, CO and the events that lead to the Lions stalking and hunting humans as prey.
 
The Tomb and Herbert West: Reanimator by H.P. Lovecraft. At night, I read to my wife Infiniate Possibilities by Robert Heinlein.

Be safe,
Dave
 
Thanks Dr. Rob. :) (fingers crossed, manuscript is under consideration)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

N
  • Locked
Gun Books....What Are You Reading or Recommend?
2
Replies
33
Views
1K
renegade1alpha
R
F
  • Locked
Updated Reading List
Replies
0
Views
445
Fudgie Ghost
F
P
  • Locked
Catching up on my reading
Replies
6
Views
634
Dorrin79
D
C
  • Locked
What do you read? (Here's my recent list.)
2
Replies
37
Views
2K
cool45auto
C
S
  • Locked
a reading list...
Replies
0
Views
404
SoonerBJJ
S
Back
Top