Your reading list
 

What are you currently reading and what's on deck? Here are mine:

Currently:

John Plaster, SOG: A Photo History of the Secret Wars
Che Guevara, On Guerrilla Warfare
James Bamford, Body of Secrets
Charles Barkley, I may be wrong, but I doubt it

On Deck:

Jon Andersen, Che: A Revolutionary Life
Nick Rowe, Five Years to Freedom
Anonymous, Terrorist Hunter
William McRaven, Spec Ops : Case Studies in Special Operations
Warfare: Theory and Practice
Mao Zedong, On Guerrilla Warfare
Derrick Harrison, These Men Are Dangerous

Currently:

A Strenous Life, biography of T. Roosevelt, Kathleen Dalton (just started)
The Arab Peoples in History, Bernard Lewis (almost through)
The Tristan Betrayal, Robert Ludlum (halfway)

On Deck:

Uncertain as of yet, but it will be on the history of Just War Theory

Now
The Shadow of the Sun Ryszard Kapuscinski
Mapping Human History Steve Olson
Terror in the Name of God Jessica Stern

Just Finished
Pepperdogs Bing West
DaVinci Code Some Guy

On Deck
The Oath Khassan Baiev
La Historia de ETA Antonio Elorza
Culture and Imperialism Edward Said
Pensimientos Jose Marti

I reccommend Just and Unjust Wars by Michael Walzer. Used in one of my college classes. Very readable.

Current:

Theodore Rex, author Edmund Morris:

Current:
SOG A Photo History
The Complete Far Side (2 volumes/18lbs of fun)

On Deck
Nada I'm going to Pattaya for 3 months!!

Currently:

The Merger, Jeffrey Robinson
Jackson's Way, John Buchanan

Just Finished:

Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand
Sailors to the End, Gregory A. Freeman

On Deck:

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (for D9)
Into The Rising Sun, Patrick K. O'Donnell
Roosevelt's Secret War, Joseph E. Persico

You won't regret it. Truly a great one.

Leadership, The Challenge

Currently,

Be an expert with Map and Compass:
The complete Orienteering Handbook by Bjorn Hjellstrom

Get Tough: The U.S. Special Forces Physical Conditioning Program
by Tom Fitzgerald

Navy Seal Nutrition by Patricia A. Duester

Guerrillas In The Mist: A Battlefield Guide to Clandestine Warfare
by Bob Newman

Microeconomics by Colander

The Iraq War Reader Edited by Micah Sifry and Christopher Cerf



On Deck,

Warrior Soul by Chuck Pfarrer

Tactical Tracking Operations by David Scott-Donelan

Army Officer's Guide by LTC eith E. Bonn, USA (ret)

The SAS Survival Handbook by John Wiseman

Barron's Firefighter Exams

Kodokan Judo by Jigoro Kano

Now:
Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand
Me Against My Brother Scott Peterson
Special Forces Tom Clancy
Conversations With God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 1 Neale Donald Walsch
From a Buick 8 Stephen King - To keep my head from exploding!

Recently:
In the Company of Heroes Michael J. Durant
The Five People You Meet in Heaven Mitch Albom
Memories of a Geisha Arthur S. Golden
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Middle-East Conflict M. Bard

On Deck:
Tuesday's with Morrie Mitch Albom
Killing Pablo Mark Bowden
Conversations With God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 2 Neale Donald Walsch
Conversations With God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 3 Neale Donald Walsch
Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror Bernard Lewis
Africa Unchained: Blueprint for Africa's Future George B. N. Ayittey

On Deck:

Across The Fence: The Secret War In Vietnam by John "Tilt" Stryker Meyer

Jennifer Martinez sends

Recently did this one on audiobook as well (it was a long road trip, LOL). I'm sure some on this site could speak better to the veracity of Bowden's account, but from my uninitiated perspective it was a good story which raises many interesting questions about what the government is morally justified in doing when the rule of law deteriorates beyond a certain point. I thought it was worthwhile and interesting.

I liked it, but I didn't get much philosophy or anything out of it. I just thought it was a good tale of what Pablo Escobar was all about and how he was taken down. I don't know whether the book is accurate, but I liked it. My wife liked it too.

Additions to my list.

On Deck:

Terrorists, Victims and Society: Psychological Perspectives on Terrorism and its Consequences, Edited by Andrew Silke

The Age of Terrorism and the International Political System, by Adrian Guelke

The one I'm reading tonight:

Deterrence & Influence in Counterterrorism: A Component in the War on al Qaeda, by Paul K. Davis and Brian Michael Jenkins

Pattaya!!!
 

Go to TQ2, one of my "SF Paramedic" T-shirts is framed above the Bar :D

The Eagle

A new one just popped onto the radar:

Anti-Americanism, by Jean François Revel.

Here is the summary:

"Angered by the assault against a nation he knows and admires, the distinguished French intellectual Jean-Francois Revel has come to America's defense in "Anti-Americanism," a biting and erudite book that (paradoxically, given his country's specially vehement attacks on the U.S. and its policies) spent several weeks on top of France's best-seller list. Revel believes that what he calls the "anti-American obsession" is based on a willful disregard of the most obvious facts of American political and social life, its economic freedom and democratic traditions. He sees much anti-Americanism simply as anti-capitalism in disguise on the part of those--in Europe and the rest of the world--who are still committed to doctrines that are at heart illiberal and even totalitarian. In probing the origins of the notion that America is the source of all evil--imperialistic, greedy and ruthlessly competitive--he shows how these charges ultimately stem from weakness and envy on the part of those who make them and are a neurotic effort to find an easy explanation for Europe's own loss of status in the postwar era. As far as America's 'unilateralism' is concerned, Revel asserts that the U.S. is forced to act alone because Europe has repeatedly failed to act in the cause of collective security. As far as America's sins of "globalization" are concerned, Revel shows that the developing countries of the world want more, not less access to rich markets and corporate investment. Jean-Francois Revel explores the strengths of America and exposes the agendas of the anti-Americans in his own country, in Europe and around the world. Revel's clearheaded analysis of the protestors' motives shows what they're really marching for and what the world will lose if their anti-Americanism should ever take hold."

I know Revel's name but can't put my finger on why. What else has he written?

By Jean-Francois Revel:

Without Marx or Jesus
The Flight from Truth : The Reign of Deceit in the Age of Information
On Proust
The Totalitarian Temptation
How Democracies Perish


Collaborations:

The Monk and the Philosopher : A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life
by Jean-Francois Revel & Matthieu Ricard

Vanished Civilizations
by Jean Paul Barbier & Jean-Francois Revel

I think I either read this or read a second-hand description of it a long time ago. Don't remember anything specific about it, though.

I have trouble sitting down and reading books start to finish sometimes so books that are a series of essays work very well for me. Some that I have liked are: The Rehnquist Court: Judicial Activism on the Right editted by Herman Schwartz (2002), How Did This Happen? Terrorism and the New War editted by James F. Hoge, Jr and Gideon Rose, (2001), and the one I am currently reading is Defining a Nation editted by David Halberstam, (2003). It has an essay by Hal Moore that is particularly good.

I am also reading Sex & Power by Susan Estrich. So far I think it's pretty good, but it's not one that many men would care much for. The other three are ones that everyone might enjoy, however.

Currently reading Body of Secrets by James Bamford

Next on the list Puzzle Palace by the same author.

Bamford has a new one coming out in April called A Pretext for War
9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies

Thanks! I am going to check that one out too......as soon as someone let's me know if it's worth reading!!:D

Had her for crim in law school. I HATE her. Change the channel every time I see her ugly face.

Aside from that, did you learn anything from her?

I had a Modern European Political Thought Prof that I felt exactly that same way about. The difference was he didn't show up on tv, Thank God. I took American Political Thought from him as well. Why? Because regardless of how I felt about him he taught the subject in a way that it stuck with you. I still hate him though. Too strong of a word, but a South Carolina drawl makes me twinge even now.

If she was a good teacher, I wouldn't dislike her so much.

Reading her stuff has got to be better than listening to her.

I change the channel every time I hear her whiny, high-pitched, bitching, Yankee voice.

Like Carol Channing with PMS and huffing helium.

TR

Nice Audio Image! I don't recall ever listening to her, but then my sister has a yappy pomeranian so maybe I have and didn't know it.

The book isn't too bad. I don't agree with everything she says but then why would I? She and I have nothing in common except being female. I don't even like her politics much. She worked for the Dukakis Campaign. Losing propositions may be romantic to some people; I think they are boring.

I feel a nightmare coming on.

So, CRad: do I really want to go out and find this book?

What's her thesis? ;)

That Harvard sucks, men are standing on the necks of us poor women, and any gains we've made in terms of wage equality over the last decade or so was 1. Illusionary and 2. has disappeared.

We take it lying down by opting for early retirement, or job switching to avoid confrontation, that sort of thing. I agree with her on some of those. I get really irked by women who bitch about the "system" and how it's run by men, then turn around and either are shocked when men don't go to bat for them with the same vigor they would if the women were doing for themselves OR worse, they expect men to create the workplace equality for them.

If you can do as good as a man in your chosen field then By God, step out with purpose and do it. I'll loan you the book when I'm done, 'kay? I have to warn you though I write in the margins of books. I talk to the TV too. <shrug>

Why doesn't this surprise me? LOL

Thanks. I like to scribble in my books, too. Besides, some of the greatest treasures STC left us were his marginalia. Someday you'll be famous for yours. ;)

((RL - notice how C put in her smilie? ))

Just Finished:
McRaven, Spec Ops
Swofford, Jarhead
McCauley, The Khruschev Era
Tom Clancy, Shadow Warriors and Airborne
Arthur Edwards, The Cold War (researching NSC68 alt. views)

Reading:
Bard E. O'Neill, Insurgency and Terrorism,
Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul
Kate Gilliver, Caesar's Gallic Wars
Carl von Clausewitz, On War
Martin McCauley, Russia, America, and the Cold War

On Deck:
Robert Young Pelton, Dangerous Places, The Adventurist
Stephen Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
Gaddis, We Now Know- Rethinking Cold War History, The US and the Origins of the Cold War
John Keegan, Intelligence in War
Clausewitz, On Strategy

Just Finished:

The Invasion Before Normandy: The Secret Battle of Slapton Sands by Edwin Palmer Hoyt

Reading:

Eyes Over Mog, by MI Mikey

A Ranger Born by Col. Bob Black

On the deck:

Something about the Civil War.


Solid,
Pegasus Bridge is a good book. I watched The Longest Day right after reading it and one of the guys from the movie was actually a Brit Glidermen who took that bridge.

Reading:

Inside Al Queda, by Rohan Gunaratna

Tracks, by Louise Erdrich

On Deck:

Soldier under Three Flags, by H. A. Gill

Currently:

"Captain Blackman"- John A. Williams
"Son of the Revolution" - Liang Heng & Judith Shapiro
"The Soul of the Law" - Benjamin Sells

On Deck:

"The Reason Why - The Story of the Fatal Charge of the Light Brigade" - Cecil Woodham-Smith
"Disappointment with God" - Philip Yancey
"One L" - Scott Turow

Read: Bridges of Battle by Donald Featherstone

Reading: The Silent War by John Pina Craven
Windows NT 4.0 Upgrade Guide by Microsoft
DNS and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 White paper by the folks at Redmond, WA

Next: Some book about gunfights in the old west. I forget the title and author.

Just Finished - " Charlie Wilson's War "


Reading - " Six Days of War " by Michael Oren


Next up - ask me after Saturdays trip to Borders

Recently Completed:
In the Company of Heroes - CW4 (ret.) Michael Durant

Currently:

The Hunt for Bin Laden - Robin Moore

On Deck:

One Perfect OP - Command Master Chief (ret.) Dennis Chalker

Six Days of War - Michael Oren (any input on this one DunbarFC?)