OT: Good books you have read

[fg7321]

I’m not so much into the genre and I really enjoyed Fly Boys after hearing it recommended so much.

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Great book. Bradley also wrote Flag of our Father's . The story of the raising of the American Flag on Iwo Jima and the men and their lives after.

 

[50 yd line RR]

The Gold Warriors a great book about a special task force recovering gold the Japanese stole in WW11

 

[RU from Jersey]

The Arsenal of Democracy. It is basically about arming the US and what Ford Motor Company did during WW2.

 

[superfan01]

OK folks looking for book recommendations. I really like WW2 history and spy novels have already read all of the Ken Follett books and a bunch of others about French Resistance etc Let me know what elase you can recommend.

Just finished The Boys in the Boat and other book by the same author Daniel James Brown Facing the Mountain which is the story of Japanese American patriots during WW2 a must read.

Highly recommend the Forgotten Highlander. It's. Better than Unbroken

The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific https://a.co/d/8FFlvNM

 

[Scarlet4ever]

All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr.

 

[Kbee3]

The End of Faith by Sam Harris.

 

[retired711]

If you haven’t read them yet, read Erich Maria Remarque’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” andRobert Grave’s “Goodby to All That.” WWI perspectives from a German soldier and British soldier respectively. It’s not cause and effect but very good insights from guys we’re we’re in the trenches

I have read both books and both are well worth reading. They are different; Remarque's is a novel while Graves' is a memoir he wrote at age 34. Graves covers not just the war, but also his awful experiences in school and his attempts to establish himself as poet after the war. Graves is probably best-known today for I, Claudius, one of a number of books he wrote to support himself as a poet.

 

[e5fdny]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BR1F3B2?plink=fiIP2hq0fvtFSSQG&pf_rd_r=WYVYD84W6H2DGNKNG1ST&pf_rd_p=aa6b3898-75f7-431c-88a5-2a6cd9976283&ref_=adblp13ntcdx_2_0_im

 

[e5fdny]

The best Vietnam War book I've read, by far, is A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan. It's more or less the biography of John Paul Vann, an early advisor who served the entire length of the war. As a bonus, there is a nice Rutgers inclusion.

I seem to recall having to read this while at Rutgers.

Gardner’s class maybe?

 

[e5fdny]

The Arsenal of Democracy. It is basically about arming the US and what Ford Motor Company did during WW2.

Makes me recall the conversation between Henry II and Matt Damon’s Caroll Shelby in “Ford vs. Ferrari”

 

[RUGuitarMan]

There are many good books on the Vietnam War. Last year I read “Enduring Vietnam” by James Wright which was very good. It focused on the “Vietnam Generation” and the impact on them. It concentrated on how the lives of the soldiers who served were impacted and their families and also how civilians of that generation were impacted.

 

[thegock]

It's been around for a long time, but if you're into WWII history and haven't already read this I recommend "Incredible Victory" by Walter Lord on Midway.

Lord's 1967 book is excellent. "Shattered Sword" by Parshall and Tully was published in 2005 with the use of three Japanese sources that Lord didn't have access to. It is a much more comprehensive book with new pictures and enlightening graphics. Best to read Lord's quicker book first.

On a more expansive note, Ian W. Toll's three volume history of the WW2 naval battles is excellent. If you have bandwidth for 2,888 pages, it is much better than Atkinson's three volumes on the land war.

 

[thegock]

There are many good books on the Vietnam War. Last year I read “Enduring Vietnam” by James Wright which was very good. It focused on the “Vietnam Generation” and the impact on them. It concentrated on how the lives of the soldiers who served were impacted and their families and also how civilians of that generation were impacted.

My favorite Vietnam book is Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest." I ran into him in Vineyard Haven 30 years ago and stammered out how much I enjoyed his books.

 

[thegock]

@BigWill recommended "Fearless" by Eric Blehm. I suggested it to a friend who retired as a Navy Seal. He told me that he was Adam Brown's squad leader and told me where to find his picture in the book. It is a great read and puts the heroism of our military in context.

 

[thegock]

"A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton G. Malkiel is the best personal finance book that I have read. I suggested it to a client and he declined with a laugh, telling me that Malkiel was one of his professors freshman year. Very readable in its 20th edition.

 

[Unionst]

My favorite Vietnam book is Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest." I ran into him in Vineyard Haven 30 years ago and stammered out how much I enjoyed his books.

Dispatches by Michael Herr is a great book on Vietnam from the soldier’s perspective. John LeCarre called it the best book he read on men and war.

 

[thegock]

"When Pride Still Mattered" by David Maraniss was characterized a the 'best sports book ever' by Francesa. Maraniss won the Pulitzer Prize, btw.

 

[Unionst]

"When Pride Still Mattered" by David Maraniss was characterized a the 'best sports book ever' by Francesa. Maraniss won the Pulitzer Prize, btw.

Yikes, you had me until the name Francesa.

 

[hoquat63]

A couple of WW II books that you might find interesting: The Bielski Brothers by Peter Duffy. It is about three Jewish brothers in Belarus who organized resistance against the Germans and Japan at war by Haruko and Theodore Cook Its a collection of oral histories from Japanese soldiers and civilians from their experiences in China, the Pacific and civilian survivors of Tokyo fire bombing and atomic bombs.

 

[hoquat63]

A couple of WW II books that you might find interesting: The Bielski Brothers by Peter Duffy. It is about three Jewish brothers in Belarus who organized resistance against the Germans and Japan at war by Haruko and Theodore Cook Its a collection of oral histories from Japanese soldiers and civilians from their experiences in China, the Pacific and civilian survivors of Tokyo fire bombing and atomic bombs.

PS: would happily loan either to anyone interested

 

[superfan01]

Yikes, you had me until the name Francesa.

No need for that. We know you're a Michael Kay fan.

 

[RUBubba]

One of my all time favorites is "The World Played Chess". 1/3 of it is a guys journal from his time in Vietnam, 1/3 of it is a kid working a summer with that same guy post Vietnam, and 1/3 of it is that kid as an adult.

Great great book. I am going to force my 17 year old son to read it.

 

[Kbee3]

The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell.

 

[thegock]

Yikes, you had me until the name Francesa.

Yeah, Mike is not perfect, but he was the best. The Pulitzer speaks for itself.

 

[LotusAggressor]

There's only one. . . . .

Highlander was a book?

 

[RUPete]

One of my all time favorites is "The World Played Chess". 1/3 of it is a guys journal from his time in Vietnam, 1/3 of it is a kid working a summer with that same guy post Vietnam, and 1/3 of it is that kid as an adult.

Great great book. I am going to force my 17 year old son to read it.

This sounds really interesting. Fiction or nonfiction?

 

[MADHAT1]

There's only one. . . . .

for many that's true, others might feel this is the one

 

[rudad02]

All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr.

Yes, very good.

 

[retired711]

for many that's true, others might feel this is the one

I know you're kidding, but the equivalent is what Jews call Tanachk, which includes not only the Five Books of Moses (ta), plus the prophets (e.g. Jeremiah) (ne), and "the writings." (e.g. Psalms) (kh); that is, the whole of what Christians call the Old Testament. Of course Christians add the New Testament, while Catholics also add several books of the Apocrypha (many of which, by the way, are well worth reading; consider this not-safe-for-work 16th century painting in the Art Institute of Chicago based on a work in the Apocrypha.)

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/4575/judith

 

[RUBubba]

This sounds really interesting. Fiction or nonfiction?

Fiction.

 

[fg7321]

The Winter Fortress

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Thanks for this one, I was able to find this in the online Monmouth County Library .

 

[RUTBAY1]

OK folks looking for book recommendations. I really like WW2 history and spy novels have already read all of the Ken Follett books and a bunch of others about French Resistance etc Let me know what elase you can recommend.

Just finished The Boys in the Boat and other book by the same author Daniel James Brown Facing the Mountain which is the story of Japanese American patriots during WW2 a must read.

Unbroken was a good read. It makes any challenges you may be going through in life seem pretty trivial in comparison.

 

[29PAS]

I've read several books about Vietnam but the best imo is Chickenhawk by Robert Mason. He was a Warrant Officer Huey pilot there '66-'67. I re-read it every couple of years.

 

[tico brown]

This is probably one of the very few books that we may actually agree with. But I remember while listening to Jocko Willink’s Podcast he recommended a war book that he read and got him to go to the Navy: David Hackworth’s About Face.

TBH when I got it, I knew I wasn’t going to have time to read it since it was about 700 pages long. I gave it to a teacher I worked with who was also a Navy Seal. Two years later he told me that it was a great read. If that dude said it was a great read, it was a great read.

About Face

Called “everything a war memoir could possibly be” by The New York Times, this all-time classic of the military memoir genre now includes a new forward from bestselling author and retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink.Whether he was fifteen years old or forty, David Hackworth devoted his life to the...

books.google.com