What are you reading?

[Warhawk]

Book 5, Cut Off, seems to be getting some of the story lines to coalesce into clarity. The story focuses on Hawaii and the South Pacific, with a couple of the parties mentioned previously eventually joining forces to start wiping out enemies in various locations. There is more discussion on goals and what the next apocalypse was going to be, and how it was to be achieved. This book may have been the most "satisfying" so far in the series by starting to pull together some of the loose threads.

Book 6, Captives, continues to bring characters together, including bringing back a character you thought was gone from the series. It continues to focus on the LA area. My issue with this series is that at times the plot lines seem pretty provincial instead of addressing the worldwide apocalyptic issues, but we’ll see how it comes together. It may be that one of the overarching problems is more limited in scope than is readily apparent? Still, an entertaining entry in the series pulling previous loose “threads” together.

 

[Warhawk]

Book 6, Captives, continues to bring characters together, including bringing back a character you thought was gone from the series. It continues to focus on the LA area. My issue with this series is that at times the plot lines seem pretty provincial instead of addressing the worldwide apocalyptic issues, but we’ll see how it comes together. It may be that one of the overarching problems is more limited in scope than is readily apparent? Still, an entertaining entry in the series pulling previous loose “threads” together.

Book 7 - Relapse - continues to bring characters from the previous books together, ties up some story lines, and again brings the focus to LA at the end. While there is a reason LA is a focus of the book (and, generally, the series), vast swaths of the planet not discussed at all or only briefly in passing (Africa, South America, Russia, Middle East, Europe, etc.). The series has only really visited the LA basin (predominantly), NY, Redding/Oregon, Hawaii, some South Pacific areas including Australia and NZ, and a few other places in the US, leaving me feeling like there should be more story told that is getting left out. However, this book primes the series for a big finish that has been hinted at and is coming to fruition.

 

[Warhawk]

Book 7 - Relapse - continues to bring characters from the previous books together, ties up some story lines, and again brings the focus to LA at the end. While there is a reason LA is a focus of the book (and, generally, the series), vast swaths of the planet not discussed at all or only briefly in passing (Africa, South America, Russia, Middle East, Europe, etc.). The series has only really visited the LA basin (predominantly), NY, Redding/Oregon, Hawaii, some South Pacific areas including Australia and NZ, and a few other places in the US, leaving me feeling like there should be more story told that is getting left out. However, this book primes the series for a big finish that has been hinted at and is coming to fruition.

Book 8, Blackout, is possibly the best of the bunch. It does a good job of wrapping up all the storylines. It leaves open the possibility for more books in certain ways but is still a satisfactory conclusion to the series.

 

[Warhawk]

Humble Pi by Matt Parker. A mixture of comedy and mathematical/engineering miscues both past and present. Hawk may like this one since its up his engineering alley

I just finished this one and it was an enjoyable read. The author indeed digs into "mathematical/engineering miscues both past and present" - things like bridge and building engineering blunders, getting decimal points wrong, funny things that happen when computer code isn't written correctly, etc. Thanks for this recommendation as well.

 

[Warhawk]

I was looking at reading something by Anne Applebaum, noted expert on Russia, but as it was on Libby "backorder" (I have to wait for a digital copy to become available) I read her Pulitzer Prize winning book Gulag while I wait.

While I am sure that most have heard of the term and know it means a Russian prison-type facility, the history and day-to-day accounts of the forced-labor concentration camps of various types she weaves together in this book are heartbreaking and yet important to read about. Highly recommended by anyone who wants to learn more about these camps and the history of Russia from the 1910's through the 1980's (when they were finally dissolved).

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I was looking at reading something by Anne Applebaum, noted expert on Russia, but as it was on Libby "backorder" (I have to wait for a digital copy to become available) I read her Pulitzer Prize winning book Gulag while I wait.

While I am sure that most have heard of the term and know it means a Russian prison-type facility, the history and day-to-day accounts of the forced-labor concentration camps of various types she weaves together in this book are heartbreaking and yet important to read about. Highly recommended by anyone who wants to learn more about these camps and the history of Russia from the 1910's through the 1980's (when they were finally dissolved).

If you want to follow up on this topic, I'd strongly recommend looking into the writings of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was a Gulag survivor. "One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovic" is a very short read, novella-length fiction (but obviously based on Solzhenitsyn's experiences) that really puts you inside the camps. Then of course, there's his master work, "The Gulag Archipelago", an encyclopedic non-fiction work typically published in three volumes, but abridged versions are also available. If you read the full thing, by the time you get to the end of volume one you'll be so numb you'll need to put it down a while before starting the rest of it.

 

[Warhawk]

If you want to follow up on this topic, I'd strongly recommend looking into the writings of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was a Gulag survivor. "One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovic" is a very short read, novella-length fiction (but obviously based on Solzhenitsyn's experiences) that really puts you inside the camps. Then of course, there's his master work, "The Gulag Archipelago", an encyclopedic non-fiction work typically published in three volumes, but abridged versions are also available. If you read the full thing, by the time you get to the end of volume one you'll be so numb you'll need to put it down a while before starting the rest of it.

She references those works in her book. My sister was saying how she started reading TGA but that it was huge and she never finished. I don't want to read THAT much about it, especially just after finishing this one, but I do highly recommend Gulag.

 

[Warhawk]

While still waiting for another book to become available, I read (much more quickly due to book length) Anne Applebaum's Twilight of Democracy, The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. The book is a little different than I expected, getting deep into the weeds of various European countries and some of the developments that pushed their governments towards authoritarianism (Poland, Hungary, etc.) and it also had a chapter on the US. She speaks with some authority, opening and closing the book relaying stories about big get-togethers/garden parties at her home with some of the people directly involved; having lived in many of these countries and having close personal friendships with those involved at many levels, some of it is insight and her direct observations on these changes. But I don't know that it really came together for me quite as well as it should have as a cohesive "work" as much as a somewhat looser amalgam of historical snapshots of the personalities and historical context involved in pushing various countries in that direction. Interestingly, her chapter on the US was the one that didn't get as deep into all the personalities involved and as such was a little easier to digest.

 

[Warhawk]

I just wrapped up Anne Applebaum's Autocracy, Inc., discussing the nature and interdependence of autocratic societies and how they push up against democracies in various ways. Like her previous book, the topic is just a tad more interesting in theory than execution, but it was still a worthwhile read.

 

[Warhawk]

I've been reading some heavy stuff recently and was glad to see a new fiction title by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child was available - Angel of Vengeance. It wraps up a couple of the main storylines lingering in the Pendergast series and is an enjoyable read.

 

[funkykingston]

I just finished "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari.

It's a sprawling look at the past (and possible future) of humanity and is really engrossing and fascinating. I have some minor issues and quibbles, but above all else it's thought provoking and I recommend it for that reason alone.

I just started "Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever" by Joseph Cox which I'm cranking through because (at least so far) it's one of the most entertainig true crime novels I've read in a long time.

 

[kingsboi]

I just finished "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari.

It's a sprawling look at the past (and possible future) of humanity and is really engrossing and fascinating. I have some minor issues and quibbles, but above all else it's thought provoking and I recommend it for that reason alone.

I just started "Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever" by Joseph Cox which I'm cranking through because (at least so far) it's one of the most entertainig true crime novels I've read in a long time.

speaking of Yuval,

 

[Warhawk]

I saw a recommendation for a novel called Off the Books centered around a Chinese woman in California that started driving customers around "off the books" (hookers, drug dealers, etc.) and the story centers one particularly interesting job she undertook driving a client across the country to NY while providing flashbacks on her upbringing, etc. I don't want to give anything away from the story, but while the story is somewhat interesting it is basically a vehicle to try to educate the readers about the Uyghur repression / internment camps in China. As such, it didn't really grab me as a novel should - I was too busy being periodically beaten over the head with facts about the internment camps that took away from the flow of the book. The author should have just written a book about the camps - I'm sure it would be well done! Also, the constant flashbacks and then flash forward and interspliced family info and then slices of camp info were just a bit too much. I get what the author was trying to do but it was just too much crammed too close together too frequently.

One other thing - the book has one serious plot hole. The whole drive could have been "short-circuited" pretty easily and really wasn't necessary. They tried to explain it out but I still think it was avoidable.

But then they wouldn't have the story to tell, I guess?

Anyways, not "bad" - and I'm sure some will like it, but me not so much.

 

[Warhawk]

On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service is a fascinating look at Anthony Fauci's life and work. It starts with his childhood and schooling and plows through all the major medical issues he's dealt with: HIV/AIDS, pandemic influenza, Ebola, SARS, West Nile, anthrax, Zika, and, of course, COVID (among others). There's a little bit of politics, but mostly in side discussion of how seriously various presidents took the medical emergencies that reared their ugly heads during their terms. He details/discusses the long hours, the folks he worked with, how folks that had no medical training in various administrations really were doing some of the best work they could (one name in particular shocked me), how severely his service impacted his family life, how some of the various organizations and groups (public, private, protestors, etc.) worked together (or didn't), international work in Africa and other places, etc. A very good read if you have any interest at all.

 

[Warhawk]

I had a recommendation to read Nothing Like It in the World, a book by Stephen E. Ambrose about the construction of the transcontinental railroad from Omaha to Sacramento (or, more accurately, from both the ends towards the middle). I found it a great book to cover the basic politics, business side, and construction of the railroad. He digs into the various personalities and conflicts of those running the CP and UP railroads vying to get the most miles of track completed. I had always heard that the railroad couldn't have been constructed without the help of Chinese labor (with the CP starting in Sacramento), but this book actually details why and how good of a job they did. For the UP side, the use of Irish and Mormon labor was similarly critical. He doesn't sugarcoat much, but despite the negatives the rail project was an incredible accomplishment in many ways and united the country. A very interesting book if you like the topic.

 

[Warhawk]

I was just given a copy of Chris Webber's book as a gift, so I'll have to fit that into the queue soon.

 

[Warhawk]

War Made New (Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today) by Max Boot is a very interesting read. He steps through some of the major technological changes over the past 500+ years and how they affected how war was waged. He has some great detail on battles I've never heard about before and brings to life some that we've lived through, such as Desert Storm. There's a couple of conclusions here and there that appear valid but weren't obvious, or at least weren't to me, until reading this book. Recommended for anyone interested in this topic.