Book Recommendations

[Medusa]

I absolutely am not looking for conversation on a book I’ve read and you didn’t based on your impression of the cover. You can respond to the facts and information in the book after reading it, or you can simply keep running your mouth.

Pretend to believe, or believe, whatever you want. I thought this was a book recommendation thread, not an I didn’t read the book but I’m gonna keep talking about it thread. To me you sound a bit like someone who hasn’t read a holy text but insists they don’t need to because they see how the followers of that text behave, or that one quote taken from it that’s problematic, or because they just know theirs is the absolute truth.

All because I posted the cover of the book, and you absurdly insist people who fight for a private corporation for money, not in the us armed forces, many of whom are foreign nationals, aren’t really mercenaries. The quotes about profit motive, for example, come from actual people who worked for Blackwater.

I’m not an expert on Blackwater. I wanted to learn more. I read the book. If I come across another book with a different perspective, I’ll probably read that too. If you can suggest such a book, I’ll try to read it. That would have been a helpful comment instead of a “well, ackshuslly”

I see Eric Prince wrote a book. I’m sure that’s objective and unbiased, unlike the book I read.

[BehindBlueI's]

I absolutely am not looking for conversation on a book I’ve read and you didn’t based on your impression of the cover. You can respond to the facts and information in the book after reading it, or you can simply keep running your mouth.

Pretend to believe, or believe, whatever you want. I thought this was a book recommendation thread, not an I didn’t read the book but I’m gonna keep talking about it thread. To me you sound a bit like someone who hasn’t read a holy text but insists they don’t need to because they see how the followers of that text behave, or that one quote taken from it that’s problematic, or because they just know theirs is the absolute truth.

All because I posted the cover of the book, and you absurdly insist people who fight for a private corporation for money, not in the us armed forces, many of whom are foreign nationals, aren’t really mercenaries. The quotes about profit motive, for example, come from actual people who worked for Blackwater.

I’m not an expert on Blackwater. I wanted to learn more. I read the book. If I come across another book with a different perspective, I’ll probably read that too. If you can suggest such a book, I’ll try to read it. That would have been a helpful comment instead of a “well, ackshuslly”

I see Eric Prince wrote a book. I’m sure that’s objective and unbiased, unlike the book I read.

I'm not sure why you've chosen to be so insulting and assigning a lot of positions/thoughts to me I never expressed. I could probably answer at least some of the questions from personal experience and from the experiences of my friends who kept contracting for various companies in various positions long after I left for the real world, but seriously I have no interest in engaging with you any longer. I have been nothing but respectful to you, but from this point on I'm done with you.

As a reminder, the sole takeaway from my first post was "In either case, I would suspect the author's work based on that alone." A simple indication of the bias that's likely present, and that the reader should be aware of, was the catalyst for all the assigned positions both about the book and the topic matter you assigned me.

[Medusa]

I disagree. I don’t think you’ve been respectful in jumping in on a book you’ve not read, based, on your own admission, on the cover. I think it would have been respectful to say, here’s a book that .... if you had one to suggest. Rather than engaging with the points it raises - which in large measure you’d have to read the book for first , you simply say stuff like well gee we give immunity to crooks, so..... .

I responded to your disrespect in the way it deserved.

I’m done with you as well.

[Darth_Uno]

I see Eric Prince wrote a book. I’m sure that’s objective and unbiased, unlike the book I read.

Well I think they both look interesting.

If I wrote a book about myself and my company, and then someone else wrote a book about myself and my company, the truth would probably be somewhere in between.

I’m sure I could read parts of their book and honestly say, no that’s not what happened. I’m sure I could also read parts of it and say that’s exactly what happened but damn, you coulda left that part out.


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[blues]

Well I think they both look interesting.

If I wrote a book about myself and my company, and then someone else wrote a book about myself and my company, the truth would probably be somewhere in between.

I’m sure I could read parts of their book and honestly say, no that’s not what happened. I’m sure I could also read parts of it and say that’s exactly what happened but damn, you coulda left that part out.


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I hope in your book both the Cards and the Yankees will win the world series again at some point.

[Medusa]

I read this book and enjoyed it. After enjoying Doc as referenced up thread, and The Sisters Brothers a while back, I’ve been looking for decent quality westerns to read, and remembered enjoying the tv mini series Lonesome Dove with my father many many years ago. I’ll read the rest as they come available from the library. It’s an engaging and evocative tale, casually brutal and sometimes beautiful.



On a whim I checked out The Gunslinger by Stephen King, an author I don’t normally like, to read. If I don’t like it or if I finish it quickly, as I expect, I also got Banks’ Use of Weapons.

[LockedBreech]

On a whim I checked out The Gunslinger by Stephen King, an author I don’t normally like, to read. If I don’t like it or if I finish it quickly, as I expect, I also got Banks’ Use of Weapons.

The Gunslinger series as a whole (especially the 1st, 4th, and 4.5th (Wind Through the Keyhole) along with Use of Weapons are on my permanent top-10 list, and I read a lot​. Good whim.

[BehindBlueI's]

Has anyone read McCullogh's The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West book released earlier this year? I've generally enjoyed his work and am thinking of picking it up.

[TheRoland]

Stone

Are there any mystery/police series that are more.... reasonable, or realistic?

I've really enjoyed the Bosch novels, which started off not-that-convincing, but become more and more believable as LA cops became fans and reached out to the author.

Anything like that?

[blues]

Are there any mystery/police series that are more.... reasonable, or realistic?

I've really enjoyed the Bosch novels, which started off not-that-convincing, but become more and more believable as LA cops became fans and reached out to the author.

Anything like that?

I'm pretty much up to date on the Bosch books.

I recently began reading the Inspector Rebus series by Ian Rankin. Rebus is a Detective Sergeant in the first book but moves up to Inspector in the following books. Most of the action takes place in and around Edinburgh, Scotland though the 3rd book is in London. Series runs from about 1987 to present.

Not as much gun play as the U.S. based Bosch books, but good stories, well told. I don't like a lot of b.s. and fantasy in my police procedurals. Thus far this series does not force a lot of suspension of belief.

Worth a look, imho. I think you'll find them worth your while.