Book Recommendations

[1slow]

Tom Kratman "A Desert called Peace" etc.... SciFi with a take on dealing with Jihadis.
Donald Hamilton Matt Helm series and various westerns.
David Drake "Hammers Slammers" etc...
Bernard DeLeo "Hardhead", "Protectors" etc.....

[LHS]

Michael Z. Williamson, "Better To Ask Forgiveness"
John Ringo, "The Last Centurion"

[Clyde from Carolina]

My Lunches With Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles Edited by Peter Biskind.

Wonderful read if you are an Old Hollywood fan or classic movie buff.

Uniforms - Why We Wear What We Wear by Paul Fussell.

Interesting, slim volume by the author of The Great War and Modern Memory and the thought-provoking essay, Thank God for the Atom Bomb.

[1slow]

Tom C McKenney "Hinson's War"
Forest Carter "Josey Wales."

[da6dspanburg]

I just finished a great Series of 3 books. The epic Mongoliad Trilogy, by Neal Stephenson, Erik Bear, Greg Bear, and others, set in 13th-century Europe. This sweeping work of alternate history follows a small band of warriors and mystics as they raise their swords to save the continent from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. The 3 books in the series are:

The Mongoliad: Book One,
The Mongoliad: Book Two,
The Mongoliad: Book Three

All 3 are available either in paperback or Kindle e-book.

A gerat series that can get complicated with all the sub plots that are involved, but the historical research appears to be spot on.

da6d

[MDS]

I recently discovered H. Beam Piper, in the classic scifi section. Good, straight, hard-rockin stuff with a strong libertarian bent that turns out to have been very influential for my long-time favorite authors. Dated in many ways, but highly recommended for fans of Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, etc. A sample of what I've been wolfing down over the last few weeks:

Little Fuzzy - on the nature of sentience

Oomphel in the Sky - on respect for religion

Lone Star Planet - libertarian porn

Rebel Raider - non-fiction piece, civil war portrait

[Tirofijo2001]

The Unthinkable - Who Survives When Disaster Strikes

http://www.amazon.com/The-Unthinkabl.../dp/0307352900


Similar to Deep Survival, but focuses more on who survives natural disasters/terrorist attacks/traumatic situations and why. (Rather than "survival" situations like in Deep Survival.)

I've found some good nuggets in it.

(Remember in the Korea Air crash in San Fran that some passengers took the time to grab their carryon bags when they were supposed to be evacuating? Turns out it's pretty common.

[Unisaw]

Fearless: The Undaunted Courage...

http://www.amazon.com/Fearless-Undau...words=Fearless

[Clyde from Carolina]

Reading this and finding it to be fascinating.

The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence

http://www.amazon.com/The-Kennedy-De.../dp/1439192995

Obviously Kennedy and the assassination are lightning rods for strong opinions. This book, no matter your perspective, is engrossing. It is invaluable in giving us an idea of the day to day experiences of the Presidential detail in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The world, and the way the Secret Service protects the POTUS, has certainly changed in the last fifty years.

[Drang]

I recently discovered H. Beam Piper, in the classic scifi section.

Read the sequels to Little Fuzzy, Fuzzy Sapiens and Fuzzys and Other People. Skip Ardath Mayhar's Fuzzy Dreams, but William Tuning's Fuzzy Bones is good. Also check out Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, and Space Viking. (Space Viking is key to accusations that Piper was some sort of crypto-fascist; this sounds perilously like a violation of Niven's Law to me.)

His mystery novel Murder in the Gun Room is available for free download through Project Gutenberg.