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The New Coffee Room

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  3. What are you reading now?

What are you reading now?

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  • George KG Offline
    George KG Offline
    George K
    wrote on last edited by
    #813

    William Shrirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" is a pretty easy read. I must've been about 16 when I read it. Of course, I've forgotten much, but I do remember how easy a read it was.

    "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

    The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

    1 Reply Last reply
    • Aqua LetiferA Offline
      Aqua LetiferA Offline
      Aqua Letifer
      wrote on last edited by
      #814

      IMG_4003.jpeg

      Please love yourself.

      1 Reply Last reply
      • kluursK Offline
        kluursK Offline
        kluurs
        wrote on last edited by
        #815

        image.png

        1 Reply Last reply
        • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

          Finally.

          IMG_7835.jpeg

          jon-nycJ Online
          jon-nycJ Online
          jon-nyc
          wrote on last edited by
          #816

          @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

          Finally.

          IMG_7835.jpeg

          I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.

          Only non-witches get due process.

          • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
          JollyJ George KG 2 Replies Last reply
          • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

            @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

            Finally.

            IMG_7835.jpeg

            I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.

            JollyJ Offline
            JollyJ Offline
            Jolly
            wrote on last edited by
            #817

            @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

            @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

            Finally.

            IMG_7835.jpeg

            I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.

            Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan may be the two best Hollywood productions concerning WW2. I was very disappointed in The Pacific, which would have been much better if they hadn't tried to meld two books into one story.

            I have not seen Masters of the Air..

            “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

            Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

            Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
            • JollyJ Jolly

              @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

              @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

              Finally.

              IMG_7835.jpeg

              I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.

              Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan may be the two best Hollywood productions concerning WW2. I was very disappointed in The Pacific, which would have been much better if they hadn't tried to meld two books into one story.

              I have not seen Masters of the Air..

              Aqua LetiferA Offline
              Aqua LetiferA Offline
              Aqua Letifer
              wrote on last edited by
              #818

              @Jolly said in What are you reading now?:

              @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

              @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

              Finally.

              IMG_7835.jpeg

              I was very disappointed in The Pacific, which would have been much better if they hadn't tried to meld two books into one story.

              You'd really not like Masters.

              Please love yourself.

              George KG 1 Reply Last reply
              • Aqua LetiferA Aqua Letifer

                @Jolly said in What are you reading now?:

                @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

                @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

                Finally.

                IMG_7835.jpeg

                I was very disappointed in The Pacific, which would have been much better if they hadn't tried to meld two books into one story.

                You'd really not like Masters.

                George KG Offline
                George KG Offline
                George K
                wrote on last edited by
                #819

                @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                You'd really not like Masters.

                It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.

                BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.

                I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.

                "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
                • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

                  @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

                  Finally.

                  IMG_7835.jpeg

                  I finished this yesterday. I kept thinking that there’s so much good detail in there that probably had to be left out of the miniseries. I’ll watch it soon.

                  George KG Offline
                  George KG Offline
                  George K
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #820

                  @jon-nyc said in What are you reading now?:

                  I’ll watch it soon.

                  BTW: The guy who plays Winters...he's British.

                  "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                  The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • George KG George K

                    @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                    You'd really not like Masters.

                    It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.

                    BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.

                    I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.

                    Aqua LetiferA Offline
                    Aqua LetiferA Offline
                    Aqua Letifer
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #821

                    @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

                    @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                    You'd really not like Masters.

                    It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.

                    BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.

                    That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.

                    I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.

                    I didn't think that was a flaw. Sledge and Leckie had very different perspectives about the same experiences. I think they didn't go hard enough with portraying that. To reject one over the other would have been a disservice.

                    Please love yourself.

                    George KG JollyJ 2 Replies Last reply
                    • Aqua LetiferA Aqua Letifer

                      @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

                      @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                      You'd really not like Masters.

                      It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.

                      BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.

                      That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.

                      I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.

                      I didn't think that was a flaw. Sledge and Leckie had very different perspectives about the same experiences. I think they didn't go hard enough with portraying that. To reject one over the other would have been a disservice.

                      George KG Offline
                      George KG Offline
                      George K
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #822

                      @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                      That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.

                      Exactly my point. Much, much harder, especially when you consider the mortality of these kids.

                      "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                      The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                      Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
                      • George KG George K

                        @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                        That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.

                        Exactly my point. Much, much harder, especially when you consider the mortality of these kids.

                        Aqua LetiferA Offline
                        Aqua LetiferA Offline
                        Aqua Letifer
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #823

                        @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

                        @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                        That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.

                        Exactly my point. Much, much harder, especially when you consider the mortality of these kids.

                        Then how is it a flaw to stay true to that?

                        Please love yourself.

                        George KG 1 Reply Last reply
                        • Aqua LetiferA Aqua Letifer

                          @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

                          @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                          That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.

                          Exactly my point. Much, much harder, especially when you consider the mortality of these kids.

                          Then how is it a flaw to stay true to that?

                          George KG Offline
                          George KG Offline
                          George K
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #824

                          @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                          Then how is it a flaw to stay true to that?

                          Perhaps "flaw" is the wrong word. My point is that the characters were just not as relatable as Winters, Nixon, etc - because they were scattered all over the place, and didn't have as much "screen time."

                          Staying true to the story is not a flaw, but it makes the story (like the characters) disjointed. If you were to write a book, fiction, of course, you wouldn't do that.

                          "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                          The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                          Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
                          • George KG George K

                            @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                            Then how is it a flaw to stay true to that?

                            Perhaps "flaw" is the wrong word. My point is that the characters were just not as relatable as Winters, Nixon, etc - because they were scattered all over the place, and didn't have as much "screen time."

                            Staying true to the story is not a flaw, but it makes the story (like the characters) disjointed. If you were to write a book, fiction, of course, you wouldn't do that.

                            Aqua LetiferA Offline
                            Aqua LetiferA Offline
                            Aqua Letifer
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #825

                            @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

                            @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:
                            If you were to write a book, fiction, of course, you wouldn't do that.

                            Depends on how you do it. Happens plenty in books, but movies, too. For example, no one complains about Pulp Fiction being disjointed.

                            Not saying that's some formula they should have followed, just that the problem could have been overcome if they were more deliberate about it.

                            Please love yourself.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • George KG Offline
                              George KG Offline
                              George K
                              wrote on last edited by George K
                              #826

                              About ⅔ of the way through this:

                              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Fleet:_Dauntless

                              image.png

                              The Lost Fleet: Dauntless is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Campbell, the first in his The Lost Fleet series, published in 2006. Dauntless sets the stage for the six novel saga about a fleet of over 200 ships trapped deep behind enemy lines and cut off from traveling to their home territory.

                              I've always enjoyed SF. This is pretty derivative, and actually, boring stuff. There's little imagination other than the descriptions of two large fleets fighting each other.

                              I'll finish this, but my enthusiasm for going farther into the series is pretty low.

                              "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                              The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • Aqua LetiferA Aqua Letifer

                                @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

                                @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                                You'd really not like Masters.

                                It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.

                                BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.

                                That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.

                                I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.

                                I didn't think that was a flaw. Sledge and Leckie had very different perspectives about the same experiences. I think they didn't go hard enough with portraying that. To reject one over the other would have been a disservice.

                                JollyJ Offline
                                JollyJ Offline
                                Jolly
                                wrote on last edited by Jolly
                                #827

                                @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                                @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

                                @Aqua-Letifer said in What are you reading now?:

                                You'd really not like Masters.

                                It was OK - it just didn't have the cohesive feel that Band of Brothers did. I couldn't relate to the characters until halfway through. The fact that they tried to shoehorn so much real history into a relatable tale made it feel that way.

                                BoB, however, follows ONE set of guys, each of whom is relatable from the outset.

                                That's how it happened, though. It's harder to write a cohesive story about the 8th Air Force because it's harder to find the exact same group of guys who stayed together all throughout the war.

                                I thing "The Pacific" had the same flaw, though I don't remember much of it.

                                I didn't think that was a flaw. Sledge and Leckie had very different perspectives about the same experiences. I think they didn't go hard enough with portraying that. To reject one over the other would have been a disservice.

                                Pick one and stay with him. The backstory is an integral part of the story and how an audience becomes invested in a character and his world.

                                If you haven't read it, I think this would make a great movie or miniseries:

                                alt text

                                The guy I'd follow in that book is George McGovern. Yeah, that McGovern. Over 30 combat missions and some of them were pretty harrowing.

                                https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/person/george-stanley-mcgovern

                                “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                                Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • kluursK Offline
                                  kluursK Offline
                                  kluurs
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #828

                                  I had low expectations for this book as I haven't been a fanboy of Elon Musk, but I like the author, enjoyed the Steve Jobs biography - and the library system had the audiobook available free online.

                                  Well, it's excellent. I knew Musk was a little nuts - but it's been interesting learning a bit of his life story, how he thinks and how he has approached business. I don't know that I'd have him run Boeing - but he certainly would NOT have made the mistakes the current management made. Taking the Apple slogan - he thinks different. By way of example, He abhorred that the government was doing bidding on space initiatives on a cost plus basis - where the government did the specs and let people have cost overruns - due to the fact that a lot of the government specs are arbitrary or not thoroughly understood. He's gambler with a mission - and quite willing to "lose it all" on a roll of the dice. Musk thrives on risk - a bit like Trump - which is likely at least partly why he supports and understands Trump.

                                  image.png

                                  George KG 1 Reply Last reply
                                  • kluursK kluurs

                                    I had low expectations for this book as I haven't been a fanboy of Elon Musk, but I like the author, enjoyed the Steve Jobs biography - and the library system had the audiobook available free online.

                                    Well, it's excellent. I knew Musk was a little nuts - but it's been interesting learning a bit of his life story, how he thinks and how he has approached business. I don't know that I'd have him run Boeing - but he certainly would NOT have made the mistakes the current management made. Taking the Apple slogan - he thinks different. By way of example, He abhorred that the government was doing bidding on space initiatives on a cost plus basis - where the government did the specs and let people have cost overruns - due to the fact that a lot of the government specs are arbitrary or not thoroughly understood. He's gambler with a mission - and quite willing to "lose it all" on a roll of the dice. Musk thrives on risk - a bit like Trump - which is likely at least partly why he supports and understands Trump.

                                    image.png

                                    George KG Offline
                                    George KG Offline
                                    George K
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #829

                                    @kluurs thanks for the review - I'll seek it out. Isaacson's bios are very readable.

                                    "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                    The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    • George KG Offline
                                      George KG Offline
                                      George K
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #830

                                      Why not?

                                      Screenshot 2024-07-27 at 10.46.45 AM.png

                                      "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                      The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                      Aqua LetiferA George KG LuFins DadL 3 Replies Last reply
                                      • George KG George K

                                        Why not?

                                        Screenshot 2024-07-27 at 10.46.45 AM.png

                                        Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                        Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                        Aqua Letifer
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #831

                                        @George-K said in What are you reading now?:

                                        Why not?

                                        Screenshot 2024-07-27 at 10.46.45 AM.png

                                        Solid.

                                        Please love yourself.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • jon-nycJ Online
                                          jon-nycJ Online
                                          jon-nyc
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #832

                                          I’m reading Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio. Highly recommended.

                                          I might do the Musk one next, or soon at least.

                                          Only non-witches get due process.

                                          • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                                          George KG 1 Reply Last reply
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