What book are you reading?

[Oberst Oswald]

I just finished "The Sinking of the Bismarck" and started "The Storm of the Century". I like true crime, disaster and best of all shipwreck and adventure at sea books. Conquering the Pacific was a good read as was Shackleton's adventures of which many books have been written.

For more modern day shipwrecks try Until the Sea Shall Free Them about the loss of the Marine Electric in 1983 and Into the Raging Sea about the more recent 2015 loss of El Faro and crew, a modern day container ship that went straight into a hurricane because of an outdated weather report.

Funny thing, when Covid came I started reading and never stopped. I am blowing through books sometimes two or more a week. Probably 50 times more reading than I ever did in school. Just looked in my Kindle library and since April of 2020 I have read 480 Kindle books.

Here are some wreck/scuba books that might be different from what you been reading. When I was younger I use to scuba dive and did some easy wreck dives. By dumb luck there were a few books that sparked an interest at the "Habitat for Humanity" store. They are about the finding and the men who dove the wreck of a German U-boat off the coast of NJ... U-869. If interested read in order: The Last Dive by Bernie Chowdhury, Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson, Shadow Divers Exposed by Gary Gentile. If decide to read only one let that be Shadow Divers.

 

[red02tj]

I love to read, often more so than watch TV. Some good ones.

Mostly believable Dystopian fiction:

One Second After Trilogy (One Second After, One Year After, The Final Day)​

Historical with a focus on WWII:

Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler​

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel. Way better than the Netflix version.​

The forgotten 500
Exodus
Lost in Shangri-La


Almost anything by Ken Follet, specifically the Pillars series.

Trashy Action:
Jack Rescher / Lee Child series. Way. Eyes than the Netflix series, but after 20+ books, his last few have lost their appeal. Same for Gabrielle Allon / Daniel Silva Series.

Sci-fi:
Michael Crichton is always good
Silo Series by Hugh Howey

 

[Zorba]

I thought I would absolutely hate the Kindle. I've always been a paper book guy, my treat to me when I travel is a new book from the airport bookstore. I got a Kindle for Christmas and I can't believe how much I like it! Books are easy to get and cheap, I can get both the text and e-book and listen or read. Adjustable font so no glasses needed. It is accessible on my laptop or PHOOOOOONE! where I'm at in each books syncs between devices. If you're a big reader, I recommend it!

I do too. When it was introduced, I read all the hype about the E-ink display. "If this is what they say it is, this changes everything." was my thought at the time. A couple of years later, I finally was able to see one in person, and was sold. The E-ink display really is "just like a book", instead of staring into a light bulb like you do with a PHOOOOOONNE or even a computer monitor. I really do wish I could get an E-ink display for my computer - it would be fine for text work (I do a lot of it) and even light web surfing. Switch to a color LCD when needed. But they don't make E-ink for computer displays, although there's been some talk of it.

Amazon completely borking the Kindle UI is another topic - it used to be pretty good, now its like they really tried to make it a pain in the ass to deal with - but I like Kindle over "dead tree books" so much that I keep using it, although with some cussing.

 

[red02tj]

I do too. When it was introduced, I read all the hype about the E-ink display. "If this is what they say it is, this changes everything." was my thought at the time. A couple of years later, I finally was able to see one in person, and was sold. The E-ink display really is "just like a book", instead of staring into a light bulb like you do with a PHOOOOOONNE or even a computer monitor. I really do wish I could get an E-ink display for my computer - it would be fine for text work (I do a lot of it) and even light web surfing. Switch to a color LCD when needed. But they don't make E-ink for computer displays, although there's been some talk of it.

Amazon completely borking the Kindle UI is another topic - it used to be pretty good, now its like they really tried to make it a pain in the ass to deal with - but I like Kindle over "dead tree books" so much that I keep using it, although with some cussing.

I was the same, and if you don’t have one with the “warmth” adjustment for the backlight, it’s absolutely worth the upgrade. You can usually get 20% off if you trade in your old one.

 

[Woodrow]

That's a LOT of reading. Have you read Indianapolis yet? Great book. Very well researched and presented.

A bit off topic, The loneliness of the sea when you're the only thing you can see is enormous. I love swim call in the middle of the ocean. It's quite a thrill to jump off a 60 foot bridge wing into the perceptually bottomless ocean. Knowing there is plenty of stuff down there big enough to swallow you whole adds to the thrill.
On USS last boat, we were on the fantail waiting for the skipper to put down swim call (there's some prep, you shut down the intakes, stop the screws, and post a shark watch with a small boat in the water, rig a net and ladder to climb back aboard). Anyway, a buddy and I were waiting. Before the skipper really got the word that we were fully stopped, pumps were off and the small boat was definitely not in the water, he looked at us and asked, "Are you guys good? Both strong swimmers?"
"Yessir!"
"Go ahead then, you guys are ok."
Splash!
Then we looked up, the boat was actually still drifting away faster than a man can walk...and swim.

I've done a few Ironman races (2.4 mile swim) and swam the Potomac river more times than I can count, but yhe loneliest feeling in the world is seeing your ship slipping away when you're at least 80 miles from the nearest land!!! Kinda makes your scrotum shrink up a little!

We did start slowly swimming towards the ship and caught up after about 20 minutes. The RHIB (Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat) did boogie back and check on us once they got it dropped in the water. Think the skipper was more freaked out than we were.

I have swam in the open ocean a few times (not in the Navy though) and you are right, you feel quite small and vulnerable.

I just finished "The Sinking of the Bismarck" and started "The Storm of the Century". I like true crime, disaster and best of all shipwreck and adventure at sea books. Conquering the Pacific was a good read as was Shackleton's adventures of which many books have been written.

For more modern day shipwrecks try Until the Sea Shall Free Them about the loss of the Marine Electric in 1983 and Into the Raging Sea about the more recent 2015 loss of El Faro and crew, a modern day container ship that went straight into a hurricane because of an outdated weather report.

Funny thing, when Covid came I started reading and never stopped. I am blowing through books sometimes two or more a week. Probably 50 times more reading than I ever did in school. Just looked in my Kindle library and since April of 2020 I have read 480 Kindle books.

I also enjoy reading stories of the sea when there were only the wind (or human) powered ships. The Endurance by Caroline Alexander was good. Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin Novels are among my favorites. They are very dense. I think it took me a year to read the first one. Finally, I got sucked in and couldn't put them down.

​

 

[Zorba]

I was the same, and if you don’t have one with the “warmth” adjustment for the backlight, it’s absolutely worth the upgrade. You can usually get 20% off if you trade in your old one.

I only use the backlite when I'm in the actual dark, and keep it pretty dim even then - but as it reflects from the surface instead of being fired straight at your eyeballs, its not bad. BUT - I prefer a room lite instead thus mostly keep it turned off, "just like a book".

I've had 3 of them, they don't last forever. The first one finally died, the 2nd one was lost. This third one drives me nuts with latency, latency, latency all the time. I'm beginning to wonder if the damn thing is broken. It will decide to NOT respond to my touch at all - or it will spontaneously start paging forward at a rapid pace, and I have to hit the sleep button to get it to stop. Maybe I should trade it in - I dunno if its still the "latest version" or not.

And I wish to FUCK that they'd move the sleep/wake button to the TOP of the device - its current location is EXACTLY where my pinky finger wants to rest holding the thing!

 

[RocknLJ]

The First and the Last by Adolf Galland.
Read it many years ago and decided to pull it down from the book case.
Just wrapped up Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo which I have read numerous times.

 

[Zorba]

I have swam in the open ocean a few times (not in the Navy though) and you are right, you feel quite small and vulnerable.

You couldn't pay me enough to swim in the ocean - but getting RHIBbed over to a six foot buoy in the middle of the equatorial pacific showed me how big that ocean really is!

 

[Mhass]

The H.L. Hunley by Tom Chaffin is a good read.
It details the construction, testing and attack by the H.L. Hunley. The first successful (kind of) attack submarine.
They found the wreck off the coast of Charleston in the 90s.
There's an awesome museum, where the Hunley is on display in Charleston. If you're in the area it's a good way to spend an afternoon.
Those dudes were either brave as hell or batshit crazy...probably both.

 

[B1Toad]

I also enjoy reading stories of the sea when there were only the wind (or human) powered ships. The Endurance by Caroline Alexander was good. Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin Novels are among my favorites. They are very dense. I think it took me a year to read the first one. Finally, I got sucked in and couldn't put them down.

​

I've read just about every sailing book I could find from recent times to olden times.

 

[Chris]

Highly, highly recommend this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Triumph-Modern-Self-Individualism/dp/1433556332?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[Jack72]

I’m a huge fan of Half Price Books stores. This was a clearance find. It’s the last in a series and now I plan on hunting down the others. We were politically divided from the very start and Washington walked a fine line trying to hold the nation together in it’s infancy.

 

[Zorba]

The H.L. Hunley by Tom Chaffin is a good read.
It details the construction, testing and attack by the H.L. Hunley. The first successful (kind of) attack submarine.
They found the wreck off the coast of Charleston in the 90s.
There's an awesome museum, where the Hunley is on display in Charleston. If you're in the area it's a good way to spend an afternoon.
Those dudes were either brave as hell or batshit crazy...probably both.

Just ordered a used copy on eBay for $4 and change. The Hunley has always been an interest of mine. Clive Cussler connection!

 

[red02tj]

Clive Cussler connectio

Oh man, as kid Dirk and Al were some of my favorite characters, many an afternoon spent reading those stories. Never could get into them when he started the co-author thing.

 

[B1Toad]

I also like books about musicians and bands, and books about the old west and about Native American tribes and chiefs. Has anyone read Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl? 438 Days is also very good, the true story of the fisherman from Ecuador who survived 438 days adrift in a small open boat. One of the things that helped him survive was coming across large floating islands of garbage. He also caught fish, turtles and birds with his bare hands and ate them raw.

 

[B1Toad]

These two are next up for me

 

[steelhd]

I have two going right now. How I Found Livingstone by Henry Morton Stanley and The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.

 

[steelhd]

I also like books about musicians and bands, and books about the old west and about Native American tribes and chiefs.

Have you read Empire of the Summer Moon? It is very, very, good.
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591060?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[B1Toad]

Have you read Empire of the Summer Moon? It is very, very, good.
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591060?tag=wranglerorg-20

Have not but it's on my list now!

 

[Oberst Oswald]

Read this one a few weeks ago...Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Incident by Donnie Eichar. About 9 Russian hikers who died in 1959.