What Book Are You Reading?

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18 years 5 months

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Fiction or non,what are you reading at the moment?
I'm a bit of a science fiction nut and am halfway thru Triplanetary by E.E. 'Doc' Smith. Its ok in parts but you can tell its from the 1930s! Not really hitting the spot to be honest! I'm also on Life in the Undergrowth by David Attenborough. I love my bugs n all! ;)

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20 years 7 months

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http://www.wingedhussar.com/catalog/images/osprey/Spitfire%20Aces%20of%20Burma%20and%20the%20Pacific.jpg

I do love these little books.

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17 years 5 months

Posts: 667

Ah, Triplanetary. IIRC, the first in E E Smith's "Lensman" series.

It took me two reads to get to grips with this one; I found that the best way to read this (and others in the series) is "little and often".

You may also like L. Ron Hubbard's "Mission Earth" series. They are what the author describes as "satyrical science fiction". There are 10 books in all.
I'm not sure if they are still in print, but they are worth looking out for.

As for myself, I am currently working my way through a very old Readers Digest set called "Secrets & Stories of the Second World War".

Don

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15 years 10 months

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May On Motors by James May.:) Very humorous a good read.

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18 years 6 months

Posts: 1,376

Biography of Howard Hughes. Never realised just how corrupt he was or how promiscuous (batting for both sides) Aviation coverage a bit patchy though, and I'd wanted to learn more about why Hughes Aircraft produced so little in WWII. Also rather taken aback by stuff like "The Hughes Falcon missile was a development of the V-2's that had blitzed London" :confused:

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18 years 5 months

Posts: 495

You may also like L. Ron Hubbard's "Mission Earth" series. They are what the author describes as "satyrical science fiction". There are 10 books in all.
I'm not sure if they are still in print, but they are worth looking out for.

Don


Hmmm Mr Hubbard is not held in high regard on a Science Fiction forum I'm on. In fact that book is listed in a recent 'Worst ever SF book' thread there,with quite a few listing it.

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16 years 4 months

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Trevor thoms Air law and met :|

LOL

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19 years 11 months

Posts: 784

By Any Means Necessary: America's Secret Air War by William E. Burrows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Any-Means-Necessary-Americas-Secret/dp/0099436256/ref=pd_sxp_f_i

Unknown to the public and cloaked in the utmost secrecy, the United States flew missions against the Communist bloc almost continually during the Cold War in a desperate effort to collect intelligence and find targets for all-out nuclear war. The only hint of the relentless, clandestine operations came when one of the planes was shot down. Many of the air force and navy flyers were killed on top secret missions. But now, for the first time, award winning historian William E Burrows, shows that others were captured by the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, and were tortured, imprisoned, and killed, while their loved ones grieved and their government looked the other way. In an effort to improve relations with Russia, Washington is still looking the other way, though it pretends otherwise. Burrows has interviews scores of men who flew these 'black' missions, as well as the widows and children of those who never returned, all of whom want the full story finally told. He has done so with an eye to this story's immensely human dimension. "By Any Means Necessary" is not about aeroplanes but about the people who've sacrificed their lives in the interest of national security.

Also how the Brits dug them out of the pooh on a few of the missions when the Yanks thought it was a bit dangerous

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20 years 7 months

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I read that some time ago and found it interesting but not a book I'd read again.My current reading is Mission Completed, the autobigraphy of AVM Sir Basil Embry for the non fiction and Without Mercy by Jack Higgins for the fiction.

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15 years

Posts: 1,549

For a nice bit of escapism,I like Quintin Jardine's series of books about DCI Frank Skinner of the Edinburgh CID.Theyre well-written,with good characterisation and enough twists in the plot to keep you guessing until the last page.The best book I've ever read is Harry Thompson's This thing of darkness. Thompson was a TV producer who died at the tragically young age of 45,and the book tells the life story of Robert Fitzroy,captain of the Beagle when Charles Darwin made his important voyage that led to his theory of evolution,and the founder of modern weather forecasting.The subject matter doesn't sound much,but it's a stunningly well-written story of a complex man's life,and I can't recommend it highly enough .

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17 years 5 months

Posts: 667

Hmmm Mr Hubbard is not held in high regard on a Science Fiction forum I'm on. In fact that book is listed in a recent 'Worst ever SF book' thread there,with quite a few listing it.

Perhaps Hubbard's rather odd beliefs and his Scientology "religion" didn't do him many favours? :D

I was given one of his books (the previous owner having dismissed it as "crap"), and found myself rather liking it... I bought the entire series.
As you may have guessed, I pay very little attention to reviews! :D

Don

Member for

18 years 5 months

Posts: 495

Perhaps Hubbard's rather odd beliefs and his Scientology "religion" didn't do him many favours? :D

I was given one of his books (the previous owner having dismissed it as "crap"), and found myself rather liking it... I bought the entire series.
As you may have guessed, I pay very little attention to reviews! :D

Don

Yea i don't listen to reviews either,especially films,but when you got a bunch of SF connoseurs all saying those books are crap regardless of the scientology thing you get to thinking there's something in it. If i come across the first book in a library I will read it for myself,but the whole premise,a SF detective story ,doesn't appeal to me. The only book of that type I enjoyed was Asimov's Caves of Steel and Naked Sun.

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20 years 1 month

Posts: 1,751

"Airshow" by Graham Hurley, a month by month account of the 1998 Riat
Air Tattoo, all you Riat knockers should read it:diablo:

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18 years 5 months

Posts: 495

"Airshow" by Graham Hurley, a month by month account of the 1998 Riat
Air Tattoo, all you Riat knockers should read it:diablo:

May i ask what Riat is?

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20 years 1 month

Posts: 1,751

May i ask what Riat is?

A little air show that takes place every year at Fairford in Glostershire:D

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15 years 10 months

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Little it is with it's 9,994ft runway.:D

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20 years 1 month

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Little it is with it's 9,994ft runway.:D

Size isn't everything:D

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15 years 10 months

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:D The bigger the better in every aspect!:diablo:

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18 years 1 month

Posts: 626

Philip Sugden - The Complete History of Jack The Ripper :D

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20 years 1 month

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:D The bigger the better in every aspect!:diablo:

Ooooo, Matron:D