Large Scale Central

I couldn't find the "Summer Reading" thread, so

Other Hobbies
#1

I am currently reading Summerhawk by Peter Schmit.

“Take an Arthurian legend, mix in a bit of Jim Butcher and for kicks throw in some Tolkien and you’ve got a good idea as to what may be contained within this exciting piece of work from Peter Schmit.”

“Las Vegas, Nevada is a city whose neon finery conceals a hidden world of faeries, monsters, and enchantment. The Grail Knights are six men and women. Knights in service to Arthur Pendragon. They are reborn, lifetime after lifetime, living each life under the looming shadow of destiny. All ex-high school teacher Brendan Craddock wants from life is a nice place in which to get good and drunk. What he finds instead is a role he never wanted and more secrets than he can handle. Destiny has big plans for Brendan, and whether he likes it or not (and he most definitely does not like it), he is going to have to confront his fate, or the people he loves will suffer. His journey will take him from the dark and ragged corners of Las Vegas to the surreal landscapes of Faërie. He will face terrifying ordeals and vicious monsters. Possibly worst of all, he will meet the darkness within his own soul. Brendan Craddock is a Grail Knight, the reincarnation of the man who was once known as “The Greatest Knight Living.” Sir Lancelot du Lac: The Summerhawk”
I challenge you to read the first 4-5 pages in the teaser provided by Amazon.com and not be hooked. This is definitely worth loosing some sleep over.

#2

Have you read Thomas Covenant the unbeliever ? It is a double trilogy that I found kept me on the read also

#3

Steve I am currently reading “Flying Tigers” by Daniel Ford on the history of the American Volunteer Group in China. Very interesting to read the David vs Goliath like confrontations. Theres a bit of personal interest for me as I had a relative who during WW2 was with the 14th Air Force, the successor to the AVG. I also finished a book on the history of the battleship Bismarck.

I previously finished a biography on Horatio Nelson. Tedious but educational.

#4

I just finished up all the books I have in Davis Drakes RCN series ( I don;t have the two latest ones yet…) Love David Drake would like to see some more Hammer’s Slammers…

Anyways I just acquired A copy of Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the United States Navy by Ian W. Toll…

#5

currently reading Age of Steam by Fred Dibnah.

http://www.freddibnah.co.uk/fred-dibnahs-age-of-steam-2.htm

#6

I highly recommend:

  1. the english translation of Andre Chapelon’s “La Locomotive A Vapeur” - http://5at.co.uk/index.php/modern-steam-2/andre-chapelon.html

  2. Red Devil and Other Tales From The Steam Era by David Wardale. As a student of the late Ing. L.D. Porta, Wardale brings his years of experience on the South African Railways to life in this book as well as his correspondence with Porta Re: the ACE-3000 project, and finally his year(s)? at the Datong Locomotive Works in Datong Province China.

These two are both hardcore engineering books, but they provide an incredible insight into the world of steam as the last bastions across the planet watched the fires get dropped in revenue service for the finals times. Despite being engineering-focused books, they also focus on the one critical factor in steam: the human factor.

One of my personally favorites is Allegheny: Lima’s Finest which is a detailed look at the reasons behind, the design & engineering of, and the result of the C&O’s H8 2-6-6-6 Alleghenies. In revenue service, they produced a drawbar horsepower rating of more than 7,400dbhp! The sad part of these behemoths is that they were over engineered and underutilized, in addition to being FAR more locomotive than C&O wanted or needed. When C&O was looking to buy more of their fabulous T1 2-10-4’s, Lima and the AMC pushed for an EVEN bigger, more powerful locomotive, a 2-12-6. Though in concession to reality, they articulated it into the 2-6-6-6. Her cylinders were cast for 24 1/2 pistons, yet C&O ordered only 23 1/2 pistons. Her boiler was built for 300psi, but C&O only ran them at 260psi. The trailing truck was made to accommodate a Franklin high-speed booster, but C&O refused to have them installed. And yet, they were still the most successful articulateds built, a fleet numbering 68 in the end.

#7

Ive been a bit off reading as of late, but I have a couple.

Just finished “Inside of a dog”.

http://insideofadog.com/

and I’ve been reading “Seaworthy” by Linda Greenlaw for a while, on and off, and just picked it up again.

http://www.lindagreenlawbooks.com/books/seaworthy.asp

For those not playing the home game, Linda Greenlaw was the captain of the Hannah Boden in 1991 when the Andrea Gale was lost in The Perfect Storm.

#8

“…Just finished “Inside of a dog”…”

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”

Marx (Groucho)

Just finished “Flying Tigers” one interesting postscript, I never knew Flying Tigers Air Freight Services was formed by two former AVG pilots, there still around, sort of, FTAFS became the core of FedEx’s air service.

Next up, well there is some choice in that matter. I have the following to choose from:

Downfall, a history of the end the Pacific war with emphasis on the planning for the invasion of Japan.

Desperate Hours, on the sinking of the Andrea Doria.

Bounty, on the infamous mutiny.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf, a Bluejacket publication on the Battle of the Surigao Straights and the Battle off Samar.

Day of Infamy, Walter Lords book on Pearl Harbor.

In Harms Way, on the USS Indianapolis

PT-109, on well… you should know that one.

Little Ship Big War, about the service history of a Destroyer Escort

I also have to finish Clive Cusslers “The Wrecker” which I got about half thru before I lost interest, fiction just dont hold a candle to real history for me.

As you can see there’s no shortage of reading material, in fact I have to plan a trip to Salvation Army to drop off some of the older books I have finished.

#9

Just finished “Bad Blood” Dana Stabenow (plays in Alaska)

Before that “The Andalucian Friend” Alexander Söderberg (plays in Sweden)

along with “The inconvenient indian” (Thomas King) (Canada and USA)

a little earlier it was “The placebo effect” and “A murder of crows” David Rotenberg (plays in Toronto and a few other places.)

That’s the last three weeks, when it was either too hot or too wet to work on the layout in the garden.

:wink: :slight_smile:

Oh I also started some other books, but … have you heard of the “100 minus your age” rule? Any book you start you can quit when you get to the page that corresponds to 100 minus your age. In some cases I get past that point by fifty pages and then quit anyway, lives too short!

#10

I just finished I’m Staying With My Boys, by Jim Proser, the biography of Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, USMC (Deceased) from the time he was a boy working as a caddy for Japanese golfers in rural New Jersey, through his enlistment in the US Army, where he earned the nickname “Manila John” by knocking out 19 of 19 opponents in the boxing ring, becoming the Far East Boxing Champ in the late 1930’s, to Guadalcanal, where he earned the Medal of Honor as a US Marine, to his Stateside War Bond Tour, to the invasion of Iwo Jima, where he almost made it off the beach.

Interestingly, it is told in the first person. I wondered how the author was going to end it. You will have to read it to find out. Spoilers.

Gunny Basilone is one of my heroes, sharing a pedestal with Chesty Puller.

Also read this summer were Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot, by Starr Smith, the biography of Brigadier General James Stewart USAFR’s wartime career as a B-24 pilot, (yes, that Jimmy Stewart), 1776, by David McCullough, and for fun, Threat Vector, by Tom Clancy, about cyber warfare, The Number of the Beast and Have Space Suit, Will Travel, by Robert Heinlein.

Right now, I’m reading Sharpe’s Sword, by Bernard Cornwall, about the Peninsular Wars of the Wars of the French Revolution.

#11

Steve I think you’ll really like Have Spacesuit, Will Travel. I wish someone would turn Heinleins early novels into movies, they are good stuff.

#12

Vic Smith said:
Steve I think you’ll really like Have Spacesuit, Will Travel. I wish someone would turn Heinleins early novels into movies, they are good stuff.

I’d like to see any of his novels turned into a movie, as long as they don’t give them the Starship Trooper treatment. That was a waste of cellulose. I think that Glory Road would be great as a movie. So would Friday.

#13

Just started Vince Flynn series. Finished “American Assassin” and now reading “Kill Shot”. Good stuff.

#14

I started my way through the Hornblower saga…I’m on “Hornblower and the Hotspur” now…

#15

SWMBO and I are going through our bibliotec to find books that can be given to our church’s book sale, and I came across this gem. Of course, I had to re-read it, so it didn’t make the cut.

Sea of Glory, America’s Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842, by Nathaniel Philbrick. 2003.

This is the history of the Ex. Ex. the little know voyage of 6 US Navy ships led by the first USS Vincennes, that discovered Antarctica, many other South Pacific islands, surveyed the Columbia River, explored volcanoes in Hawaii, confirmed Darwin’s theory of the formation of coral atolls, and collected thousands of specimens that became the foundation of the Smithsonian’s scientific collection. It is not mentioned in our history books because of the scandal surrounding it’s leader, LT Charles Wilkes.

What scandal? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out.

#16

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/kenbrunt/LOS05.jpg)

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/kenbrunt/LOS06.jpg)

Anybody who has been to the Strassburg RR has probably seen the LO&S motor car.

This is the same spot today where the picture on the outside cover of the book was taken.

(http://rgsgardenrailroad.com/2013/LOS036.jpg)

#17

Of the list I wrote above I finished “The Desperate Hours” on the sinking of the Andrea Doria, interesting how no definitive blame was ever placed and more surprisingly that the Stockholm is still in use as a cruise ship!

Jumped all the other books when I found “Devil Boats, A History of the PT Boats in the Pacific”, at the Salvation Army. Great read really brings home just how vital a role these plywood terrors (to the Japanese ) were.

Just this weekend I found a book to complement my war history reading, “Japanese Destroyer Commander” written by such, documenting from Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway, and Leyte. All places where he was at. Be interesting to read the Japanese perspective.

Also found “Dead Funny” about joke telling under the Nazis and how it could be very bad for your health. This will be “vhery intarezting”

Example from the book from near the end of the war:

Hitler and his chauffeur are driving thru the country when there is an accident. A chicken has been killed. Hitler says “I am the Fuhrer I will tell the farmer and he will understand”. Two minutes later Hitler comes back rubbing his backside where the farmer kicked his ass. They drive on and again there is another accident. This time a pig is killed. Hitler says “You go tell the farmer this time” which the chauffeur does. Two hours later he comes back drunk carrying a basket full of sausage and beer. “What did you tell him?” demands Hitler. He replies, “Nothing special, I just said ‘Heil Hitler the swine is dead’!”

:slight_smile:

#18

I remember talking about the Andrea Doria/Stockholm incident while standing mid-watches in the pilot house. The two ships each made small course changes until they ran into each other. Take home lesson, make big course changes!

Have you read [url=amazon.com/Samurai-Martin-Caiden/dp/0743412834]Samurai[/url] by Saburo Sakai, with Martin Caiden? Its the story of Japan’s greatest ace.

#19

Yes Steve, also the Stockholm was traveling west in the eastern shipping lanes and both parties made errors with their radar and niether had contacted the other to coordinate course changes. Each thought they were in the clear, right up till it was too late

Havent read that other book, my plate is kinda full.

#20

Vic Smith said:
Yes Steve, also the Stockholm was traveling west in the eastern shipping lanes and both parties made errors with their radar and niether had contacted the other to coordinate course changes. Each thought they were in the clear, right up till it was too late Havent read that other book, my plate is kinda full.

I think that you will enjoy Samurai! Save room for it. It will make a tasty dessert.