Grand unified books thread

[barkdreg]

Ordered all the Culture novels from Iain M Banks on amazon. Goodbye, outdoor activities.

[crazy canuck]

Plus for daddy - I bought 1493 (on the Columbian exchange of plants and animals post-1492), and...

I am a few chapters away from finishing it.  There are a couple roll eye moments on some of the broad conclusions he reaches but the strength of the book is in the detailed research he has done.

The book is loaded with interesting factoids -  you will be an able cotributor in the history thread for some time. 

[Habbaku]

Finished volume I of God's Playground a few days ago.  Loved the last half.

Read both What It Is Like To Go To War and Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes.  Matterhorn has some hiccups, but was a pretty solid piece of (semi-autobiographical) fiction.  WIILTGTW is an excellent lesson on soldier psychology and a series of recommendations as to what we should to to prepare soldiers for war and to re-integrate them after.

Now off to a combination of books :

Volume II of God's Playground
A Knight's Own Book of Chivalry by Geoffroi de Charny
Six Weeks (The Short and Gallant Life of the British Officer in the First World War) by John Lewis-Stempel

[Barrister]

Looking for a book on the Great Game. Non-fiction, obviously. Anyone?

Tournament of Shadows was a fun read.

http://www.amazon.com/Tournament-Shadows-Great-Empire-Central/dp/1582430284

[Admiral Yi]

Just put in my order for four Smiley titles with Penguin.

[The Brain]

Re-read Storm of Steel. Ernst Jünger is awesome.

[Maladict]

One I liked is called Shooting Leave. Adventures by mad Englishment spying out central asia in the Great Game.

Tournament of Shadows was a fun read.
http://www.amazon.com/Tournament-Shadows-Great-Empire-Central/dp/1582430284

Thanks guys 

[Kleves]

Anyone know of any good books on Operation Market-Garden more recent that A Bridge too Far?

[11B4V]

It Never Snows in September is suppose to be good. Havent read it. That's the only suggest I got.

[Sophie Scholl]

Decided to continue my Loyalist/Canadian perspective tour of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 by reading Simon Girty Turncoat Hero and 1812: War with America.  I had never actually heard of Girty before, despite his infamous reputation in the States during and after the war.  I guess he's much more of a Pennsylvania/Ohio/Michigan person, whereas I was raised far more in the Mohawk Valley/Cherry Valley/Iroquois traditions where I'm from.  Quite an interesting character to say the least.  I'm almost finished with his book and am expecting the other in the mail shortly. 

For the curious:
http://www.amazon.com/Simon-Girty-Turncoat-Phillip-Hoffman/dp/0984225633/ref=pd_ys_iyr6
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674034775/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

[Kleves]

Anyone have any WWI book recommendations? Anything is fine, but I would particularly like a book on the eastern front.

[The Brain]

Anyone have any WWI book recommendations? Anything is fine, but I would particularly like a book on the eastern front.

Storm of Steel, obviously. The White War: Life And Death On The Italian Front 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson I found really enjoyable. Hew Strachan's The First World War vol 1 is a must if you're serious about WW1.

But the east is harder... Not that many books in English that I'm aware of. I recently read The Eastern Front 1914-1917 by Norman Stone. A reasonable introduction to the subject, but it's from 1975.

[Syt]

I second Brain's suggestions. Also, Keegan's First World War is a classic. For a more general overview (including politics/economics etc.) I suggest Stephenson's 1914-1918 (I like it better than Keegan, actually, because Keegan focuses on the military part; but Keegan is more readable). And there's of course Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman about the first weeks of the war.

Slightly related, there's Davies' White Eagle - Red Star about the Polish-Soviet War 1919/20, and Orlando Figes' A People's Tragedy which covers revolutionary Russia 1895-1922.

[Kolytsin]

I've heard of Norman Stone before, but never read his book.  Good books depend on what you are looking to investigate.  To copy some references from my copy of Makers of Modern Strategy, tactics are analyzed by Timothy Lupfer, The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Changes in German Tactic Doctrine during the First World War (1981).  Outstanding are Tony Ashworth, Trench Warfare 1914-1918: The Live and Let Live System (1980) and Eric J. Leed, No Man's Land: Combat and Identity in World War I.  The grand military-political treatment of World War I are covered by Gerhard Ritter, The Sword and the Scepter: The Problem of Militarism in Germany (1967-1973), especially volume. 4 "The Reign of German Militarism and the Disaster of 1918"   If you want to study the nature of World War I, you should try The Century of Total War (1954) or the sober assessment by Geoffrey Best, Humanity in Warfare (1980)

On the Russian army on the eve of the first world war see Allan K. Wildman, The End of the Russian Imperial Army: The Old Army and the Soldier's Revolt or D.C.B. Lieven, Russia and the Origins of the First World War.  You can also try Florence Farmborough,  With the Armies of the Tsar: A Nurse at the Russian Front, 1914-1918 or Sir Alfred Knox  With The Russian Army, 1914-1918

[Admiral Yi]

I'm about half way through my Smiley books and the realization struck me that Le Carre writes very similarly to Iris Murdoch.