Grand unified books thread

[Grey Fox]

Who's Karla?

[FunkMonk]

Who's Karla?

[Malthus]

Heh the book I'm reading has a wonderful bit about the history of life insurance, with the leading character a fellow with the most Puritan name ever: "If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-for-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebone". 

Also this wonderful line, about theological qualms over calculating death statistics: "Thus was the life insurance industry caught between a math problem and God."

[Admiral Yi]

Who's Karla?

Code name for LeCarre's fictional Soviet spymaster.

[grumbler]

Who's Karla?

A famous Canadian Serial killer. 

Also (more appropriately) the antagonist of the Smiley series of books by John le Carre.

[Admiral Yi]

Has anyone read the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent?  Thoughts?  I got a recommendation.

Same dude recommended Dewey Lampkin, but he must have gotten the spelling wrong because i'm getting nothing on google.

[grumbler]

Has anyone read the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent?  Thoughts?  I got a recommendation.

Alexander Kent is a pen name for Douglas Reeman, so if you have read any Reeman you know what to expect from Kent:  good and exciting stories, but not a huge amount of character development.  Much better than Hornblower, and probably the best of the Napoleonic naval fiction.  The ones taking place in the Pacific were particularly good.  The later books (when Bolitho is an admiral and there's a lot more politic involved) are not as good, but still very readable.

[Admiral Yi]

Thanks.

[Malthus]

I read To Glory We Steer, one of that series, and I enjoyed it a lot.

[Oexmelin]

Joan (or others), have you read Skidelsky's new book, Money and Government?

[Barrister]

Has anyone read the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent?  Thoughts?  I got a recommendation.

Alexander Kent is a pen name for Douglas Reeman, so if you have read any Reeman you know what to expect from Kent:  good and exciting stories, but not a huge amount of character development.  Much better than Hornblower, and probably the best of the Napoleonic naval fiction.  The ones taking place in the Pacific were particularly good.  The later books (when Bolitho is an admiral and there's a lot more politic involved) are not as good, but still very readable.

Is that a recommendation?  I hadn't heard of these stories before.

I adore O'brien's Aubrey/Maturin series, tried looking for something similar, tried reading Hornblower and found it just bad.

[The Minsky Moment]

Joan (or others), have you read Skidelsky's new book, Money and Government?

Nope.
Been very busy at work last few months; all the spare reading time in recent weeks has gone to slogging through Piketty.

[Syt]

Finished Max Hastings's All Hell Let Loose. It's a one volume WW2 history that, while covering the major beats and having special topical chapters (UK at Sea, European Air War, civilian victims/Holocaust), works with excerpts from letters, diaries, etc. to paint a picture of how common soldiers and civilians experienced the war. Would have preferred more coverage of the Pacific theater. He's quite keen on pointing out where the Brits didn't account themselves too well.

[The Brain]

Like Midway.

[Eddie Teach]

Has anyone read the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent?  Thoughts?  I got a recommendation.

Alexander Kent is a pen name for Douglas Reeman, so if you have read any Reeman you know what to expect from Kent:  good and exciting stories, but not a huge amount of character development.  Much better than Hornblower, and probably the best of the Napoleonic naval fiction.  The ones taking place in the Pacific were particularly good.  The later books (when Bolitho is an admiral and there's a lot more politic involved) are not as good, but still very readable.

Is that a recommendation?  I hadn't heard of these stories before.

I adore O'brien's Aubrey/Maturin series, tried looking for something similar, tried reading Hornblower and found it just bad.

Have you read Melville?