What are you reading right now?

[sharkbit]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Oh my....the book looked interesting so I looked on Amazon: $220 for a new copy, $70 for a used copy.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by sharkbit

Oh my....the book looked interesting so I looked on Amazon: $220 for a new copy, $70 for a used copy.

It's a reference, and well worth the money. You don't want to know what I just spent for Conway's Warship volumes XI and XII.

[Red October1984]

I'm still reading SSN. I'm over halfway through it.

Aside from the fact that the characters are flatter than paper, unoriginal story, and that it isn't as detailed as some other books, I like it. It's like reading a dumbed down version of Dangerous Waters.

How many times will China try to take the South China Sea in fiction?

[Sepp von Ch.]

New addition to my library - Die Unterseeboote der Kaiserlichen Marine

http://www.amazon.de/Unterseeboote-K...rlichen+Marine

Splendid book!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by sharkbit

Oh my....the book looked interesting so I looked on Amazon: $220 for a new copy, $70 for a used copy.

My copy is an ebook in pdf.

[Crécy]

Finally started reading the ol' classic, Run Silent, Run Deep by Edward L. Beach and it is compelling! Have almost finished it after two days of reading.

[rhohltjr]

Just finished "Japanese Destroyer Captain"
Capt. Tameichi Hara.

Glad there were not many like him in Japanese Navy in WW2.

He mentions attacking and sinking several subs in the book,
one because he saw a sub lookout light his cig so he attacked.
He claimed to sink it but I think it survived.

Pretty good read from the others perspective.

[rhohltjr]

Finished "Shattered Sword" a few months ago.

Goes into great detail the damage and sinking of each of the Japanese Carriers at Midway.

Pretty good read with some insight and perspective from the other side..

[fred8615]

Sink The Tirpitz

I had checked this book out of the library a couple of times when I was much younger. I've been watching on eBay, and somebody finally posted a copy I could buy.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Lots of stuff on the Ipad. A Bruce Springsteen bio and lots of Rolling Stone magazines.

[Subnuts]

I'm almost done with Norman Friedman's British Cruisers of the Victorian Era, and I have to say, I'm kind of disappointed. Substantial, fascinating text, beautiful line drawings, and nice photos, but the layout and arrangement is an absolute mess. Photos spread across two pages, with details falling into the binding, paragraphs-long captions in 4-point text, ship specifications and class breakdowns segregated to the appendix, typos on every page... I've read five of Friedman's "Illustrated Design Histories" on American warships, and while they all suffered from the same problems to a minor extent, this is easily the sloppiest-edited book I've read of his. I was kind of looking forward to his upcoming book on anti-aircraft guns and gunnery, but I'm kind of undecided right now.

[Sailor Steve]

I have the book, and value it as a reference, but I can't argue with your complaints. Dr Friedman is a great naval historian, but all of his books suffer in that department. His first British Destroyers book is just as good, and just as bad.

[Subnuts]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I have the book, and value it as a reference, but I can't argue with your complaints. Dr Friedman is a great naval historian, but all of his books suffer in that department. His first British Destroyers book is just as good, and just as bad.

I actually used a "cheat sheet" when I'm reading his U.S. Battleships which lists all the ship's names, their class, and hull number. BCOTVE covers such a wide spread of naval history, and so many different types of ships, it should have included a fold-out chronological "family tree" of British cruiser designs between 1850 and 1905. Maybe I'm just losing my reader comprehension mojo, but it kind of bugs me that classic naval references from the 70s like The Fleet Submarine In The U.S. Navy and British Battleships of World War Two were a lot easier to read. Granted, the production values weren't as nice as newer books, but you don't feel like you need the Cliff Notes books to follow along!

[Sailor Steve]

I have the luxury of being able to cross-reference with Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships series. Easier to follow but less specific informaton. I also have the advantage that I've been compiling this same information for my unfinished naval game for the last two decades, so while any particular book can give me information I need and I learn a lot from each one, I already have the ships organized by date in my own information collection, so logical flow isn't as important to me as it once was.

If I dismissed the first Destroyers book a little casually, I should restate that it is very well worth the money. I learned a lot of things that don't go into my game. In that book Friedman talks about Jackie Fisher's input when he was commander of the Mediterranean destroyer group, and while I've always read that the 'River' class were welcomed as being far superior than the preceeding 'TBD' classes, no one ever said why. Friedman gives examples, including captains' reports on why everyone wanted to command a 'River'.

Overall I found the Cruiser book to be just as informative, but I mostly only use them as a reference, so I haven't read it straight through, even though I've had it for months.

[Jimbuna]