Testament, by John Rohmer, an investigation into the history of the writing of the Bible.

Just finished reading V2: The A4 Rocket from Pennemunde to Redstone last night. Now, I'm not really prone to hyperbole, but it's among the best single volume technical/operational histories I've read in the last few years. The production values are excellent, and it's extremely well illustrated, balanced, and readable. Doesn't just cover the use of the rocket, but also how the allies learned about it and attempted to develop countermeasures against it, the experience of being on the receiving end, and post-war development.

It's not cheap (Amazon currently wants $59), but I haven't seen a better book on the V2 out there.

Meant to say that I wrote a review of V2 with some pictures to go along with it: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1L4H6WY99AMXV/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1906537534

Great review and I ticked the supportive link :cool:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...d=552W015IWZO7

Only bought it a few days ago and I am already half away though this book. Another interesting point of view, German Generals were fearing the war was heading for defeat after their victory outside Kharkov 1942. The price was too high and this was all before Case Blue.

Spent the last few days poring over Seaforth's new book on HMS Warspite. The book consists mainly of original admiralty draughts, which have been scanned at high resolution and published for the first time in full color. They plan on publishing companion volumes on the cruiser Birmingham and aircraft carrier Victorious later this year. There goes my bank account again...:haha:

A few preview pics to give an idea of the level of detail:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4741/2...ee443ba1_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4707/2...d062cda4_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4707/2...22ae4934_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4609/2...cc06e6f5_b.jpg

I finished reading Richard Rhodes' Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb a few days ago. I first read it back in 2005 and didn't really care for it. My opinion hasn't really changed that much since then. It's decent, but nowhere near as deep or satisfying as The Making of the Atomic Bomb.

My full-length review:
https://www.amazon.com/review/R22VGG...p_perm?ie=UTF8

Father's Love
 

Father's Love by Paul Contier. Amazing story of a father and a son smuggling drug underwater in a midget submarine from Mexico to California in the 80's. Gripping pursuits underwater with the USN ASW helicopters, SDV, SEALS, USCG cutters. A lot of suspense so far.

welcome aboard!
 

Welcome to SubSim Gunny :Kaleun_Salute:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...2/fathers-love

http://i63.tinypic.com/34opoiw.jpg

This one is definitely a bit of a change of pace for me. It focuses mainly on the small (usually between 300 and 1000 grt) cargo ships which have been a mainstay of the British isles and Western European ports since the mid 1850s. Lots of excellent historic photos.

I haven't posted to this thread in a while, so here are reviews of the last two books I've read:
Junkers Ju 87 Stuka Owners' Workshop Manual
Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns and Gunnery

Daryl, is there much emphasis on the role these vessels played during the two great wars?

Great story indeed.

This is an unusual story with a refreshing insider look at the world of submariners smuggling drugs between Mexico and the US in the mid 80's.
The fabric of the relationship between the father and the son is well textured.
The technical details of the midget submarine and its operation appear real.
The amount of of ASW systems deployed in action are plentiful, from a trained dolphin used by SEALs, SDV, Kaman SH2 Seasprite, USS Dolphin, USCG Cutters Hamilton Class, and USCG Island Class patrol boats.
Plenty of submarine pursuit in the San Diego area canyons and sea valleys, plenty of suspense and couple of unexpected twist.

I greatly enjoyed that time spent, I recommend that read.

The book focuses mainly on ships built from 1850 to 1950, so quite a few of them were active during WWI and WWII. It doesn't really go into much detail about their careers beyond who built them, their owners, homeport, typical routes and cargo, and final fate.

That said, the book is quite fascinating simply for the huge variety of ships covered, from 19th century cargo coasters, to steam colliers, coastal tankers, motor ships, small container ships, and modern livestock carriers.

Cheers Matey :salute: