TSF Book Club
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<p>Eighth Air forth by Donald L Miller,</p>
<p>Really well written , finishes up asking whether or not the bombing was worth the human cost on both sides. He covers a lot of stuff like the allies sent economists to interview various Germans after the war and to see if it was all worth while, the germans tried their own kamikaze attics and it was pretty cool reading about Jimmy Stewart actually going into combat. </p> -
<p>I started the Tyler Hamilton book yesterday, and I've damn near finished it, what a great story! It's a frankly amazing confession of a double life under extreme pressure. It's obviously a lot less shocking to read now after the Lance thing was all confessed, but in 2012 it would have been a startling admission, and look in to cycling, and Armstrong's character. </p>
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<p>He certainly doesn't hold anything back</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="540173" data-time="1447031194"><p>
I <strong>started the Tyler Hamilton book yesterday, and I've damn near finished it</strong>, what a great story! It's a frankly amazing confession of a double life under extreme pressure. It's obviously a lot less shocking to read now after the Lance thing was all confessed, but in 2012 it would have been a startling admission, and look in to cycling, and Armstrong's character. <br><br>
He certainly doesn't hold anything back</p></blockquote>
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Sums up the cricket... -
<p>finished it. Great story. Glad i had the latest edition that had the additional chapter on the Armstrong confession, it tied it up nicely.</p>
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<p>It's a sad story really, these guys bust their ass to make it, get given a choice, dope or go home, so they dope, everyone does it, and then, invariably, they get caught, and end up with nothing to show for a lot of effort. I hope it's different now. </p> -
I mentioned it on the app thread but it should go here. The unabridged audio book of World war z is fantastic, for those unaware it has bugger all to do with the movie, its a series of interviews with various people around the world about their experiences during the zombie war. There are a few big name actors doing the voices including Mark Hamil, Alan Alda..and more that slip my mind. Must be at least 5 hours long, perfect if you have a long drive coming up and as they are interviews it really suits the audio book format. I've put it on a couple time with family and mates who were super dubious about it but the gripping story soon makes everyone a fan.
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<p>PIcked up Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden on Jeggas recommendation (after watching the series Narcos) so looking forward to reading that.</p>
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<p>For Father's Day I was given "The Universal Tone" by Carlos Santana. Not really sure why as, besides being an amateur guitar player (who hasn't even picked the thing up in months) I've never really followed his career.</p>
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<p>Respect his ability with a guitar, but he's clearly going senile or stoned as fuck writing this. Talking about the universe and god and gifts and letting the music flow through him and all that shit. Its tough going. Get to the fucking point!</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="544237" data-time="1448409231">
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<p>Is Carlos still taking inspiration from an alien?</p>
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<p>Alien? I only know about him talking with an archangel called Metatron.</p>
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<p>I'll have what he's having...</p>
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<p>I'm not sure why the archangel decided to start up a conversation with someone who was into Buddhism though. Surely Phil Keaggy or one of the other Christian guitar heroes would have been a better bet.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="544237" data-time="1448409231">
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<p>Is Carlos still taking inspiration from an alien?</p>
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<p>I don't know that I've been far enough into the book to find out. I don't know that I ever will.</p> -
<p>A new book based podcast with Robin Ince and Josie Long hosting. Guests so far have been Stewart Lee and Sara Pascoe</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://cosmicgenome.com/features/podcasts/shambles/'>http://cosmicgenome.com/features/podcasts/shambles/</a></p> -
<p>I just finished one of the best, and at the same time, most horrific books i have read.</p>
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<p>"Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Crushing of a City" by Alexandra Richie</p>
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<p>The Poles really did get royally fucked over in WWII, and this story about the ill-advised Warsaw uprising is pretty brutal. Doesn't really paint anyone in a good light, the Germans for their barbarity; the Soviets for their political opportunism; the other Allies for their inactivity (can't piss off Uncle Joe); and the Poles for making some pretty bad assumptions, and getting their timing almost exactly wrong. </p>
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<p>Not a happy book at all, but a story worth telling, and told well. </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="550151" data-time="1451539858">
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<p>I just finished one of the best, and at the same time, most horrific books i have read.</p>
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<p>"Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Crushing of a City" by Alexandra Richie</p>
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<p>The Poles really did get royally fucked over in WWII, and this story about the ill-advised Warsaw uprising is pretty brutal. Doesn't really paint anyone in a good light, the Germans for their barbarity; the Soviets for their political opportunism; the other Allies for their inactivity (can't piss off Uncle Joe); and the Poles for making some pretty bad assumptions, and getting their timing almost exactly wrong. </p>
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<p>Not a happy book at all, but a story worth telling, and told well. </p>
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<p>Will look out for that, it was the Wermachts last victory in world war 2. The soviets actually did go to war with the poles before, its sort of been forgotten by history but there was no love lost there. <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish–Soviet_War'>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish–Soviet_War</a></p>
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<p>Just finished Hunter Killer by Mark McCurley. Interesting insights into the drone program from someone who was in it for about a decade, I can see what they turn over lots of people . The opportunities for career advancement are few and far between, it sounds like its incredibly tedious and the air force in particular look down on the drone operators. They have a few successes to point to though and whether the air force likes it or not this is the future of warfare,not only for surveillance but launching missiles. One of their drones was known to be very noisy and the locals knew when it was around. They used this against the enemy by flying it in areas where they thought there might be trouble and the sound was enough to stop them causing trouble. </p> -
<p>Any of you blokes read <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodlands'><em>Bloodlands</em></a>? Supposed to be extremely good, but I don't know if I want to read something that thoroughly horrific.</p>
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<p>yea, I've read it. It's good, but it's not a exactly a happy holidays book. The shit it talks about is rough as fuck, and that's before the war even starts. </p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Tim" data-cid="550155" data-time="1451541337"><p>Any of you blokes read <a class="bbc_url" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodlands"><em>Bloodlands</em></a>? Supposed to be extremely good, but I don't know if I want to read something that thoroughly horrific.</p></blockquote><blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Tim" data-cid="550155" data-time="1451541337"><p>Any of you blokes read <a class="bbc_url" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodlands"><em>Bloodlands</em></a>? Supposed to be extremely good, but I don't know if I want to read something that thoroughly horrific.</p></blockquote>
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If you want to round things out after reading that there's a couple of books about unit 731 , the worst part is most of them got away with it. -
<p>Recently finished Killing Pablo (after watching Narcos on Netflix) by Mark Bowden, and was pretty good, I think the series kinda follows it, in that the first part shows Pablo as a charming and down to earth Colombian lad trying to do good, which is what I guess was the image he pushed through the media to ensure he had the public on his side for some of his 'reign' so will be interesting to see if the 2nd series they paint him out more as the tyrant he was.</p>
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<p>Recently picked up the 2 part doco from History channel, The True Story of Killing Pablo which is based on the book.</p>
