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Derek Cavin Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 June 2005 Location: United States Posts: 2403
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Posted: 17 October 2015 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | 1
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Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara (American Revolution). Comic-wise, Jack Kirby's Fourth World.
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Robert Cosgrove Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 January 2005 Location: United States Posts: 1710
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Posted: 17 October 2015 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | 2
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, by Walter Isaacson. The only "major" founding father I had not previously read at least one bio of. I learned a lot I didn't know about Franklin, including his involvement in Penna. politics, his estrangement from his son, who was royal gov. of New Jersey and sided with the British during the American revolution, the fact that Franklin spent some fifteen or more years living in England in connection with various missions, and the extent of his contributions to science and the esteem with which he was held by the top scientists of his day. I knew about the kite and the Franklin stove and so forth, but tended to think of these as sort of sidelights to his political career. Clearly the founding father I'd most enjoy having a beer with.
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Robert Bradley Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 September 2006 Location: United States Posts: 4885
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Posted: 18 October 2015 at 7:23am | IP Logged | 3
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THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir
Finished reading the book and watched the movie this week. Really enjoyed the book, although it tended to go into a little to much technical detail. Still, it was an entertaining read.
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Robert Cosgrove Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 January 2005 Location: United States Posts: 1710
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Posted: 25 October 2015 at 5:37pm | IP Logged | 4
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The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq by Emma Sky.
Emma Sky, a young Brit opposed to the invasion of Iraq, volunteers for an ostensible 3-month period to assist in the rebuilding of Iraq as a member of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Kirkuk. She becomes a "Polad," political advisor to an American officer, Col Mayville, and from there winds up working for Ambassador Bremmer, General Petraeus, and most significantly, Gen. Ray Odiernero, along the way meeting and befriending a number of Iraqi figures.
Her instincts are reliably leftist--she regards Barack Obama as "the living embodiment of the American dream" and gave Odiernero a copy of "Dreams from my Father," but she is that rare thing, an honest observer, and the book is ultimately as damning, or more so, of the Obama administration as the Bush administration. To Sky's own surprise, perhaps, Odiernero emerges as the hero of the book (though that is my characterization, not hers).
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Steve Coates Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 November 2014 Location: Canada Posts: 805
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Posted: 25 October 2015 at 7:07pm | IP Logged | 5
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"The Dead Man's Brother" by Roger Zelazny, a surprise, used book store, find for me, lucky someone placed it in science fiction isle and not in the crime genre stack. So far so good...
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 133420
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Posted: 26 October 2015 at 5:51am | IP Logged | 6
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Dipping in and out of AFTER WORLDS COLLIDE. WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, as I have mentioned, is a fascinating snapshot of a time that really never was (how well-to-do White folk thought the world was in 1933), and there are lots of non-PC moments. But AWC is flat-out racist. The bad guys are "Japs" and "Asiatics" and the Caucasians of all represented nations are noble and heroic to a man. (Women barely count, of course!) Times before when I have read the first book I have thought about how it could be filmed (NOT as George Pal did it!*), and there is much that could be brought up to speed with the modern world with very little effort -- but the second would be like the old joke about jacking up the paint and slipping a new car underneath. _______________ * The Pal movie is fun, but it has only the basic concept, expressed in the title, in common with the book.
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Michael Abbey Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 April 2007 Posts: 344
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Posted: 26 October 2015 at 7:36am | IP Logged | 7
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Just finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Strange but entertaining book. I almost bailed in the first quarter of the book, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I just started Play On:Now, Then and Fleetwood Mac, the autobiography, by Mick Fleetwood.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 133420
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Posted: 26 October 2015 at 7:44am | IP Logged | 8
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Also, THE MOON'S A BALLOON, David Niven's autobiography.I'll admit I skipped about halfway into the book after slogging thru fifty or sixty pages. In the introduction, Niven apologizes for name dropping, claiming (and rightly so) that it's unavoidable given the nature of his career, but I still had to jump over pages of Binky Hendlington-Smythe to get to Errol Flynn and Paulette Goddard! Mostly fun, once the Hollywood stuff starts, tho Niven does have a habit (something his editor should have caught) of using Show Biz slang without telling us what it means. "Went down to the PZ for the QRF and we all had a GKW!" That sort of thing.* _____________ * At a con I once found myself seated next to a colorist who quickly demonstrated his own tendency to do just this. After the tenth or twelfth fan had wandered away from his table with a bewildered look on his face, I leaned over and whispered "English!"
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Andrew Bitner Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 7526
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Posted: 26 October 2015 at 1:08pm | IP Logged | 9
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I admit to some curiosity about AFTER WORLDS COLLIDE. Thanks for the remarks on it, JB--sounds like an interesting moment of alternate history, seen from this day and age.
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Brian Miller Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 July 2004 Location: United States Posts: 31220
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Posted: 26 October 2015 at 1:49pm | IP Logged | 10
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FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Making my way way back thru the Bond books.
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Brian Floyd Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 07 July 2006 Location: United States Posts: 8621
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Posted: 27 October 2015 at 12:52am | IP Logged | 11
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THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY by Mur Lafferty. Already have the sequel on hold at the library.
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James Best Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2014 Location: United States Posts: 890
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Posted: 27 October 2015 at 9:58pm | IP Logged | 12
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Currently reading:
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