Ok first person to tell me I read to much gets a smack on the butt (but it is true), I blame travelling and the size of these books.

This book is “My Mercedes is Not For Sale” by Jeron Van Bergeijk. I picked this book up at a $5 sale once figuring it looked good and would make for a perfect travel read (small, not to small print and interesting enough to keep you distracted).

I was right. The book is nothing over the top but to be honest was perfect for what I wanted. It is about a Dutchman (not sure if he is a reporter or a writer you never really find out) who takes it upon himself to buy an old Mercedes and drive it from Holland to Africa and sell it at a profit all while having one of those once in a lifetime exploring adventures in the Saharan desert.

There isn’t really much to the issue of cars in the desert or of the actual driving but more about the people he encounters along the way (especially other Europeans doing the same thing or adventuring to Africa). If you like to travel it is an interesting read as it gives a tiny glimpse into the life of Africa and the little discussed sides of being a native African.

This is a book you can read quickly, easily, and more than anything keep you distracted long enough for the 200ish pages so it goes into my “Good Plane Books” pile. By no means perfect, it was a good read and if you find it cheap, you could do worse.

Truth be told it sounds like a pretty cool thing to do. Buy a car that you couldn’t give away in the Western world then drive it overland to Africa all the while exploring what the real Africa is about.

Apparently mercs are very popular in Africa and even beat up ones can fetch a good price.

Not a great book but a quick review anyway.

The book is “Fighting them on the Beaches” by Nigel Cawthorne and is pretty much a short, easy read on the Allied invasion of Normandy. Not a very thick book, fairly easy to read. This was given to me by someone at work and has sat on my shelf for so long I figured I would read it and get it out of the way, save me having to carry it over to the other side of the world.

Now I have read more in depth books on the D-Day Invasions (D-Day by Stephen E Ambrose for instance) however this is a very broad, very brief coverage of it. For someone who is travelling to the region and wants a quick over view or isn’t to interested in the War then this book would be perfect. But for me, someone who is into this kind of history. There is just not enough details in this book for me. It is just to brief. I am not saying its a bad book, it is just not for me.

It was a good read though for me at the moment as it managed to give me a good flash back to August last year, when I was standing on these beaches, in some of these spots and it brought back so many good memories. This book was good for something at least.

Another book down, slowly but surely getting through this massive pile (about 25 to go I think), unfortunately I am gonna have to take these with me, or I won’t ever get through them.

The Book is Walking the Gallipoli Peninsula by Tony Wright. A good book for this time of year, with Anzac Day fast approaching, it was a good time to read it. The one thing I did find about this book (it was a gift) was that it was not what I fully expected. The book is written about a Journalist’s journeys to Gallipoli over a number of years and follows him predominantly through one journey in the early 2000’s.

What I had expected was a more indepth look at the peninsula and more of a guide book, although this book is great travel fodder (big print, 250 or so pages, great for a long haul flight) reading it is not what I would normally read I guess. Not saying this is a bad book or anything, just not my kind of book. The book is definately good accompaniment to someone who is on the typical young Australian’s pilgrimage to Gallipoli, giving a great insight into the area from someone else’s perspective. But where it lacks though is in the historical details of the campaign. Something I would still dearly like to read about.

This is a great book and reinspires my desire to visit Gallipoli (still aiming for 2015), and at this time of the year, its definately an appropriate read. Still a good book to read.

As I resume reading my history books I finish off the last of some books given to me for Christmas 2010 (well war books anayway).

This book is Helmet for my Pillow by Robert Leckie. This book is one of the ones that is part of a group of books that is what the book and tv shows The Pacific were based on.

The books like the others is based on the experiences of a Marine Cop soldier during WW2 in the pacific Islands campaign. Where this one differs to the others is that Leckie (also known as lucky) started off from the very outset of the Island campaign fighting on Guadalcanal.

Unlike most others Lucky was a bit of a miscreant or as he described himself a brig rat. It follows his experiences during the island campaigns on Guadalcanal, New Brittain and the opening days of Pelielu.

However this book isn’t all guts and glory. Leckie is truly a writer and was a journalist before and after the war and it feels more like poetry at times as the book is just so well written.

His descriptions of events border on poetry as be describes events, feelings or the sights around him and some times wonder if it is even real.

This is one of the best books I have read about this part of the war and thoroughly recommend it to everyone interested.

Ok it has been a while since my last review, but then this “Book” has taken a while, almost 1700 pages of book (2nd largest book ive ever read):

The Book (well books really) is The Complete Novels & Stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the timeless classic of the Detective Sherlock Holmes! The version I have is actually all of the novels & short stories combined into two Volumes (1000 pages & 738 pages) and is made up of “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, “The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes” & “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”

Pretty much this book has kept me going for quite some time. Reading about all the adventures based in the Victorian era of London, making me wish I was back there in that time with Holmes & Watson solving the mysteries (not always a crime). The stories are just so well written and done so well as to keep you enthralled and make you totally succumb to the pleasure of the story.

After watching the movies with Robert Downey Jr this is a great portrayal imo of the original Victorian Era holmes while the new BBC TV show is a very in depth modern interpretation of the stories. The stories are not at all what you think and they do lead a bit to be desired at times of wanting to follow exactly the train of thought of Holmes as he solves these mysteries but you do not get that at times. The books are written from Dr Watson’s perspective and it is through his “eyes” that you get to see how Holme’s brain works.

All in all I can now tick these off my Classic Books list and start back onto knocking back all of the books on my shelf (this may take a while). If you have watched the movie and the tv shows, you have to read the books, it is just blasphemy if you haven’t!

This is a book that has been sitting on my shelf since last christmas, taunting me, wanting me to read it. I finally gave in.

The book is Chesty by Colonel Jon T Hoffman. This book is a biography of one of the United States Marine Corps most legendary officers. Lewis B “Chesty” Puller.

Right about now you are thinking to yourself, “why the hell would Mal be reading a book about a Marine?” Well it all stems from my running. I started listening to Military Cadence when I was running. It is the perfect thing to help me run and keep my pace. I have a number of CDs of the stuff and a few of them are “Run with the Marine Corp” A number of the Cadence’s mention Chesty Puller. From here my interest was sparked. Add in the fact that “The Pacific” was released and Chesty makes a few appearances in this with Guadalcanal. My interest was spiked even more! So my parents ended up giving me this book for christmas last year (well 2010 really) and I have finally managed to get around to reading it.

Chesty is what is known as a “Mustang” in the Corp. Which is an Officer who has come up from the Enlisted Corp, although technically he was an officer first then an Enlisted Marine, then an officer again (gotta love being an officer for a whole 3 days when WW1 comes to an end and the officer corp is cut dramatically). Chesty fought in Haiti, Nicuragua, was an officer in China as a prestigious member of the “Horse Marines” and then during WW2 he took over his first combat command.

During the War, he took command of a battalion of the 7th Marines and then eventually he took full command of the 1st Marine Regiment. From there, he went on to lead the 1st marine regiment in Korea, then Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Marine Division and then on to command the Division. Along the way Chesty fought in the battles of Guadalcanal, New Britian, Pelilu, Incheon and Chosin Reservoir. He also had some state side training commands where he could help mould new marines to his way of thinking.

Chesty was famous for his straight ahead, hard charging, no nonsense focus on combat. He spoke exactly what he thought and would not hold back (which later in life would come to bite him in the ass). His leadership and his care for his men became legendary and people would do anything for him.

This style of leadership described in the book is exactly the kind of thing that I would hope that I would be like, I would hope that his style of leadership would be able to help inspire others and that I could do it justice as well. If I could be a leader even one percent of what Chesty was, I would be thoroughly happy with my life. Being the sort of person that soaks in all the lessons of leadership etc, I would hope that some of this book rubs off on me and that I can learn from some of Chesty’s ways of leadership.

If you are at all interested in this sort of thing, I highly recommend this book for several reasons. The book has some great accounts of the interwar period and what was reffered to as “The banana wars” as well as good detailed accounts of fighting in the early pacific campaign. I also learnt quite a bit about Korea and now going to add some of the Korean War to my future reads. But most of all, this book is about leadership, about how one man can make a difference in so many people’s lives. About being true to yourself and not holding back… the kind of person i hope I am.

Less than 5 days for a book… love it!

This book is Raven Strike by Dale Brown. Just a quick review this time to interrupt my normal book reading process (wait till I show you how many I have on my shelf yet to read) as this one came in from the library to Dad and he was in the middle of a book and I had it timed pretty much spot on with a book finished, so might as well pick up another one!

Dale Brown is commonly reffered to as a “Techno Thriller” author. All of his books are kind of a mix of like War, Mystery & Technology all rolled into a neat little package, and this book does not dissapoint. Part of his Dreamland series it is not to bad really. A Bit short but then this is more one of those books you would pick up for a flight and then finish it by the time you step off at the other end 12 or 14 hours later. In true Dale Brown fashion he manages to condense an entire ending of a book into like 10 or 15 pages which always bugs me but to be honest, his books are enthralling.

A fantasitc mix of futuristic aviation and military hardware it just keeps me glued to the book and I always love to read them. When you read about robotic Gun platforms or UAV’s that link up to a mothership which is a modified B2 Bomber I mean seriously how can you not like it! I won’t spoil some of the goodies in this book that are dreamt up for just this book alone but there was some serious Avgeek drooling being done!

All in all a good break from my usual reading.

Another book down in less than a week, but this is what happens when mal travels.

The book is An Ace of the Eight by Norman “Bud” Fortier. The book is another World War 2 story about aircraft (surprise suprise). This time it follows a pilot who flew fighters for the Eighth Air Force in Europe during the war.

The Eighth is that famous unit you always hear about in movies etc as they were the first American’s to fly over Europe and also had all the big names like Doolittle, Spaatz and I believe a few famous actors were pilots in the eighth.

This book follows a pilot who started off flying P47 Thunderbolt and moved onto Mustangs. This saddened me a little as by the cover art when I chose this book figured it was mainly about the “jug” but obviously wrong.

Still a good, but detailed book about a fighter pilot over Europe but a different perspective to previous reads as pilots of the Eighth were stationed in the UK so this means that each evening they were able to return home to their base (pending weather of course) and able to at times be safely well away from the War raging in Europe.

This is not a bad book, but just was not what I was expecting! Still a good read though.

Latest book has been finished, after a round of twitter polls the last book was really decided on by everyone else, The selection was a Modern Book, Non Fiction and the first one of those on my shelf that night was this one.

The book is Roger Ball! Written by Donald E Auten. This book is decidedly deceptive. The title doesn’t really tell you what it is about, and the it’s a Biography not an autobiography (which is what I normally enjoy reading, but this time it wasn’t my choice really.

The term Roger Ball! is a unique naval aviation term. When a pilot is landing his aircraft onto the deck of an aircraft carrier he uses a optical device commonly referred to as the “Meatball” or simply the “Ball” to orientate himself to ensure he is landing correctly and safely. As they approach the ship the pilot replies to the ship that he is on track after the command “Call the Ball” the pilot would respond that he can see the ball and is on track, “Roger Ball.”

The book is actually about Hawk Monroe Smith. A former US Navy Pilot/Rio (Radar Intercept Officer) who was also a Commander of the famous Topgun. The book follows Hawk, pretty much from his process of learning to fly as a RIO, and then his time as a pilot and on through the process of becoming the Commander of Topgun. I really enjoyed this book. “Hawk” is the kind of person that you can see yourself liking instantly. Someone you would follow to the end of the earth, someone who is a natural leader, something I wish I was.

Hawk started off his Navy career as a RIO in the F4 Phantom, a Vietnam era aircraft that was my favourite from that era. The thing just looks menacing! Beautiful lines and fast as hell but it had one fatal flaw. After years as a RIO, Hawk was invited to train as a Pilot, something he had always wanted to do (me to actually… but not off the back of an Aircraft Carrier).

With a Career that spanned time as an F4 pilot, then as a “test” pilot in the F4, then working on the F14 project and then to work as the XO (Executive Officer) of Top Gun and then to become the Commanding Officer of TOPGUN it follows each step with great depth of the events that happen with each and every movement. The focus of the whole book is really on his time at Top Gun.

Hawk was the target of things that almost destroyed his career yet he showed the tenacity and the leadership to not let it affect him or his attitude towards his staff and his work. I don’t know how he did it, but I wish I could handle things the same.

The book is very thorough and very well written. It is an awesome read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had pictures in my head full of dog fighting phantoms (or tomcats) prancing around the sky battling Migs or other aircraft. It was like the movie TOPGUN battling out in my head (makes me want to watch that movie again so badly). Unfortunately HAWK was not at TOPGUN during the time of the movie era.

Anyone who is interested in Naval Aviation or even a keen like of the movie TOPGUN should read this book.

Still going on the books that I purchased almost a year ago at the moment so here is the latest book review:

The Book is With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge. This a book described as one of the best books about the Pacific Theatre of World War 2. They are not wrong. Those of you who have seen “The Pacific” will find this book very very familiar. That is because it is pretty much about one of the men followed in the book/tv series.

Eugene Sledge, also known as “Sledgehammer”, was a Marine with the United States Marines 1st Marine Division. He belonged to K/3/5 (Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment) during the battles on Pelilu and Okinawa. This book follows his time during these two campaigns. This is not a detailed book about the battles themselves but more an account of life as a marine during these battles.

It is a personal account of his time and nothing more than that. It looks at the humanity, the ferocity and the savageness of war. It takes a personal look at all of these things and it looks at the way the battles felt to a young man who volunteered to fight for his country in what was a very bloody and vicious portion of the war and how it has been described as the futility of some events.

I haven’t read much about the pacific campaign before and this was a fantastic read looking into this side of the war. It was so well written that I felt that I was with him during these events and I wondered to myself just how I would cope had I been put into the same situation. If you read this, I would be surprised if you didn’t have similar thoughts.

I have to agree that this is a must read if you are at all interested in the war such as I am.