Well it has been a few weeks since my last review and now that I am back reading real books, I have plenty to get through.. so without further adew

The book today is “The Black Sheep” by Bruce Gamble. This book is a good old Non Fiction. Exactly what I have been wanting for quite some time. But like you would expect with me it’s about one of two things. Planes or Military History. Or in this case, both at the same time.

The book looks into the story behind VMF-214 – The Black Sheep. A famous World War 2 Fighter Squadron (VMF Stands for Marine Fighter Squadron) that had a very “checkered” past. At one point the Squadron was lead by Greg Boyington who was the highest scoring ace in the United States Marine Corp (although this fact is disputed in the book with proof) and follows the history of the unit from its inception through to the end of the war.

The book is a pretty good general look at the lives and times that followed these men as they flew F4U Corsairs in the South Pacific (mainly around the solomons) Campaign. Now for me this book was fantastic as one of my favourite aircraft from this era is the Corsair. It just draws me in with its gull swept wings. I don’t know what about it draws me but I just love it, so reading this book was a dream really. The book covers a lot of history as the squadron had a bit of a past as they had several different versions during their time but to be honest it made it feel all the more real.

At the end of the War, this Squadron became even more famous as during the 70s a TV Show was made about them (Funnily enough called Baa Baa Black Sheep) and their famous CO. Although I have never seen the TV show part of me wants to hunt down a copy of it now because I would just love to see it. The Squadron still exists to this day (albeit with a different title as they are now an Attack or Strike Squadron whatever way you want to look at it) as VMA-214 flying out of Marine Corp Air Station Yuma in Arizona.

If you like this kind of thing, this is a good read. It’s not long (about 300-400 pages) but to be honest it was a good light read and the right size to read while travelling (which is what i did quite a bit of with this book).

Well It’s about time i finished this book it has only taken me almost 2.5 months.  I mean seriously this is like the biggest book I have ever read at almost 2300 pages.  I started reading this book somewhere in Canada and had aimed to finish it before returning to Australia…. Wrong!

The book is one of those classics that people just try to avoid purely cause of the sheer size of it.  I al not sure if it was a history book or a novel as st times Tolstoy blurs those lines and you are not sure if you are reading a novel about life during the war of 1812 or of a histroy book on the event.

In saying that it is a tough read.  The book in the first half jumps around a lot back and forth making things confusing as hell, but by the time it settles down your over half way through and by that stage so dedicated to finishing it you won’t stop.  By the 1800 page mark you see the end and by 2100 your seeing those last 200 as though its 10 or 15 pages (my tablet battery died with 4 pages to go and no access to a power port or charger meant had to wait 🙁 ).

I am happy to of finally finished the book and can cross it off my list of classics so that in essence I have started another item on my bucket list (reading the classics), but if it was not for the tablet I would not of even tried probably.

I wasn’t going to do any book reviews while I was away but with an hour or more on a bus to kill between stops and having just finished an inspirational book (well for me anyway) I figured I should.

The book is Twitchhiker by Paul Smith. The book is pretty much about a guy who travelled from the UK to New Zealand using nothing but the power of Twitter. This is probably about the point you will yawn, think to yourself “boring” and move on, but hear me out.

Twitter for those that don’t know is a social media platform that allows you to send short messages (140 characters, roughly an sms) to the web and people can follow along, comment or just read if they so desire. When it first came out it was always described as “self indulgent losers talking about themselves and their everyday boring lives). I don’t see it that way and I am sure millions of others don’t either.

I won’t go into depth on my thoughts on twitter but what I will mention is that this book reiterates what I do generally think of Twitter. People brought together with a common bond, show a level of generosity and kindness that is never talked about. I have had some amazing experiences and met some people who I never thought I could before. Without twitter life would not be as fun as it is, in my opinion.

To be honest, I was given this book by Air New Zealand so I am putting this out there early. I am not getting paid for this review in any way nor am I required to write one. I am doing this because I believe in the same thing those who gave their time and money to help the @Twitchhiker out on his journey.

The book follows paul on his journey from Newcastle in the UK to his intended destination, Campbell Island off New Zealand. Clearly not an easy task but you kinda expect this when someone sets what is likely an impossible task, but the twitter users the world over came to his need. People donate flights to cross oceans, time, money and more just to help him out, but also donated money to Charity: water.

I absolutely loved this book and to anyone who likes to travel, this is a great light hearted read and to anyone who likes or is into social media, this is a must read.

Probably the last book review you will get from me for a while (i will probably not get a chance to write them while I am away, but who knows, maybe I will have the time, there are a lot of flights i will be on).

The book is Citizen Soldiers by Stephen E Ambrose. I previously reviewed Band of Brothers by the same author and this is in the same series. In total there are 5 books in this series. Band of Brothers, Pegasus Bridge, Wild Blue, D-Day & lastly this book, Citizen Soldiers.

All of the books follow some sort of people through parts of WW2. D-Day follows the units that were at the Normandy Beaches, Band of Brothers the 101st Airborne (E co, 506PIR), Pegasus Bridge some British Gliderborne Troops & Wild Blue a B-24 Liberator Bomber Squadron in the 15th Air Force. Citizen Soldiers follows the American troops in the ETO after D-Day all the way to VE day. It follows their movements, their campaigns, their trials and tribulations.

From Normandy to Market Garden to The Bulge and the Rhine, It follows the troops, not the generals through all of this. Similar to Band of Brothers it has a lot of first person recounts of things that happen and it is a great little read. The book like the others though, doesn’t cover much of a general outlook at why decisions were made as thats not the reason, it looks at what goes through the heads of the troops.

This book is also great as it does not focus on just one group of men like Band of Brothers or Wild Blue. It follows all the different groups, so you get a focus of other events that have happened as the war was not just won by the Airborne or the Bomber pilots. It was also the Medics, Doctors, Nurses, Infantry, Armour etc that fought this war.

Very happy to of read this especially since in about a month I will be standing at the scenes of the Normandy Landings so its good to have some of this fresh in my mind. A fantastic read to end out the series. But with this book finished it allows me to start some new books ready for this trip.

Well managed to finish this book in like less than a week, Gotta love new print Hardcovers which have nice big text for the old folks (that’s targeted at you dad since I know you will read this).

The book this time is “A Time for Patriots” by Dale Brown. The latest from this Techno thriller author in a very very very long line of Patrick McClannahan books (I think its up over 20 now) that have been going since the 80s. I absolutely love these books. They are a fantastic mix of Technology, mystery, intrigue and Planes. What is NOT to like.

Although it gets quite hard to come into the series half way through or at the latest instalment as there is always references back to some of the very first books, it is a great series. Always intriguing and full of lots of fantastic unbelievable technology that if you were into it, you would love to see.

Things like Single Stage to Orbit space planes, unmanned aircraft that defy logic (imagine a plane the size of a C5 Galaxy that flies itself, or a B1 bomber that is remotely controlled) to B52’s fitted with Lasers! The other thing that is does is also provide an insight into a future that you could only dream of.

In the past though Dale Brown has provided something of a bit of a scary prediction. In his early book Storming Heaven he wrote about a Terrorist who was flying planes into Airports and other buildings. This was written well before September 11. He revisits that a little bit in this book (won’t give to much away) but to be honest, it does paint a scary vision of just the kinds of things terrorists could do.

I love this kind of book and for me this is a perfect change in between lots of non fiction. I had to drop reading another book for this one as it was on loan from the library and my Dad still needs to read it, but its only 350 large type pages, so a good quick read, I think some people refer to them as Airport Books, as you can usually pick them up in paperback at any airport and ready for a nice flight somewhere cross country.

Time for two book reviews, I finished one while still reading the other (managed to smash out a book on famil in WA).

First up we have:

Band of Brothers by Stephen E Ambrose. I won’t talk to much about this one as I have already read this one a few times, but only really bought it to finish off the collection with the more modern covers. This is a very famous book as it is the one that the HBO Mini Series was based on. Stephen Speilberg & Tom Hanks put that series together and it is one of my favourite. This book is also one of my favourite war books. It is fantastically well written and deserving of much praise.

To give you a brief run down it follows 1 unit during their time in World War 2. Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. From their creation at Camp Taccoa in Georgia, through their lead in training in both the United States and in England, through their combat jumps in France, Holland and their time in Belgium, Germany & Austria.

This is a fantastic read and in my opinion a must read for anyone.

Next Up we have:

Tobruk by Peter Fitzsimons. This book was given to me for Christmas (see how long it takes me to read books at the moment). But was something that I was highly interested in. The reason I wanted it was because I had never really read anything about the famous “Rats of Trobruk” and figured that if this book was as good as the one he wrote on Kokoda then this would be worth it.

This is a thick book, very hefty and weighed me down for almost a month. I didn’t even take it with me to WA on Famil as it was going to weigh me down way to much. Now that I am finished it, my bag was considerably lighter this morning. But in saying that, it was disappointing to finish this book because it was just so well written. I felt like I was living with the troops in Tobruk, holding the line with them. Not only that but also with the families of the troops, back home in Australia.

For those that have not read one of Peter Fitzsimon’s books before, he is a fantastic author and his style is great. You feel like your on the ground with the troops or at home with their families. He can transport you back to a time when life was very different for everyone involved. In saying that, it does make the books fairly large as both Kokoda and Tobruk are very indepth books, thoroughly researched and detailed but so well written it does not feel boring.

Tobruk for those that don’t know or have not heard of the “Rats of Tobruk” was fought during the early African campaign of WW2. The 9th Division AIF was sent into Tobruk along with some British Artillery and Royal Army Tank Corp to hold this area from the German Afrika Corps (yes that’s the right spelling I did not misspell Africa).

They held this area for near on 7 months, with attack after attack by the german’s repulsed. With limited supplies and replacements. It was something that when they finally were replaced by British & South African troops later in the Campaign, they were over run quite quickly by the Afrika Corp. This showed the tenacity and resolve of Australian troops who back then were often treated like 2nd class troops by the British Generals/Politicians.

If you have a chance you should read this book. With the 70th Anniversary

The last of my Vietnam books for a while (swapping over to some WW2 stuff before hitting the travel books on the trip) is an awesome book that I was totally engrossed in.

The Book is Low Level Hell by Hugh L Mills Jnr. This book is about a Aeroscout Pilot’s life during the Vietnam War. To give you a bit of a background, back in the Vietnam War they pioneered Helicopter Warfare. The use of Helicopters became full time during this war. There were 3 different kinds of Helicopters used. Utility Helicopters (Chinooks, Hueys etc), Attack Helicopters (Huey Gunships, Cobras) and the Scouts. This book covers the last category. Scout Helicopters back there were an OH-6. This helicopter is still around today (Kind of) as the MD-500. Back then it was known as the Loach (although the official name was Cayuse), now the military version is known as the Littlebird. This highly agile helicopter was used to get out and gather intelligence on the Vietcong and NVA (North Vietnamese Army) movements and to spot for the Cobra’s making Attack runs.

This book just had me engrossed, how someone could spot things moving 80-100 Knots, a few feet off the ground is beyond me. I just could not comprehend it. It’s crazy to think they could see such details while moving so fast and be able to react so swiftly. Nerves of Steel. Giant Brass Balls probably to.

Great insightful book about the very little known part of the war as a lot of the Helicopter stuff focuses on the two big famous helicopters from the War the Huey and the Cobra.

This Book I think I found online while going through some Vietnam phase of buying. I thought it would of been a great read… and it was!

The Book is Tiger Force written by Michael Sallah & Mitch Weiss. It is a very in depth look at what happened in the Vietnam War by a unit called Tiger Force who were a Platoon of 1st Batallion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. During the War this Platoon (About 50 men) were a Special Force, originally used to get in behind the enemy lines in Vietnam and find out where the VC were hiding. However things changed and commanders changed. They became one of the worst ever offenders of War Crimes by Americans during the Vietnam War. The war was an especially harsh time for a lot of people, however this book is chilling.

To read about the murders and the killings performed by men who were over there to fight was just shocking. I was blown away by this book. It really hits home in the thought of just how different some people can be. To see just how quickly their mindsets changed and how viscious, ruthless and just down right wrong humans can be just shocked me to the bone.

I can’t say that I would not have been any different, but I sure do hope to god that I do not have to go through what they did. A MUST read.

With the recent trip completed I managed to actually finish of 2 books while I was away. Both books kept me fully intwined while I was away and both are worth it. So let us begin!

Book #1

Driven to Distraction – Jeremy Clarkson

Another in the long line of Jeremy Clarkson books. In reality its not really a book as such but just a compilation of all of his Newspaper articles all packed together. Always great for a laugh and always great for something to read when things are seeming a bit glum for me, cause his writing style just brings a smile to my face. The book pretty much just focuses on his car reviews from each weeks newspaper articles.

Now if your a fan of Jeremy or familiar with him at all, you know that he rants and raves a LOT. These articles are no different. Pretty much it can be a total off tangent from what you could be expecting and it will eventually get to discussing what it should be about.

Great book for a laugh, highly recommended!

Book #2

Kingpin – Kevin Poulsen

This book I picked up in Auckland Airport while waiting for my flights around NZ for the day (almost missed my flight trying to decide on what book to read there was several that all sounded good). The book is about essentially, Cybercrime.

I am sure most of you reading my site have bought something off the web, or used your credit card online for something, I know I do it quite a bit. What this book covers is how one hacker pretty much took over the world and became the #2 credit card theif in the world and how he was taken down by the US Government.

I could not believe this book as I read it. It just shocked me how easily and how much money they were ripping off people. It did make me think twice about buying online at times, but I know I am at least smart about what I do on the web. The book focuses on the life of Max “Vision” Butler and his rise and fall in the Credit Card Scamming world. A lot of this I did not even know existed (i knew about all the skimming that you hear about in the media, just didn’t know it was this huge) and it was shocking to know this is what goes on out in the world.

CRAZY!!!! It’s a fantastic read and once I started this book I got throughly engrossed in it and at times, just could not put it down. Well worth a good read if you have any kind of interest in Cyber activities or want something to read on a trip away. It is definately one of those airport books you hear about, quick, easy and to the point while keeping a reader entertained while travelling.

I had been recommended this book time and time again for a good story on life as a Helicopter Pilot in the Vietnam war. And it did not dissapoint…

The book is Chickenhawk by Robert Mason. He was a Huey (UH-1) Pilot for the Air Cav (US 1st Cavalry Division) in the Vietnam War. This is a fantastic book following him during his training as a pilot and then for his 1 year tour of duty to Vietnam. I could not believe how vivid he is at some times, it was as though I was there with him.

Nothing was held back, stories were told exactly as you pictured them to happen and were pretty graphic at times. I didn’t really think that a lot of the pilots lived in conditions he describes, but it does make sense. Being an Air Cav pilot he would of been based closer to the front with the troops and its shocking to think that it wouldn’t be as you would of thought with hot meals and hot showers each night and a comfortable bed.

It was quite crazy to think that the sort of things that happened during the early stages of the war (1965-1966) it was a good insight to a part of the war I had not really heard or read much about. Plus anything to do with a helicopter.. I mean seriously you doubt I won’t like anything with a helicopter in it.

I thoroughly rate the book and the last paragraph is mind blowing! What a freaking change (won’t give it away of course).

Highly rate this book and I am not suprised so many other people do as well.