Several books. Cogs, Caravels, and Caravans the Gentlemen of War. This one is about the SMS Emden.
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While I essentially agree with Mr. Bryant’s hypotheses, it will be interesting to see what data he uses to back up his theses.
Jim
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Gentleman of War,one of favorites have re read many time.
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@jimb James,
I’ll share my .02 of impressions of When American Stopped Being Great proved an interesting read. There’s plenty to offend the hypersensitive from both the left & right 
so but that’s part of what makes the book a worthwhile read IMO. I felt the author suffers from an anti 2nd amendment bias that’s based on a failure to understand early US history but otherwise generally stays neutral other than an obvious contempt for Trump. However, he hammered all US President’s for the last ~45 years.
His key points, seemed to me the following:
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In the mid 1970’s America started drifting in the wrong direction with Ronald Reagan by accepting his mix of “show biz” in politics.
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Feelings superceding facts is at the root of many contentions in the USA.
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The rise of anti-intellectualism, conspiracy theories, and inability to agree on basic facts
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Lack of an ability to focus after the USSR fell apart.
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Electing the most “show biz” friendly candidates in every election since 1976 except for two. Capability, knowledge, experience, basic competence & expertise being consistently like it’s irrelevant in a President.
Anyway, moving on time for some revisionist WWI history by Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War.
Description - Product Description
From a bestselling historian, a daringly revisionist history of World War I
The Pity of War makes a simple and provocative argument: the human atrocity known as the Great War was entirely England’s fault. According to Niall Ferguson, England entered into war based on naive assumptions of German aims, thereby transforming a Continental conflict into a world war, which it then badly mishandled, necessitating American involvement. The war was not inevitable, Ferguson argues, but rather was the result of the mistaken decisions of individuals who would later claim to have been in the grip of huge impersonal forces.
That the war was wicked, horrific, and inhuman is memorialized in part by the poetry of men like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, but also by cold statistics. Indeed, more British soldiers were killed in the first day of the Battle of the Somme than Americans in the Vietnam War. And yet, as Ferguson writes, while the war itself was a disastrous folly, the great majority of men who fought it did so with little reluctance and with some enthusiasm. For anyone wanting to understand why wars are fought, why men are willing to fight them and why the world is as it is today, there is no sharper or more stimulating guide than Niall Ferguson’s The Pity of War.
So the book looks like an interesting read.
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i picked this back up again after i put it down due to it getting busy at work, i have the full set.
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I just started reading this again as I was thinking about as I built my IDF Shot Kal…
The Samson Option.
It a very good insight about how Israel got and developed their nuclear capabilities, and the American response and how Israel at times held the U.S to ransom at key points and key struggles…
Worth a read if you get the chance of a copy
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I am reading a book that is both insightful and pertinent. Drones have been around for a while but mostly under the radar. The Ukrainian conflict has raised the curtain on drones and their potential uses. I would say that this book should be on all of our members to read list. The future looks much different than I envisioned. Drones have not reached their potential yet. If you want to make comparisons, todays drones are like armor was in the 1930’s. Drone development is growing at the speed of imagination. This is a must read.
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Made a start on this book covering the Mig-23 in service in the Middle East.
The first section details how the Soviet air defence system worked, development of the Flogger and then onto it’s service and history in that part of the world which makes up the bulk of the book.
Quite an interesting read so far, as I know very little about the aircraft or much at all about Middle Eastern airforces.
The profiles are very well drawn and it has lots of photos of mixed quality. Generally the older photos are of poorer quality, but I suppose that may be due to the circumstances of the time. There’s a few I’ve seen before, but there is a lot of new material. I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration for the ye olde Airfix Flogger I recently found in my stash. Seriously thinking of getting the new KP kit too.
I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the Mig-23, Soviet or Middle Eastern airforces. Or if like me, just looking to learn something new.
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Thanks for sharing this. I have a few Tom Cooper books and they always make me want to build another model. I may have to get this one. I better make sure there’s a model of the MIG-23 I want to build before I do :-).
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My pleasure. I’ll have to look out for more of his books.
This one can be found pretty cheap too. I paid £7 on eBay which is more than reasonable for a specialist reference work.
I’m hoping the KP kit is a new tooling and not a rebox. Besides from vintage Airfix, Hasegawa, Zvezda and Academy the Mig-23/27 is very thin on the ground. I did see some reviews of another kit, the maker eludes me at the moment, which was more accurate but had a lot of fit problems.
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Just picked up these two to continue my education on the South West Pacific.
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Just about to start:
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Interesting looking book Peter.
I forgot to add this book to my other two earlier, read it a couple of hours ago.
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This leapt off a shelf into my hands at a dusty second-hand bookstore only a year after it was first published (2008), re-read every few years since – still engrossing, still horrific…
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Somehow not much from the salty side of modeling here so far…so I feel I have to add something.
Just finished that one, great read for however is a little bit interested in WW battleships…
Cheers
Jan
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Re-reading one of my favourites while making my way to and from work on the bus.
And revisiting Rowland White’s Stormfront. A book I’m determined to finish. It’s had me itching to build an Omani Strikemaster since I first picked it up!
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I haven’t read Storm Front. I have read Phoenix Squadron and Vulcan 607 though.
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Vulcan 607 is a good one. Phoenix Squadron is on my list.
Storm Front is very good. Interesting to read about a war that hasn’t had much coverage. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a TV documentary about it.
One of favourite stories in the book is about how Skyvans were pressed into service as bombers, dropping oil drums filled with home made napalm!
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