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Good books to read (non aviation)

Recently read Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939-1945 (‘The Wizard War’ in North America) by R.V. Jones.

He was a government scientist, so reasonably impartial, and senior enough to see the big picture. The book was written based on his published reports, not personal diaries, so with a technical emphasis. That said, he is a good storyteller. From an aviation perspective it covers radio navigation, radar, and the V-weapons. Imagine trying to infer the existence of DME from intercepted ground station only transmissions (using inaccurate radio listening), and a charred notebook with distances. There is a bit of ‘I told you so’ on post-war policy, but otherwise excellent.

This reference to dead-reckoning made me laugh:

I was, incidentally, astonished by the complacency that existed regarding our ability to navigate at long range by night. The whole of our bombing policy depended on this assumption, but I was assured that by general instrument flying, coupled with navigation by the stars, Bomber Command was confident that it could find pinpoint targets in Germany at night, and that there was therefore no need for any such aids as I had proposed. I was not popular for asking why, if this were true, so many of our bombers on practice flights in Britain flew into hills.

- – -

Just finished American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard.

The USA is a single sovereign state, but comprised of various nations, based on shared culture, ethnicity, religion, language, history. (Example of stateless nations are the Québecois or Kurdish.) These nations have very different views on e.g. the role of the state, individual liberty etc. Instead of drawing lines on state boundaries, these nations correlate very closely with genetic, linguistic, and electoral maps. A good 2/3 of the book is the foundation and early history of each identity, which I found instructive, with several ‘I never thought of that, but it makes sense’ moments. The author is balanced, but does show some bias in the conclusion and epilogue.

Explanatory map, unfortunately missing Canada and Mexico:

EGHO-LFQF-KCLW, United Kingdom

+1 for Most Secret War. This is one of my favourite books. I have read it several times and enjoy it every time. It was a terrible time but also an amazing time for people like Jones and the Bletchley crew. What’s amazing in the modern context is how quickly and easily things could be made to happen. It helped that Jones had a direct line to Churchill.

I’ll read the other one – looks good.

LFMD, France

Just started American Nations – excellent so far.

To add to the list: Birdsville, by Evan McHugh. He’s a Sydney-based journalist who went to live in the most isolated place you can imagine (350 km of dirt road to the nearest shops): Birdsville, Queensland. I was put onto this by a novel, The Lost Man by Jane Harper, which is set in a fictional area based on Birdsville.

LFMD, France

Just started American Nations – excellent so far.

I found the descriptions in the regional map amusing. The author is a native of Maine who still lives there, and his description of north east “perfection” in contrast to his description of the culture of the south displays a completely transparent activist intent to somebody like me who has little background in either area or culture, except having lived or travelled extensively in both. Cartoonish nonsense.

If you want to understand the north versus south difference on a historical basis instead of through the prism of 21st century bias this might be a better read.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 25 Jul 19:56

+2 for Most Secret War, a fantastic book and I also re-read it every so often.

Much of the ‘arrogance exceeding competence’ that is evident in the wartime RAF senior leadership continues to show itself in the ‘establishment’ of UK aviation (CAA, NATS, etc).

EGLM & EGTN

The Prize. A true epic. The history of oil from the very beginning. 900 pages. Read it every year – well bits of it – when on holiday. By Daniel Yergin. If I had to choose one book this would be it.

Pig
If only I’d known that….
EG.., United Kingdom

I came across a biography of Tom Sharpe recently by Piers Brendon. Interesting read but moreover it brought back some great memories. Whenever I like to take some time out and read something Funny, Sharpe is the man.

Be it the “Wilt” series, “Vintage stuff” or "Porterhouse Blue " about the British education system, be it the Northern Saga of Lockhart Flawse in my personal favorite “The Throwback” or the novels about South Africa under Apartheid, I personally love this guys novels and also the two TV adaptations of “Blott on the Landscape” and “Porterhouse Blue”.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

Me too! I love Tom Sharpe’s books. Thanks for reminding.me of them and one I hadn’t heard of.

France

Thanks for reminding.me of them and one I hadn’t heard of.

oh, interesting. Which one did you not know?

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

The Throwback🙂😃
The first of his that I read IIRC was “Riotous Assembly” and I was hooked.

France
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