WRUR (Reading) Today?

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Just finished reading "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson

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It's the story of a group of divers who discover a previously unknown U-boat sunk off the coast of New Jersey, and their subsequent efforts to retrieve identifying artifacts to solve the mystery of the sub. All a true story, and it reads like a thriller. It's really well written, super engaging, and ties up nicely at the end. Really incredible what these divers go through and the insane risks they take. Especially because of how deep the wrecks are, and the fact that the book begins in 1991 (which was prior to the invention of trimix, a different mix of gas that eliminates a lot of the inherent dangers of diving really deep).

For anyone with even a passing interest in diving/exploration (I figure, a safe bet on a watch forum), it's a must-read imo. I couldn't put it down. If you're a history buff or a WWII enthusiast, same story. One of the most engaging books I've read in a while.

I also loved this book. After reading it, I tracked down Hitlers Lost Sub from NOVA on PBS that shows some actual video of these dives. Both of the divers, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, also figure prominently in Deep Descent, Adventure and Death Diving the Andrea Doria. It's a great companion book about the divers who risked their lives to explore the wreck of the Andrea Doria.

 
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Currently reading The Daily Stoic and The Art of Thinking Clearly

I hate to read unless it's watch related, but these two have my undivided attention.
 
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I recently read Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed by Ben Rich. It had been suggested by James Stacey on the Grey NATO podcast and it was a great suggestion. It had excerpts from many people who were involved with Lockheed over the years, which was part of what made it interesting. Many perspectives. Though it was published in 1994, it still felt relevant.
 
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Currently reading Absolute Power by David Baldacci, always pick something for the train commute.
 
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A World Lost, by Wendell Berry. I highly recommend all of his novels.
 
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Worth a read, part fact, part fiction perhaps and a ripping yarn

Great book, I loved it.
 
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I was very impressed with this graphic novel by George Takei about his time in the internment camps during WWII. My 10 liked year old daughter liked it as well. I really liked how it captured all of the complexity of the issue. I thought it was very, very good and would be appropriate for most all kids 8 and older.

 
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Im on goodreads if anyone is not there happy to ‘friend’

I try to read one more book each year then I did in the last managed over 80 last year, about to finish my 5th for this year

Highlights for 2019

The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Their Bookseller Of Kabul
Dirt Music, Tim Winton
The Shepherds, Hut Tim Winton
Jupiters Travels, Ted Simon
When in Rome: Chasing La Dolce Vita
Remembering Babylon, David Malouf
Fly Away Peter, David Malouf
Then a Love Story, Peter Carey
Champagne, Peter Liem
New Iberia Blues, James Lee Burke
Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton
All at Sea, On man, one bathtub, one very bad idea
My year without meat, Richard Cornish
The Wreckage, Michael Robotham
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Im on goodreads if anyone is not there happy to ‘friend’

I try to read one more book each year then I did in the last manages over 80 last year, about tio finish my 5th for this year

Highlights for 2019

The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Their Bookseller Of Kabul
Dirt Music Tim Winton
The Shepherds Hut Tim Winton
Jupiters Travels
When in Rome: Chasing La Dolce Vita
Remembering Babylon, David Malouf
Fly Away Peter: David Malouf
Then a Love Story, Peter Carey
Champagne: Peter Liem
New Iberia Blues: James Lee Burke
Boy Swallows Universe. Trent Dalton
All at Sea, On man, one bathtub, one very bad idea
My year without meat, Richard Cornish
The Wreckage, Michael Robotham

If you liked Jupiter's Travels then you might like Listening For Coyote by William L. Sullivan. It's his pioneering acccount of solo hiking the Oregon Trail in the 1980s, which at first might not sound much like a motorcycle odyssey round the world but the introspective, descriptive, quirky style of writing, his philosophical outlook, the incidents that befall him and the people he meets read very like an American Ted Simon. And he, too, somehow makes you feel you are on the journey with him. Though you possibly have enough on your reading list already.....
 
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If you liked Jupiter's Travels then you might like Listening For Coyote by William L. Sullivan. It's his pioneering acccount of solo hiking the Oregon Trail in the 1980s, which at first might not sound much like a motorcycle odyssey round the world but the introspective, descriptive, quirky style of writing, his philosophical outlook, the incidents that befall him and the people he meets read very like an American Ted Simon. And he, too, somehow makes you feel you are on the journey with him. Though you possibly have enough on your reading list already.....

Awesome, sounds good to me, will add it to my list, thankyou!
 
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Started reading again after several years of non book reading wilderness ,as I just seemed to lose the enjoyment of reading them. But in the run up to Christmas I was doing my usual charity shop rounds ,& spotted several books that I thought might get me back into the groove & sing to me , so to speak. Anyway I think they might of done the trick as I can’t wait to put my feet up ,& read a couple of chapters each night getting an insight of some of my musical favourites. Have already read Keith Richards Life which I felt a little hard going at times & not exactly a fun read
. Currently reading Horace Panters Ska’d For Life , which gives one of the best Insights of living a “ pop stars life “ & written in a way that I just want to not put the book down ( High praise from me ) plus I lived the best teenage years through Ska & the Mod revival ( I was lucky enough to see The Specials & Madness several times in concert ) so it’s kind of a personal journey for me . And yes this old bookworm is well & truly hooked again on the written word .
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As we all absorb and come to terms with our current situation, I will be distracting myself starting with this.

 
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Just finishing up "Boarding Party" by James Leasor.
An amazing true story of a covert mission of WW2 to destroy interned German cargo vessels in the neutral port of Goa. One of the four vessels housed an illegal radio which was being used to alert U-boats to the course of allied shipping, causing many sinkings.
To avoid the NAZIs getting wind of the operation and allow plausible deniability the crew of raiders are chosen from British and Scots veterans too old for combat that belonged to obscure Indian militia organizations (little more than gentlemen's drinking and horse racing clubs).
https://www.amazon.com/Boarding-Par...DHRWY5WQJAE&psc=1&refRID=JPAYRBBK3DHRWY5WQJAE
 
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Just bought these, I feel privileged to have found them.



Rewi Alley is a most interesting man who entered China from New Zealand after being a decorated soldier in the 1st world war but otherwise virtually unknown.
Upon his death 60 years later he was the most well known man other than Mao in China with 700 million Chinese mourning his passing.

He is a man who has stalked my formative years here in NZ even though in his home country of NZ he was virtually unknown.
If ever there was ever someone you would like to emulate for his or her humanitarian works it is this man who selflessly devoted his entire life to the betterment of others.
I hope that sometime in the future his life will be portrayed in film so that others can have an example of what humanity looks like.
You see films on Ghandi, Mother Theresa and the like as is fitting but a quick search on his life story will reveal a man of equal character and humanity that effected the lives of 700 million people.
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Just finished "The Encyclopedia of World War II Spies."
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Two thoughts emerge from the reading of it.

If espionage to such an incredible extent was going on before and during World War II, what must be transpiring between nations at this present time?!

After reading the book, I feel that I need to change identities and go under the Witness Protection Program!