Archives for reviews - Page 35
Book Review – The Place-names of Scotland: A First Introduction by George Harris
The Place-names of Scotland: A First Introduction by George Harris My rating: 4 of 5 stars A very short introduction to where the place names of Scotland come from by George Harris, who is on twitter as This is a little tour around the peoples that lived in Scotland in the dark ages and a bit about the languages that they spoke. There are a few example etymologies of place names, but not a whole list of them, that would need to be a much longer work than this. I got this for free on an promotion, and it passed an entertaining half-hour one evening. View all my reviews Related articles Nae Gods, an' precious few heroes: no place for racism in the new Scotland Top Twenty scariest road names Crowdsourcing to Record Welsh Place Names
Book Review – Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett My rating: 4 of 5 stars To begin with I was worried that Pterry had lost his touch. This book is somewhat different to the earlier discworld stories in that it lacks a geographic focus, however once I got into it I realised that this was because the coming of the railway means that the world is so much smaller. The focus in this book isn't a handful of characters in a limited environment, but the handful of characters spread all over the area covered by the trains. The introduction of steam to the discworld gives it a very 19th century feel. Somehow this does it in a way that the clacks didn't. The main protagonist is Moist von Lipwig but Vetinari, Vimes and the Watch feature as support along with dwarves and goblins. Unusually…
Book Review – The Stress of Battle by David Rowlands (Part 1)
Not exactly a book review, more of a synopsis of a great work of Operational Research by David Rowland. The Stress of Battle: Quantifying Human Performance in Combat is the end result of years of work by David Rowland and his team at the Ministry of Defence. Rowland was the father of historical analysis as a branch of Operational Research. This particular work looks at a combination of field analysis experiments in the 1980s using lasers, well documented WW2 engagements and a handful of battles from other wars. Almost every page in it is packed with evidence or explanations of the complex methodology used to ensure that you could get controlled results from an otherwise messy and chaotic environment. If you are playing or designing wargames then this is one of the books that you absolutely must have on your…
Book Review: Watching War Films With My Dad by Al Murray
Watching War Films with My Dad by Al Murray My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really enjoyed reading Watching War Films With My Dad. The book plays off his fascination with military history, and that for him it stems from growing up in the 70s and 80s playing with Action Man and building Airfix kits. The thing I got from it is that Al Murray is quite different from the character that we most often see him as, the Pub Landlord. Al is a much more witty person than the Pub Landlord, which shouldn't really be a surprise if you stop and think about it. The book is a sort of autobiographical discourse on military history. It sort of argues against the fascination with it, cleverly taking us from his youth watching war films while his Dad points out…
Book Review: Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon
Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon My rating: 4 of 5 stars I came to this from a first chapter included at the end of the kindle edition of Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. This is a different sort of space opera from Ancillary Justice, but the opening chapter was so gripping that I immediately ordered a copy so that I could read the rest of it. The universe it is set in is sort of recognisable as a fast forward on our current one. The initial setting is in a naval academy that would be recognisable to anyone with military experience (and the author served in the USMC, no doubt she drew on that). That's just the starting point for the story though, and most of the action takes place on board an interstellar freighter. The story is told…