Tag archives for book review - Page 35
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Making A Killing, James Ashcroft
Making a Killing: The Explosive Story of a Hired Gun in Iraq The author is a former British Infantry officer who subsequently became a private security contractor and worked in Iraq for eighteen months from the end of 2003 to the beginning of 2005. It was co-written with a professional author. Synopsis An insider's account of life as a private security contractor in Iraq. In September 2003 the author arrived in Iraq at the start of an 18-month journey into chaos. In "Making a Killing", Ashcroft provides a first-hand view of the world of private security where ex-soldiers employed to protect US and British interests can make up to $1000 a day. But he also reveals a new kind of warfare where the rules are still being written. Although hostilities are officially over, the fighting goes on. Scores of US…
Book Review – Field of Fire: Diary of a Gunner Officer by Jack Swaab
Field of Fire: Diary of a Gunner Officer by Jack Swaab My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read the hardback version very shortly after it came out. I collect first hand accounts of the WW2 and unit histories of the 51st Highland Division in particular, so this one was a must buy. That said it is one of the best first hand accounts that I have read, and certainly the best from a gunner (it comparies favourably to George Blackburn's Guns of War series - he was also a Forward Observation Officer). You can have no doubt about the hardships of war, what the conditions were like for both the gunners on the gun line and the infantry on the front line. The book is very descriptive without becoming flowery and it avoids glossing over some of the less…
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The Black Swan, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
subtitle: The Impact of the Highly Improbable I heard the author on Radio 4 and was intrigued with his central premise that there are wholly unpredictable random events which throw a spaner in the works and about how we often infer things that we ought not to. So I bought the book. The author has a website where you can find out more about him if you are interested. Synopsis This book is all about Black Swans: the random events that underly our lives, from bestsellers to world disasters. Their impact is huge; they're nearly impossible to predict; yet after they happen we always try to rationalise them. A rallying cry to ignore the 'experts', the Black Swan shows us how to stop trying to predict everything and take advantage of uncertainty. ISBN 9780141034591 Related articles A Conversation with Nassim Taleb
Tank Tracks, Peter Beale
This is the story of 9 RTR in WW2 written by one of its officers and including material from many of the survivors and contemporary diaries, including the battalion war diary, the brigade history and at one point the radio logs. It is packed with a wealth of material, much of which is directly quoted from a primary source. If you want a feel for what life was like for a heavy tank battalion then this is the book to read. The stories told by the survivors and in the diaries don't pull any punches, and some of what is described is quite horrific, many of the casualties in the battalion are well documented and the nature of the injuries suffered by tank crews tend to be severe. The battalion re-formed in and was one of the first to be equipped with Churchills. It trained in the UK…
Taming the Panzers, Patrick Delaforce
Taming the Panzers: 3 RTR at War, 1914-45 This is a history of 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (a battalion sized unit for those not au fait with UK Armoured regiments). It starts with a chapter of their origins in the First World War and then their subsequent peacetime evolution. 3RTR fought in the 1940 France campaign at Calais, then in Greece in 1941 followed by the western desert. They returned to the UK in late 1943 and took part in the NW Europe campaign eventually meeting up with the Russians in the Baltic. The Author was an artillery officer (with 13 RHA) who supported 3RTR in the NW Europe campaign and this gives him a connection to those that he has written about, much of the text is based on letters and conversations with the surviving officers and men of 3 RTR. Synopsis During the desperate days of May…