nivek
As Above So Below
The Smoky God (1908) by Willis George Emerson
Attached is a pdf of this book, a fascinating and fun read about a Norwegian man named Olaf Jansen and his father whom both sailed into the hollow earth and described their adventure and what they saw and the giants they met...
...
Attached is a pdf of this book, a fascinating and fun read about a Norwegian man named Olaf Jansen and his father whom both sailed into the hollow earth and described their adventure and what they saw and the giants they met...
...
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Relevant because they recently explored two of the four Japanese carriers lost at Midway. This is hands down the best book on that topic I have ever read. A fresh set of eyes and some time brought forth tons of detail. Each carrier was different in several ways both in terms of construction and the nature of their crews, they had personalities. Kaga and Akagi were not purpose built carriers, they were converted from a battleship and battlecruiser hull respectively for the same reasons and Saratoga and Lexington were. Big, tough customers compared to their peers. All four went down not because of the weapons used against them but because of the fires those weapons caused and their inadequate damage control. It's likely the Japanese had to scuttle them themselves and they just don't want to talk about it to this day.
Yes, a geek out for sure but they don't write fiction that is a fraction as riveting as real history, once you get your head into it.
Yes, a geek out for sure but they don't write fiction that is a fraction as riveting as real history, once you get your head into it.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Quick read, well done. Weir has a formula so if you've seen or read The Martian you'll recognize it. Good writing, engaging, characters you care about and an excellent take on what extraterrestrial life might appear as. It gets a tad sciencey and I admit to some page-flippage but aquick enjoyable read. Nice ending.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
I was just randomly surfing and found this trailer. Why is it in this thread? Because it's a 15 book series I've read, more than once, and is amazingly detailed and clever. Far more so than any of it's contemporaries and I've been through a few. I like Alternate History Military SF, problem is, most of it is bad. This isn't.
Now, this trailer IS bad but it's a fan who took the time to splice together a movie that will never be made using bits and pieces of other things. There are some serious discrepancies but so what, and it's only two and a half minutes long and gives you the gist. Somewhere deep inside me is the geeky teenager who gets into this stuff
Now, this trailer IS bad but it's a fan who took the time to splice together a movie that will never be made using bits and pieces of other things. There are some serious discrepancies but so what, and it's only two and a half minutes long and gives you the gist. Somewhere deep inside me is the geeky teenager who gets into this stuff
Standingstones
Celestial
I was looking for a Christmas present for my niece. She is a huge fan of the Beatles. I came across this book for her. She was pretty excited to get the book. When my wife took a look she decided to pick it up for me.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
This looked like a good one to just waste time on. I have my nose in another book about Shiloh and this seemed a good way to dispel some of that gloom.
It's obviously written to be part of a series but I didn't realize it's a 24 books (and maybe still counting). Not bad but not that good. The only reason it gets any mention at all is it's very much like Harry Harrison Stainless Steel Rat or maybe a mix with some Heinlein characters.
It might be a good one to introduce a young kid to SF with, depending on what kind of kid you have. A friend just finished reading Lord of the Rings with his ten year old. I dunno, it's not bad, kind of fun but it isn't really for grown ups.
It's obviously written to be part of a series but I didn't realize it's a 24 books (and maybe still counting). Not bad but not that good. The only reason it gets any mention at all is it's very much like Harry Harrison Stainless Steel Rat or maybe a mix with some Heinlein characters.
It might be a good one to introduce a young kid to SF with, depending on what kind of kid you have. A friend just finished reading Lord of the Rings with his ten year old. I dunno, it's not bad, kind of fun but it isn't really for grown ups.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Beautifully written, they flow smoothly and three times I was disappointed the books ended.
Good stuff here although you really have to read multiple authors in the same subject to see the bias inherent. It's more apparent with someone like William Manchester writing about MacArthur, or FDR for that matter. He's another one that writes beautifully but his work does not flow a fraction like this, it's more like running in sand.
Obviously Nigel, like me, is an FDR fan. Tons of personal detail in here I'd never heard plus I had no idea that Winston Churchill was, among many other things, a gigantic pain in the ass on military terms and seems Stalin had a sense of humor, something you ordinarily might not expect.
Good stuff here although you really have to read multiple authors in the same subject to see the bias inherent. It's more apparent with someone like William Manchester writing about MacArthur, or FDR for that matter. He's another one that writes beautifully but his work does not flow a fraction like this, it's more like running in sand.
Obviously Nigel, like me, is an FDR fan. Tons of personal detail in here I'd never heard plus I had no idea that Winston Churchill was, among many other things, a gigantic pain in the ass on military terms and seems Stalin had a sense of humor, something you ordinarily might not expect.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
I love military alternate history and these two are nicely done. Not great but the amount of research and real historical detail is impressive.
I'd imagine at least one more book but it's cohesive unlike similar series from Harry Turtledove or William Forstchen that are formulaic 'war porn' designed to never end, a series of ten books could've been two or three.
In this vein you also have Robert Conroy and again, William Forstchen in cahoots with Newt Gingrich. Bad, generally all bad.
I'd imagine at least one more book but it's cohesive unlike similar series from Harry Turtledove or William Forstchen that are formulaic 'war porn' designed to never end, a series of ten books could've been two or three.
In this vein you also have Robert Conroy and again, William Forstchen in cahoots with Newt Gingrich. Bad, generally all bad.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Good book, quick read.
In the 'What Will the Afterlife Be Like' thread I recently posted an article that said a doctor had administered doses of Psilocybin.
Eh? Really ? Things have changed and if you want to know where this all started and how we got here this is a fast informative way to find out.
Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age Hardcover – April 9, 2024 by Norman Ohler
In the 'What Will the Afterlife Be Like' thread I recently posted an article that said a doctor had administered doses of Psilocybin.
Eh? Really ? Things have changed and if you want to know where this all started and how we got here this is a fast informative way to find out.
Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age Hardcover – April 9, 2024 by Norman Ohler
karl 12
Noble
Great thread and couldn't agree more about 'Day Of The Jackal' - bloody marvellous book.
More into audiobooks these days and found this one to be expertly written and extremely freaky.
It's far, far better (and different) than the art film starring Scarlett Johansson and would recommend if you like top tier horror/sci-fi.
Free audiobook
View: https://youtu.be/T-1hPRAWaV8
As for non fiction found this book truly fascinating.
Cheers.
More into audiobooks these days and found this one to be expertly written and extremely freaky.
It's far, far better (and different) than the art film starring Scarlett Johansson and would recommend if you like top tier horror/sci-fi.
Free audiobook
View: https://youtu.be/T-1hPRAWaV8
As for non fiction found this book truly fascinating.
Cheers.
Standingstones
Celestial
I bought the hard cover edition of this book when it first came. I thought the book was very interesting even though it had received negative reviews from the professional community.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
I can see why that might happen. This wasn't something I picked, my niece sent me this to read during my convalescence. I don't even buy physical books anymore purely out of a storage issue.
In the early 1980s I got mixed up in a lot of garbage I shouldn't have and am thankful nothing horrible happened as a result. I remember gobbling up LSD on little paper squares exactly as described. Mescaline was 'purple barrel's and looked like a dry piece of spaghetti about 1mm long. Psilocybin - magic mushrooms - will give you an upset stomach and a case of the screamers sometimes. Nothing like tripping on the toilet .............
I can see how a much smaller dose could have some practical use and apparently I am far from alone on that. I liked the idea that the whole family tried it and that it had a positive effect of their Mom. Somewhere I read that certain Special Forces have tried it. None of that matched up to the Fear and Loathing experiences I remember, I can't say any of that was useful at all except for the story years later.
karl 12
Noble
Apologies but great post and no there isn't!
Was really reminded of this pic lol
That book looks excellent so thanks for the recommendation.
karl 12
Noble
In related fields of research would really recommend this book:
Absolutely diabolical
Operation Mind Control - Researcher's Edition : Walter Bowart : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
This Researcher's Edition is the second expanded edition of Walter Bowart's seminal book on covert mental warfare. Published in 1994 in a limited print run of...
archive.org
Absolutely diabolical
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
I've had more media input in the past two weeks than the past ten years , I'm getting a little nutty here .... 
I had to order a physical book to get one of Stan's - no Kindle for that one. I got Creepy Cryptids and Strange UFO encounters of Pennsylvania from 2022.
I saw the vid of the feller from BC who was talking about Bigfoot and glowing orbs. Well, that's fine by me or I would have no interest in Stan. I can relate to PA not to the Pacific Northwest - never been there. Thing is about that, there are a lot of Bigfoot reports that do not involve orbs at all.
The Patterson Gimlin film was of a terrestrial animal, she had a pair of hairy knockers not red laser beam eyes. That seems an awfully peculiar thing to weave into a hoax, which I always assumed it was. Until I heard of Bill Munns that is. This is a repeat here on AE but I read this book and honestly thought 'holy **** this is real' and I'm not so easily swayed from my inherent skepticism.
It's all in there - the suit, the timeline, everything we've heard before. This man took every single copy of the film (the original is long lost) and created a machine to digitally capture every single frame. In doing so he found a number of interesting discrepancies that nobody has ever caught before. On top of being a special effects makeup artist the man is a subject matter expert on the film, cameras in use at the time and the techniques involved. He dissected the entire thing forensically and showed that it was actually a series of six short films and he even mapped the exact locations they were filmed from.
I can't see how anyone could read what this man has to say and then argue with him, I think he nailed it. The pieces of the puzzle - the tidbits we've all heard about Bob Hieronymous, all that just fall into place.
I had to order a physical book to get one of Stan's - no Kindle for that one. I got Creepy Cryptids and Strange UFO encounters of Pennsylvania from 2022.
I saw the vid of the feller from BC who was talking about Bigfoot and glowing orbs. Well, that's fine by me or I would have no interest in Stan. I can relate to PA not to the Pacific Northwest - never been there. Thing is about that, there are a lot of Bigfoot reports that do not involve orbs at all.
The Patterson Gimlin film was of a terrestrial animal, she had a pair of hairy knockers not red laser beam eyes. That seems an awfully peculiar thing to weave into a hoax, which I always assumed it was. Until I heard of Bill Munns that is. This is a repeat here on AE but I read this book and honestly thought 'holy **** this is real' and I'm not so easily swayed from my inherent skepticism.
It's all in there - the suit, the timeline, everything we've heard before. This man took every single copy of the film (the original is long lost) and created a machine to digitally capture every single frame. In doing so he found a number of interesting discrepancies that nobody has ever caught before. On top of being a special effects makeup artist the man is a subject matter expert on the film, cameras in use at the time and the techniques involved. He dissected the entire thing forensically and showed that it was actually a series of six short films and he even mapped the exact locations they were filmed from.
I can't see how anyone could read what this man has to say and then argue with him, I think he nailed it. The pieces of the puzzle - the tidbits we've all heard about Bob Hieronymous, all that just fall into place.
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karl 12
Noble
As far as great Sci-fi Hugo award winners go would really recommend this one.
pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
That brought me straight back to 8th grade where Flowers for Algernon was required reading. That brought up another memory
This was a long time favorite that I just flat-out forgot about. It's time for me to find another copy.
karl 12
Noble
Never heard of that one dude - I will find it and read it lol.
Back in the day at school in England we were made to read '1984' by George Orwell (one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written).
Nowadays if you read it you're a 'terrorist' lol.
colsoncenter.org
Back in the day at school in England we were made to read '1984' by George Orwell (one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written).
Nowadays if you read it you're a 'terrorist' lol.
Britain's 1984 Moment - Breakpoint
The U.K. has decided to shift its loyalties from courageously defying tyranny in the 20th century to embracing it in the 21st.