Friday, December 16, 2011

Navy Books

On the recommendation of my esteemed co-blogger I just bought these books:

Neptune's Inferno: The US Navy at Guadalcanal

Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the US Navy's Finest Hour

Usually I buy stuff like this in paperback or hard cover so I can flip back and forth between the maps and the narrative, but this time I bought them for my Kindle app on the iPad.  So this is something of an experiment, if you follow me. To see if the Kindle works for a book where you want to consult a map as you go.


6 comments:

Atom Smasher said...

I recommend reading them in the order I did:

LTCS
NI
SS

I think you will be puppy-wriggly and gobsmacked at the same time.

I sure was.

Tam said...

Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors is f$cking EPIC.

MeatAxe said...

Well, I started with Neptune's Inferno, but I have a good reason. I recently finished Guadalcanal, by Richard B. Frank.

(BTW I consider Frank to be one of the most impressive historians ever to walk the earth. His book Downfall about the decision to drop the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was one of the most brilliantly written and researched books Ive ever read.)

In any case, Frank's book covers the naval engagements in that campaign but gives equal emphasis to the air and land fighting.

I wanted to see what a focus on the naval side of things would seem like with Frank's book fresh in my mind. So Neptune's Inferno first.

But Im looking forward to all of them. I read the sample chapters for Last Stand, and I'm prepared to agree with Tam provisionally.

I'm sure you're all breathless with anticipation to see where I come out.

Atom Smasher said...

Crap. I still have your copy of Downfall...

Anonymous said...

Navy books?

History of United States Naval Operations in World War II - Samuel Eliot Morrison.

15 Volumes of goodness.

Atom Smasher said...

Got 'em. And the WWI ones as well - haven't cracked those yet.

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