Good bad books

[Churchill]

Just finished for the second or third time  " God is an Englishman " by R.F. Delderfield   set in England in 1860's the hero is Adam Swan who upon return from the Crimea sets about creating a chain of road haulage depots in the weak spots between the railways.



IMHO a cracking read

[Churchill]

Better not tell Javert the peasants are revolting...  ::

They always have been your Majesty you are far too kind to them I can smell them from here

[Borchester]

I read "Atlas Shrugged" and frankly I begrudge the time I wasted on it.  Why did it need to be a novel?  She could have put her ideas across in a couple of pages, and expressing them through such an absurd story made them less rather than more credible.

Bit like Das Kapital. The first two chapters could have been summed in as many lines and the rest seemed to be about a chap hiding in the British Library for fear that his wife wante him to take her shopping. And Mein Kampf ... lad goes to the big city but instead of enjoying himself realises how corrupt everything is. Like a very long Guardian editorial.



As a general rule, important people don't write important books.

[Paulus de B]

Ah. Sci fi.



Anything by Robert Heinlein. Great reads until he introduces the bad guys who prove that the stories are sci fi by being not even two dimension.



And Ayn Rand. Interesting stuff but she never uses one word when a hundred will do.

I read "Atlas Shrugged" and frankly I begrudge the time I wasted on it.  Why did it need to be a novel?  She could have put her ideas across in a couple of pages, and expressing them through such an absurd story made them less rather than more credible.

[Borchester]

Any science fiction fans who haven't yet tried Iain M. Banks, do!  To my mind some of them are a bit of a slog, but the best are spectacularly good.  I'm re-reading "Surface Detail" at the moment.  I can't improve on the reviews quoted on the blurb: "An engrossing novel of ideas ornamented by fantastically cinematic set pieces" The Guardian.  "Full of elaborate games... and, above all, a thrilling sense of the limitless scope SF affords an author's imagination" FT.

Ah. Sci fi.



Anything by Robert Heinlein. Great reads until he introduces the bad guys who prove that the stories are sci fi by being not even two dimension.



And Ayn Rand. Interesting stuff but she never uses one word when a hundred will do.

[Baron von Lotsov]

The MSM really do love fiction, especially the Guardian.

[Paulus de B]

Any science fiction fans who haven't yet tried Iain M. Banks, do!  To my mind some of them are a bit of a slog, but the best are spectacularly good.  I'm re-reading "Surface Detail" at the moment.  I can't improve on the reviews quoted on the blurb: "An engrossing novel of ideas ornamented by fantastically cinematic set pieces" The Guardian.  "Full of elaborate games... and, above all, a thrilling sense of the limitless scope SF affords an author's imagination" FT.

[Baron von Lotsov]

Industrial Design in Engineering by Charles H Flurscheim



Is a kind of bible of good engineering practice. Everyone in British engineering aught to have read it!

Dr. Charles Flurscheim's early interest in aircraft and mechanical engineering shaped his subsequent pioneering career. A graduate of Cambridge University and a college apprentice at the Metropolitan Vickers company, Flurscheim became an accomplished specialist in electronic switchgear and circuit breaker operations. During the second world war, Flurscheim designed vital electrical systems which increased British military aircraft safety. Subsequently he contributed to electrical and nuclear power station research. His high-voltage circuit breakers are used in power stations throughout the world.


 

https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Charles_Flurscheim">https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Charles_Flurscheim

[Ciaphas]

Currently working through the Wheel of Time series to finally get it finished before the TV adaptation comes out. Great books though they do slow down a little around book seven if I recall correctly.

[Nick]

Becoming Johnny



https://www.amazon.co.uk/Becoming-Johnny-Vegas/dp/0007382715/ref=nodl">https://www.amazon.co.uk/Becoming-Johnn ... 5/ref=nodl">https://www.amazon.co.uk/Becoming-Johnny-Vegas/dp/0007382715/ref=nodl_

[Streetwalker]

Picked this up off the bookshelf at my last holiday home . Found it hard to put down and would agree with most of the reviews . Gives a good account of life in the middle east for westerners . The hospitality of many of the people there  and the  death cult that has put the hand brake on it ever joining the civilised  world







http://www.frankgardner.co.uk/books/blood-and-sand/">http://www.frankgardner.co.uk/books/blood-and-sand/

[DeppityDawg]

I am currently reading England Arise! by Judith Baker and which is about the peasants'  revolt of 1381. I can confidently  say that it is an excellent book by a first class author and that I am more confused than when I started. She has suggested that several popular myths are actually popular myths such as the one that the peasants were actually peasants and that there was only one Wat Tyler.



The book is jammed packed with information and well worth reading, except as a history of the Peasants' Revolt.

Better not tell Javert the peasants are revolting...  ::

[Churchill]

Thank you for the recommendation I will bear it in mind

[Borchester]

I am currently reading England Arise! by Judith Baker and which is about the peasants'  revolt of 1381. I can confidently  say that it is an excellent book by a first class author and that I am more confused than when I started. She has suggested that several popular myths are actually popular myths such as the one that the peasants were actually peasants and that there was only one Wat Tyler.



The book is jammed packed with information and well worth reading, except as a history of the Peasants' Revolt.