Books
Be Useful
I know next to nothing about him other than he is from Austria, was a bodybuilder before an actor, and as an actor did a lot of actions movies. Oh yeah, he was also Governor of California at some point while I lived there, I think.
Books
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Books
The Man From St. Petersburg
This book is well written, but full of things that do not fit a spy story. There isn't even a spy in it, which really is frustrating when the description on the book is "espionage." There is an anarchist who commandeers the story even being a single threaded and dumbly written character.
Books
Surprise, Kill, Vanish
What I really found interesting was conversation about the legality of planning said assassinations. Between the code of military ethics, A.K.A. the Liber Code, and NATO's Article 51, the idea of self-defense, there is a lot of weird wiggle room that the CIA and DoD operated in.
Books
Underground
when you have 20+ stories talking about this with only 10 minutes of each story being about the event, it just feels like noise. You add in the fact that there is zero presentation of the group, the why, or even what they did. So I don't have context as to why all of this matters.
Books
Without Fail
I think we have entered the era of these books hitting their formula. While the book is entertaining, and I have no real issues with the book, I found that some relationships made no sense and others made perfect sense. The story does make it sound like the FBI and the Secret Service are useless
Books
The Unit
This book really felt like a friend telling a story. There is this friendly demeener as if he is trying to tell you his story, without the total preacher mentality that could have happened. I also recognize during my time in the Marines, that leaving your home town and actually interacting...
Books
Choke Point
This book was fun and an easy read. The action is well told, which is what I want from these books, but there seems to be a sprint through in the book. There are some good actions points and intelligence actions, but the side plots do not link up to the main story like the other books typically do.
Books
Indianapolis
The story of the court-martial is absolutely infuriating. The amount of CYA that took place at the upper echelons of the Navy, to be forced on the next generations of Naval Leadership is even more crazy. I do not understand how someone who has no skin in the game can't make another decision
Books
The Hunt for Red October
I cannot truly express how impressed I am with the description of the Submarines, their capabilities, the function, and life on the sub. I’ve always been interested in subs and after watching videos like this one from _Smarter Every Day and U-571 it is incredible the technology created for subs.
Books
The Big Bang Theory Book
This book was so informative. I knew quite a few of the stories that happened in the background, but nothing like this. The presentation of the book really does a fantastic job of telling the ins and outs of the events that took place. Add in the questions that are asked to bring out the deepness
Books
Hell Bent
I love the world that Leigh Bardugo has built. The old world houses, the relics, and just the layering are really well done. I want to pay a bit more attention to the relics because there is a scene here that I had never thought about, but is important to bring up because I never thought about this
Books
No Easy Day
My memories of this event are mixed with pre-deployment training. I was in the middle of work ups to deploy to Afghanistan when this was announced, and I barely remember it being talked about. Part of that might have been because I was on shift or asleep when it was announced, but that video.