On a WWII Kick

After reading about Bay of Pigs, I’m still on a history kick so I’ve been going through some WWII books I’ve had on my bookshelf untouched for a decade.

http://www.amazon.com/Paris-Burning-Larry-COLLINS/dp/B0000CMPTH/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456025279&sr=1-2&keywords=is+paris+burning%3F

Is Paris Burning? by Larry Collins tells the story of the Liberation of Paris.  I’ll be using this in my science fiction story down the road.  The most interesting part of this story to me is the German General Von Cholitz, placed in charge of Paris with orders to destroy it should the Allies try to take it, who decides to ignore Hitler and save the city instead.

http://www.amazon.com/Unexplained-Mysteries-World-War-II/dp/0785822534/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/Bizarre-Tales-World-War-II/dp/0785819924/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

These two books by William Breuer are fun quick reads of short 1-3 page stories of bizarre or unlikely occurrences in WWII.  Very entertaining; and astonishing that these stories are all true!  (nothing paranormal aside from people having premonitions of death)

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The Brilliant Disaster

As research for my current book I breezed through “The Brilliant Disaster” by Jim Rasenberger this weekend.  It’s a non-fiction telling of the Bay of Pigs, the US backed invasion of Cuba in 1961 that ended in abject disaster.  Even as a History major I generally find history books hard to sit through, but this book was superbly written.  It read like a Tom Clancy military thriller, and the Bay of Pigs is already a fascinating story as is.  It’s one of the most momentous stories of the Cold War, and the actual details of it are a tragic comedy of errors.  I highly recommend it!

Just to give you a taste of the absurdity… on the night of the invasion, the bigger boats grounded themselves on coral reefs they didn’t know about, the smaller crafts’ engines either died (because they didn’t mix the gas right) or fell right off the boat, and the abandoned beach they were supposed to land on was brightly lit and hosting a party at the time with military jeeps patrolling.

http://www.amazon.com/Brilliant-Disaster-Castro-Americas-Invasion-ebook/dp/B003V1WUOY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1454871266&sr=1-1&keywords=the+brilliant+disaster

Update and more fun articles

I’m three fourths done with the second book in my sci-fi series that will hopefully see the light of day in the distant future.  The current chapter is a sci-fi reenactment of the Bay of Pigs, so I’ve been reading up on that lately.

Meanwhile, here’s some fun articles!

My favorite current book series, Agent Pendergast by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, is being made into a tv series!
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walking-dead-producer-adapting-pendergast-860457?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR+Breaking+News_2016-02-01+09%3A00%3A00_lgoldberg&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_breakingnews

Scientists learn that time moves… forwards?!?!
http://www.iflscience.com/physics/new-explanation-why-time-moves-forward

The Middle East discovered astronomic geometry 1,400 years before Europe:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/01/28/clay-tablets-reveal-babylonians-invented-astronomical-geometry-1400-years-before-europeans/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_calculus-330pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Did you know the US once dropped four nuclear bombs on Spain?!
http://abcnews.go.com/International/palomares-anniversary-time-us-dropped-nukes-spain/story?id=36322038