So... what are you reading?

[Vikingcrusher]

The getaway God.....
6th book in the Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey....

[kilted firefighter]

"Growing up native American " a collection of short non fiction stories of oppression, survival, heritage denied and reclaimed

[GMan]

Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast.

[Catharps]

Wulf the Saxon
A Story of the Norman Conquest

by George Alfred Henty 1832-1902

[Mike_Oettle]

Having lately finished reading The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, I am now busy with The Arrogance of Power, subtitled South Africa’s Leadership Meltdown, by Xolela Mangcu.
I will refrain from commenting on the Rushdie title, because it was a highly controversial book when it was first published, and could possibly set off powder kegs even now. If anyone would like to discuss it, PM me.
The Mangcu book is a collection of newspaper columns written during the presidencies of Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, and have given me fresh insight into the power struggles inside the African National Congress, which has ruled South Africa since 1994. It is especially apt in the light of events over the past week, as Zuma has shown more and more that he is incapable of running a country. There is now a widespread campaign to get rid of him as president, but it seems the ANC will do little or nothing unless it gets a big fright during the countrywide local elections next year. I am confident that it will.

[Mike_Oettle]

When I posted the other evening I did not have at hand four books that I had read in the last while. These are:

1. Justice Denied by David Klatzow, subtitled The Role of Forensic Science in the Miscarriage of Justice.
Klatzow has a doctorate in science and was a university lecturer before branching out into a forensic practice. He condemns a great deal of malpractice in this field that has been accepted by the courts, usually because judges and magistrates lack the scientific background to question the testimony of self-declared experts.
He goes back to the first use of forensic science in the courts of Britain, where Sir Bernard Spilsbury had an unquestioned reputation, yet frequently was responsible for guilty findings against innocent men, including Dr Crippen.
He brings his expertise to bear on a number of frequently used “scientific” testing methods and blows them sky-high, including breathalyser tests for blood alcohol content and the testing of bullets to identify the firearm they were supposedly fired from.
Every avenue he investigates has a long history of bad science fully accepted in courts of law.
He puts forward a well-grounded argument for a complete overhaul of forensic testing and the way its findings are evaluated in court – not only in South Africa, but in the United States, Britain (England as well as Scotland), Australia and other countries.

2. I Won’t Be Home Next Summer, by Ron Selley and Kerrin Cocks. The author was named for his uncle, a South African who served in the Royal Air Force from 1936 until his death in 1941. It is co-written with historical researcher Cocks, and has been pieced together using letters written home by Flight Lieutenant R N Selley DFC, together with photographs from various sources and other reminiscences. It made a good read.

3. Back to Angola, A Journey from War to Peace, by Paul Morris. The author served as a teenage conscript in a South African mechanised infantry battalion that invaded Angola in 1987. Twenty-five years later he returned to Angola to undertake a journey that, he hoped, would finally lay the demons that had been tormenting him ever since his exposure to combat.
A friend who had served in uMkhonto weSizwe (the armed wing of the African National Congress) took him in his Land Rover to Cuito Canavale, where a major battle was fought in ’87. Morris then undertook a solo bicycle journey from there back to the Namibian border and south to Tsumeb.
The book jumps back and forth between the life Morris led as a troopie (as South African conscripts were called) to his journey in 2012.
The author is a psychologist, and has found his experience helpful in assisting people suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

4. Emma, by Alexander McCall Smith. Smith, familiar as the author of the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, set in Botswana, as well as other books set in Edinburgh and in England, re-tells the Jane Austen classic of the same name, using the same set of characters, but placing them in a 21st-century setting.
The story is well told, but for those familiar with Austen’s work it is interesting to note the similarities and the sometimes quite sharp differences between the Smith version and the original.

[dakuda]

The Gallant Six Hundred by John Harris.

[GMan]

Just started The House of Twenty Thousand Books, by Sasha Abramsky.

[The Q]

I've just finished Millenium By Tom Holland, a history of Europe based around 1000AD, It covers just about every country in Europe as they were then, and is heavy on the actions of the Popes (sometimes there were more than one) and the religious implications of the time. Scotland is briefly mentioned.. there are 413 pages + all the references. It's quite a hard to follow book at times but interesting.

Then Also just finished "It's all about Treo" by David Heyhoe. Treo is a Labrador who served in Afganistan as an explosive detection dog and won the Dickin Medal (Known as the animal VC). He became a particular target of the Taliban, but Treo and His handler David Heyhoe survived to write this book to retire to Lincolnshire.
I couldn't put this book down it's very well written and I read it cover to cover, in one session, all 316 pages.

A Book about brave men and very special dogs..

[The Q]

Just finished :
The Lost World of Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay, a very interesting book from a different angle on the story of Station X. I have several books on the Bletchley Park and this is one of the better ones.

The first time I have seen mention of Highland dancing in the ballroom of the big house and outside in the grounds.

I must admit I have a special interest in BP as I lived in the grounds for a year while training in Electronics, No I wasn't a spy, by the 1970s there was The GPO telephone engineering school and the Civil Aviation School of Telecommunications and engineering. The secret bit by that time was down to a couple of huts. Now the Buildings are a museum and the open grounds a housing estate.