Reading this book: SHerlock Holmes, the complete stories

Reading this book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Been reading about Sherlock Holmes in bits and pieces. When I saw this book that compiles everything about the famous detective, I had to have it.
 

Book Review: Skeleton Coast by Clive Cussler with Jack Du Brul

Read this book right now.

Read a book: this was the second book that I got from Amazon - Top Gear The Cool 500

Got this book from Amazon. Funny story: when it got to me it was busted quite badly. The packaging was atrocious. The sides were squashed and the top part of the spine was torn. Complained to Amazon and they gave me a complete refund (including courier charges). I don't even have to return the book back.

Anyway, loads of photos. Even my son finds it interesting.

Reading a new book: Original Uncensored Edition of the Stuka Pilot by Han Ulrich Rudel (foreword by Douglas Bader)

Got this book from Amazon. The English grammar is not book quality. Poor editorial job. But the stories in the book is excellent.

Enid Blyton's The Three Strange Travellers and Other Stories

I read this book more than 40 years ago. Now my youngest is reading it.

It goes to show that books can be timeless. You only need your mind to imagine what you read. Much better than TV or the movies.

GO READ A BOOK! YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT.

Clive Cussler and Russel Blake: The Eye of Heaven - A Fargo Adventure

My second book under the Fargo Adventure series. Can't wait to get them all!

Not a heavy-reading-kind of book but a lot of historical facts.

Read Dean Koontz - Innocence

Read this book and it was awesome. Couldn't put it down at all. Like one of the review said, "...both chilling and fulfilling", it was.

Zero Hour: NUMA Files by Clive Cussler - an excellent adventure book

This is my second book by Clive Cussler. Part of the NUMA Files adventure series.

Two years ago while waiting for transport in Phuket, I picked up this book at the reception to read and pass the time. I got to page 40 before the bus arrived and I had to leave the book at hotel lobby.

At last I found the book at MPH. I was able to finally finish reading the whole book. An adventure series that I find most entertaining.

Lost Empire: FARGO Adventures by Clive Cussler - A nice adventure book

I got this hardcover book from MPH for half price. This is the first time that I got a book from Clive Cussler. After reading it, I found it to be very entertaining. The style is like the Hardy Boys adventure. After finishing this book I will get a few more by this author.

Is It Really Too Much To Ask?: The World According to Clarkson - a really funny book

This is the 5th volume of compiled articles written by Jeremy Clarkson in the Sunday Times. Very opinionated but some of his views ring true. 

You may not like the man but they subject matter that he covers is vast. More importantly, it is very entertaining and hilarious.

My contribution to the world of Islamic Finance - a chapter in the Risk and Regulation of Islamic Banking

This is the third book on Islamic Finance that I was able to participate as a contributing author.

My name listed as the second contributor. I know of other authors that contributed more chapters but due to my dad's name, it got listed as number two.

My chapter is number 10 on page 168 of the book. It talks about the need for valuation to be an integral part of Islamic Finance, especially when it comes to sukuk securities. Currently, the notion of valuation has not been given due recognition by the industry. Hopefully, with my chapter in this book, it could help ignite the interest in valuation for Islamic Finance practitioners everywhere.

If you recall Commerce 101, the first thing that was taught is the concept of a market. For a market to be viable it must have four (4) components: (a) products and services for sale, (b) buyers and sellers, (c) medium of exchange and finally (d) price to transact the sale. Islamic Finance have been too focused on the first three parts. It is time the subject of pricing or valuation takes center stage.

New book to read - The World According to Clarkson "is it really too much to ask?"

Got this book from MPH over the weekend.

Jeremy Clarkson is a very opinionated person and this makes for good read. Don't be too hard-up on what he has to say but to take it with a pinch of salt. Very entertaining.

The book is made out of articles he wrote and published in newspapers. I especially like the one about letting Scotland go (written in 2010) to help the debt crisis in Britain. Fits in uncannily with the independence vote for Scotland that was just completed a few days ago (still part of Britain).

He also wrote about why Turkey should not be part of the EU. Only in Nato yes. His argument "...you let your policemen take care of your street and property but it doesn't mean you want him in your living room...". I think this one statement says it all about how they (collectively) think about themselves vis-a-vis the rest of us.

A book on Starwars in the style of WIlliam Shakespeare

I saw this book at MPH the other day and I was intrigued by the style of writing. Written by Ian Doescher, it is a story about Starwars Episode IV: A New Hope but written in the style of William Shakespeare. Hence the title is called: "Verily, A New Hope".

Its a hilarious read!

On the Edge: My Story (Book review)

Book Description
Publication Date: September 1, 2008

In September 2006, Richard Hammond suffered a serious brain injury following a high-speed car crash. Here is his compelling account of life before and after the accident and an honest description of his recovery, full of drama and incident. An adrenalin junkie long before his association with Top Gear, Richard tells the story of his life, from the small boy showing off with ridiculous stunts on his bicycle to the adolescent with a near-obsessive attraction to speed and the smell of petrol. After a series of jobs in local radio, he graduated to television. His insights into the personalities, the camaraderie, and the stunts for which Top Gear has become famous, make compulsive reading. It was while filming that Richard was involved in a high speed crash, driving a jet-powered dragster. His wife Mindy tells the story of the anxious hours and days of watching and waiting until he finally emerged from his coma. In an extraordinarily powerful piece of writing, she and Richard then piece together the stages of his recovery as his shattered mind slowly reformed. The final chapter recounts his return home and his triumphant reappearance in front of the cameras.






I am a Top Gear fan. I was in Kuala Lumpur when the news flashed that Richard Hammond was seriously injured during a Top Gear stunt. 

After many years I was able to read what truly happened and how the crash affected him. 

This book is very touching. Written from the perspective of the injured as well as the carer (Mindy, Hammond's wife), the book takes you into the emotion of the moment. The pictures as well as the statistics regarding the crash reinforces the narration in the book. A good read.

Book Review: Das Afrika Korps: Erwin Rommel and the Germans in Africa, 1941-43

Book Description
Publication Date: April 1, 2010
This action-packed history of the Germans in Africa in World War II covers one of the most famous military units of all time under one of the best commanders.

Bought this book from Amazon for USD26.95. Below is a review from Sci-fi and history reader (NJ, USA) that sums up my views about the book.

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Franz Kurowski's narration of the German perspective on the fight for North Africa in World War Two reads quickly in this book. The primary focus is on the fight prior to Tunisia and provides a general overview. Von Mellenthin's Panzer Battles provides greater detail on the operational and strategic fight during his time there.

This book is a good introduction for those seeking to learn about the battles in North Africa. A key point to this book is how critical logistics (fuel and water) is to the success in desert warfare. Rommel's panzer forces simply did not have enough supplies, equipment, and most importantly tanks, to survive the attritional battle to attain victory. The key to the Allied success was the convoy interdiction at Malta that prevented German reinforcements and replacements.

The book does describe the Italian effort and gallantry while fighting under Rommel's command. Rommel did have his weakness in being overly aggressive in sending his overextended and understrength units to attack numerically superior Allied forces. In one case, this resulted in the destruction of an entire German battalion against the motivated and hardened Australian 9th Infantry Division at Tobruk. Had Rommel been more patient in attacking fixed locations, those setbacks could have been avoided.

Rommel's brilliance was in the defense/ counterattack and his knack for directing the tactical battle at the key moment. Even after the Battle of El Alamein, where the British started with approximately 1,000 tanks to the roughly 200 German tanks, Rommel and his key leaders were able to prevent their Army's destruction while retreating to Tunisia.

Overall this is good book to borrow from the library. Kurowski's Ace's series of books is more entertaining to read and own.

Book Review: Jump into Hell: German Paratroopers in World War II

Book Description
Publication Date: January 1, 2010
For the first time in English, this action-adventure narrative about elite German airborne troops covers recruitment, organization, training and combat on all fronts.

Bought this book from Amazon for USD27.21 (hardcover). It was a very good book. Anyway, below is a review from one reader, David L. Poremba "the past in review" (Windermere, Florida) that sums up what I feel about the book.

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German World War II veteran Kurowski does for the paratroopers what he has done previously for other branches of the German Armed Forces - recount their complete battle history from the small unit viewpoint in an informative narrative, replete with first-person accounts.

Beginning with the formation of airborne forces, Kurowski describes the proposed World War I drop by American forces led by General Billy Mitchell (which never occurred as it was scheduled for 1919). He then moves to the Russians, who were developing their airborne tactics as early as 1923. During the same time period, he states that the Germans were acquainted with the idea of airborne envelopment but it remained in the theoretical stage until the mid-1930's, when the Fallschirmjager was established and kept secret until the invasion of the Lowlands in 1940.

The main event in Jump Into Hell is the large scale paratroop drop onto the island of Crete in May, 1941. Although the Germans eventually secured the island, casualties were so high that Adolf Hitler forbade any more massive drops. The chapter on the campaign in Russia, followed by Sicily and Italy to the end in 1945. 

Based on eyewitness interviews after the war, Jump Into Hell is an excellent history of one of Germany's elite fighting units.

Book Review: Panzergrenadier Aces: German Mechanized Infantrymen in World War II

Book Description
Publication Date: July 16, 2010
Exciting stories of the infantrymen who supported Germany's tanks
How tanks and infantry cooperated at the small-unit level
First time in English

The panzergrenadiers were the footsoldiers who went into battle alongside the Third Reich's feared tanks. Whether in the Wehrmacht or Waffen-SS, these troops endured all the horrors of infantry combat--fighting hand-to-hand, storming enemy positions, and rescuing fallen comrades--but they did so in the shadow of thundering giants like the Tiger and Panther. Kurowski tells the stories of some of the very best of these mechanized infantrymen, bringing them and their actions to life.

Bought this book from Amazon for USD15.00. Below is a review from Sci-fi and history reader (NJ, USA) that sums up what I feel about the book.

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This book is similar, but shorter than the others previously published by the author. The stories of eleven German Knight's Cross awardees is presented. Each chapter starts with a first hand account of a battle, then a brief summary of the soldier's background, and then into accounts of their experiences in combat.

Each chapter is very short, from 16 to 27 pages, providing a quick glimpse into each soldier's experience. Not as detailed in Infantry Aces I and II or Panzer Aces I and II.

The introduction is interesting to read on the formation of the Panzer Grenadiers along with their expected lifespan in combat. For a platoon leader, it was seven days. There are also many interesting photos of the different vehicles and weapons used by there German Army in World War Two.

Appendix B provides a listing of the unit formations that formed each significant Panzer Grenadier formation. This is very helpful for those who play miniature wargames and want to re-create accurate scenarios or campaigns.

What is interesting about each of their experiences is how they were successful in battle when combined arms were used. Tanks with mechanized infantry, supported by artillery and engineers in their "fighting groups", gave them the combat power and flexibility to defeat more numerous Russians, who initially had better armored and larger caliber guns on their tanks (T-34 and KV-1). When combined arms were lacking, operations were much less successful.

What the book lacks is explaining how each unit performed their refit and training back into a combat effective formation. The book does describe how depleted and devastated formations were pulled form Russia and sent to France and Italy to reconstitute and refit prior to being sent back into Russia. Learning how the Germans (the officers and sergeants) performed their unit training (if training maneuvers of regimental size were performed) would help explain how their staffs and units gained proficiency and cohesiveness to endure the high attrition rates.

Did find Chapter 10 very interesting on how an anti-tank gunner managed to survive so many engagements and wounds. Details of how he endured multiple wounds while the rest of his crew fell under the deadly tank and machine gun fire is truly remarkable. Somehow, this soldier was able to engage and destroy multiple tanks and anti-tank guns in those engagements.

One interesting note from the different chapters is that weapons malfunctions and jams are described and recollected. Things went wrong in combat, from broken extractor pins to misfires.

Another point of interest was how the German light machine gun was the prime weapon that allowed them to drive to ground the attacking Russian infantry. Once the trailing infantry screen was eliminated, the Grenadiers were able to close assault Russian tanks with mines and satchel charges.

Overall, this is another solid book. However, am not sure if the cost versus the brief chapters is worth the purchase for most readers. Many might be satisfied to simply borrow from a library instead.

Book Review: Panzer Aces III: German Tank Commanders in Combat in World War II (Stackpole Military History)

Book Description
Publication Date: June 3, 2010
Action-packed stories of legendary tank soldiers in combat
You-are-there approach lets readers relive the experiences of German panzer crews
First time in English

With the same drama and attention to detail that made Panzer Aces (978-0-8117-3173-7) and Panzer Aces II (978-0-8117-3175-1) such thrilling reads, Franz Kurowski tells the stories of more German armored officers during World War II. Extensively researched, these gripping accounts follow panzer crews into some of the bloodiest engagements of the war, from the deserts of North Africa, the monumental battle of Kursk, and the hedgerows of France to frightening clashes in the black of night on the Eastern Front.

Bought this book from Amazon for USD14.63. Very good read. Below is a review written by Sci-fi and history reader (NJ, USA) that sums up my own personal view about the book.

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Franz Kurowski presents short biographical summaries of 18 German soldiers who earned the Knight's Cross in World War Two. Each chapter is 12 to 26 pages long and starts with an action scene describing one of the key battles they fought in. The chapter then describes the soldier's life background, how they entered military service and then what key leadership positions and battles they participated in. It is very interesting to read that many of the awardees served in the same unit or were led by a common commander, such as Erwin Rommel with the 7th Panzer Division in France 1940. Many of the accounts correspond to other chapters as the soldiers had served together at critical battles.

This book is not as detailed as Panzer Aces I or II, and is much shorter at 293 pages, but has many photos. Panzer ace Ernst Barkman's story is only 21 pages in length, but can be found in greater detail in his biographical book. Tiger tank ace Otto Carius' chapter is 22 pages in length, a mere fraction of his life story in comparison to his book titled Tigers in the Mud. In comparison, Panzer Aces II has 486 pages describing the entire career and detailed engagements of just six soldiers.

It is good being able to read a summary overview of the careers of these 18 remarkable soldiers, such as Heinz Guderian and Hermann Hoth. Both were heavily involved in the development of the Panzer Corps and both were relieved of command for disobeying Hitler's foolish orders to hold arbitrary ground at all costs. Armchair historians can debate what if more German Generals had the same courage as Guderian, Hoth, and Rommel to disobey similar orders and saved their soldiers from senseless encirclement and destruction.

This book does briefly explain the German perspective on how Panzer forces were developed after World War One and how their tanks were initially inferior to the T-34. Their main tank guns could not penetrate the T-34 of KV-1 at distance. It was only their ability to maneuver and attack en masse to get the disabling hit and follow-on close range shots to kill the better armored and gunned T-34.

Some armchair "historians" will disagree and state that the T-34 was inferior tank, but in 1941, it was superior to any other tank in armor, speed, maneuverability, and gun penetration until 1942. The German Panzer veterans who destroyed dozens of T-34s state this, who are we today to disagree with their accounts?

Good reading for those with an open mind, willing to learn from the German veteran perspective. Panzer Aces I and II provide much more detail on each soldier's career, almost like a biographical book similar to Audie Murphy's to Hell and Back (WW2) or Beyond Nam Dong by Roger Donlon (Vietnam).

Samurai! (Classics of Naval Literature)

My comments as well as from some readers as well.

Saburo Sakai was Japan s greatest fighter pilot to survive World War II, and his memoir is one of the most popular and enduring books written on the Pacific war. First published in English in 1957, it gave Americans new perspectives on the air war and on the Japanese pilots who, until then, were mere caricatures. Today, the book remains a valuable eyewitness account of some of the most famous air battles in history and a moving, personal story of a Samurai warrior. A veteran of more than two hundred dogfights, Sakai reportedly shot down sixty-four Allied planes, but he is best known for flying his crippled Zero nearly 600 miles to safety while partially paralyzed and nearly blind from multiple wounds.

Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway-The Great Naval Battles as Seen Through Japanese Eyes

My comments as well as some others on the book. I got it via Amazon.

Probably one of the two books anyone interested in the Pacific naval war simply MUST have in his libraray (the other the brilliant 'Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy' by the unfortunately named Paul S. Dull). True experts and affecionados should overlook the occasional mis-identification of ship types (undoubtedly a result of either negligent editing or translation problems), but otherwise a superb recollection of the Pacific war from the point of view of a famous Japanese destroyer captain.

Captain Hara discusses how he commanded a Japanese destroyer in all of the major Pacific sea conflicts during World War II: Empress Augusta Bay, Coral Sea, the invasion of the Philippines, Guadalcanal, Savo Island, and Midway. While on a re-supply mission through Blackett Straight in August 1943, upon noticing a fire-ball explosion near the destroyer "Amagiri" in front of his destroyer "Shigure", he ordered for his ship's crew to shoot at Lt. John F. Kennedy's sinking PT-109. He provides a most harrowing description -- as commander of cruiser Yahagi -- how he barely survied its sinking alongside the ill-fated battleship Yamato on their suicide mission to attack the U.S. forces invaiding Okinawa. He details his training of the pilots of suicide motorboats (Shinyo: "ocean shaker") that were designed to ram Allied warships approaching Japan.

Having studied this war and its naval campaigns, one thing that always struck me was the peculiar paradox of the near-deification of Admiral Yamamoto (engineer of the Pearl Harbor attack) by the Japanese at the time, and many foreign historians as well. Frankly, from any objective point of view, it was Yamamoto who almost single-handedly ensured the disasterous defeat of the Japanese navy, first, by not in fact taking out the most important targets at Pearl Harbor (the enormous fuel tank farm, and the even more important ship-repair facilities and machine shops), and secondly, by repeatedly committing vastly insufficient forces at the places of most importance, and invariably sending these elements through the most convoluted and tortuous separate routes to get there (each element could be easily defeated one at a time).

Further, it appears that at no time during the war did the Japanese have the slightest interest in obtaining or using intelligence, by either method or desire, and this led them into one catastrophe after another. Guadalcanal is probably the best exemplar of this failed strategy, where neither the Japanes Navy, nor the Japanese Army had any idea of the strength of the American presence there, apparently weren't even interested, and instead committed and lost battalions, regiments, whole divisions of troops and squadrons of ships again, and again, and again, until both the Army, and Navy were bled white.

The Japanese submarine fleet was even more useless, not because of any real defect in the subs themselves, but the ridiculous manner in which they were used. This is even more stunning when you consider that not only was the Japanese submarine fleet largely founded by German engineers and specialist after the First World War, but the Japanese maintained close communications with the Germans throughout the war, even sending submarines to Germany and back several times, as well as German U-Boats sailing to Japan and being used by the Japanese Navy. Yet despite the continued availability of the very finest in submarine expertise, the Japanese apparently never bothered to discuss the topic of strategy and/or tactics with the Germans. Incredible!

With all my various studies of this war, I never came across any real recognition of these fundamental flaws, until I read this book, and it is apparent that not only were these flaws as real as i thought, but that many members of the Japanese Navy itself were fully cognisant of these same mistakes, and yet, were unable to convince their own senior command of the need for changes, and so went down together.