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So, to all of you out there who doesn't like reading science fiction books, read C.O.L.A.R. Once you start reading it, you wouldn't be able to put it down.
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On top of that, the book challenges current strategic thinking. It takes a (logically-reasoned) resource-based approach to business strategy and by doing so comes up with some very useful new frameworks that will help companies reveal market segments that may previously have been hidden to them. If it sounds like the book may be too heavy and scientific, then think again. The authors strive all the way through to use clear language and explanation. The book adds the rigour that is missing from the 'airport business book' genre without going too far into an academic style, which often tends to lose touch with readers' ability, or even reality itself.
The irony is that I bought it at an airport.
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Within Cerf's anthology there are some standard such as W.W. Jacob's, "The Monkey's Paw' and Saki's "The Open Window." The reader will also find some rarer treats in August Derleth's, "The Return of Andrew Bentley' and Ambrose Bierce's, "The Damned Thing." Cerf had fantastic taste in ghost stories and assembled 15 that range from pleasent to down-right horrifying. Modern Library has allowed this wonderful classic to go out of print which denies modern readers access to the best ghost story anthology every published and makes it virtually impossible for me to replace my old yellowed copy...
Though I may be telling the reader to go find Shangra-la, find a copy if you can. I beg modern library to re-introduce this great anthology to the public. Hwlloween is always coming you know.
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Unlike most WWII memoirs, which begin suddenly in 1939 and end abruptly in 1945, "The Good Soldier" spans practically Novotny's entire lifetime. It begins with his childhood in Socialist Vienna, and continues without respite through the Anschluss, his service in the German Labor Service (RAD) and as a machine gunner with the elite
"GrossDeutschland" armored infantry division, his postwar years in a Soviet prison camp, his return to freedom and eventual emigration to the USA, where he ultimately finds peace and personal success.
The book isn't full of "combat erotica" but there are enough anecdotes to get a good sense of what life in the Third Reich was like and how terrible war and the postwar peace could be. The RAD experiences in particular are very interesting, since there is little information published in English about this German paramilitary organization.
Novotny's descriptions of life as a "GrossDeutschland" soldier and the Soviet penal system are fascinating as well. The reader will doubtless be amazed at Novotny's good fortune through some pretty grim situations - as he was himself!
Although only 150-odd pages, "The Good Soldier" is packed with photos, drawings and editor's notes that help the reader get a real sense of Novotny's experiences in the context of the general sweep of WWII history.
It's a fast but satisfying read. I quite enjoyed "The Good Soldier" and would recommend it to anyone interested in personal accounts of the Second World War.
Novotny's detailed description of his training with the Grossdeutschland Division and his stark, intense picture of battle on the Eastern Front make "The Good Soldier" a useful reference from a military-scholarship viewpoint. However, as a personal narrative, the book will also be a fascinating read for the general reader, because Novotny successfully blends into his narrative the story of his life from his working-class childhood home in politically unstable 1930s Vienna, and his early and hopeful employment in a famous Vienna hotel -- all of which was interrupted by the call to arms. ("The Good Soldier" will appeal to readers interested in English-language material about Austrians' experiences in the Wehrmacht.)
Millions of defeated German and German-allied soldiers were marched to Soviet prison camps in 1945; many never returned. Novotny's description of how they interacted with their captors and fellow prisoners from day to day -- in cruelty and, sometimes, with friendship -- illustrates this chapter of history without undue political polemic or judgement.
This book is as much about the love of friends and family as the calamities of nations at war. I would recommend it for the general reader of history; it would also fit well into a high-school honors or college course on twentieth-century history.
Alfred Novotny ably describes his, and presumably many German soldiers' relationship to the enemy, to leadership and courage.
There are some fantastic scenes like the one where the author enters a Ukranian hut with mud floor to find a gramophone with one of his favorite records: "Stormy Weather"! The details on equipment should be of particular interest to anyone into militaria and reenacting.
Like the author I am amazed by his incredibly good fortune. One must be deeply affected when a bullet penetrates one's steel helmet, tearing off the helmet's rim but doesn't cause even a scratch on your scalp and later brand-new replacements are literally blown apart in front of you, again leaving you completely unscathed...at least physically...
Although this book is basically on the platoon-level the author makes it clear in which ways his division, "Grossdeutschland", differed from others.
I found Novotny's recollections of the effect of Soviet front-line propagaganda units particularly valuable.
Novotny is equally convincing when he recounts his years as a slave-miner in Soviet Georgia. What does surprise me is that he is not turned into a hateful person by this experience.
It is nice to find not only photographs of the author and mentioned equipment but also well-reproduced documents like the author's badge certificates.
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But if you don't believe me, see for yourself.
Normally I'm turned off by the High Literary Style, but the way that passage ends with the knife-twist--"another day of killing"--redeems it with room to spare. Time and again in Schultz's book, he and his collaborator pull off that neat trick: loving memories entangled with the ordinariness of war.
(Like the time Schultz lands Janey in a vineyard that turns out to be a German minefield. He's full of morning coffee, and one of his great hopes on landing was to empty his bladder. There's nothing for it! He just has to piss his pants.)
Schultz and Janey fly and fight with the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division through North Africa, Sicily, the Anzio beachhead and the advance to Rome, and finally the invasion of southern France. They both survive--quite an accomplishment, not only for the pilot but especially for the Piper Cub. Among other tricks, they take off from an LST "aircraft carrier" whose tiny plywood deck is greatly supplemented by 24 knots of wind over the bow:
Of course I am sappy about Piper Cubs. But I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it highly.
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HAPPY READING!
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This book has an epic sweep as Vicki Morgan, in a vain attempt to escape the married Bloomingdale, encounters a series of adventures with some of the world's most wealthy and powerful men. And women. It is not a tale for the faint hearted, but there are strong moral lessons--mainly there is a steep price for the glamour and the money men give for sexual favors.
The story is told from the author's point of view. He spent nine months with Vicki Morgan and was one of the last people to see her alive. The author, Gordon Basichis, gives us intimate insight into the making of a wordly rich girl who knows how to manipulate men for money, only to be trapped in the game she has profited by for so many years. Through the seventies and into the eighties she was getting at least a quarter millon dollars from these different lovers.
It's rare that I find a book so compelling. I love how the story describes the high life of power and money while showing, also, how this glitzy path leads to destruction and, in this case, murder. This was truly one of a kind.
I was totally caught up in this true tale of a naive and beautiful young woman, trapped in a world where power, sex and money reign. As the mistress to Alfred Bloomingdale, the department store heir and member of the kitchen cabinet, Vicki Morgan lived a life that few can imagine...a wild and ultimately tragic journey that ended in her brutal murder. What I loved about this book was its unwillingness to rely on predictable cliche. The author's insight sheds new light on a very old subject -- sex and power. The writing is personal, intimate, at times humorous and always engaging. If this book were published today, it would be a bestseller
I remembered these books fondly from childhood, and was thrilled to discover they hold the same interest for me now. The sci-fi storyline still holds up today, over 20 years after it was first written, and is interesting enough to keep kids reading. The characters are well crafted, and it's easy to care for Danny, Jack, and even Anne Two. Plus the story provides some interesting things to think about worthy of the best of Star Trek that I had completely forgotten were in this book.
This fun kid's book is well worth the effort to track down. Hopefully, someone will decide to republish it soon so another generation of kids can enjoy it.