This page was last updated on 12 January 2008.


Current Books

What I'm currently reading

Here is a list of what I am currently reading:
  • Walter Hunt's The Dark Path (2003).
  • Douglas V. Smith's Carrier Battles: Command Decision in Harm's Way (2006).
  • James George's History of Warships.
  • Breach the Hull, a military science fiction anthology edited by Mike McPhail (2007).

What's in the immediate queue

Fiction

  • The rest of Walter Hunt's Dark Wing series.
  • Jack Campbell (John Hemry's) Lost Fleet series.
  • Sherwood Smith's Inda series (although I might wait for the second book to come out in paper first).
  • David Weber's In Fury Born, the expanded version of Path of the Fury.
  • David Weber's Honor Harrington series. (I've never read this. I waited for him to get a few books ahead in the series, and next thing I know there are 35 books with a new one coming out each six weeks. Okay, I exaggerate. A little.)
  • L.E. Modesitt's Gravity Dreams.
  • Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge's Exordium series.
  • M.K. Wren'sThe Phoenix Legacy series.

Non-Fiction

  • A bunch of books on the nature of historical research.
  • A bunch of books about WW1 naval topics.
  • A bunch of books about the Romans, especially the end of the Roman Empire.

Just finished (1997-ish to present)

Here are the last few books/series I have finished, most recent listed first. Many of these books have "pocket reviews" on my Book Review pages.
  1. Group Captain M.B. Elsam's Air Defence (1989).
  2. Air Vice Marshall J.R. Walker's Air Superiority Operations (1989).
  3. Lawrence Miles's Faction Paradox: The Book of the War (2002).
  4. Walter H. Hunt's The Dark Wing (2002).
  5. Charles Ross's The Wars of the Roses: A Concise History (1978).
  6. The audiobook version of John Man's Attila: The Barbarian King Who Challenged Rome (2005).
  7. Sigfus Blondal's (with revisions by Benedikt Benedikz) The Varangians of Byzantium (1978).
  8. Christopher Gravett's Hastings 1066: The Fall of Saxon England (1992).
  9. Michael Okuda's Star Trek Ships of the Line (2006).
  10. Jack Chalker's disappointing Quintara Marathon trilogy, consisting of The Demons at Rainbow Bridge (1989), The Run to Chaos Keep (1991), and The Ninety Trillion Fausts (1991).
  11. The audiobook version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings -- all 55 hours of it.
  12. Martin J. Dougherty's 1248 Sourcebook 1: Out of the Darkness.
  13. David Weber's Bolo novel Old Soldiers (2005).
  14. The audiobook version of Robert Spencer's Islam Unveiled (2002).
  15. Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps -- an old favorite.
  16. C.J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station and Hellburner, both old favorites.
  17. Rose Mary Sheldon's Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome: Trust in the Gods, but Verify (2005).
  18. Walter Russell Mead's Power, Terror, Peace, and War (2004).
  19. Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald's The Confessions of Peter Crossman (2006).
  20. James D. MacDonald's Peter Crossman novel The Apocalypse Door (2002).
  21. Hadassa Ben-Ito's The Lie That Wouldn't Die (2005) about the forging of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
  22. Bernard Cole's The Great Wall at Sea: China's Navy Enters the Twenty-First Century (2001).
  23. Stel Pavlou's Decipher (2001).
  24. Sean Martin's The Knights Templar: The History and Myths of the Legendary Military Order (2004).
  25. Michael Bradley's The Secret Societies Handbook (2004).
  26. M. John Harrison's The Centauri Device (1974).
  27. Jonathan Steinberg's Yesterday's Deterrent: Tirpitz and the Birth of the German Battle Fleet.
  28. Fodor's Guide to The Da Vinci Code's (2006).
  29. Stephen Ross's European Diplomatic History, 1789-1815: France Against Europe.
  30. Martin J. Dougherty and Neil Frier's Grand Fleet, a Traveller supplement.
  31. C.J Cherryh's Downbelow Station, still one of my all-time favorites.
  32. Sean Williams and Shane Dix's Geodesica: Ascent.
  33. Philip de Souza's The Peloponnesian War 421-404 BC.
  34. David Cartwright's A Historical Commentary on Thucydides.
  35. Robert Strasser's The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War, which is an annotated version of Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War.
  36. Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
  37. Carl von Clausewitz's On War. This translation by Peter Paret and Michael Howard is superior in many ways, but not all.
  38. Three of the four Revelation Space-universe novels by Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, and Absolution Gap.
  39. The 13th Black Crusade and Visions of Darkness, a Game's Workshop's Warhammer 40K background book.
  40. C.J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station.
  41. Wayne Hughes's Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat, the second edition of his Fleet Tactics: Theory and Practice.
  42. Jeffrey Carver's Eternity's End.
  43. Desmond Seward's The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders.
  44. The audiobook version of George Friedman's America's Secret War.
  45. Visions of War and Visions of Darkness, the first two volumes of Game's Workshop's The Horus Heresy series.
  46. The audiobook version of Herodotus's The Histories.
  47. Don Wismer's Warrior Planet. (Cool cove art, cool cover blurb, disappointing insides.)
  48. Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.
  49. The audiobook version of J.M. Robert's The Triumph of the West.
  50. The audiobook version of J.M. Robert's The History of Europe.
  51. John Matthews's The Elements of the Grail Tradition.
  52. Edward Burman's The Templars: Knights of God.
  53. C.J. Cherryh's Hellburner.
  54. James P. Hogan's The Genesis Machine.
  55. Star Voyager Academy, Article 23, and Prometheus, the first three books (all that has been published so far) of William Forstchen's Star Voyager Academy series.
  56. Hyam Maccoby's The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity.
  57. Jonathan Green's Warhammer 40K novel Crusade for Armageddon.
  58. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman's Rules of Play.
  59. John Varley's Millenium.
  60. The audiobook version of J.M. Robert's The History of the World, Updated.
  61. Sean William and Shane Dix's Earth series, including Echoes of Earth, Orphans of Earth, and Heirs of Earth.
  62. C.C. MacApp's excellent Recall Not Earth.
  63. Peter Telep's Wing Commander, the novelization of the movie of the same name.
  64. Scott Gier's Genellan: In the Shadow of the Moon and Genellan: First Victory, the second and third books in his Genellan series.
  65. David Criswell and Richie Levine's The Unofficial Battlestar Galactica Companion.
  66. Kevin O'Donnell's Fire on the Border.
  67. Scott Gier's Genellan: Planetfall, the first book in his Genellan series.
  68. Crucible of War a Warhammer 40K anthology edited by Marc Gascoigne and Christian Dunn.
  69. Walter H. Hunt's The Dark Wing.
  70. David Weber's The Apocalypse Troll.
  71. Cyril Robinson's A History of Greece.
  72. Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge's Exordium series (again).
  73. Robert Drews's The Coming of the Greeks.
  74. Alvise Zorzi's Venice: The Golden Age 697-1797.
  75. Gordon Rennie's Shadow Point, a Warhammer 40K novel.
  76. Raphael Sealey's A History of the Greek City States, 700-338 BC.
  77. Ian Watsons's Inquisition War trilogy of Warhammer 40K novels (Draco, Harlequin, and Chaos Child).
  78. Robert Morkot's The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece.
  79. The audiobook version of C.S. Lewis's's Mere Christianity.
  80. Gordon Williamson's U-Boats Bases and Bunkers 1941-45.
  81. Martin van Creveld's Command in War.
  82. Philip de Souza's The Greek and Persian Wars 499-386 BC.
  83. William Hale'sAncient Greece.
  84. Bill Sweetman'sF-22 Raptor.
  85. John McPhee'sThe Deltoid Pumpkin Seed.
  86. The draft of Tom Harlan's House of Reeds, the second of his In the Time of the Sixth Sun series.
  87. Colin McEvedy's The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History.
  88. Ben Counter's Soul Drinker, a Warhammer 40K novel.
  89. The audiobook version of Armand Nicholi's The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life.
  90. The audiobook version of Stephen Weinberg's Dreams of a Final Theory .
  91. M.I. Finley's The Ancient Greeks.
  92. The audiobook version of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
  93. A.T. Olmstead's History of the Persian Empire.
  94. S.F. Tomajczyk's Modern U.S. Navy Destroyers.
  95. Philip de Souza's The Peloponnesian War 431-404 BC.
  96. Stephen Donaldson's Gap series: The Real Story, Forbidden Knowledge, A Dark and Hungry God Arises, Chaos and Order, and This Day All Gods Die.
  97. Michael McCollum's Antares Victory, the long-awaited conclusion to the Antares trilogy.
  98. Dan Abnett's Hereticus, the third book of the Eisenhorn Trilogy of Warhammer 40K novels.
  99. John Romer's Testament: The Bible and History.
  100. Jack McDevitt's A Talent for War, one of my all-time favorite books.
  101. The draft of Tom Harlan's Wasteland of Flint, the first of his In the Time of the Sixth Sun series.
  102. Into the Maelstrom, a Warhammer 40K anthology edited by Marc Gascoigne and Andy Jones.
  103. Barrington J. Bayley's Eye of Terror, a Warhammer 40K novel.
  104. Graham McNeill's Nightbringer, a Warhammer 40K novel.
  105. Words of Blood a Warhammer 40K anthology edited by Marc Gascoigne and Christian Dunn.
  106. Marcus Borg's Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus & the Heart of Contemporary Faith.
  107. Leigh Armistead's AWACS & Hawkeyes: The Complete History of Airborne Early Warning Aircraft.
  108. Jeffrey Lang's Immortal Coil, a Star Trek: The Next Generation novel.
  109. John Shelby Spong's Resurrection: Myth or Reality?: A Bishop's Search for the Origins of Christianity.
  110. Dan Abnett's Malleus, the second book of the Eisenhorn Trilogy of Warhammer 40K novels.
  111. John Shelby Spong's Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture.
  112. Richard Hough's The Hunting of Force Z.
  113. Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
  114. Charles London's Jutland 1916: Clash of the Dreadnoughts.
  115. Dan Abnett's Xenos, the first book of the Eisenhorn Trilogy of Warhammer 40K novels.
  116. Paolo Coletta's Admiral Bradley A. Fiske and the American Navy.
  117. Keith Yates's Flawed Victory: Jutland, 1916.
  118. Eric Groves's Big Fleet Actions:Tsushima, Jutland, Philippine Sea.
  119. David Langford's The Silence of the Langford.
  120. Gordon Rennie's Execution Hour, a Warhammer 40K novel.
  121. John Shelby Spong's Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes.
  122. Rick Shelley's The Buchanan Campaign.
  123. Paula Frederiksen's Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity.
  124. Paula Frederiksen's From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Jesus.
  125. Richard A. Horsley and Neil Asher Siberman's The Message and the Kingdom: How Jesus and Paul Ignited a Revolution and Transformed the Ancient World.
  126. Philip Comfort's Essential Guide to Bible Versions.
  127. Fred Saberhagen's Berserker Man.
  128. Steven Brust's Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille.
  129. Michael Gantt's A NonChurchgoer's Guide to the Bible.
  130. Hyam Maccoby's The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity.
  131. Kevin O'Donnell's Fire on the Border.
  132. Fred Saberhagen's Berserker Fury.
  133. Fred Saberhagen's Shiva in Steel.
  134. W. Micheal Gear's The Artifact.
  135. John McPhee's Looking for a Ship.
  136. Gordon Kendall's White Wing.
  137. Frank Herbert's Under Pressure.
  138. Blake Savage's Assignment in Space with Rip Foster.
  139. Steven McDonald's The Janus Syndrome.
  140. Robert Chase's The Game of Fox and Lion.
  141. James George's History of Warships.
  142. Peter Hamilton's The Confederation Handbook, background essays and such for his Night's Dawn Trilogy.
  143. Nick Secunda, Simon Northwood, and Richard Hook's Early Roman Armies.
  144. Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge's Exordium series.
  145. Isaac Asimov's autobiography I. Asimov.
  146. Robert Mokrot's The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece.
  147. Colin McEvedy's The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History.
  148. Colin McEvedy's The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History.
  149. Bryan Ranft's Technical Change and British Naval Policy 1860-1939
  150. Robert Norwich's A Short History of Byzantium, the condensed version of his three volume history of the Byzantine Empire (which is NOT called A Long History of Byzantium, but maybe should be).
  151. Michael DiMercurio's Voyage of the Devilfish, Attack of the Seawolf, and Phoenix Sub Zero, the first three of his "Patch" Pacino submarine novels.
  152. Robert Chase's The Game of Fox and Lion and >Crucible.
  153. James P. Hogan's Giants novels: Inherit the Stars, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, Giant's Star, and Entoverse.
  154. Walter Jon Williams's Aristoi.
  155. Jim Paul's Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon.
  156. Elizabeth Moon's Heris Serano series (Hunting Party, Sporting Chance and Winning Colors) and the first book of the Esmay Suizma series (Once a Hero).
  157. Tom Clancy's Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier.
  158. John Barnes's The Man Who Pulled Down the Sky.
  159. Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge's Exordium series.
  160. Mark Campbell's Masters Thesis on the development of USN carrier doctrine in the 1930s.
  161. Edward Tufte's Visual Explanations.
  162. Edward Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.
  163. Frank Uhlig Jr.'s How Navies Fight: The U.S. Navy and Its Allies.
  164. William Rehnquist's Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson.
  165. Carl Jensen's 20 Years of Censored News.
  166. Peter Hamilton's A Second Chance at Eden, short stories set in the same universe as his AHREFbkrevficthamilton_night>Night's Dawn Trilogy.
  167. Mark Joseph's To Sink the Potemkin.
  168. Lois McMaster Bujold's Komarr.
  169. Michael DiMercurio's Voyage of the Devilfish and Attack of the Seawolf.
  170. Martin Caidin's The Last Fathom.
  171. Antony Preston's Submarine Warfare.
  172. Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew's Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage.
  173. Patrick Tyler's Running Critical: The Silent War, Rickover, and General Dynamics.
  174. Jon Sumida's In Defence of Naval Supremacy: Finance, Technology, and British Naval Policy, 1889-1914.
  175. Richard Compton-Hall's Sub vs. Sub: The Tactics and Technology of Underwater Warfare.
  176. SFWA's Writing and Selling Science Fiction.
  177. Reginald Bretnor's The Craft of Science Fiction.
  178. Roger Dunham's Spy Sub: Top Secret Mission to the Bottom of the Pacific.
  179. Tom Clancy's SSN: Strategies of Submarine Warfare.
  180. Pierce Askegren's Gateway to the Stars.
  181. Loren Wiseman's GURPS Traveller.
  182. Lois McMaster Bujold's Memory.
  183. Tom Clancy's Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship.
  184. Lois McMaster Bujold's Mirror Dance.
  185. Lois McMaster Bujold's Brothers in Arms.
  186. Norman Friedman's U.S. Submarines Since 1945: An Illustrated Design History.
  187. Lois McMaster Bujold's Cetaganda.
  188. Lois McMaster Bujold's Borders of Infinity.
  189. Clive Ponting's Armageddon: The Reality Behind the Distortions, Myths, Lies, and Illusions of World War Two.
  190. All the books to date in Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series: Shards of Honor, The Warrior's Apprentice, Barrayar, The Vor Game, and Cetaganda.
  191. John Roberts's Battlecruisers.
  192. Anthony Cave Brown's Bodyguard of Lies.
  193. L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s Adiamante.
  194. Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization.
  195. Peter Hamilton's >The Reality Dysfunction and >The Neutronium Alchemist, the first two-thirds of the Night's Dawn Trilogy.
  196. Robert O'Connell's Sacred Vessels: The Cult of the Battleship and The Rise of the U.S. Navy.
  197. Dream Pod 9's Jovian Chronicles Companion.
  198. Wayne Hughes's Fleet Tactics: Theory and Practice.
  199. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
  200. Peter David's Babylon 5: In the Beginning.
  201. Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, (twice) and several magazines about Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. You know, it doesn't bother me so much that they created a movie that is an anathema to everything the book was about; what bothers me is that they (Verheoven, scriptwriter Ed Neumeier, and producers Allan Marshal and Jon Davison) are too hypocritical to admit it.
  202. Steve Miller and Sharon Lee's Two Tales of Korval, a chapbook in the Liaden series. One of the stories concerns the meeting between Val Con and Edger.
  203. W. Micheal Gear's The Artifact.
  204. Steve Miller and Sharon Lee'sLiaden series (Conflict of Honors, Agent of Change and Carpe Diem). [Plan B is now in effect!]
  205. Charles Sheffield's Cold As Ice.
  206. William Tedford's Silent Galaxy.
  207. Dream Pod 9's Jovian Chronicles Rulebook and Jovian Chronicles Mechanical Catalog: Exo-Armos and Spacecraft.
  208. David Weber's Path of the Fury.
  209. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Crown of Empire.
  210. Melissa Scott's The Game Beyond.
  211. M.K. Wren'sThe Phoenix Legacy series.
  212. Arthur C. Clarke's The Songs of Distant Earth.
  213. John Steakley's Vampire$.
  214. Ivan Musicant's Battleship at War.
  215. Warren Norwood's Double-Spiral War trilogy.
  216. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas's The Tribe of Tiger.
  217. Marshall Savage's The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in 8 Easy Steps.
  218. Parke Godwin's Limbo Search.
  219. Robert Forward's Indistinguishable from Magic.
  220. Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
  221. David Pulver's GURPS Reign of Steel.
  222. The Thrones of Kronos, the concluding book of Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge's Exordium series.