Cannonball Read 9

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

It was “Untold”, don’t let it be unheard.

The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper

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The recommendation of a friend spurred the timing of my reading of The Outpost but I intended to read it for some time.  It’s written by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and made me a fan of his for life.  This is why it was originally a part of my to-read list: In 2009, I was deployed to Iraq.  I’d been in the Army almost three years and I spent the majority of my deployment on a staff in Baghdad.  I worked the night shift that year from the bowels of Al-Faw Palace, one of Saddam’s more extravagant palaces, for the […]

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9/14/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:2 |

Ocean of Testosterone

Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army by Kayla Williams

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I bought this book for the title. What I got was an insightful look at the human condition as seen through the eyes of a fellow service member. I joined the Navy at a young age and it’s very different from the Army. Yet many of the experiences William’s describes are similar to those I’ve encountered in my career. Reading this book felt like I was both watching the early years of my career and learning about a whole new world that is the Army. Williams is honest about her time in Army. She doesn’t try to gloss over her […]

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5/10/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:2 |

Shark Repellent Was Designed to Act as a Placebo

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach

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The past few years I have been working slowly but surely through the works of Mary Roach. I find her style to be intoxicating, even if her subjects seem a little outside my own personal interests. When announced that her latest book would be about the science of war I was immediately wondering how her light-hearted and comedy heavy style would work with this subject. Once I realized that she was, as usual, going to focus on the weird eddies of science and discovery. In her introduction, she refers to herself as “the goober with a flashlight stumbling into corners […]

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3/17/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:15 |

The Forgotten War need not be forgettable.

Colder Than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir by Joseph R. Owen

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I finished this book last weekend, but haven’t really had the time to review it. Both my wife and son are taking a nap, and I’m in the middle of Hurricane Matthew, so I figured now is as good a time as any. The Korean War isn’t called “The Forgotten War” for nothing. I’ve been a history buff as long as I can remember, and I don’t think I’ve ever read a book or seen a documentary about it. Other than M*A*S*H*, I don’t think I’ve seen any movies or TV shows about it (and, growing up, I always thought […]

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10/8/2016 | 's CBR8 Review No:89 |

Disposable tin soldiers

Hill 488 by Ray Hildreth and Charles W. Sasser

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A child of the 80s, I grew up on a distorted view of Vietnam. Free love was a whispered aphorism that seemed almost impossible in the age of Ronald Reagan, televangelism, and HIV. Peace on earth, a barely remembered dream amidst the bluster of Cold War bravado and the cinematic blood lust of Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The 60s were dead. But in its place, like some perverse cosmic satirist with a zeitgeist-altering pen, was a hyper-visualized mirror image that exaggerated its more memorable aspects. And in this tangled, half-remembered milieu was the deeply entrenched association between […]

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8/11/2016 | 's CBR8 Review No:68 |

Like the war itself, I want to support it but find myself turning away from the lies and delusion

American Sniper by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwan and Jim DeFelice

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This is easily the most controversial book I’ve read for the Cannonball. First: about me. I was never in the military. But I was an army brat, and have spent most of my life around military or ex-military. While I am under no illusions about my qualifications to speak on war, I do think I understand the kind of person Chris Kyle was (in the most general sense). I’ve known people like him (in temperament if not experience) my whole life. And, frankly, I don’t like them. We just don’t mesh well. I try to take a more nuanced view […]

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8/5/2016 | 's CBR8 Review No:66 |

To stare into the abyss and see a vacant soul

Objective Troy: A Terrorist, A President, and the Rise of the Drone by Scott Shane

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Objective Troy (2015) Not previously reviewed for CBR. On September 30, 2011, the US assassinated Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Kahn in Al Jawf, Yemen. Both men were American citizens, though only Awlaki had been targeted by the US government. Two weeks later, Awlaki’s 16-year old son, Abdulraman al-Awlaki, was also killed in a drone strike in Yemen, though he wasn’t specifically targeted. He, Awlaki, came to national prominence as a “moderate voice” of Islam following the devastation of 9/11, giving numerous interviews to the media; though he had attained some renown in the Muslim community for producing English language recordings […]

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7/26/2016 | 's CBR8 Review No:61 |

You are entering the Red Zone. Proceed at own risk. When in doubt, run.

City of Mirrors: A Novel (Book Three of The Passage Trilogy) by Justin Cronin

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I consider myself very lucky that I discovered Justin Cronin’s “The Passage” series only last summer, so the wait for City of Mirrors was much less painful and dramatic than it would have been if I’d been reading in real time: The Passage was published in 2010 and The Twelve in 2012. City of Mirrors came out four weeks ago. That’s not on a George R. R. Martin level, but still could have been a brutal wait for me. Whew! I love this series. I loved this final book. I wish there were more. But also, City of Mirrors really […]

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Purchase City of Mirrors: A Novel (Book Three of The Passage Trilogy) by Justin Cronin or any item from amazon via our link.

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7/23/2016 | 's CBR8 Review No:30 |

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