"On Killing" by Lt Col, USA (ret.) Dave Grossman.

excellent booking examining the psychology behind making an ordinary citizen into a soldier capable of pulling the trigger on another person.

before that "Company Commander" by Charles McDonald. again excellent memoir of WWII replacement officer. he went on to become chief historian for the army.

Whooeee ... Lt. Col Dave!!

He's a very cool guy, great speaker. Good fun at a conference.

I've been meaning to read his book. Thanks for bringing it back to my attention.

it is a very easy read wolf, you could blow through it in a weekend if you wanted.

Oh.....Does he lecture at Sandhurst? Is he a surprisingly young looking chap for that rank and designation? If so he was the fella I saw on a documentary recently "The Truth about killing" He was fascinating

Not Sandhurst thats the english place, whats the US military academy?

he did teach at west point but at the time my edition was published he was on staff at Arkansas State.

as far as good looking? that is kind of subjective and i kind of lean towards leggy brunettes, without, well you know - a penis.

Attractive, yeah, but good looking? Probably depends on lighting.

What I do know is that he gave the best explaination for the action of neurotransmitters in critical incident stress situations ... involved an analogy about a screen door and a pit bull.

I didnt say goodlooking....I said surprisingly young looking for his position. To be credited withthe invention of a whole brand of pshycological study and be claimed in documentaries as " the worlds' leading expert in the psychology of killing" suggested to me someone older, I was surprised when he looked younger thna I had imagined he would.

*chuckles* interesting that both of you equated young looking with good looking though

although.....thinking about it he was attactive in a quirky low key kind of a way

I just strip-mined the public libraries of Allegheny County to set me up for the rest of the summer. God bless interlibrary loaning.

Finished:

The Teeth of The Tiger by Clancy. Remarkably shorter than his other works, blew through it in a few days. Kind of a tentative nature about the whole thing, like he wanted to get it out in stores before anything more happened in the real world and fucked with his plotline. Not as much politically naivete as Executive Orders or The Bear and The Dragon, but still there.

Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHeye & Jerry Jenkins. I think this is the last book in the Left Behind series, not sure if they're going to keep going. I'd read the rest, so I wanted to see how it was all capped off. It was somewhat funny to watch them sidestep the parts of the Revelations prophecy that they didn't know squat about. I swear, there's a part in the book where a character goes "Why will Jesus be letting Satan back out into the world after a thousand years? Hey, look how shiny Jerusalem is!"

Currently Reading:

Fluke: Or, I Know Why The Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore. Nice to know it's not just the toeing of the sacrilege/blasphemy line in Lamb that drew my appreciation, this guy is genuinely a hilarious and skilled writer. Coming up on the end, worth a read from everything I've seen thus far.

On the Stack:

The Summons and The Last Juror by Grisham

Star Wars: Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn (The father of the Star Wars novel - YAY!)

In The Presence Of Mine Enemies by Harry Turtledove

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Syrup by Maxx Barry (of Jennifer Government fame - good book, that)

The Confusion by Neal Stephenson

Waiting for Pickup:

Bob Woodward's book, the title escapes me at the moment.

The DaVinci Code

Quicksilver by Stephenson

Probably a few more that I can't recall ordering in.

I saw someone recommend just outright purchasing Stephenson's books, as opposed to getting them out of the library due to time constraints. They're right, his stuff alone will break even the stoutest of mule's backs hauling it home, let alone eat up your time. Does no one else have over-the-phone renewal through their library? I refuse to believe that Allegheny County is avant-garde with anything.

At our library the "new book" period is 2 weeks, with a 2 week renewal if nobody else has asked for it. That looks like enough time for me to finish The Confusion--I'm over halfway so far.

Since upgrading to a new catalog system 2? years ago, the Delaware County public library system lets you view your checked-out items on the web and renew them. They are supposed to be adding phone-based renewal, which they do not have at the moment.

I recently finished John Le Carre's "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold", on Jag's recommendation, and I really loved it, I'm looking forward to reading more of his work. I was bitterly disappointed by the ending, until I realised that it was the only ending that would make sense.

Currently reading "Dark Tide I", from the New Jedi Order series.

I read "The Da Vinci Code" a short while ago. It was a pretty quick read, and I guess I enjoyed it, but some of the theories raised in the story were just too implausible for me to remain "in" the story. That said, it was an excellent lazy day diversion.

Edit: fixed a misspelling helpfully pointed out by Lookout, below. :)

The Owner's Manual for the Brain

Good book, but pack a lunch, it's huge.

It's a great cover of many of the governing ideas about the mind, the brain and how they work together to make a person who they are.

is that intrigue for the lactose intolerant?

I'm trying to find the time to get started on Imajica.

"I specialize in unlikely."

I really, really liked that line.

Damn. Spy. Correcting now.

sorry perth - i'm not really that anal retentive, i just couldn't resist.

have i mentioned that Airplane is one of my favorite movies?