Hello C-133 crew-members! I must apologize for falling behind my personal commitment to post a book review once a month that somehow ties into our USAF service no matter how tenuous the tie may be. But, I, as you, was very busy with the summer as that is when the kids and grandkids visit, perfecting my golf swing is a high priority, and the daylight hours take away from my time for reading and writing. Also, during this summer we began to market our house in order to move to Reston, VA, to be close to our youngest son and his family. We continue that effort, to no avail, as the Delaware housing market has flat lined.
We are now spending our 5th winter in Key West where I mostly golf, fish, and read while Sue continues with her painting. Key West is an easygoing town loaded with cultural activities that are easily accessible and also has a large military presence. The Navy’s East coast Top-Gun fighter training base, Boca Chica NAS is next door, and the F-16’s and F-18’s are in the air as I write. My first official USAF mission with the 39th ATS was to Key West during the Cuban Missile Crisis where KW was turned into an invasion port. Oddly, it was Florida’s largest city at the end of the 19th century and has loads of history. Visit, if you can.
Now that I am settled in here for the winter, I have begun to commit several of my year’s readings to short reviews that hopefully provide you with enough ‘meat’ so that you may enjoy them as well. So, I thought that I would try something different and share my winter list with you in the event you find them of interest for your winter hibernation as well.
As you can tell from my past reviews, I like to write about the wisdom of history as it traces our nation’s rich intellectual legacy largely garnered through the invaluable lessons of Western thought that, in turn, lead us to insights about the three hundred years of Capitalism that has shaped our country and provided us with a very rich personal and national life. I would say, a life beyond our wildest dreams; one desired by all others; one to be protected for our progeny from future financial or villainous calamity.
But, mostly, I like to read about the every day American who stepped forth upon the world stage to represent us in times of great national or international peril with their unsuspected innate abilities to seize the moment and rescue the day regardless of its great personal danger. That singular aspect, some call it the essence of American Exceptionalism, has been the history of America and fosters ordinary citizen desire to protect our freedom and our Republic. Those moments of national danger also teach us much about the risks and rewards of being a superpower. C-133 crew-members were an important part of such history during the latter part of the 20th century and we celebrated many of the events that involved our uniformed service during our last reunion.
So, I follow now with my winter 2012 reading list that feasts upon America’s past as it has been molded into greatness through the profundity of its leaders imbued with western thought. Enjoy!
1. Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace, Robin Olds
2. Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties
3. The Complete Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes
4. Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
5. The Art of War by Sun-Tzu, The New Translation
6. Gabriel Allon Series by Daniel Silva
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