Currently reading: The Veteran by Frederick Frosythe. A book of short stories. After enjoying Avanger so much, I figured I would try another Forsythe novel.
The Forest an Edward Rutherford novel in the style of Sarum and London . It's long, and it's hard to keep concentration all the way through, especially when distracted by other things I need to read. Usually it's worth it though. I have set this aside for now.
Finished reading: Avenger by Frederick Frosythe. The best Forstyhe novel I have read in a long time. (And only one in a long time if this list says anything.) Riptide by Licoln Child and Douglas Preston. Perhaps my favourite Child/Preston book so far, again. Mount Dragon by Licoln Child and Douglas Preston. Perhaps my favourite Child/Preston book so far. Reliquary by Licoln Child and Douglas Preston. Good sequel to The Relic , though it gets a bit crazy at the end.
The Modigliani Scandal by Ken Follett. OK, novel but nothing brilliant. Though, I at least learned a little about the Italian painter Modigliani.
It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science by various authors. This is the kinda stuff I really like - the really thought provoking discoveries in science, and in this case, the mathematical equations that go along with them. I don't agree that all their choices are truly "beautiful", but you certainly can't argue with equations like E=MC**2 being so nice and compact, as well as saying so much about the world. Of course, my favourite is the Schrodinger wave equation, used in quantum physics, and of which I did my university thesis on.
Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton. It was ok, a typical page-turner, though it is somewhat educational in its dinosaur facts.
The Facts of Death, a James Bond book by Raymond Benson. (Repeat reading).
Zero Minus Ten, another James Bond book by Raymond Benson. (Repeat reading).
The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden. A very accurate history of the Jack the Ripper murders, which dispells many of the rumours and myths associated with some of the theories people have on who Jack really was.
The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy. I like his movies I have seen, so why not give the books a try? Two points bugged me however. I always picture Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan (as he played that character in The Hunt for Red October , rather than Harrison Ford) and Clancy has an annoying habit of continually changing how he refers to a character - first name, last name, nickname, all in a space of a few lines.
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. An interesting and acclaimed book about the first month of World War 1. Although the book was received very well by critics (it won a Pulitzer Prize), I noticed a couple of quite simple errors in the book, which leads to the question: If a couple simple things are wrong, how many of the more complex analyses, and things the average person doesn't know, are wrong? The author also falls into the trap some American authors fall into - injecting irrelevant American material into the story to help connect it with American readers. (The Americans wouldn't enter the war for another 3 years, yet there were some American events and references to American Politics that really didn't have much to do with the story.)
The Man With the Golden Gun A James Bond novel by Ian Fleming. Read it to try to find a scene where Bond plays blackjack. Also scanned Diamonds Are Forever where I found such a scene (as I expected) but it did not have the information I was seeking. (Repeat readings)
History of the Second World War by Liddel Hart. Excellent analysis of the second world war.
Hockey Night in Scotland . A cute kids book I got for Christmas. It features a Scottish hockey team playing the Beaverbrook Canooks team from Canada. Members of the Scottish team include some thistles, the Loch Ness monster and Conner E. Sean, their leader.
Tiger - a hockey story . An autobiography by Dave "Tiger" Williams, the tough Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player from the 1970s. Interesting to hear what he has to say about other players and about the Toronto and Vancouver organisations. (Repeat reading)
Cold . A John Gardner James Bond novel. It starts kind of different then is good for a while then loses it a bit at the end again. (Repeat reading)
For Your Eyes Only . One of the James Bond novels. (Repeat reading)
About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution . A book about time and the effects that the theory of relativity has on it and what it means to it. OK but nothing too brilliant. (First reading)
Writing:
Wrote a novel which is as yet unpublished. I need to find a literary agent to do that work for me as I don't have the time to get that done. (If you know or are one give me a shout.) I have also begun three other novels, but am more in a thinking stage about these ones.
I have written a number of poems and lyrics just for fun too. I have written a number of articles and so on for motorsports websites and publications.