| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 59.1 | Tom Clancy. | PEKING::NASHD | Whatever happened to Capt. Beaky? | Sat Jan 20 1990 10:14 | 40 |
| I've almost finished reading the latest novel by Tom Clancy, "Clear
and present danger". It's the fifth book he has written and I will
soon have read all of them.
From what I have learned in this conference TC seems to have done
his research thoroughly.
The titles etc.
1. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER
About the desertion of a Russian submarine commandeer with the
latest Russion sub.
2. RED STORM RISING.
This is about a Russian invasion of Europe.
3. PATRIOT GAMES.
Terrorists attacking the home of a CIA officer.
4. CARDINAL OF THE KREMLIN
The CARDINAL is the code name for an American spy in the Kremlin
and his tactical withdrawal to America.
5. CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
About drug smuggling from Columbia to America.
In this book there are the Coast Guard, the Light Infantry,
helicopter(Pave Low 3!) support, laser guided stealth bombs, Tomcats,
Intruders and a lot of good words about the Sergeants of the American
forces.
In all his books several characters are present. One character, Jack
Ryan, went from a history teacher to a senior CIA official (if an
actor can become President I'll believe almost anything!!).
They are very good books and if you can read them in the order written
so much the better, but it's not essential.
Dave
|
| 59.2 | how did you know that? | MPGS::MCCLURE | Why Me??? | Mon Jan 22 1990 16:44 | 13 |
| RE Tom Clancy
Yes, he did 'do his homework'. So much so that he came under immediate
investigation, once Red Storm Rising was released. The US Intelligence
community wanted to know where he got his information from. Things
were so accurate that they thought someone had supplied him with
classified material. They were very disappointed to find that he
obtained all his information from readily available information and
just pieced it all together. I haven't read any of his works, but
they would be on the top of my list were I to start a 'must read'
list.
Bob Mc
|
| 59.3 | ooops | MPGS::MCCLURE | Why Me??? | Mon Jan 22 1990 16:47 | 2 |
| I meant Hunt for Red October in .2, not Storm.
|
| 59.4 | A Tourist's View of Accuracy | USCTR1::RTRUEBLOOD | Rollyn Trueblood DTN 297-6553 | Mon Jan 22 1990 17:27 | 8 |
| The Red Storm book is not as accurate as one would suspect. The locations
cited in Iceland are examples of homework not being done. You cannot look
down into the bays, nor can you look into the naval base from the hills
cited in the book. A stroll around Iceland with book in hand will
bear this out.
(From a geographical point of view, Childers' "Riddle of the Sands" is much more
interesting.)
|
| 59.5 | Reach out and touch someone | DOCSRV::STARIN | KB1KJ QSX 3885 KHz | Mon Jan 22 1990 18:00 | 17 |
| Re .2 & .4:
There are a couple of other discrepancies albeit minor ones in RSR.
For one thing, one doesn't just point the antenna that comes with
the PSC-3 (the backpack satellite radio used in the book) at a bird,
press the push-to-talk switch on the handset, and get an answer,
particuarly during wartime. Clancy greatly simplified (and for good
reason) the satellite communications portion of the book.
I don't recall excatly if Clancy addressed it but there was also
the matter of batteries for the radio. One doesn't just stroll into
a Radio Shack on Soviet-controlled Iceland and ask for PSC-3 batteries
without arousing some suspicion! :) :) :)
Mark
RMC USNR
|
| 59.6 | NO RAMBO'S! | KYOA::SCHWARTZR | | Mon Feb 12 1990 21:37 | 24 |
| how about these........
FIRST CLASH
The Canadian Army fights WW3. I believe this is manditory reading
for Canadian officers (?). Real military stuff no "magic". Troops
get pissed off at the "BLOWPIPE" gunner because of the "signature"
he leaves.
TEAM YANKEE
The story of a tank team (a tank company with attached a Infantry
platoon) in WW3. As a company commander I thought this was GREAT. Real
life problems. Example: 2 "grunts"- bring the Dragon and lets go get
the T72....ok shoot him...but I never fired a Dragon before, have you?
no, but I had a class on it years ago.
SWORD POINT
Same author as Team Yankee. This has the US against the USSR in
IRAN. also good.
If you can't find the bookd without the author, send me mail and I'll
dig these books up.
RANDY SCHWARTZ
(mail is DARTH::SCHWARTZR)
|
| 59.7 | | AMTRAK::STERLING | Aye, Shiver me Timbers Matey | Wed Feb 14 1990 21:04 | 6 |
| re .6 Randy
The author of Team Yankee and Sword Point is Harold Coyle.
Dave
|
| 59.8 | Let be critical | MKFSA::GOULD | I know this ship like the back of my hand... BONK! | Thu Jul 05 1990 21:35 | 9 |
| Accuracies aside, from a shear entertainment viewpoint, I thought
Clancy's HFRO was Good, RSR---Better, and PG---Poor. I have not
read CAPD, but have heard it's better than PG; Which I found to
be quite farfetched (even from an entertainment viewpoint). I think
all the CIA and Pentagon gladhanding he's gone through has affected
his writing. IMHO.
Fred
|
| 59.9 | IMHO too | SSGVAX::LEONHARDT | | Fri Jul 06 1990 01:20 | 5 |
| HFRO - Excellent
RSR - Better
PG - Poor
COTC - Excellent
CAPD - Very very very good
|
| 59.10 | The 13th Valley | KAOA01::LAPLANTE | | Fri Jul 06 1990 16:48 | 24 |
|
Aaaargh my mind just went into reverse and I can't remember the
author's name.
'The 13th Valley' is probably one of the best Vietnam books I have
read. Definitely not a techno-thriller, but if you want to get inside
a boonierat's head this is excellent.
The author was a correspondent with the Screaming Eagles and
accompanied them on many missions, even receiving the bronze star
for valor. He has based the story on a real mission and has woven
it around the actual occurence reports. An example is that while
a helicopter was destroyed during a medevac the author moved the
incident so that it affected his troop.
He follows a company of infantry day by day. Sometimes it's boring,
sometimes it's deadly but always accurate. There are the short-timers,
the new guys, the REMFs, the cowards, the heroes; they're all here.
Although he preaches a fair bit by having the company commander
recording thoughts on why we have war and its effects, it is worth
reading anyway.
Roger
|
| 59.11 | | JUPITR::WHYNOT | SK2 - USNR | Mon Jul 09 1990 18:01 | 10 |
|
Ref: .9....Right on target....My assessments exactly....I would
expect to see another Clancy either late this year or early next..From
an interview in either Navy Times or SeaClassics, he alluded to him
currently in the process of writing another...
Anyone read Red Phoenix?
sw
|
| 59.12 | Delveccio | SSVAX2::LEONHARDT | | Tue Jul 10 1990 16:12 | 5 |
| re: .10
Concur - great book
Might also try "Word of Honor" by Devalle (I think)
|
| 59.13 | Gerald Seymour's latest. | DUCK::NASHD | | Fri Mar 15 1991 13:57 | 21 |
| My wife was in our local library yesterday and took out a book she
thought might interest me. The author is Gerald Seymour ( I have to
leave several months between reading his books because they are so
similar ) who also wrote "Harry's game", which is probably his most
famous book to date.
Anyway from the bit that I've read so far the book has the usual
mixture of FBI, CIA, British Secret Service, Mossad etc. But what
surprised me was the fact that it includes the Iraq invasion of Kuwait!
The invasion is referred to later in the book so I don't know yet just
how much is included. But Mr Seymour certainly hasn't wasted any time,
it's the first fiction book that includes references to the invasion
that I've seen.
By the way, an Iraqi is killed by Mossad. An FBI agent is killed and
his friend seeks revenge.....
The book is called "Condition Black"
Dave
|