Iron Sea: How the Allies Hunted and Destroyed Hitler's Warships

[YM-Mundrabilla]

Book:

'Iron Sea: How the Allies Hunted and Destroyed Hitler's Warships'

is currently on special at The Book Grocer here in Melbourne.

Has anyone read it?
Can anyone recommend (or not), please?

Hardcover, 300+ pages for $A25 plus $10 post so hardly a high risk purchase but I thought that one of you might have already read it?

Geoff (YM)

[Engine Serang]

Haven't read it but reviews very positive. I can read about 8% of it on Kindle, and will do so, and report back.

When we come across an Australian who tells us he can read we will do all we can to encourage him.

[YM-Mundrabilla]

Thanks ES.
You will just have to trust me when I say that I can read.
The Australian site had no reviews so grateful for your response.
I will invest $A25 and get a copy. I find paper based reading easier than electronic for some reason.
Half-way through Operation Pedestal by Max Hastings. A good read so far.
Regards
Geoff

[Dartskipper]

Originally Posted by Engine Serang

Haven't read it but reviews very positive. I can read about 8% of it on Kindle, and will do so, and report back.

When we come across an Australian who tells us he can read we will do all we can to encourage him.

My Dad and Grandfather were Australian, but I'm only half Australian. Should I read only half of the book?

[Engine Serang]

In Dixieland Jazz circles anyone who could read music was called Professor, and rightly so. Professor Dartskipper sounds so much better than Bruce Dartskipper. Hope you agree. And anyways a half Australian is better than a full Kiwi, a race of rugby cheats.

[YM-Mundrabilla]

Originally Posted by Dartskipper

My Dad and Grandfather were Australian, but I'm only half Australian. Should I read only half of the book?

Only the LH pages perhaps.

[Engine Serang]

The last time I read a book with a view to précising it was 1968. It was for "O" Level English Literature and the book was Pride and Prejudice.

I can see now why I dropped English, German, Art History (still a hobby), Chemistry and Biology (still interested in the dirty bits) and took Maths and Physics for "A" Level. Nevertheless I stuck to my plan and read the Prologue in The Iron Sea. Had I not had an inkling of Simon Read's work and the subject matter I would not have been inspired to continue, but I soldiered on (Pun, I believe) and found Chapter 1 less dense and more interesting. There the Sample ended.

Would I buy it? Yes I will, Hardback £20, not a bargain but no more than a couple of coffee's and sticky buns.

[Malcolm G]

Mention of Art History…
Back in the day, a student girlfriend lent (gave) me a book on basics of same.
I had been perusing it for an hour or before it occurred to me that as someone had taken the trouble to write it then perhaps I should be reading the printed bits in between the pictures…

Re book, Iron Sea…. Currently on Amazon, £10 for hardback, seems a bargain.

[Engine Serang]

Iron Sea…. Currently on Amazon, £10 for hardback, seems a bargain.

It certainly is, Amazon is offering me the hardback for £19.91. What have I done to upset Amazon?

[Malcolm G]

Sorry, it was Amazon marketplace and there was only one available at that price

[Varley]

Only the clever boys got to do 'literature'. (As with Greek at St.Wilfrid's). At Reeds they no longer sought to teach the Latin even we stupids had had to take until then. Biology (dropped), Chemistry and Physics to A level which is another boast as I only managed O level passes.

Became a little less stupid after a year or two at sea but now reverting to type.

[YM-Mundrabilla]

The benefits of living in the Colonies .......................
The Book Grocer here in Melbourne has 16 copies for $A25 each which I guess is about 13 British pounds.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to ship beyond Australia and New Zealand.

[Dartskipper]

Reading the reminiscencing over school books and studies, it occurred to me the other day that approximately 66.66% (one of my Maths teachers insisted on precision!) of what I studied and/or learnt at Grammar School was of no use whatsoever when I entered the world of earning a living. Physics was probably the subject most relevant to my various careers, followed by Maths, English Grammar, and the meteorology part of Geography. As for the rest, I think I forgot most of it after a year or two.

[Engine Serang]

Or 66.67% correct to two decimal places.

Spent half my time in college pouring over Steam Tables, Entropy and Enthalpy, great stuff. Sailed on 4 steamships and if the plant was a wee bit giddy I never pulled out my Steam Tables I did as all real engineers did, I tapped the pressure gauges with the handle of an 8inch Bacho shifter. Never failed to work.

[Howard]

Originally Posted by Engine Serang

Or 66.67% correct to two decimal places.

I did as all real engineers did, I tapped the pressure gauges with the handle of an 8inch Bacho shifter. Never failed to work.

As a Fourth Engineer back in the early seventies I watched a Chief doing just that. He seemed very upset when I offered him a two pound hammer and suggested that it would be more suitable for breaking the gauge.

[Engine Serang]

I'm pretty sure the Second and Third wondered how the hell this dude (you) made it to Fourth but a quiet word over a can or two of Tennants re-educated you.
Listening to such advice and keeping well away from the Chief would ease your climb up the greasy pole to Burra Mistri Sarb.
2lb hammer............ I'd have shoved it pein end first.