Category: books

113024 • Thrift Store Finds

Duel of Eagles • This was in the Fiction section, and is a reprint of his 1970 volume. The author actually commanded a fighter squadron in the Battle of Britain!

Modern Fighting Helicopters • I have several books in this series, and I remember seeing this one and for some reason, didn’t get it. It was probably not on half-off, and when I went to get it the next week it was probably gone. That is how that works. But, now it is part of the Grand Library! It has some really neat diagrams and illustrations, and even goes so far as to show through illustrations common helicopter flight and fight tactics.

Battles and Battlecruisers • I’ve been reading a different book on Battleships, after reading the Time/Life book on Dreadnoughts, so this was an easy choice. There are a few other books published in this style that this goes with.

The New York Times: Complete World War II 1939-1945 • It is fun to read these as they were so wrong about so much back in the day. Something that hasn’t chanced at all. It even has a DVD with almost 100,000 articles!

Smithsonian: History • I really like these Smithsonian books. I was passing this one up because it was full price, but if you see in the recent post about how I bought the same book again on accident, this is the one I used the return credit on. I decided to drive back and use the credit on the full price of this book as opposed to hoping it would be there next Saturday for half-off. And, I didn’t want to have a doubled book purchase on my mind all week long.

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz • These books are fascinating reads, the first-hand accounts of people who went through so much.

U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth • I went from having zero books on Grant not so long ago, to having several good ones now. All due to that History Channel miniseries about him. A nice break from reading about dictators, there are actually interesting leaders that aren’t evil to read about! Winston Churchill is one I need to read more about and already have numerous books on.

102624 • Thrift Store Finds

Eyewitness Pacific Theater • I have the companion book “Eyewitness D-Day”, so this was a nice find, and will compliment my other volume.

Victory at Sea • Wow, the cover of this one reminds me of another book I have. I hope I didn’t already have it!

Stalingrad to Berlin • Same with this one. When you have a lot of books on the same topic, sometimes they start looking alike.

Hitler: Downfall 1939-1945 • This is the second of two books, but published four years ago so the info inside is going to be different from the 1967 book I read on the same subject. I have others like this but the more views I read on this, the better.

It is so interesting to read old books. This one is from 1902, which is more than a decade before World War I, and a decade before the loss of the Titanic. Yet, there is still a lot that is correct in it which can still be learned from. I have to wonder exactly when all of these notes were taken, I think it would have to be soon after the book was originally purchased, so more than a hundred years ago.

A FEW DAYS LATER: I found the American History version of this book at a yard sale for two bucks! It was published ten years after the Western Europe one! What are the odds? I think these history books were for students and many were made. But still, a neat, and timely find!

051824 • Thrift Store Finds

A book on Grant, and on Lee, in the same day! Amazingly enough, between my dad and myself, we only had… zero books on Grant. Now, we’re up to three. This is really odd considering how many Civil War books we have. This book on Lee is a deluxe reprint, amazing nobody else picked it up, and I got it for just under two bucks.

Never in Finer Company is only a few years old, and on the Great War. I never find books like this at thrifts. The Last of the Doughboys was probably from the same person, and I bought it since it was a hardback, I have already been reading the paperback copy that I have.

Fighting Vehicles is another one of those books I don’t understand why I haven’t seen before.

021724 • Thrift Store Finds

There was snow this morning, and a lot of ice on my windshield and windows, but after backing my car up out of the shade the sun took care of things rather quickly! Not a lot of people were out today, at least at first. The roads were fine. We did our usual stop at Culver’s, which is always great! And for once, we got my favorite seat at the window where we get to watch cars go through the drive-thru, instead of the parking lot, and nobody was sitting near us even though things were busy and this was a usually busy area. Pesky people and their needs! We hit three ARC thrifts and called it a day.

I saw this “Marches of all Nations” a few weeks ago, but didn’t look at it. I’ve been into Marches and Cadences lately, so I gave it a look… didn’t expect to see 8-Tracks in here!

The John Toland/Hitler book, I actually have the two-book version of this, and am about to finish the first book. But I had to buy this combined version, it was only a buck-fifty! There is something to how they published this, with staggered pages, they type they chose and how it fills the page. Plus, it is very interesting stuff, not just about Hitler, but about how Germany grew to do what they did, how the politics worked, and how people work in certain situations… not just in the book, but the parallels to things today, and throughout history. Fascinating stuff. Most people shy away from the subject matter, but that is on top of ignoring history int he first place. This is stuff we need to learn from.

The “Never Call Me a Hero” book is right up my alley because it is a first-person account of Midway. I really like books by the people who experienced the events.

“Ghost Army” details the clever deceptions by the Allies to fool the Germans before D-Day. Not sure they could get away with this now?

“On Killing” is the second, actually, third book I have on the subject of what learning how to kill can do to people over the long run. “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” and “Moral Combat” are the other two. “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” is the most difficult book I’ve ever read, due to the subject matter, and how it was written. I was constantly re-reading paragraphs as to understand them, and I re-read the book when I was done.

Hancock • I watched this a few months ago, and it is actually a pretty good movie. Far better than what Marvel or DC is putting out these days.

Employee of the Month • Not the best comedy, but it’s worth watching. I was in the middle of re-watching this on YouTube, and they moved it behind the pay wall the next day when I went to finish it. I’m already paying them money to watch things. This is why I’m into physical media.

Django Unchained / Passengers • Both of these were still in the wrapper brand-new, for only two bucks!

1911 / Shock Wave • Just because they looked like they might be worth watching…

Sixteen Candles • Not my favorite John Hughes movie, it is more like supplemental material to the Breakfast Club.

Entourage • I watched all of these years ago, and I see them a lot at the thrifts for next to no money. What I remember most is the really great performance and character of the guy who was their lawyer. I didn’t think I’d see this movie again, so hey. I think I’m going to get the first season only (a buck-fifty) next time I see it, just to see if I really do want to see these again. Also, this was in the wrapper, so that was three brand-new ones today!

Thunderbolt • Looks like a good documentary on the plane that preceded the A-10 Thunderbolt II / Warthog.

Careful music selections: the Ravel is a double-CD in perfect shape, the Rimsky-Korsakov is a dual CD as well, and the Sibelius is a composer I’ve only come to appreciate in the last few years, and for some reason BIS puts out a lot by him.