051323 • Thrift Store Finds

On To Berlin • Turns out, I already have this one. Forgot to check my list.

The Other Victions / The Unforgiving Minute • Two books with first-hand accounts, my favorite!

The Legacy of Conquest • What I read of this before purchasing, the author was making examples of perspectives in history, such as the Indians vs settlers, and why they each thought the way they did. This makes the argument of simple conquest much more difficult to explain. So many details to simple assumptions about controversial historical events.

Post War: A History of Europe Since 1945 • A topic that is under recognized; what happened within Europe after the war ended; a big book, and from the short amount I read before purchasing impressed on me, a bargain.

Battles That Changed History • One of those big, well-illustrated books that I used to buy at Barnes & Noble or Waldenbooks, when they had discount sections of great books. They don’t do that anymore.

Beethoven: String Quartets – Takács Quartet • All three of these multi-disc sets were in perfect condition, the best deal of the day!

042923 • Thrift Store Finds

One of my favorite topics is first-hand accounts, especially regarding The Great War. To go into a thrift and find a book like this, a book I was totally unaware of, and in great shape and on sale? it is comparable to the Gulag book I bought last week! And, it turns out that I have the same authors’ book on World War II already!

Surviving Hitler • Amazing that I didn’t have this book already.

To the Shores of Tripoli • Again, amazing how I didn’t have this book already.

The Life of Andrew Jackson • I like older books, in both good shape, and bad. This one is in great shape, but I really don’t like the way thrift stores just slap their super-sticky price stickers on old books. I was able to get the sticker off with no problem this time, luckily.

032523 • Thrift Store Finds

Guderian: Creator of the Blitzkrieg is one of those books that, if I’m correct, came from a military book club. This means that I’d never see this again at a thrift unless I was very lucky, based on the fact that I have never seen it before, or I’d have it by now.

Vietnam: The Secret War • I have plenty of books on Vietnam, and was going to pass on this one, but upon opening it… well, it’s a worthy buy. I have to stop opening these books.

Aces Against Japan: The American Aces Speak • I really like books that have the actual stories from the people who lived them.

The Day the Red Baron Died • The arial battles of World War I are fascinating, as is the Baron.

300 • Troy: Director’s Cut • Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut • I have been eying this for a few weeks, and finally got someone to help me get it out of the display case, which is tough to do on a Saturday. I already have 300 on Blu-ray, and Troy on DVD, but this is the uncut Troy, and I get the Alexander movie tossed in as part of the deal. I don’t think Alexander will be a great movie, but I’ll at least take a look since this kind of epic doesn’t happen too often, especially lately. At only two dollars, this was a great deal!

I was going to get The Grey and Mad Men: Season 5 on Blu-ray as well, but they were missing discs. Boo! At least I have them on DVD.

031823 • Thrift Store Finds

I’m a big fan of audio drama and used to listen to a ton of it back in the day. I found the below Ray Bradbury Science Fiction Theatre set on cassette, for a buck-fifty (Half-price Saturday). What a deal! I just have to record it into my computer (I’m no stranger to doing this).

We went to the new ARC on 44th and Wadsworth. Just what we need, another one to visit!

Putin’s World was published recently, right before the current war escalated last year. I bought another recent book on Putin just a week or two ago as well. I’m surprised people aren’t reading these.

Public Enemies: Mobsters. Interesting stuff.

Can’t have enough Ninth Symphony. Beethoven.

Berlioz in Paris is part of a series (Residence) that, back in 1990, I started buying brand-new with Albinoni in Venice. It looks like there are eighteen of these, and I have nine.

The Mozart Divertimenti is a double-disc for the price of one, in perfect shape.

Point of No Return Soundtrack: I am a fan of this movie and the movie it is based on, La Femme Nikita, and the first series from the early 2000’s (Not the second series that ran on network television; awful in comparison). I didn’t remember much about the music, but Hans Zimmer was involved and I had been listening to the Christopher Nolan Batman soundtracks all week, and I had actually come across this Point of No Return Soundtrack when I was looking up other things he’d composed. And, that same week, I find it at a thrift store. Wow! But, unfortunately, there are only a few good tracks on it, the rest are all vocals in a style I don’t care for. At least I only paid a buck-fifty for it.

Grieg: Symphony in C minor: Everything Grieg is good; however I haven’t really connected with his symphony. but I won’t stop trying.

021123 • Thrift Store Finds

Pearl Harbor: The Story of the Secret War • This was published in 1947, so not that long after the actual event, and before so much more had been known. Books like this are interesting in part because they are fresh from the incident.

Herbert von Karajan: New Year’s Concert Vienna 1987 (DVD) • I don’t find these very often, but this is the third dvd like this and quite a good buy!

Civilisation • Looks like a National Geographic book, but it isn’t… always an interesting subject.

Above and Beyond • Accounts of heroism that most of us can’t comprehend.

The American Heritage History of the Making of the Nation • I keep passing on this, and the Book of Indians, but finally I bought them, in part to my growing interest in the old west and the American Revolution. I also purchased a great set of around twenty books on the American Indians about five years ago (It wasn’t easy to do, and I never saw this set complete, ever) for only twenty dollars, and these in addition to my Time/Life Old West set make for a great addition to my library.

Brassey’s Modern Fighters • I didn’t need this one, I have the older, out-of-date books on “Modern Fighters” everywhere! But it looks pretty good inside, so hey.

The Death of Hitler • A fairly recent book, so it was nice to find this one as I’ve read a lot on the topic, and actually started reading the well-regarded epic biography by John Toland last night.

Modern Air-Launched Weapons • Turns out, I already had this one. Grr.

History Channel: Civil War Combat • I’m going to watch this after I watch the Grant mini-series again.

Japan 1941 • Always an interesting topic.

020423 • Thrift Store Finds

Brandenburg Concertos • I easily have twenty or thirty different renditions of these concertos… but there is a reason it is such a staple of classical music. This two-disc set was in perfect condition, down to the booklet, and only a buck-fifty. It’s sad to me that nobody even knows what this is, and what is considered good music anymore.

Great American Showpieces • This is a timely find as I’ve been listening to a lot of American composers lately.

Not I • This author has written other books on the war, I’d thought he was just another historian, but rather, he’s a survivor of it. I’ve read another first-hand account from a young person’s perspective, it is a part of the war most people don’t even consider.

Mozart / Salieri Concertos • I used to not like the flute in orchestral or small group performances, but after John Williams’ “Rey’s Theme” from The Force Awakens (Never watching that movie again), that one piece changed everything for me. It’s amazing, the power one piece of music can have on one’s view of things.

“Overthere”

I bought this for a dollar at Mile High Flea Market in the early 1980s. I remember some guy walking up to me and offering me two dollars for it, and I wisely refused. This person, I can imagine, either thought that I was going to abuse this unique antique since I was just a little kid. That’s fair. Or, he wanted to sell it for a lot of money. I’m not actually sure what this is worth, but it is most likely from the time period, which puts it at over a hundred years old.

It’s basically a drawing (original?) that has been sealed onto wood with some sort of clear coating. This kind of artwork is something that was common at the time, especially on postcards, and I think it is a pretty good piece of artwork. Imagine a time before television and radio, where the only knowledge of anything came through heresy, books, and newspapers, what this kind of image impressed on a person.

Thanks to my many bookshelves, I have only two pieces of art on my wall, and this is one of the two. I’m never taking it down!

Links • Geopolitics, History, and Current Conflicts

Here are the sources I follow daily for information and analysis of Geopolitics, history and current conflicts:

Preston Stewart – US Army veteran with a focus on both current and historical topics.

Ryan McBeth – Army veteran with incredible analysis not found in normal media, debunking common assumptions.

Andrew Bustamante – Former CIA operative who offers insight nobody else can provide.

Combat Veteran Reacts – American combat vet with news and current map analysis.

Artur Rehi – An Estonian soldier/YouTuber with great insight into the Russo-Ukraine war.

Anders Puck Nielsen – Military analyst based in Denmark.

James Ker-Linsay – Professor from the University of Kent, who holds a PhD in International Conflict Analysis.

Konstantin Kisin – Russian-English author and podcaster.

Patrick Bet-David – Host of the Valuetainment podcast on YouTube, focusing on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and capitalism.

TIKhistory – TIKhistory is a YouTuber who creates detailed and accurate historical documentaries that aim to put TV documentaries to shame. With a focus on World War 2 and similar topics, TIK seeks to dispel the myths and distortions of the past so that we can learn from it and not make the same mistakes again.

Binkov’s Battlegrounds – Ever wondered how any given two countries would fare in a war? Or how certain weapon systems fared against each other? Or simply how missiles or stealth or anything military related actually works? Binkov gives you those answers!

Mark Felton – Mark Felton Productions is a STRICTLY NON-POLITICAL history channel presenting films by leading military historian and author Dr. Mark Felton on a variety of fascinating historical subjects, with particular focus on WWII and the Cold War.

Paul Warburg – He has replaced Peter Zeihan for me, in providing YouTube geopolitics discussed on long walks with a GoPro.

Jack Carr – Former Navy SEAL sniper and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Terminal List series and the Danger Close podcast.

Shawn Ryan – A former SEAL, and hosts a great conversational podcast: The episode he did with the World War II flamethrower vet was the best I’ve heard.

MilitaryLand.net – Daily details regarding the war in Ukraine.

Jake Broe – Air Force Veteran and Pro-Ukranian YouTuber.

Denys Davydov – Ukrainian pilot with news and current map analysis.

The Russian Dude – Daily updates on Russian-Ukrainian war. 9-12 minute summaries of all the major events that happened that day, including footage from Ukraine.

Vlad Vexler – Moral philosopher with deep analysis on the Ukraine war and associated topics.

NFKRZ – A Russian YouTuber who has fled Russia, and vlogs about current events regarding Russia and life after leaving it.

Natasha’s Adventures – Natasha is from the Far East, right next to China and Japan, but fled Russia recently. Interesting long-form videos on life in Russia and beyond.

IN THE DOGHOUSE:

Zeihan on Geopolitics – Geopolitical strategist with insight on global issues. Many of his predictions are spoken with great confidence, but don’t come to pass.

Neil deGrasse Tyson – I can’t say whether his astrophysics is faulty; but once he ventures out of his realm of expertise, he loses scientific analysis and only believes things through an emotional lens. On one scientific topic that he was losing an argument on, his defense was, and I quote: “Why do you care! Why do you care! Why do you care!” That kind of passionate view on a scientific topic destroyed his credibility, in my view, and makes him more of the “Bill Nye, the Science Guy” of astrophysics.