Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Read: "Battlelines: the last good war" by James Reasoner.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Read: "Killing Floor" by Lee Child
Read: Killing Floor by Lee Child, 1997, 0515123447.
Very
good. This is the fourth Jack Reacher book I've read. Two of those
novels were so-so. Some of the mystery aspects were good in those two
books but the stories ended up blah. I suppose Reacher himself is the
real draw for readers anyway.
Reacher
is eating breakfast in a small town
in and arrest him for murder. Several hours before, and a few miles up
the road, a guy had his face shot off and was kicked to a pulp. The
usual happens: Reacher does really smart things, Reacher out thinks
people, Reacher draws on his extensive experience, Reacher wears the
same clothes, Reacher pours the pork to a gal cop, Reacher uses his
bulk and muscle to kill without remorse.
The
plotting was good. Of the four Child books I have read there are one or
two things that are a real stretch. This one has the town being paid
off at $1,000 to each shop owner with the town leadership not only
rotten but viciously violent. I liked this one though. It was fun to
read.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Read: "Long Road Home: one step at a time" by G.B.Trudeau
That was quick.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Flipped Through: "Ditch Medicine" by Hugh L. Coffee
Read about this online and reserved it.
An introductory technical guide. More for third world, and disaster medicine. Made me think more of medics or special forces soldiers out in the far boonies without hospital care.
Interesting to look through because it goes beyond first aid or advanced first aid. Has instruction on field techniques for intravenous therapy, decompression and drainage of the chest, infected wounds - including photos of a gun shot wound through the foot, small wound repair - with illustrations of a buttocks injury opened up and bandaged. The amputations section is gruesome, "The PCHP holds the amputation knife firmly in his hand ans starts the incision at the side of the extremity opposite to where it stands...after the deep muscles have been retracted, the periosteum of the bone is incised and the femur sawn through flush with the retracted muscle."
TO GOOGLE SEARCHERS: I read several good comments about this book and that is why I took a gander at it. But, I cannot vouch for the authenticity of those reviewers or their training or skills; my experience is limited to very basic first aid instruction. If you search through some of the online forums for guns, police, or survival you'll likely find more information on Coffee's book and similar books.