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Derek Caelin Locked account

DerekCaelin@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 11 months ago

Seeking a Solarpunk Future

Sci Fi | Cozy Fic | Sustainable Living | Classics | Green Energy | He/Him/His.

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Derek Caelin's books

Currently Reading

2024 Reading Goal

76% complete! Derek Caelin has read 40 of 52 books.

Michael Crichton, Michael Crichton: Sphere (Paperback, 1998, Pan Books) 4 stars

In the South Pacific, 1000 feet beneath the surface, a spaceship rests on the ocean …

Psychological drama under the sea

3 stars

This is my fourth Michael Chrichton book, and I am beginning to understand the template. An expert in his field, pulled away to an isolated location, where humans are meddling with forces beyond their full understanding. The under water setting was unnerving. It worked. I turned the pages.

William L. Shirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. (2003, Textbook Publishers) 4 stars

"Since it's publication five decades ago, William L. Shirer?s monumental study of Hitler?s empire has …

Big takeaways from reading this book:

  1. Aggression was the reason for Nazi Germany's success. In rearming against the contraventions of the Treaty of Versailles, in seizing the Rhineland, Austria, and the Sudetenland, in charging through France's defenses, Hitler grabbed what he wanted and built a myth of invulnerability which made the next conquest more possible. At any point, if he had been seriously opposed, he would have crumbled, but his aura of strength made opposition hard to do.

  2. Aggression was also the reason for Nazi Germany's downfall. Each one of the conquests was a diceroll Hitler won - eventually, the pattern broke and was disasterous. Throughout history Germans had feared the prospect of a two front war, but Hitler started one by simultaneously fighting against the west and invading Russia. Constantly demanding more of his troops than they could do pushed them to their limits, and they achieved a lot …