Books

Day 11: The Age of Gold 

This was great fun. The writing is good, it’s packed with exciting adventure, and it’s got enough history to feel substantial.

More than I expected, a lot of it echoes the tech industry: the frenetic energy, SF as the center of the universe, cycles of boom and bust. Even the $10 cups of coffee. 

It’s the early history of California through the lens of gold prospecting, but it’s also a set of warnings about our own time. 

If you’re new to the Bay Area, I especially recommend reading this. Even if you’re not, it’s worth adding to your list. It’d make a great book for an international flight. If nothing else, it’ll make you grateful that you don’t have to cross the Darien Gap on foot. 

Four stars for its type, but only because its type is so stacked.

Day 12: Dispatches 

A semi-cohesive collection of spectacular gonzo flavored Vietnam War semi-journalism. 

Chaotic neutral on the war book alignment chart. The author worked on the scripts for Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket and this book has a lot of that energy. 

It also created lot of the vibe and a lot of the tropes that show up consistently in other Vietnam War movies. 

It’s heavy on absurdity and you constantly feel like anything could happen, but it never gets too disorienting. If you read it in a single sitting, you’d spend the next week talking like Dennis Hopper’s character from Apocalypse Now. 

Five stars. Definitive work

Read broadly.  Work tirelessly.  Love deeply.

I love almost all military content. Books, movies, fiction, history, all of it. It’s like catnip for me. 

I have a more complicated relationship with actual military action of course, but I unequivocally love military history for sure

Ah I have no Vietnam history book to reply-guy with (Max Hastings’ volume is a tome).

Are you a fellow fan of military history?  Seen a few entries now.