Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Sci-Fi Prophet...

To all those that know me well, you know that one of my favorite authors is William Gibson. I find it fascinating how he has used fictional tech in his books and how it has "come to life". In his book All Tomorrow's Parties, he has done it again. I am used to seeing this done in SLA modeling for prototype manufacturing applications, but this takes it a step further and uses actual plastic resin to make the parts. Check out the link here. It's REALLY cool stuff...

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Book Review - Panzer Commander

For those that know me, I am an amateur WWII historian. My interests are based in the European theatre, both the German conquest of 1938 and 1939, the Russian campaign in 1941 and 1942, and the subsequent Allied invasion in 1944 and 1945. As such, I am always on the lookout for new books that appeal to my historical tastes.

I had the pleasure of finishing a new book this afternoon. Based on recommendations from the Gamesquad ASL forums (a WWII tactical level board wargame and my other main hobby), I picked up Panzer Commander, by Hans von Luck. Hans von Luck was the commander of the 7th and 21st panzer divisions under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. As a strict study of tactical doctrine, the book is somewhat lacking. I had hoped for a little more in that arena. However, it was an extremely pleasant read. I am a big fan of the writing style of Stephen Ambrose and this book presented his history and doings in much the same vein. I was particularly struck with the sentiment (and I have seen it in other books) of camraderie between former enemies (soldiers from different armies): German and Russian, German and American, German and French, and German and British. Having never been in the military, the respect that seems to exist, even for enemies, between professional soldiers is very appealing. The distinction between the Weremacht and the SS also struck me as profound, and seemed to be readily accepted, even by von Luck's Russian captors.

If you are looking for a strict study of tactical/strategic doctrine, I'd suggest that you keep looking - there are other books out there that cover the subject better (BH Liddel Hart's "Strategy" for one). If you want a decent feel of what being a officer in the German Army during WWII was like, this is an excellent read.