Your grandpa was lucky to have lived through it. The Japanese were preparing to execute all slave prisoners of war in anticipation of the main island campaigns.[1] I think if the nukes had waited another month or two there would have been tens of thousands of allied POWs that never would have made it home.
How We Got to Now, Steven Johnson. Walks you through a half dozen foundational inventions and the process through which they came to be. Fascinating to see what the inventors were trying to solve vs. how the world ended up applying their technology.
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. If you haven't read the book don't judge it by the (awful) movie.
The Liberators: My Life in the Soviet Army. Really opens your eyes to the problems and realities of communism. I love the author's dry sense of humor as he witnesses the absurdity of many of the things he encountered.
Sniper on the Eastern Front, Albrecht Wacker. A view of WWII through the eyes of a German sniper.
Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, Miklos Nyiszli. A view of the holocaust through the eyes of a Jewish doctor in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8664353-unbroken
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1809398/
Unbroken was quite accurate. Another movie "Bridge Over River Kwai" paints a much rosier picture and is too sugar-coated for most survivors.
Thank you for the story.
Your grandpa was lucky to have lived through it. The Japanese were preparing to execute all slave prisoners of war in anticipation of the main island campaigns.[1] I think if the nukes had waited another month or two there would have been tens of thousands of allied POWs that never would have made it home.
1. Happy to lookup/provide links if requested. What immediately comes to mind is the story of Louis Zamperini which was captured in the 2014 movie "Unbroken". The book covers how close they all came to extinction (and is also much better than the movie) Also https://www.quora.com/Near-the-end-of-the-war-did-Japan-plan-to-kill-all-Allied-POWs-Are-there-any-existing-written-orders
How We Got to Now, Steven Johnson. Walks you through a half dozen foundational inventions and the process through which they came to be. Fascinating to see what the inventors were trying to solve vs. how the world ended up applying their technology.
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. If you haven't read the book don't judge it by the (awful) movie.
The Liberators: My Life in the Soviet Army. Really opens your eyes to the problems and realities of communism. I love the author's dry sense of humor as he witnesses the absurdity of many of the things he encountered.
Sniper on the Eastern Front, Albrecht Wacker. A view of WWII through the eyes of a German sniper.
Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, Miklos Nyiszli. A view of the holocaust through the eyes of a Jewish doctor in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Oh boy, you fucked up now. Here are the books I read this past year that I felt were "Good", starting from the most recent :
To Kill A Mocking Bird (Insanely good)
True Grit (Insanely good)
The Little Friend (Good)
Priceless (Very good, about art theft)
The Secret History (Insanely good)
Ready Player One (Good, nerdy)
Shadow Divers (Very good, history nerd book)
Diary of Anne Frank (Very good)
Unbroken (Very good, way better than the movie)
With The Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa (Very good)
Seveneves (good, but I'm a Stephenson fanboy)
The Martian (Very good, but just watch the movie).
I read a bunch of other stuff, but that's what I found really "good" this past year.