Books

[Aerlik]

reading 'Nine Lives' by David Courtney a helicopter pilot in the irish air corp., doing a lot of search and rescue work. super book, well written by a guy who takes time to appreciate where he is. he grew up in tullamore of c of i stock, his dad having served in the british army in world war 2. some great stories there of president robinson visiting the aran islands and a trip with charlie to his blasket island home. the book would make you proud to be irish with guys like him around

heres a review by kevin myres (cant believe i agree with him!)

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/birdseye-view-of-a-rescuer-who-flew-in-the-face-of-fear-1482558.html

Flying a plane in shite weather is tricky enough but a helicopter is many times more difficult due to its designed 'instability'.  I was watching Trawlermen a few weeks back and it was described as the most dangerous job in Britain.  Well, one of the fishermen had to be rescued from a boat 100miles out to sea.  No mention of the danger in flying the chopper!

[muppet]

reading 'Nine Lives' by David Courtney a helicopter pilot in the irish air corp., doing a lot of search and rescue work. super book, well written by a guy who takes time to appreciate where he is. he grew up in tullamore of c of i stock, his dad having served in the british army in world war 2. some great stories there of president robinson visiting the aran islands and a trip with charlie to his blasket island home. the book would make you proud to be irish with guys like him around

heres a review by kevin myres (cant believe i agree with him!)

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/birdseye-view-of-a-rescuer-who-flew-in-the-face-of-fear-1482558.html

Flying a plane in shite weather is tricky enough but a helicopter is many times more difficult due to its designed 'instability'.  I was watching Trawlermen a few weeks back and it was described as the most dangerous job in Britain.  Well, one of the fishermen had to be rescued from a boat 100miles out to sea.  No mention of the danger in flying the chopper!

This frequently accomplished with serious fuel shortages also if the boat is far enough out. Often they have enough fuel for say 15 minutes at the rescue. Tough decisions have to be made if the rescue isn't complete with 13 or 14 minutes of that time elapsed.

[The Iceman]

Reading Tony Robbins' Awaken the Giant Within, at the moment
Fantastic book so far - the man is a legend and the book reads like he talks/shouts.

Just got given the complete Conan series as a gift - I read a few of them back in the school days but not all of them - looking forward to some easy reading for the next wee while.

[mc_grens]

These have probably been mentioned on here before...

I got "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy after Christmas there based on how good the movie "No Country For Old Men" was.

It was amazing, I've since read "No Country...", and am now reading "Blood Meridian".

He's an absolutely brilliant author.

[dropped short]

Reading The Hobbit now at the moment. Almost finished. Good enough read not something I would usually go for considering it was written in 1937, which is evident from the writing style.

[stephenite]

I think Irving's been on a downward slope since Hotel New Hampshire - though I liked Cider House Blues.  For reference purposes, I hated (passionately) the Owen Meany farce.

I thought Owen Meany was a great read - a harmless enough book as an old teacher of mine used to say

[Overthebar!]

any of yous read 'i hope they serve beer in hell' by some american chap max tucker? its basically just stories about all the girls he has slept with and stories from drinking. good read-puts you in the mood to go out anyway!

[Zapatista]

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

Great wee easy to read novel following the daily lives of 3 people trying to survive during the siege of Sarajevo. When they become accoustom to the war the small things are huge and the huge things are small.

[haranguerer]

reading 'Nine Lives' by David Courtney a helicopter pilot in the irish air corp., doing a lot of search and rescue work. super book, well written by a guy who takes time to appreciate where he is. he grew up in tullamore of c of i stock, his dad having served in the british army in world war 2. some great stories there of president robinson visiting the aran islands and a trip with charlie to his blasket island home. the book would make you proud to be irish with guys like him around

heres a review by kevin myres (cant believe i agree with him!)

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/birdseye-view-of-a-rescuer-who-flew-in-the-face-of-fear-1482558.html

Flying a plane in shite weather is tricky enough but a helicopter is many times more difficult due to its designed 'instability'.  I was watching Trawlermen a few weeks back and it was described as the most dangerous job in Britain.  Well, one of the fishermen had to be rescued from a boat 100miles out to sea.  No mention of the danger in flying the chopper!

This frequently accomplished with serious fuel shortages also if the boat is far enough out. Often they have enough fuel for say 15 minutes at the rescue.Tough decisions have to be made if the rescue isn't complete with 13 or 14 minutes of that time elapsed.

I suppose you'd just have to say 'Sure I'll give it another minute or two...'

[muppet]

reading 'Nine Lives' by David Courtney a helicopter pilot in the irish air corp., doing a lot of search and rescue work. super book, well written by a guy who takes time to appreciate where he is. he grew up in tullamore of c of i stock, his dad having served in the british army in world war 2. some great stories there of president robinson visiting the aran islands and a trip with charlie to his blasket island home. the book would make you proud to be irish with guys like him around

heres a review by kevin myres (cant believe i agree with him!)

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/birdseye-view-of-a-rescuer-who-flew-in-the-face-of-fear-1482558.html

Flying a plane in shite weather is tricky enough but a helicopter is many times more difficult due to its designed 'instability'.  I was watching Trawlermen a few weeks back and it was described as the most dangerous job in Britain.  Well, one of the fishermen had to be rescued from a boat 100miles out to sea.  No mention of the danger in flying the chopper!

This frequently accomplished with serious fuel shortages also if the boat is far enough out. Often they have enough fuel for say 15 minutes at the rescue.Tough decisions have to be made if the rescue isn't complete with 13 or 14 minutes of that time elapsed.

I suppose you'd just have to say 'Sure I'll give it another minute or two...'

It has often happened that they had to ditch the helicopter due to lack of fuel. It happened in the book 'The Perfect Storm' which was real rather than the film which was not.

[under the bar]

It has often happened that they had to ditch the helicopter due to lack of fuel

when?

[muppet]

It has often happened that they had to ditch the helicopter due to lack of fuel

when?

Read the previous post.

[haranguerer]

reading 'Nine Lives' by David Courtney a helicopter pilot in the irish air corp., doing a lot of search and rescue work. super book, well written by a guy who takes time to appreciate where he is. he grew up in tullamore of c of i stock, his dad having served in the british army in world war 2. some great stories there of president robinson visiting the aran islands and a trip with charlie to his blasket island home. the book would make you proud to be irish with guys like him around

heres a review by kevin myres (cant believe i agree with him!)

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/birdseye-view-of-a-rescuer-who-flew-in-the-face-of-fear-1482558.html

Flying a plane in shite weather is tricky enough but a helicopter is many times more difficult due to its designed 'instability'.  I was watching Trawlermen a few weeks back and it was described as the most dangerous job in Britain.  Well, one of the fishermen had to be rescued from a boat 100miles out to sea.  No mention of the danger in flying the chopper!

This frequently accomplished with serious fuel shortages also if the boat is far enough out. Often they have enough fuel for say 15 minutes at the rescue.Tough decisions have to be made if the rescue isn't complete with 13 or 14 minutes of that time elapsed.

I suppose you'd just have to say 'Sure I'll give it another minute or two...'

It has often happened that they had to ditch the helicopter due to lack of fuel. It happened in the book 'The Perfect Storm' which was real rather than the film which was not.

But if they had enough fuel for 15 minutes at the rescue, then after 13 or 14 minutes the decision wouldn't be that tough - just give it another minute or two...

[ziggysego]

Currently reading 'Awkward Situation for Men' by Danny Wallace. Interesting enough wee read, but not a patch on his earlier books.

[The Iceman]

Read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and have to say it was a great read, one of the best I've read in a year or so. It was slow to start but grabbed you by the throat and pulled you in after about 100 pages.
Reading the second book now of the series and it's not as good but still excellently written.