2012 Books

My goal for 2012 was the same as it has been for a few years now, to read two books a month or twenty-four books by the end of the year. I came up one short this year, but still read quite a bit. The book marked in gray I've only gotten part of the way through. (I'll probably finish that one in 2013 sometime.)

Disaster/Shipwreck

I strayed a bit from just shipwrecks to stories about big disasters (not modern ones). I've got a big list of similar books to read. The best of these was probably Ship Ablaze.

The Johnstown Flood – David McCullough

Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum – Edward T. O’Donnell

The Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic – David W. Shaw

Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History – Alan Huffman

Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mine Disaster of 1917 – Michael Punke

In the Shadow of the Dam: The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874 – Elizabeth M. Sharpe

WWII

Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World’s Most Notorious Nazi – Neal Bascomb

Escape from Davao – John D. Lukacs

Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II – Mitchell Zuckoff

The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II – George A. Freeman

Adventure/Exploration

My greatest love is still adventure/exploration books, sometimes there is more adventure/danger and sometimes there is more exploration.

The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire – Joe Jackson

A Furnace Afloat: The Wreck of the Hornet and the Harrowing 4,300 mile Voyage of Its Survivors – Joe Jackson

The Ice Master : The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk – Jennifer Niven

The Ice Balloon: S.A. Andre and the Heroic Age of Artic Exploration – Alec Wilkinson

The Life and Times of John Manjiro – Donald R. Bernard

Drifting Towards the Southeast: The Story of Five Japanese Castaways - John Manjiro

Nakahama Manjiro’s Hyosen Kiryaku (A Companion Book) – Nakahama Manjiro

The Voyage of the Challenger – Eric Linklater

A Labyrinth of Kingdoms: 10,000 Miles through Islamic Africa – Steve Kemper

Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe – Laurence Bergreen

Columbus: The Four Voyages, 1492-1504 – Laurence Bergreen

Colonial Wars

To assist with my next big project and because I want to learn more about them I'll probably be reading a lot of books about all the different Colonial Wars this year. I'm sure a good portion of them will be thin, 48 page, Osprey uniform books. (I only count them in fractional way, they take up reading time, but it doesn't take me long to read them through.)

The Anglo-Afghan Wars: 1839-1919 – Gregory Fremont-Barnes

North-West Frontier 1837-1947 – Robert Wilkinson-Latham

The British Army on Campaign (3): 1856-1881 – Michael Banthorp

Indian Infantry Regiments 1860-1914 – Michael Banthorp

Queen Victoria’s Enemies (3): India – Ian Knight