Book Review: “Codebreaker Girls: A Secret Life at Bletchley Park”

(See all my Book Reviews and Author Interviews) – Author Jan Slimming published the book “Codebreaker Girls: A Secret Life at Bletchley Park” in 2021 (March). This is Ms. Slimming’s first publication and focuses on her mother.

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘G’. This is the story of Daisy Lawrence and her experiences at Bletchley Park during WWII.

The story begins before the war and gives background information on Lawrence. The focus then shifts to her wartime experiences. It finishes up with the troubles Lawrence had after the war. She had to sign the Official Secrets Act to work at Bletchley. The restrictions placed upon her proved to be detrimental to her mental health.

Lawrence had become engaged early in the war. Some of the book follows the plight of her fiancee after he became a POW after the fall of Singapore. The later part of the book tells of her life in the years after the war.

While I enjoyed the 9.5+ hours I spent reading this 352-page WWII history. I have read and listened to podcasts about Bletchley Park. This book gave more everyday details than the other sources. I like the selected cover art. I give this book a 5 out of 5.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis)

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If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest. 

• The “World War II Resources” page is a constantly growing collection of more than 510 links to museums, memorials, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other sources with information on the World War II-era in history.
• The “World War II Timeline” page expands almost daily and shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.
• The About WWII page is a collection of links to posts that I have made over the years that are relevant to WWII.

Book Review: “I Flew for the Fuhrer: Memoirs of the Third Reich’s Pilot”

(See all my Book Reviews and Author Interviews) – Author Heinz Knocke published the book “I Flew for the Fuhrer: Memoirs of the Third Reich’s Pilot” in 2012 (the original version of the book appeared in 1954). This is Mr. Knocke’s only publication.

I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this book as ‘PG’. The book tells the story of Luftwaffe pilot Heinz Knocke.

Knocke’s story begins in 1935. The book relates his experiences during the war from his diary. As a fighter pilot, he was credited with more than 50 aerial victories. He survived the war, in part due to wounds suffered during the final months that grounded him.

Knocke flew more than two thousand missions during the war. He ended his wartime Luftwaffe career as the commanding officer of a fighter wing.

I found the 6+ hours I spent reading this 236-page memoir from WWII very interesting. I have only come across a few books in English written from the Axis point of view. They give a different perspective on the War. I think that the chosen cover art is a little dull. I give this book a 4 out of 5.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

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If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest. 

• The “World War II Sources” page is a constantly growing collection of more than 490 links to museums, memorials, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other sources with information on the World War II-era in history.
• The “World War II Timeline” page expands almost daily and shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.
• The About WWII page is a collection of links to posts that I have made over the years that are relevant to WWII.

Book Review: “Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler”

(See all of my Book Reviews) – “Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler” eBook was published in 2019 and was written by Lynne Olson (http://www.lynneolson.com). Ms. Olson has published seven books.

I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence.

This is the story of thirty-one-year-old Marie-Madeleine Fourcade. This young French woman became the only woman to lead a resistance unit in occupied France. She sent away her children to live with friends so that she could direct one of the most effective espionage rings operating in France. Her unit knows as Alliance, operated until well after D-Day.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 10.5 hours I spent reading this 421-page biography and history. I thought this was an interesting story of WWII French resistance. I like the selected cover art. I give this book a 4.2 (rounded down to a 4) out of 5.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

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If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest. 

The  “World War II Sources” page is a constantly growing collection of more than 330 links to museums, memorials, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and other sources with information on the World War II-era in history.

The “World War II Timeline” page expands almost daily and shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.

The “About WWII” page is a collection of links to posts that I have made over the years that are relevant to WWII.

Book Review: “Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII’s Most Highly Decorated Spy”

Book Reviews – “Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII’s Most Highly Decorated Spy” eBook was published in 2019 and was written by Larry Loftis (https://www.larryloftis.com). This is Mr. Loftis’ second book.

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in the UK and France during World War II. The primary character is Brit Odette Sansom.

Sansom has spent much of her youth in France and is fluent in the language. She joins the SOE in 1942 and is landed in occupied France. She participates in several successful missions before she is captured by German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher. Sansom, along with her commanding officer and future husband Captain Peter Churchill, are tortured by the Gestapo, yet neither reveals anything of importance to the Germans.

They both would have likely died at the hands of the Germans, but Churchill, though no relation to the British Prime Minister, was able to use his last name to aid in their survival. Bleicher performed his duty in catching Sansom and Churchill but took no joy in how they were subsequently treated.

I enjoyed the nearly 9 hours I spent reading this 385-page biography. This book gives a different look at the resistance efforts within France and what those captured by the Germans were subject to. It was an easy to read biography that reads more like a novel.  I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

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If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these two pages of interest. 

The  “World War II Sources” page is a collection of more than 200 links to museums, websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds with information on the World War II era in history.

The “World War II Timeline” page shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.

Book Review: “Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II”

Book Reviews – “Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II” eBook was published in 2019 (April) and was written by Robert Matzen (https://robertmatzen.com). Mr. Matzen has published three books.

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘G’. The book tells about the mostly early life of actress Audry Hepburn paying special attention to the years 1940-45 when she lived in the occupied Netherlands.

This book gives an entirely different look at Hepburn. Much is told of her life as an eleven to sixteen-year-old in the German-occupied Netherlands. Then in 1944, the life of she and her family take a turn for the worst when the Allies undertake Operation Market Garden. They were living in Arnhem and were in the middle of days of battle between Allied and Nazi forces.

The months, nearly 200 days, following Market Garden were not much better as they had to survive in damaged housing and with almost no food until they were finally liberated by the Allies on April 16, 1945.

I enjoyed the 8 hours I spent reading this 400-page biography. I thought that this was an interesting story of survival by a young girl who developed into an international movie star. I found it interesting that Hepburn was such an enthusiastic and talented ballet dancer before and during the early years of the war. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a 5 out of 5.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

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If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these two pages of interest. 

The  “World War II Sources” page is a collection of more than 270 links to museums, websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds with information on the World War II era in history.

The “World War II Timeline” page shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.

The Story of Claude Shannon​ – The Father of Information Theory

Podcasts – I have mentioned the Internet History Podcast before. It is one of the podcasts that I subscribe and listen to on a regular basis. While the podcast “CLAUDE SHANNON, FATHER OF INFORMATION THEORY” was published back on May 27, 2018, I finally just got around to listening to it today and I wanted to share it.

This episode of the Internet History podcast deals with Claude Shannon. Specifically, it is an interview with authors Jimmy Sony and Rob Goodman. They have published the biography of Claude Shannon entitled “A Mind At Play, How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age“. During the interview, they give a brief glimpse of Shannon’s life.

Shanon was a mathematician, electrical engineer, and cryptographer. he is most noted though for being the ‘father’ of information theory. His 1948 paper “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” laid the groundwork for modern digital communications. Just as important though was his work in digital circuit design theory. His Masters Thesis at MIT demonstrated that electrical applications of Boolean algebra could construct any logical numerical relationship. This is a foundation of modern digital computers.

In information theory, the Shannon–Hartley theorem gives the maximum rate at which information can be transmitted over a communications channel of a specified bandwidth in the presence of noise. This formula, which I saw repeatedly in graduate school, is:

where (from the Wikipedia page)

 

• C is the channel capacity in bits per second, a theoretical upper bound on the net bit rate (information rate, sometimes denoted I) excluding error-correction codes;
• B is the bandwidth of the channel in hertz (passband bandwidth in case of a bandpass signal);
• S is the average received signal power over the bandwidth (in case of a carrier-modulated passband transmission, often denoted C), measured in watts (or volts squared);
• N is the average power of the noise and interference over the bandwidth, measured in watts (or volts squared); and
• S/N is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the communication signal to the noise and interference at the receiver (expressed as a linear power ratio, not as logarithmic decibels).

If you are interested in computers, mathematics or engineering, you might want to dedicate an hour to listen to this podcast.

Book Review: “Sugar”

Book Reviews – “Sugar” eBook was published in 2018 and was written by Monique X.

I received an ARC of this novel both through the publisher and through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Mature Situations and Mature Language. This is the autobiography of Monique.

Monique is recently divorced, the mother of two young girls, around 40, and having financial problems. To have some much-needed fun and to help her through her hard financial times she turns to ‘Sugar Dating’. That is, she begins dating wealthy older gentlemen with an expectation of their financial ‘assistance’.

She meets several different men and travels around the world to ‘date’ them. Some of her experiences are better than others. She very definitely distinguishes what she is doing as different from being a Call Girl. They simply take the money and ‘perform’, while she as a ‘sugar babe’ establishes a personal relationship with her ‘dates’.

I found the 7 hours I spent reading this 328-page biography were interesting. This is not the normal kind of book I would choose to read, but when I was approached by the publisher I decided to give it a try. I found Monique’s trips abroad to be interesting as I have been to many of the places she visits. This is not going to be a book for everyone as she does go into mild details of her sexual experiences with her ‘dates’. I did find the book on the whole to be a bit of a slow read. I do like the selected cover art. I give this novel a 3.6 (rounded up to a 4) out of 5.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Book Review: “A Divided Life”

Book Reviews – “A Divided Life” eBook was published in 2018 (the original paper edition was published in 1988) and was written by Robert Cecil. Mr. Cecil has published several non-fiction books.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘G’. The story focuses on the years from before World War II (1935) until 1951. It is a biography of the life of British Diplomat and Russian Spy Donald Maclean.

The book covers his life and tells of his efforts and his betrayals. The book is very dry and somewhat difficult to read. It does get better after the first chapter or so. You can easily tell that it was written in the 80s.

I thought that the 8+ hours I spent reading this 347-page biography were interesting. I like the cover art. I give this book a 3.4 (rounded down to a 3) out of 5.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Book Review: “Ike and Monty”

Book Reviews – WWII – “Ike and Monty” eBook was published in 2018 and was written by Norman Gelb. Mr. Gelb has published nearly a dozen non-fiction books.

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘G’. The book covers the entire period of World War II, focusing on the European Theater of Operations in general and on Generals Dwight David Eisenhower and Bernard Law Montgomery in particular.

This book examines both of these major figures from the war in depth. A fair assessment is given to both their strengths and weaknesses. Both made significant contributions to the Allied war effort, but each had their faults. This book is an interesting look at what was happening behind the headlines and how these allies were often at odds with one another.

I enjoyed the 13 hours I spent reading this 413-page history of World War II. This was an easy to read history. Certainly, I learned a lot about the politics and the conflicts between the Allies during the War. I think the cover art is a good choice. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

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If you are a student of the World War II era in history, you may find my pages “World War II Sources” (a collection of museums, websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds with information on the World War II era in history) and “World War II Timeline” of interest.

Review of “Lady Death”

Book Reviews – “Lady Death” eBook was published in 2018 (I believe that a Russian version was published much earlier, but I have not been able to determine when) and was written in Russian by Lyudmila Pavlichenko. The English version was revised by Martin Pegler. Mr. Pegler had published 16 non-fiction books, all of which deal with the history of firearms.

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story covers the years of World War II at various locations on the Eastern front. It is told from the perspective of the autobiography author, Lyudmila Pavlichenko.

Pavlichenko was the most successful Russian female sniper of World War II with 309 confirmed kills. Some believe her actual total was closer to 500. This is her story, beginning with her as a girl before the war, then covering her exploits during the war and a little of her life afterward. No doubt her academic training as a historian helped immensely with her autobiography.

Her story is filled with a great deal of loyalty to and patriotism for Soviet Russia. I thought that this was a very interesting look at World War II. The Easter European Front is not one I have read a great deal about. Her story is remarkable. Her time with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt while touring the US was very interesting. For a historical autobiography, this read well. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a 5 out of 5.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).