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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  3422 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: SR-71 Pilot Story

Even if it is a fish story, I read it from start to finish every time someone shares it. I dunno why. It just appeals to me in such a right way.





demure  ·  3422 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's quoted from Sled Driver by Brian Shul

someguyfromcanada  ·  3422 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I don't even have to open it to know what it is ... but hold on... yep that is the one. I have cited that story many times.

Video of a retelling by Shul at the AOPA Expo in Palm Springs, 2013..

user-inactivated  ·  3422 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Ha! Look at the first review. That's great.

That said, I'll have to keep an eye out for this when I'm on my next book crawl. There's one used bookstore, about two hours from where I live, that specializes in military and U.S. history books (seriously people, how many books on The Civil War do we need?). I'd half bet they'd be likely to have a copy on hand

kleinbl00  ·  3420 days ago  ·  link  ·  

We own a signed copy. It's a stupid expensive book. Worth reading, not owning.

user-inactivated  ·  3420 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Damn. WTF? I didn't half believe you because Amazon does this weird thing with prices on books and music albums that are out of print, but in this case it looks like they're not far off. At that price, it's not even worth hunting down. I've literally seen rarer, older books in decent condition for similar prices and I'm not even willing to put down good money for those.

someguyfromcanada  ·  3422 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That is a classic review.

And to answer the rhetorical question: never enough.

When I went to university I packed up most of my books and put them in my parents basement and, of course, there was a flood that destroyed about 1,000 of them. My parents didn't even tell me as they knew I would be so upset. The set I miss the most was the World War 2 series by Time-Life. 39 volumes of over 200 pages each. There is no way a high school kid needs to know that much about WW2 either. But whatever!

user-inactivated  ·  3421 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That's a horrible loss. I'm sorry to hear that.

Have you worked on rebuilding your collection?

someguyfromcanada  ·  3421 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Oh absolutely. And I just found out I can replace that WW2 set for about $200 which is something I very well may do!

steve  ·  3422 days ago  ·  link  ·  

there is a certain something...

user-inactivated  ·  3422 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think there is an appeal to the machismo, with the camaraderie and one upmanship. At the same time, it's like a love poem to the technology and culture that has developed around aircraft. Either way, I feel more manly just by reading it.