I'll think of a good title later

Andy McNab is a pseudonym but after reading Immediate Action I believe that his first name is Andy & his second name does begin with 'M'.

I really enjoyed Bravo Two Zero many years ago, the author had a great knack of packing in an enormous amount of information in a way that is very easy to read. That same style is not lost in Immediate Action. The book has a wealth of insights into the training, tactics, equipment & survival skills used by the SAS. Throughout the book I found myself regularly checking the indispensable glossary to keep up with the heavily acronymed & abbreviated vocabulary of the SAS. If everything had been written longhand the book would have been double the size. Despite the cross referencing Immediate Action is still a really easy read & I motored through it in a few days.

The whole thing is a fascinating insight into the working of the special forces. Reading it I was constantly yo yoing to being frightened that these guys were running round with such firepower, then being glad that they do what they do. It was scary to think that a kid who spent most of his youth doing petty crime gets put in charge of an assault rifle, but then heartening to see how the rigours of training beat it all out of him, then disheartening again to see how much of his personal life he sacrificed to be in the SAS. Scores of anecdotes had me chuckling away & made me think, "They're not super soldiers. They're just boys with toys", but then facts like marching ten miles with a 150lb bergen, spending more rounds on the practise range than the rest of the entire British army, learning Swahili & Spanish are just dropped in with a dismissive single sentence as if they are inconsequential.

It's also satisfying to know that the drunks that get taken to hospital on a Saturday night & assault the medical staff may one day be unlucky to find that the nurse is actually a member of the SAS & who may have had a bad day.

For all the mystique & glamour of the special forces the author does a great job of describing the arduous training & the tedium of waiting around for something to happen when out in the field. The book really emphasises the human side of the troop, everyone seems to love Blockbusters & Countdown (two popular UK quiz shows at the time), tea is the most important supply in the Regiment, although for air troop ice cream & sun rays are not far behind.

Top read, thoroughly recommended.

In a nod to my other half's One more chapter...

I spotted this book in an olde worlde book store in the village of Alfriston (one of the few remaining true English villages around - all stone buildings, beautiful gardens, all independant local shops etc. well worth a visit if you can) & just had to buy it.

It has a red fabric hard back cover with worn corners & dull faded gold titling down the spine. This book was awarded to Mrs E.R. Blackwell of Reading Technical College in 1951/2 as a prize for something unknown. This book harks from the time when books were still little treasures.

The book itself is fascinating to me especially for many reasons. For one it is, I think, the first non-fiction book I have ever read in its entirety & I learnt an awful lot. The text for the most part is an enormous collection of anecdotes from & about various stars of the circus world. When I was a teenager I worked in a number of circus shows & I remember being fascinated after the work was over how the older performers could go on for hours into the night recalling stories & reeling off huge lists of people they had worked with. This book sparked that feeling in me again.

The language is very different to what I am used to, & it would be all too easy to brand it as racist. A lot of the words used would not be considered polite if used in conversation today, but they were the words that people were brought up with at the time. The way the author describes the feats of the non English performers, the lion tamer Macomo in particular you get a true feeling of awe & respect, & a deep sympathy for the great German juggler Cinquevalli over his abandonment by the English at the start of WW1.

On the internet this book only appears on odd antique book sites so there is little point in me trying to provide a link as Nix does, but I will say that if you have never done so, go out & find a good book shop, find something old & interesting & give it a go. If you can't find a good bookshop you could always try Project Gutenberg.

Right then off to the EJC for me. See you all in a week!