Over the years I have read much about World War II. It started with a whole series of books that my grandfather had. These books were mostly pictures and they covered all the war years in both theaters, both Atlantic and Pacific. As a pre-teen I was fascinated by the photographs of the soldiers and the war equipment. On through the years I have many books about the war, books such as the Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich and The Bunker which was about the final days of Hitler. A couple of years ago I read a book called Iron Coffins which was written by a German U-boat captain who later became an American. My most recent read was written by a Dutchman who joined the German Waffen-SS. His name is Hendrik C. Verton and the book is In The Fire Of The Eastern Front and is about his experiences as a soldier in the German army. I was all prepared to greatly dislike this individual because of his choice of uniform and after finishing the book I can say I still don't care for his views on the war, but found myself totally drawn into his story. One might wonder why a young Dutchman would want to join an Army that had attacked and occupied his country and killed many citizens in the process. He mentions in the book that some of the people in his land were hoping for a United Socalist Europe after the war and they saw themselves as fighting against the Bolsheviks (Russians) whom they believed would attack and rule Europe. Also he mentions that the Nazi occupying soldiers made quite an impression on some of the young men of his country. There were other reasons but I won't go into everything here on this post. In the winter of 1941-42 young Verton found himself on the Eastern Front fighting the Russians and the Russian winter. The descripition of his involvement in the war was very riveting and it was hard to put the book down. In the summer of 1942 he became ill with typhus and was sent back to a hospital in Poland. He would recover there and be assigned to a training unit for a couple of years. He was thrust back in to the battle in East Prussia on the river Oder in a city called Breslau where the Germans would make their final stand against the Russians. The brutality of that period, which for him was from December 1944 to May 1945, was truly unbelievable. Breslau was a city of over 600,000 people and had not been touched by bombing until the Russian invasion that winter and by the end of the war in May of 1945 the city was almost totally destroyed. Verton's description of what the russian soldiers did to the people of city as they invaded is hard to fathom. That portion of the book was the most compelling, that last stand of the German army against the Russians. What the Germans did to the Jews and what the Russians did to the Germans, Poles and anyone else they came into contact with is the real tragedy of World War II. Hendrick Verton concludes the book describing how the German people were treated after the war, he became a Russian prisoner of war for a while and even after being released stayed in Breslau for a number of months. His description of how the citizens survived after the war is vivid and makes for interesting reading. One section made me mad and that was where Verton accused General Dwight Eisenhower and the Americans of withholding food from prisoners of war in a quote "deliberate program of extermination". I certainly don't believe that and would have to see definite proof of an assertion like that. I just don't believe that it happened. In the final chapters he tells of how he regained a life after the war which wasn't easy because he had to have a false identities and could not return to his native Holland because he would be viewed there as a German collaborator, and reprisals against collaborators were taking place there. He also met his wife in the year after the war in East Prussia and he gives some pages to their developing relationship and marriage. All in all it was a fascinating book. It gives you a look into the other side and horrors that they went through duing this war. Even though I don't agree with Mr. Vertons politics and his activities in the war, he was just a soldier like any other fighting for what he believed in, missing his family, suffering through horrendous circumstances. This book was released in 2007 so it is a new account of someone's memories of the war. As far as I know Mr. Verton is still alive and at this point would be in his mid-80s. He was 18 years old when he entered the German army, 22 when he was discharged. Although I don't agree with his assessment of many of the things in this book, I certainly recommend it and you will leave it having a better understanding of what went on during that troubling period of world history.

Tonight I finished reading a fascinating book by Bernd Heinrich. "Winter World" is a book about how animals survive living outdoors in the winter time. As mentioned in an earlier post Bernd Heinrich is a biologist and professor at the University Of Vermont.... In this book here are just a few of the things I learned about animal survival.-------A tiny bird, the golden-crowned kinglet weighing 5 to 6 grams, about the size of a humming bird, survives sub-zero temperatures in Northern Maine and though out Canada. It is an amazing story how they do it.--------Four common North American hibernating frogs, the wood frog, gray tree frog, spring peeper, and chorus frog--all tolerate being frozen. In freezing-tolerant frogs there is extensive ice formation in the body cavity and in the spaces between the cells, as a matter of fact up to 65% of the total body water in the wood frog may be ice, but the frogs survive because no ice crystals form inside the frog's cells......professor Heinrich explains how this process is accomplished.------ Bears hibernate for up to five months a year and during that period of hibernation do not releive themselves of any metabolic waste. If a human went that long poisons would build up in the blood and kill us. Winter World explains how a bears physiology is different from ours in that regard.-- ---In the frozen north beavers remain in near- absolute darkness under the frozen ice of ponds for months on end.-----Professor Heinrich also tells about survival techniques of Squirrels, mice, chipmunks, various kinds of birds, insects, including bees, bats, turtles and many more animals. This book is a must read for the nature lover. So if you have ever wondered, as you are comfortably cocooned in your bed on a snowy winter night, how the birds are surviving in the trees just outside your window, then this is the book for you.----Professor Heinrich credits natural selection and evolution for the incredible survival skills of animals. I however see the hand of the master designer (God) in all of this. When you read of the ways that animals manage to survive the elements and the things that go on inside their bodies, it just makes sense to me that a higher power has to be involved.....This book is a great read, and so educational, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here is some information about reading more efficiently from an English professor who is a reading specialist. READING BETTER AND FASTER---- (by Dennis Doyle)----- For most people, it is easy to learn to read faster. Your reading rate is often just a matter of habit. But to begin, you may need to try to change some habits and try these tips:--------- 1. Pay attention when you read and read as if it really matters. Most people read in the same way that they watch television, i.e. in an inattentive, passive way. Reading takes effort and you must make the effort. A wise teacher once told me that you can learn anything if you do three things: ------------- PAY ATTENTION--- PAY ATTENTION and PAY ATTENTION.------ There are some simple methods that you can use to pay better attention and get more out of your textbook reading time. Different authors call it different things, but many researchers say that you will improve your comprehension if you somehow "preview" the passage before you actually sit down and read every word. ............. To do a preview you:----- take 30 to 60 seconds...... look over the title of the chapter. look at all the headings, subheadings and marked, italic or dark print. look at any pictures or illustrations, charts or graphs. quickly skim over the passage, reading the first and last paragraph and glancing at the first sentence of every other paragraph. close the book and ask yourself: ---What is the main idea? ------ ---What kind of writing is it? -------- ---What is the author's purpose?------- You might not think that you could possibly answer these questions with so little exposure to the material, but if you do the preview correctly, you should have some very good general ideas. If you have a general idea of what the passage is about before you really read it, you will be able to understand and remember the passage better. When you finally get to the point where you are actually slowly reading the passage, read in a "questioning" manner -as if you were seaching for something. It sometimes helps if you take the heading or title of a chapter and turn it into a question........ For example, if the heading of a section in the text is "The Causes of the Civil War", take that title and switch it into a question like: "What are the causes of the Civil War?". Now you have a goal; something to look for; something to find out. When you are goal-oriented, you are more likely to reach the goal. At least you'll remember one thing about the text which you have just read.... 2. Stop talking to yourself when you read. People talk to themselves in 2 ways, by: vocalizing, which is the actual moving of your lips as you read, and subvocalizing, which is talking to yourself in your head as you silently read. Both of these will slow you down to the point in which you find that you can't read any faster than you can speak. Speech is a relatively slow activity; for most, the average speed is about 250 WPM (words per minute).......... Reading should be an activity which involves only the eyes and the brain. Vocalization ties reading to actual speaking. Try to think of reading as if you were looking at a landscape, a panorama of ideas, rather than looking at the rocks at your feet........ 3. Read in thought groups. Studies have shown that when we read, our eyes must make small stops along the line. Poor readers make many, many more fixations (eyestops) than good readers. Not only does this slow you down, but it inhibits comprehension because meaning is easier to pull from groups of words rather than from individual words or even single letters. Try to read in phrases of three or four words, especially in complete clauses and prepositional phrases. Your mind may internalize them as if the whole phrase is like one big meaning-rich word........ 4. Don't keep re-reading the same phrases. Poor readers habitually read and re-read the same phrase over and over again. This habit of making "regressions" doubles or triples reading time and often does not result in better comprehension. A single careful, attentive reading may not be enough for full comprehension, but is often more effective than constant regressions in the middle of a reading. It is best to work on paying closer attention the first time through. Do a preview first before the careful reading and try the tips I mentioned above. You'll remember better without the rereading............ 5. Vary your reading rate to suit the difficulty and type of writing of the text. Poor readers always read at the same slow rate. An efficient reader speeds up for easier material and slows down for the hard. Some things were not meant to be read quickly at all. Legal material and very difficult text should be read slowly. Easier material and magazines and newspapers can be read quickly. Poetry and plays were meant to be performed, and if not acted out, then at least, spoken out loud orally. This obviously will conflict with good speed reading method which forbids vocalization. Religious writings and scripture were originally written to be recited and listened to by an audience which was likely to be intelligent, but illiterate. The "fun" of poetry, plays, or prayer is not really experienced if you "speed read" the text........... I don't know if I can accomplish all he suggests or not, but I am sure some of this will help me.

The last few days I have been thinking about why I read. I have concluded there are several reasons. The obvious first one is that I enjoy it.....My mother was a school teacher and I credit her with first exposing me to books but come to think about it my father always had something in his hands to read also. I think he was more into newspapers and magazines though. I don't remember him reading books. I got started on the Kid's series books, Hardy Boys, Sugar Creek Gang, Nancy Drew mysteries, etc. So it was a habit formed at a very early age and has continued into my several decades of life. The books I read now fit into several categories that influence my reading.....and these are in no particular order or hierarchy........1. Spirituality----I read to better understand my faith and beliefs.----2. Politics----I guess one could tell my political leanings from seeing the books that I have read.----3. Flying----I have always loved flying, I have always wanted to learn to fly but probably never will so I read about it.- ---4. Adventure----There are places on this earth that I would love to visit and things that I would like to do but I may never get to, so I read about someone else doing it. (one of those places I would love to go is the South Pole). -----5. Nature----I think if we all took the time to see how other species on the planet live, we'd all be more in tune with our environment...this is a new area in my reading and I can thank Professor Bernd Heinrich, (biology, University Of Vermont) for enlightening me. I highly recommend his books........Other things I love to read about....Music, World War II and Civil War and sports...... Other things may come to mind which I will add later if they do. Anyway those are some of the primary reasons for why I read. Let me know your thoughts.

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. ~ Ernest Hemingway ~