iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

#HistBookChat offering for this week (apologies for the on again-off again choices, been ill) is this tome by John Ellis (he also wrote Eye Deep In Hell, a study of the Great War). For some reason, Ellis seemed to think it unfair that the Axis was defeated utilizing industrial capacity. An odd book.

1100

Reposted by Andrew

Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

An extraordinary woman, and one of a number in that era who set up garages aimed at women, although hers was one of the few which not only was staffed entirely by women but also lasted quite a long time. Featured in my book, Sisters Behind the Wheel. Details in ALT. #History #histbookchat

If you are in the UK the cheapest way to buy this is direct from me via Ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/157849347326

Buyers from outside the UK, it is available from: https://a.co/d/0guSp7iS

13213

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

#HistBookChat for this week is a very poor offering I'm afraid. There is a place for poor history books and the peddling of worn out accepted wisdoms and half truths and this tome takes its deserved place in the Pantheon of Twaddle. Save your money is my advice.

4160

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

#HistBookChat offering for this week. I bumped it to the top of the TBR pile given its subject matter and wish I hadn't. It's full of what the fictional psychologist Niels Crane called 'McTherapy' thinly disguised as analysis whilst regurgitating, enigma variations style, the same old tired wisdoms.

291

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

#HistBookChat offering for this week and well worth a read (even given the introduction by John Pilger).

0100

Reposted by Andrew

Yale University Press London 📖 @yalebooks.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Get 50% off history books in May with free postage in the UK: yalebooks.co.uk/may-book-sal...

16543

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Sorry for the paucity of offerings this last couple of weeks, I've been a bit off colour but like the bad penny, I'm back with this choice. I've only skimmed through it in the past for research but now it's reached the top of the TBR pile proper... #HistBookChat

050

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

#HistBookChat choice for this week. I can't recommend this work highly enough, it has everything a would be visitor or one who is already familiar with the bridgehead could hope to find.

0110

Reposted by Andrew

Melissa @2023chastete.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Stolen Kiss (2014) by Pierre Riolett

0254

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

#HistBookChat offering for this week. I'm only about a quarter of the way in so far but it's going great so I don't think it'll go unfinished. It's a sad but inevitable thought that as the years pass, first hand accounts from the veterans will cease as the years catch up with them.

1141

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Late (no shock there!) again with this #HistBookChat offering. The Canadians were vital to the success of the Normandy Campaign and what came later. For those interested in their part of the struggle, this is a good place to start.

1181

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

#HistBookChat - not a bad account of the battle, presented in a no-nonsense, easy to digest manner. A decent introduction to the subject.

2110

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

#HistBookChat offering with a difference. The author was an experienced yachtsman and it shows in the way the book is written. As a student at Falmouth Technical College in 1983, one of my lecturers was the coxswain of the Falmouth lifeboat who took part in the rescue operations.

0110

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Bonus #HistBookChat offerings for this week, a selection featuring both World Wars and areas, Western Front, Eastern and Pacific Theatre. Landers War was edited and introduced by my uncle who knew the late Richard Holmes well enough to get him to write the book's forward.

0100

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

#HistBookChat offering for this week. This one got to the top of the TBR pile and I really wanted to like it. For me at least, I thought it a bit of a Curate's Egg; good in parts.

081

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

#HistBookChat - a visit to Daisy Hill Books this morning landed these two. I'm glad to have found my own copy of Field Marshall in the Family.

Two volumes from Daisy Lane Books bought this morning.

0110

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

#HistBookChat thoughts....I enjoy reading the books of Douglas Reeman but whenever I do, I'm also reminded of a passage from one of my other favourites, Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome. What could possibly be the link between two such disparate authors? Let me enlighten you...1/3

270

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

The #HistBookChat page is to blame for today's delivery as I saw it advertised there just the other day. It looks like a very good read so it shouldn't stay on the TBR pile for too long....

1120

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

#HistBookChat for the moment is Milner's Second Front. It's a bit of a slog at first and I admit to putting it down more than once but I would urge anyone wanting a complete picture of Anglo-American thinking from the Great War to the Normandy Campaign and beyond to persevere, your effort 1/3....

Front and back cover of Second Front by Marc Milner.

2222

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

A bonus #HistBookChat offering today. HMS Montague was a Duncan Class pre-Dreadnaught which ran aground off the Island of Lundy in May 1906. She was found to be more damaged than originally thought so she was salvaged where she lay. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Mon...

091

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Looking for the books mentioned in my previous post I came across this book by René J Francillon, which I reckon stands head and shoulders above many general histories of the Air War in Vietnam. If you're interested in the subject then this is a worthy introduction to it. #HistBookChat

2100

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

#HistBookChat for this week, U-boats and the Battle of the Atlantic are the subjects of these offerings, a truly fascinating subject.

2191

Reposted by Andrew

JMcN @jmcn.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Tip top book. #histbookchat

031

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

#HistBookChat The Andrew Williams book on the Battle of the Atlantic is a decent one volume work but like so many of its type, the last 12-18 months of the campaign are skimmed over. Endgame is a good attempt at addressing that gap in the historiography and is well worth reading.

0121

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

#HistBookChat choices this week, a return to the Home Front and a copy of my own of a book I referenced for my Masters. Apropos of love in a time of war, I discovered many years ago that I'm part American as my Nan was left, literally, holding the baby following a wartime encounter.

0100

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

A bit of a change from the usual for this week's #HistBookChat - a good read and a reminder that war doesn't just affect we humans and that animals frequently display more more humanity than we do.

080

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

#HistBookChat choices for this week. The book on proposed airborne ops I particularly interesting, the airborne were clearly an asset burning a hole in the Allies pocket. Caen Controversy speaks for itself but for me, the controversy is more created than actual.

0120

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

#HistBookChat for this week - I'm planning a trip to Normandy to research another book. Juno Beach will feature if it ever gets beyond the planning stage.

080

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

This is what fascism looks like as enforced by those with small brains and little willies. Too much over-compensating , me thinks.

000

Reposted by Andrew

Waitman Wade Beorn, PhD, FRHistS @waitmanwbeorn.com · 04/01/2026

Just checking in on all those folks who just couldn’t vote for Kamala because of their ideals. How’s that working out?

4818918

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

#HistBookChat offerings for this Christmas day. Apollo is a brilliant book, the images are staggeringly, eye-catchingly beautiful. The Wind In the Willows has been a favourite since childhood and I offer no apologies for continuing to regularly join Ratty, Mole, Toad and Badger on their adventures.

1100

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

A #HistBookChat of a different sort this evening, festively spooky and very well written....

070

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

#HistBookChat offering for this week is this from Alun Chalfont. Not exactly laudatory (no harm in that) to it's subject but I think of all the post war military historians of that period, he grasped the ultimate intention of Montgomery's Normandy strategy and the dilemma it put the Germans in.

1130

Reposted by Andrew

TableTopBill @tabletopbill.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Done! I have to finish this up first though!

031

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Possibly the best book written about British armour in Normandy, if you haven't read it I strongly recommend you do so.

4232

Reposted by Andrew

Bill @bill1940.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

#histbookchat I decided to make a short trailer for my forthcoming book to give a little flavour of what to expect.

183

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

#HistBookChat I'm thinking of writing something starting near the end of Falaise and the beginning of Market Garden. The Killing Ground is an old book but one which is still worth reading. One Christmas is a good introduction to the political events which forged The Grand Alliance.

0121

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

#HistBookChat for the weekend is this by Marc Milner. Has anyone read it, is it worthy of being bumped up to the top of the TBR pile?

1122

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Trumpington is a thing (not a man) who it can truly be said knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

020

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

I came across this photo the other day. It's the whiteboard I used to list the points I wanted to work into the conclusion of my book which was not just a repeat of my Masters. Writing for an academic audience is quite different to writing for a more general leadership and overall, I enjoyed it.

040

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

#HistBookChat for this week is this one, brought back from Toronto this week by my son who paid a visit to that city to watch the Leafs getting beaten twice and winning twice. I'm really looking forward to reading this, I'm looking for some inspiration for my next work.

0180

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

#HistBookChat for this week. One is the follow-up to last week's offering but this time the onus leans more towards unknown shipwrecks (the clue is in the name!) whilst the other centres around the human face of armoured warfare in NW Europe. It's not the best account you'll read but still good.

071

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Late as usual (or early) for #HistBookChat and a break with the usual. First published in 1970, many of the wrecks listed were listed as 'Unknown' but over the years, many have been identified as seabed obstructions (rocks and the like) but many more are still just that, unknown.

0102

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

#HistBookChat second offering of the week and one which I've bumped up to the top of the TBR pile

060

Andrew @andrew617.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

Late again with my #HistBookChat offering. The last two chapters in which the old soldiers reflected on their experiences left me especially moved in a way I haven't felt for a while. Not every soldier was scarred by their experiences but all were marked by it in some way.

160