I’ll admit it, I’m a history nerd.  I enjoy reading and listening to a well-done history book as much as I do reading something by David Drake or Larry Correia.  When Audible had a buy one, get one free sale last month, I got a Great Courses lecture course and Hannibal: One Man Against Rome, written by Harold Lamb and narrated by Charlton Griffin.  This is a narrative history piece about the life of Hannibal Barca, the great Carthaginian general of the Second Punic War.

This is not a “in such and such a year, so many soldiers marched so many kilometers to reach such and such a place.”  This is a narrative history of what formed Hannibal, his campaigns against Rome in Spain, Italy, and Africa, and his decline and death.  It is paced well, and Griffin’s reading is spot-on.  This is not a book for historians, but it is perfect for history nerds.  If you enjoyed Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History episode “Punic Nightmares”, you will probably enjoy this work.

My only quibble with this production has to do with the music and sound effects, which occur at the beginning and ending of most chapters.  I can see where the producers were trying to go with it, but they added little to the book, and sometimes seemed contrived.

Griffin’s narration, like I said, was outstanding and exactly right for this book.  The image I had in my mind was of an English gentleman, wearing tweed and enjoying his pipe, recounting the life of Hannibal, and it fit perfectly with the manner of Lamb’s writing.

If you’re into history, but aren’t looking for all the dates, places, and statistics to be thrown at you, you’ll enjoy this one.

I recently received a copy of Massad Ayoob’s book “Deadly Force – Understanding Your Right To Self Defense” from the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network.  This book dovetails very well with my belief that if you have a right, you have a responsibility to exercise it, and exercise it with all the knowledge and skill that you can. Learning from sources like Mr. Ayoob goes a long way toward having the tools to fulfill that responsibility.

“Deadly Force” does an excellent job at explaining the legal elements of using a weapon to defend yourself, with a lot of time spent on disparity of force situations.  I found this appropriate not only for today’s headline issues, but also for self-defense in general.  Mr. Ayoob takes his time in explaining such things as disparity of force, opportunity, and jeopardy, and doesn’t fall into buzz-word bingo.  The last few chapters recount his thoughts on the Martin-Zimmerman case in Florida, as well as a review of the Hickey case in Arizona, both of which have lessons we should all consider when we go about with the means to defend ourselves.  In addition, Ayoob discusses the pitfalls that you can run into in the aftermath of a self-defense shooting, including myths and mistakes that seem to never die in our debates of what to do and what not to do.  Where Ayoob pulls away from the crowd of self-defense writers is that he points to legal arguments and case-law when he gives advice on things like modifying a safety, EDC carry of a gun with a competition trigger, and using hand-loaded cartridges in self-defense.

When paired with a resource like Kathy Jackson’s “Cornered Cat“, which discusses the ethical “Why” of self-defense, this book will give you a good foundation of the legal “How” and “When” to complete the picture.  It does not delve too deeply into the mechanics of carrying a weapon or defending yourself, Mr. Ayoob covers those subjects in other works.

I recommend “Deadly Force” to anyone who views defense of self and family as a personal responsibility.

Disclaimer:  I did not pay for my copy of “Deadly Force”, as it was sent out to ACLDN members, which includes me.  I was not asked to do this review, and received nothing for doing it.

Michael Z. Williamson, author of the Freehold science fiction series and artisan of many sharp, pointy things, has aggregated his one-line snippets of jokes, life advice, and all-around good ideas into “Wisdom from my Internet.”  If you read his blog, The Sacred Cow Slaughterhouse, or follow Williamson on FaceBook, a lot of this material will seem familiar, but it’s great to have it all in one place.

Wisdom is very similar in content and structure to George Carlin’s “Napalm and Silly Putty,*” and that’s a good thing.  Williamson has a dry, sarcastic wit that rarely fails to kick over my giggle box, and reading Wisdom last night while trying to not wake up the Irish Woman was difficult.

Wisdom is a book written by an adult, for adults, so I won’t be sharing this one with Girlie Bear.  Williamson isn’t afraid of any subject, and if there aren’t at least a few times where you say “Now wait a damn minute” as you’re reading it, you need to get out more.  No group, subject, or joke is out-of-bounds, so you will take a punch or two while you laugh at seeing them dished out.

This was a quick read, but an enjoyable one.  It’s definitely worth the cost of admission.

*This was my companion on the flights to and from Ireland during our honeymoon.  The look on the Aer Lingus flight attendant when she saw the title was priceless.