Monday, October 13, 2025

Poland at War by Zbigniew Parafianowicz

Polish title: "Polska na wojnie".

I followed Polish-Ukrainian news closely before and during the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, so I knew about many of the events presented in this book, still the insider knowledge presented is very interesting and sometimes funny.

Worth reading.



The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell

 "A dream, a temptation, and the longest night of the Second World War."

Published in 2021. Read by the author.

An audiobook produced like a theatre performance, with sound effects, background music, and original voice recordings.

An interesting story of the discovery of napalm and its use in firebombing Japanese cities.

A story of the futile development of a mechanical targeting computer by a Dutch engineer Carl Norton - the 3rd most expensive project in American WW2 developments (the Manhattan project is #1, B-29 is #2).

A story of the insanely ineffective attempts to bomb Japan using planes launching from India, and flying over the bump - the Himalayas.