SA Footy

Interested to know if it is much different to Moneyball?

DOC wrote:Interested to know if it is much different to Moneyball?

If you liked Moneyball, I recommend this one.

They used a different system, and didnt only use it for building their club, but also to improve the players they had and find weaknesses in their opposition.

It was basically a rebuild through the draft as opposed to rebuilding through cheap free agents.

The Astros were built with a dynasty in mind, instead of just staying competitive cheaply like the As.

The book focuses a lot on the background of all of the players too. Really interesting.

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Just finished reading this - depending on your political allegiances, its either a shocking expose of the dark secrets of Australian history - e.g. the treatment of the Aborigines, the CIA's role in the Whitlam dismissal, and the Hawke government's coddling to powerful interest like Rupert Murdoch who exert an inappropriate influence over government policy - or a load of paranoid conspiracy nonsense.

Halfway through Spike Milligan's 'William McGonagall: The Truth at Last". Absolute gold.

Gee that's one from the past.

DOC wrote:Gee that's one from the past.

Picked up 8 of his books a couple of weeks ago for $20.

Grenville wrote:

DOC wrote:Gee that's one from the past.

Picked up 8 of his books a couple of weeks ago for $20.

Awesome value, well done.

One of my fave Milligan books, which is not that literary, is this one:

Magellan wrote:

Grenville wrote:

DOC wrote:Gee that's one from the past.

Picked up 8 of his books a couple of weeks ago for $20.

Awesome value, well done.

One of my fave Milligan books, which is not that literary, is this one:

Don't have that one, about to start on Puckoon.

Just finished Spike Milligan's "Mussolini - His Part In My Downfall". A bit more sombre than the other 3 of his war memoirs that I've read, ends up with him suffering from shellshock. Still an excellent read, I'm now determined to track down his last 3 war memoirs.

Just finished Unbreakable by Jelena Dokic. Brilliant book, one of the rare ones I can't put down and finished in 4 days. Almost a record for me! Everyone always knew there was something not right about her family and her situation, but could never imagine it to be as bad as it was for her.

RustyCage wrote:

Absolutely fascinating in the detail it goes in to on the murders

Have you watched Mindhunter?

Once Were Warriors - Alan Duff

Please Gamble Irresponsibly by Titus O'Reily

I'm not much into betting & gambling but saw this book for about $3 at K-mart and thought I would take the gamble I did though appreciate learning about the history of sports betting in this country dating back to colonial times all the innovative bookmakers constantly operating on the fringes of the law or like with the Collingwood Tote outside of it.

Australians have always loved gambling and no matter what laws have been put into place to curb it the public have essentially always ignored those laws and eventually governments both federal & state realised it was easier just to legalise it and tax it. Unfortunately greed set in and governments then decided to start up their own betting agencies (TAB) which they variously floated, licenced and sold off to the big betting agencies where some entrepreneurial types made fortunes after they were in turn gobbled up by the big global betting agencies. One character bought Sportsbet for $250k when it was on it's knees, built it up and sold it 4-5 years later for $300 million.

As someone who isn't into gambling I did feel a bit crook throughout reading this book knowing how entangled into society these billion dollar betting agencies now are essentially funding sport in this country propping up the likes of the AFL, NRL, cricket and soccer via their purchasing power of all the ads they buy during the broadcasts which has allowed these sports to get such large TV contracts. Problem gamblers make up the majority of the business model of these betting agencies so basically the AFL etc now find themselves reliant on the continued exploitation of problem gamblers.

A very thorough and well researched book on Australians historical love of gambling and the insidious industry it is. Dotted throughout the book are 'helpful gambling tips' one that comes to mind is if the Mrs asks if you're on at a betting app on your phone just tell her you're on Tinder instead

Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt For The Yorkshire Ripper by Michael Bilton

Unfortunately I've always been interested in serial killers and have read several books on Jack The Ripper but the other ripper Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper I didn't know much about. A truly despicable human being who like his namesake hunted prostitutes in the north of England in the mid-late 1970's.

The book written by a journalist covering the story at the time for a local newspaper is more concerned about the botched police investigation which in hindsight was quite inept. Sutcliffe was never considered a serious suspect by the police and was interviewed by them nine times during his reign of terror in which documentation of his prior interviews were continually misplaced so the next batch of police to interview him were none the wiser, time and time again.

Computers were in their infancy and very expensive so all records were kept on paper and by the time Sutcliffe was finally caught 13 murdered women and seven further attempted murders later the Ripper investigation room contained four tons of paper. It's a different world now with computers and DNA testing but the local police certainly played their part in Sutcliffe's ability to remain at large for as long as he did. A very detailed and somewhat exhaustive read.

Bring on the next lockdown; my reading material arrived today:

I think I saw this on another "What Are You Reading" forum and ordered it immediately. I read a good number of this type of book when I was younger (The Dambusters, Fly For Your Life, Reach For the Sky etc.) and this one is up with the very best of them.

I haven't quite finished it yet, expect I will tomorrow, have thoroughly enjoyed it. A true story, it's a little different than most air war books I have read in that the majority of the book follows the career and experiences of a German pilot. The two main characters, an American B-17 pilot and, as mentioned, a Luftwaffe Me109 pilot, meet in combat over Europe with a remarkable outcome.

How to keep your Humanity in awful times.

Kahuna wrote:

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I think I saw this on another "What Are You Reading" forum and ordered it immediately. I read a good number of this type of book when I was younger (The Dambusters, Fly For Your Life, Reach For the Sky etc.) and this one is up with the very best of them.

I haven't quite finished it yet, expect I will tomorrow, have thoroughly enjoyed it. A true story, it's a little different than most air war books I have read in that the majority of the book follows the career and experiences of a German pilot. The two main characters, an American B-17 pilot and, as mentioned, a Luftwaffe Me109 pilot, meet in combat over Europe with a remarkable outcome.

How to keep your Humanity in awful times.

Good one. Read 'Reach for the Sky' as a kid, loved it, Douglas Bader's story was an amazing one.