I finally finished "The End of the Old Order" - it takes a long time to read a 600+ page book when you do it in 10-20 page snippets at bedtime. The most interesting part was the last chapter, which covered the peace negotiations of late 1805. The allied coalition had Napolean in a much worse position than they knew; but Francis (Austria) was utterly demoralized by Austerlitz, as was Alexander (Russia). Frederick William (Prussia) got taken out by his faithless envoy, Haugwitz. It's a fascinating look at the difference between reality and perception, and I look forward to Kagan's coverage of the rest of Napoleonic era.

That still leaves me with a huge stack of books though :) Presently, I'm reading this one: "Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel", which covers medieval technology. A lot more happened during that era than a lot of people realize, and this book makes that point well. In the meantime, I've still got "Ghengis Khan" and "Flags of our Fathers" queued up.

But wait: there's more! I keep getting books as holiday and birthday gifts (never mind the gift cards I have in my wallet), so there's a bunch of good stuff in the pile: "Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805". That's a topic I'm very interested in reading about; there are echos of that one today.

I've also got the end of the Stuart era on tap, with "Ungrateful Daughters". That era of English history is fascinating - I look forward to this one. Over to the American West with "Empire Express", which tells the tale of the trans-continental railroad. Then there's Sean Wilentz' "The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln". Still in US history, there's "Gentleman Revolutionary", by Richard Brookhiser. That's about Gouverneur Morris, one of the lesser known founding fathers.

Whew - that's a lot of reading - I'd best get started :)

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