I've had it for a few years now. One time I got a throat infection and it amplified to a slightly louder volume. It went down to its original level a few months later, but the time when it was slightly louder was scarier than when it first appeared. I was worried it was going to keep increasing.
Yes I think it was called "Gates Of Fire". There is another book of his called "The Afghan Campaign" that I liked. It is about a greek soldier passing through Afghanistan for Alexander's campaign to reach India.
I asked my workplace if I could switch from the new macbook pro with the touchbar I got when I joined to linux on thinkpad (this was after a month of using the macbook pro btw), they agreed and I got an x1 carbon with ubuntu on it.
So much better IMO, just the keyboard alone was worth the switch. I was a little worried I would miss the display but I really don't mind the smaller screen.