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Thread: What Are You Currently Reading? 2009

  1. #141
    Council Member Cavguy's Avatar
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    Default Beach Reads

    Read three books last week:

    The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil - truly eye opening, disconcerting vision of the future. Premise is that by 2045 we will essentially merge with machines to a transcendent future. Sounds far out, but the case is very logical. Was a TX Hammes recommendation. Also check out the website, a movie version (along the lines of An Inconvenient Truth) is coming out this year. It is a 1000 page book, but you can get the meat of the case in chapter 1, the rest is justification/backup for the provocative thesis. Or wait for the movie.

    The Principles of War in the Information Age by Bob Leonhard. A good, thought provoking read arguing the traditional principles are obsolete.

    Centurion by Simon Scarrow. A light fiction about a Roman legion fighting the Parthians.
    "A Sherman can give you a very nice... edge."- Oddball, Kelly's Heroes
    Who is Cavguy?

  2. #142
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    Default My ten pence worth

    I'm re-reading the following:

    Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political. A work which, to quote Nietzsche, counts as a timely untimely meditation. I am surprised that strategists do not read it if only for its clear emphasis on the necessity and meaning of disntinguishing between friend and enemy.

    John Buchan, Greenmantle. A work of fiction which, IMO, contains more words of wisdom than will be found in your average, bog standard, academic tome. Set during WWI it revolves around the fortunes of a group of British intelligence officers and their attempt to thwart German plans in the Ottoman Empire. Along the way one gets the best disection of the Middle Eastern mentality and the Mind of Islam you're likely to find; 'No one knows what will set off a jihad!'. Much of it may be politically incorrect but that simply adds to its truth value.

    Hegel, The Philosophy of Right (especially section 445)

    Shimon Naveh, In Pursuit of Military Excellence: The Evolution of Operational Theory. I first read this during my undergraduate studies and, like most fresh faced and easily impressed layabouts, was bowled over by his verbose and self-important proclamations. Though still a valuable study of the development and conceptual foundations of Soviet/Russian deep operations theory (if anything this is its saving grace) I am not surprised that the IDF found his recent theory of SOD (Systematic Operational Design) so hard to digest that they spat it out in favour of a more traditional emphasis on "actual" military art in their recent Gaza campaign which paid dividends.

  3. #143
    Council Member Klugzilla's Avatar
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    Blowtorch Bob Komer's Organization and Management of the "New Model" Pacification Program -- 1966-1969. Komer's RAND analysis of pacification organization and management in SVN.

    U.S. Army Special Warfare: Its Origins by Alfred Paddock. An analysis of attempted to cope with special warfare after WWII. So far it appears in many ways to be a history of SWCS.
    Last edited by Jedburgh; 08-02-2009 at 04:37 AM. Reason: Added link.

  4. #144
    Council Member William F. Owen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tukhachevskii View Post
    John Buchan, Greenmantle. A work of fiction which, IMO, contains more words of wisdom than will be found in your average, bog standard, academic tome.
    Concur. It's orld Class fiction. It's excellent. My other favourite in this vein is Rogue Male.

    Shimon Naveh, In Pursuit of Military Excellence: The Evolution of Operational Theory. I first read this during my undergraduate studies and, like most fresh faced and easily impressed layabouts, was bowled over by his verbose and self-important proclamations. Though still a valuable study of the development and conceptual foundations of Soviet/Russian deep operations theory (if anything this is its saving grace) I am not surprised that the IDF found his recent theory of SOD (Systematic Operational Design) so hard to digest that they spat it out in favour of a more traditional emphasis on "actual" military art in their recent Gaza campaign which paid dividends.
    Sorry, but IMO, this book is garbage. He gets it all wrong. He doesn't seem to understand the dissonance between "Deep Battle" theory and actual practice. Big ideas, with little else to support them. All the big ideas fall over when faced with actual operational conditions.
    Naveh also plays very fast and loose with the historical record.
    Read Nikolas Zetterling rebuttal of Naveh if you can find it. I have a copy, if you PM me your e-mail.
    Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"

    - The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
    - If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
    Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition

  5. #145
    Council Member Red Rat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
    Concur. It's orld Class fiction. It's excellent. My other favourite in this vein is Rogue Male.


    Sorry, but IMO, this book is garbage. He gets it all wrong. He doesn't seem to understand the dissonance between "Deep Battle" theory and actual practice. Big ideas, with little else to support them. All the big ideas fall over when faced with actual operational conditions.
    Naveh also plays very fast and loose with the historical record.
    Read Nikolas Zetterling rebuttal of Naveh if you can find it. I have a copy, if you PM me your e-mail.
    Glad it is not just me that is finding it somewhat verbose! Looks like I could do with the Zetterling rebuttal as well.

    Also on the reading list at the moment:

    • Gretchen Peters - Seeds of Terror A look at the heroin/Taliban nexus
    • History of European Morals by William Lecky - something I should have probably read as an undergraduate...
    • 41 Years in India by Field Marshal Roberts

    and

    • The Big katie Morag Storybook by Mairi Hedderwick - at the behest of my 4 year old daughter who has her priorities very clear and generally sets mine!

  6. #146
    Council Member REMF's Avatar
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    On the reading list at the moment:
    Just finished The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Wars/conflict being the least predictable of things right after women , it's rewarding reading and a good addition to any perspective of conflict.
    Baghdad at Sunrise by P.R. Mansoor. I've been recommended this one, but I've heard mixed reviews. Is it any good?
    War Comes to Long An by Jeffrey Rice.
    Modern Warfare by Roger Trinquier.

  7. #147
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    Default Naveh and In Pursuit of...something

    Some thoughts on Shimon Naveh’s In Pursuit of Military Excellence that I thought I’d share with you. In many places in his turgid tome Naveh claims that the Soviet Army came up with something approximating what scientists would call a universal or general covering law (i.e, Hempel) regarding operational manoeuvre which formed the foundation of Deep Operations Theory. To prove this Naveh often approvingly cites or paraphrases from the Red Army Field Regulations of 1936;

    “By employing the universal combination of the linear holding group and a columnar shock group and an appropriate organisation of troops and resource s for combat the Red Army managed to create both the right synergy and the proper conditions for executing a coherent manoeuvre” (my italics, p. 172-3 but cf. pp. 187-9, 190, 218-9, 224-26) .

    Yet for all his “research” Naveh ignores or is ignorant of facts which upset his theoretical edifice. If the Soviet Army did indeed develop a theory of Deep Operations which, in terms of the relationship between a linear front and the operational depth, as the example above purports, came to represent something approaching the fundamental truths of operational art then why did the Red Army Field Regulations of 1944 (which is not cited by Naveh in the text or bibliography) state the following in no uncertain terms;

    “The concept of “striking and holding forces” as a part of combat formations which existed in the previous Polevoy Ustav (the 1936 Regulations venerated by Naveh) confused command personnel and led to inaction of so-called “holding forces in combat [!]. This Polevoy Ustav abolishes the division of a combat formation into a striking and a holding force, but it requires the concentration of main effort on the axis of the main attack and a determined attack by lesser forces on the axis of secondary attack” (my italics, p. 5)

    Thus, the theoretical tents expounded by Naveh were never actually adhered to by the Red Army and were promptly abandoned in 1943 during which time the 1944 regulations were being revised. For all of Naveh’s linguistic acrobatics it appears the supposedly pristine theory of Deep Operations (in the above respects at least) never existed outside Naveh’s own head. As D. M. Glantz explained in Soviet Military Operational Art, which Naveh cites but evidently never read, Deep Operations “theory” was actually a set of assumptions which were in constant evolution (p.12). The Red Army constantly went back and forth over their experiences in an attempt to ascertain which facets of the “theory” were applicable and which, like the above, could be jettisoned (at any given time). Relying on the 1936 Regulations to prove that the Red Army had discovered the timeless “laws “ of operational art is sheer nonsense given they themselves had the good sense to ditch much of what they had initially assumed correct. Funny that.

  8. #148
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    Default My next lot of reading ... (yes, I have a lot of free time on my hands)

    On a different note I have recently downloaded a number of works which I shall soon be tackling with gusto. I got them free from www.archive.org.

    J. H. Breasted, The Battle of Kadesh

    C. E. Callwell, Military Operations and Maritime Preponderance

    Moltke, Moltke’s Military Correspondence, 1870-71

    C. von der Goltz, The Nation in Arms

    F. A. Bayerlin, Jena or Sedan? (think Tolstoy’s War and Peace)

    U.S . War Department, A Survey of German Tactics, 1918

    Prince Kraft zu Hohenlohe Ingelfingen, Letters on Infantry (1889)

    F. N. Maude, Military Letters and Essays

    A.J. Tonybee, The Murderous Tyranny of the Turks
    A.J. Tonybee, Turkey and the Western Question

  9. #149
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    Crazy Horse: Strange Man of the Oglalas by Marie Sandoz

  10. #150
    Council Member William F. Owen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tukhachevskii View Post
    “The concept of “striking and holding forces” as a part of combat formations which existed in the previous Polevoy Ustav (the 1936 Regulations venerated by Naveh) confused command personnel and led to inaction of so-called “holding forces in combat [!]. This Polevoy Ustav abolishes the division of a combat formation into a striking and a holding force, but it requires the concentration of main effort on the axis of the main attack and a determined attack by lesser forces on the axis of secondary attack” (my italics, p. 5)
    ... or even that the very reason PU-44 was written is stated that PU-36 "Has become obsolete!! - and "requires thorough revision."

    A constant feature of Naveh is stating that sources says "X" when in fact, if studied in detail, it does not. I recently discovered Naveh was very influenced by Simpkin ("Pursuit" is actually dedicated to Simpkin) and I think Simpkin has a nasty habit of ascribing qualities and insights to Soviet thinking that simply did not exist. I think Naveh continues this, in the belief that in by doing so, he is doing something useful. I submit he is wrong.
    Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"

    - The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
    - If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
    Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition

  11. #151
    i pwnd ur ooda loop selil's Avatar
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    For the fun of it I'm reading "The complete book of running" James F. Fixx
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  12. #152
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    Quote Originally Posted by selil View Post
    For the fun of it I'm reading "The complete book of running" James F. Fixx
    Read it in high school 25 years ago.

    Captivating read at the time. In hindsight, it seems Fixx ran too much for his own good; seemed to be doing it for the endorphin rush, not health.

    Shame he dropped dead doing something that he preached for health. There's only so much you can do with a genetic issue.
    "Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen." - Jeff Cooper

  13. #153
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    I just bought a paperback copy of Ghost Wars by Steve Coll. I'm not sure of what the consensus opinion is of this book or the author's work in general. But I figured it would be interesting to read a book that discusses Afghanistan up to 9/10/01.

  14. #154
    Council Member bourbon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Schmedlap View Post
    I just bought a paperback copy of Ghost Wars by Steve Coll. I'm not sure of what the consensus opinion is of this book or the author's work in general. But I figured it would be interesting to read a book that discusses Afghanistan up to 9/10/01.
    Coll won the Pulitzer prize for Ghost Wars. I thought it was very good and have yet to read or hear anything negative about the book. He's a sharp guy, and a great foreign correspondent. I recently purchased a copy of his 1994 On The Grand Trunk Road: A Journey into South Asia; so far, so good.

    He runs a solid blog at The New Yorker called Think Tank covering national security issues; he's got SWJ on his blogroll so he cant be that bad a guy.

  15. #155
    Council Member ODB's Avatar
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    Default The Coming Insurrection

    Just started, will post thoughts upon completion......
    ODB

    Exchange with an Iraqi soldier during FID:

    Why did you not clear your corner?

    Because we are on a base and it is secure.

  16. #156
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    Just finished "The Coming Anarchy" by Robert Kaplan, and "Hezbollah" by Norton. Kaplan's book was very interesting to be sure. Now working on Waltz's "Man, the State, and War" as well as Asimov's "Foundation."

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zack View Post
    Just finished "The Coming Anarchy" by Robert Kaplan, and "Hezbollah" by Norton....
    Norton's Hezbollah is a good read, but I recommend it be preceded by the book he wrote twenty years earlier, Amal and the Shi'a. Although not intended as a set, they read well that way, and the first provides useful context for the second.

  18. #158
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    Default Readin'

    Well, as of now... my macroeconomics textbook (I have an exam in a couple days).

    But I'm hoping to finish The Accidental Guerrilla and The Strongest Tribe before September.

    Once all that is said and done, I'll begin research on my M.A. thesis and will do so by asking a big question (e.g. exactly what is security? - any book recommendations that addresses this question would be much appreciated) and work my way from there to a more specific question (e.g. how can "the state" co-exist with social organizations that provide for their own security?). Should be a good intellectual romp.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jedburgh View Post
    Norton's Hezbollah is a good read, but I recommend it be preceded by the book he wrote twenty years earlier, Amal and the Shi'a. Although not intended as a set, they read well that way, and the first provides useful context for the second.
    Cool, I will check that out. Thanks

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mack View Post
    exactly what is security? - any book recommendations that addresses this question would be much appreciated) .
    When I was in your position a few years ago the following books really helped me and they contain very comprehensive bibliographies for further research:

    Barry Buzan et al, Security: A New Framework for Analysis
    Barry Buzan, People, States and Fear, 2nd Ed.
    Ken Booth (Ed.), Critical Security Studies and World Politics (2005)
    R. D. Lipshutz (Ed), On Security (1995)
    K. Krause & M. C. Williams (Eds.), Critical Security Studies: Concepts and Cases

    Hope thats useful

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