My only concern with reading lists is that many books aren't just works that you sit down and read on your own. For example, from the list above: On War by CvC. I really don't think most - or even many - people are going to fully grasp everything unless they are already well versed in most of the concepts or they spend considerable time discussing the issues with other knowledgeable folks and/or others who are reading it concurrently.

Also, some books require some significant background knowledge. For example, I recently read The Iliad for the second time (the first was about 10 years ago). This time, it helped significantly to read the translator's introduction (and to do some research into which translation to get), to do some research about the characters and mythology, to follow along with an audio course about the book, and so on. Without the background, it's just expedition, Achilleus gets mad, things turn sour, he gets madder, whoops some ass, end of story. You need to know the history, a bit about Greek culture at the time, and some other trivia to understand what is occurring and its significance. And if you don't know any of that, then you need to know what you need to learn before reading (the known unknowns). Guided study helps.

When I was a young LT starving for knowledge, I read most of the books on the CoS's reading list, from the NCO recommendations up to the top dog recommendations (before 9/11 - afterward, very little time). Some I got a lot out of. Others, in hindsight, would have been better to read if part of some guided study. To cite one example, I plowed through The Soldier and The State and got a lot out of it - particularly the first few chapters. (This was recommended for more senior officers, but it's the example that comes to mind). I suspect that I would have gotten a lot more out of it had it been read as part of some professional development program. Ditto all of the other books, including those recommended for junior officers.

I think that there should also be emphasis on the lists being divided into areas for which any one or two are sufficient. For example, a list of 50 books, divided into 5 areas of 8 to 12 each, with 1 or 2 from each area being adequate. Read all 50 books on the list - or even a list of 10 or 20? Yeah, good luck with that when you're on a cycle of 12 months deployed and then 12 months stateside, of which 8 months is eaten up with training.