Call for Professional Reading Lists

[Umar Al-Mokhtār]

I would posit that almost anything authored or coauthored by Utley should be read.

[Steve Blair]

I would posit that almost anything authored or coauthored by Utley should be read.

Quite. But I was trying to keep it simple....

[Steve Blair]

I think I'd put forward The Past as Prologue as a better examination on the whole of military history and its possible use for making policy. As it's an anthology, you get more than one viewpoint and it does deal with many of the same issues that Black covers without getting bogged down in some of the "pet rocks."

[Bill Moore]

While hardly a great book, it is still worth the small investment of time required to read it. "The Age of the Unthinkable", by Joshua Ramo focuses on complexity, rapid change, and concludes we can't predict or prevent all future threats, so our strategy should be focused on resilience. In other words designing a political/economic/social structure that can survive and continue to thrive in the unavoidable 9/11 like events in the future. Hardly a complete strategy, but resilience should definitely be a component of our national strategy. Especially since the trend enabled by technology is greater centralization of critical infrastructure, because it is cost efficient, but it makes us increasingly vulnerable. One example is our power grid.

I found this book to be a good supplement to the Joint Operational Environment (the JOE) published by JFCOM, and it also sounds like it would nest nicely with the "The American Culture of War", which I haven't read yet (but intend to).

[slapout9]

Since this book raised a few eyebrows on a another thread I will submit it here, especially since this for senior leadership. If you want to understand networks and how to do Human Terrain Analysis this is for you. A more detailed analysis of my famous 3F analysis (Family,Friends and Finances). Our own davidbfpo says I should repeat this more often so here it is.

Discovering National Elites: A Manual of methods for Discovering The Leadership of a Society and its Vulnerabilities to Propaganda.

The link is listed below and you can read it for free. It is from 1952 and most of the techniques are manual but they could be automated. Should be read by senior leadership IMO.


http://www.grazian-archive.com/gover...0Contents.html


Oh yea there is some War Winning Stuff in here!!!!

[Starbuck]

@Steve Blair: Thanks--just bought it for my Kindle!

[Bill Jakola]

"The Drunkard's Walk, How Ramdomness Rules Our Lives"

In The Drunkard’s Walk Leonard Mlodinow provides readers with a wonderfully readable guide to how the mathematical laws of randomness affect our lives. With insight he shows how the hallmarks of chance are apparent in the course of events all around us. The understanding of randomness has brought about profound changes in the way we view our surroundings, and our universe. I am pleased that Leonard has skillfully explained this important branch of mathematics.

From Stephen Hawking.

Yes, from his formatible intellect, Dr. Hawking has a accurate description, but has not explained the value of this book for Soldiers, Marines, and other warriors. This book illuminates some of the causes of the the "fog of war" and is a helpful tool for reducing Clausewitze like "friction".