Ten Books That Are Better Than The Art Of War

Guerrilla Lit 101: Ten Books That Are Better Than The Art Of War -- John Arquilla, Foreign Policy

West Point's recently released list of the top 10 military classics is replete with doorstop-sized accounts of conflict from ancient to relatively modern times -- but almost completely neglects insurgency, terrorism, and other forms of irregular warfare. The U.S. Military Academy's list does a fine job of capturing the "horizontal" dynamic of clashes of roughly equal great powers armed with the most advanced weapons. But the history and shape of the world system have been just as influenced by the "vertical" axis -- the unequal struggles that have seen guerrillas, bandits, and commandos waging "wars of the knife" against empires and nations. And it is this latter mode of conflict that has dominated world affairs for the past half-century -- and will likely do so for at least a century to come.

Read more ....

My Comment: An impressive list of books .... now I wish had the time to read and study them.

What Are Soldiers Reading

Canon Fodder -- Rolf Potts, The New Yorker

When allegations surfaced that details in Greg Mortenson’s memoir “Three Cups of Tea” had been fabricated, some reports noted that the book, a best-seller about doing good works in Central Asia, is “required reading” for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. These reports were referring to the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center’s Pre-Deployment Afghanistan Reading List, which (in addition to cultural field guides and counter-insurgency manuals) recommends novels such as Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” and George MacDonald Fraser’s “Flashman.”

Read more ....

My Comment: If I had a choice, I would read "Starship Troopers" .... but that is just me.

Violence And Comic Boredom Of A Soldier's Life Has Been Named One Of The Best Reads For 2011

The Junior Officers' Reading Club is the debut from Patrick Hennessey Photo: REX

Army Officer's Story Named One Of The Year's Best Reads -- The Telegraph

A memoir which recounts the "frenetic violence" and "comic boredom" of a soldier's life has been named one of the best reads for 2011.

The Junior Officers' Reading Club is the debut from Patrick Hennessey, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is one of 10 books to have made the list.

It tells the former Army officer's story "through the testosterone-heavy breeding ground of Sandhurst, into the war-pockmarked, gritty Balkans, out into the nightmare of Iraq and Afghanistan's Helmand Province, pinned down by the Taliban, living only from moment to moment".

Read more ....

My Comment: The boredom is a given, but whenever I talk with veterans on their war stories, they always remember the best jokes .... or what was the most horrifying moments in their lives.

Here Is A List Of Books That U.S. Soldiers In Afghanistan Are Reading

What They Are Reading: ‘My Life With the Taliban’ -- At War/The New York Times

Since its inception in 2008, At War has taken time to look closely at the tools of war, a habit that has developed into a semi-regular series of posts on equipment carried by the front-line troops of both Western units and insurgent groups.

For the New Year, let’s make a resolution to add a feature: a semi-regular look at the books, articles and Web Sites recommended by those directly involved in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the months ahead, we’ll be querying aid workers, journalists, soldiers, diplomats, scholars, bloggers and others about what they have read, or plan to read, to prepare for their work.

This post can be a preview — a look at the reading list of Task Force Shadow, a United States Army aviation unit now working in southern Afghanistan.

Read more ....

My Comment: An interesting collection of books .... and a good analysis on what U.S. soldiers are reading.

Book Review: The Fourth Star

The Fourth Star: Four Generals And The Epic Struggle For The Future Of The United States Army -- The Front Page

It’s a dusty axiom that generals have the bad habit of fighting the last war, rather than the one they’re engaged in.

After Vietnam, the U.S. Army took the opposite approach. From the quagmire of ‘Nam, the Army took the “lesson” that it should never again engage in another counter-insurgency effort —or even study how to fight one. (This, despite the fact that the U.S. had won the fight against the Viet Cong guerrillas by 1972, and its Special Forces knew exactly how to conduct such a war.)

Read more ....

My Comment: This is a well written review. This book is definitely on my "too read" list for this summer.

A Book Review From Former CIA Director Hayden

Former CIA Director Hayden: Thiessen’s ‘Courting Disaster’ A Must-Read -- The DC

Marc Thiessen begins his new book, “Courting Disaster,” with something of a disclaimer: For reasons of security and classification, he says, he should not have been able to write it. He’s right. He shouldn’t have been able to write it. But I’m glad he did.

Thiessen jumps into the once murky (and once highly classified) world of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program with zeal and energy. And he puts fresh light on a story that up until now seems to have been taken to the darkest corner of the room at every opportunity.

Read more ....

My Comment: For more information, Marc Thiessen's website for his book is here.

Wired For War

From The Armchair Generalist:

P.W. Singer has written a very interesting book in "Wired for War: The Robotic Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century." This is his third release in six years - impressive, considering the 438 pages of this tome. If you want a technical discussion and evaluation of the value of robots in war, this isn't the book for you. Instead, Singer takes a journey into the history of robotics, the military's past work with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and sudden love affair with robotics after 2003, the pros and cons of using robots in combat operations, and what the future might show.

Singer's success in this book is how he has addressed the social, technical, military, and ethical aspects of the robot revolution. It is a relatively recent technical explosion of activity, but as Singer shows, the social impact of robotics go back decades. Still, the desire to use unmanned systems to augment and replace human frailties has been strong, especially in warfare. The more recent advances in robotics, added to military concepts of operation in urban areas and social comfort with electronics, has led to a Revolution in Military Affairs - of sorts. We may not be there completely.

Read more ....