What book are you reading now?

[brihard]

Presently about 2/3 through Mattis' book, 'Callsign Chaos: Learning to Lead'. A very enjoyable biography, and not at all a difficult read. I'm not past about 2010 yet, but he did state earlier in the book that he won't be speaking in criticism of the current sitting president. He doesn't pull punches when stating his beliefs on strategic missteps through the 2000s- but he does stay in his lane.

Next up I've got 'Homo Deus' by Yuval Noah Harari; it's a sequel to 'Sapiens', a book he wrote on human history, and it aims to forecast some of human future and how we're going to be developing ourselves to exceed our biological limitations. Next up after that will be Jared Diamond's 'Upheaval', and then Max Hastings' 'Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy'.

I expect these will take me at least through the winter unless I can discipline myself to get reading more.

 

[tomahawk6]

I have exhausted my usual historical naval books and now am onto Anton Chance Sea thrillers. Chance started as a Master and Commander and is now a Commodore of a flotilla operating in Canada fighting the French and their Huron allies. So far I am enjoying it.Cant wait for another John G Cragg book to come out.

 

[Navy_Pete]

Just finished reading MacBeth by Jo Nesbo, a Nordic noir writer.  It's set in the late 1960s Glasgow in an alternate history, with the main characters forming part of the police, politicians and criminal underworld.

It's interesting in that it stands on it's own legs as a work of fiction, but also has some occasional lines from Shakespeare.  Pretty interesting read, and part of a whole series of Shakespeare stories redone by various modern novelists.

It's not exactly literature, but a step above a lot of the pulp fiction (like Jack Reacher etc), and enjoyed it.  Would recommend if you are looking for something different.

Have been reading a lot more with the library having ebooks, as it's hugely convenient and so easy to browse and borrow online.

 

[FJAG]

I have been reading about the Roman Army Marius Mules series book 8 by SJA Turney. Warfare through the ages are similar such as the need for supplies and the need of denying an enemy food hence scorched earth policies. In more modern times we see the destruction of an enemies industry as a means to weaken the enemy and hindering their ability to wage war as in WW2.

I'm now on volume 7 of this series. Lighter than McCullough's Masters of Rome series but very entertaining (and the Kindle price is nice)

Thanks for the tip.

:cheers:

 

[LittleBlackDevil]

Reading 'Salem's Lot (Stephen King) right now and I quite like it!

Stephen King has been hit and miss for me ...

Yeah, I find Stephen King to be a bit hit-and-miss too. 'Salem's Lot is one of my favourites by him and I've probably read it a half dozen times.

I am currently about 95% through my second reading of The Stand, which is another favourite of mine.

I just finished Galaxy's Edge: Legionnaire by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole. I bought it on a whim because the cover looked cool and the blurb on the back sounded good. It was very well done. At least one of the authors must have served in the army (probably US) because the book was very true to army life.

 

[FJAG]

In an attempt to better understand how anyone could have voted for Trump, I decided to read Scott Adams' two-year-old book "Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter"

Adams, you may recall, is the author of the Dilbert comic strip and who came out very early on saying that Trump would win the election (notwithstanding that he calls himself an ultra-liberal.

He provides a basic understanding of what makes peoples' belief system tick and then indicates how Trump capitalized on that. Some of the key elements he points out are:

1. Facts are weaker than fiction meaning that you can't dissuade a person's political convictions with facts because people have their own facts or see agreed on facts in a different way. As a result Trump completely ignores whatever facts are inconvenient in favour of what his supporters already believe;

2. People view the world through a filter. People filter out those facts that don't make them happy in favour of keeping alive concepts that make them happy. For example a child's early belief in Santa Claus, subsequent beliefs in religions, using drugs or alcohol. People's primary filter is the "persuasion filter" which posits that most people are primarily irrational and make their decisions by gut instinct and then subsequently create elaborate rationalizations to persuade themselves that they have made the correct decision.

3. We all suffer from cognitive dissonance much of the time. Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort an individual feels when he holds two contradictory beliefs or values at the same time or while holding a particular belief or value, being confronted by a contradictory one. In such a situation our own brains generate an illusion to resolve the discomfort such as telling you that the new information is inaccurate or really does support your original belief.

4. We all suffer from confirmation bias which is the human reflex to interpret any new information of being supportive of our existing opinions.

5. We all readily sign on to mass delusions. As examples he points out the Salem Witch trials, the "War of the Worlds" broadcast, the Dutch Tulip Mania crisis. In short, people easily adopt certain opinions/beliefs when confronted by mass acceptance of them regardless how silly those opinions/beliefs might be.

So far Adams had my general acceptance of what he was writing but at this point he posited the position that Trump's super power is that he is a master persuader. Adams himself, however, comes across as a bit of a narcissist as he declares himself very, very rich; a trained hypnotist and a trained persuader and as such he believes himself to have the credentials to evaluate whether anyone else is in fact a master persuader. Setting aside the self congratulations, I actually wanted Adams to prove how Trump manged to persuade so many people to support him. Sadly (and maybe its my own confirmation bias showing) he fails to do that in the remaining two thirds of his book.

He did convince me that Trump had what Adams calls a "talent stack" that sets him up to succeed. These talents included: being a public, well-known figure; having a nurtured reputation as a successful businessman; thinking strategically (eg using social media and campaigning harder than Clinton); having negotiating skills; public speaking at a level the common man can follow; a sense of humour; quick on his feet (regardless of whether or not what he says is a lie); thick skinned (by years of experiencing criticism and even though he counter-punches every slight thrown his way); high energy; size and appearance; smart (more so than the average citizen - I drew the line at this one - maybe confirmation bias again) Adams fails to address any of Trump's many, many failures.

Adams then goes on to talk about specific persuasion techniques and how Trump used them. This is where he lost me. While a good number of them were credible, many were not and more often then not, Adams only real support in establishing that Trump successfully used a certain technique is by virtue of Adams quoting himself from a blog post he issued during the election and a reference back to his own skills as a trained hypnotist and persuader. The whole thing falls a bit flat at this point primarily because so many of the "techniques" allegedly used by Trump can just as easily be interpreted as character flaws surfacing rather than strategically employed tools.

All told an interesting read about the role of persuasion and the irrelevance of facts but far from satisfactory in explaining the Trump success.

:cheers:

 

[dimsum]

The Small Wars Journal's annual Mad Scientist Initiative call-outs happened a few weeks ago. 

They are military-themed sci-fi short stories as well as articles about all sorts of future initiatives, found here:

https://smallwarsjournal.com/madscience

 

[mariomike]

In an attempt to better understand how anyone could have voted for Trump, I decided to read Scott Adams' two-year-old book "Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter"

Perhaps it has something to do with attention span?

You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish
https://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/

Just about a long enough to mentally digest a Tweet, meme or cartoon. 

 

[ModlrMike]

Jack Reacher (4) - Running Blind

 

[FJAG]

"Sword of the King" by Bernard Cornwell. This is the twelfth book of what is now called the "Last Kingdom" series (formerly the "Warrior Chronicles" and/or the "Saxon Stories") being the tales of Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Danish raised Saxon who journeys south to London to take part in the conflict between Æthelstan and his younger half-brother Ælfweard when King Edward dies.

Good standard Cornwell stuff albeit the tale is getting a bit long in the tooth and predictable.

:cheers:

 

[dangerboy]

Good standard Cornwell stuff albeit the tale is getting a bit long in the tooth and predictable.

:cheers:

I like the series but it does have to end soon.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Heard the author on a podcast, so I'm about to dive into the Kindle version of this ....

... The Stuff of Soldiers uses everyday objects to tell the story of the Great Patriotic War as never before. Brandon Schechter attends to a diverse array of things—from spoons to tanks—to show how a wide array of citizens became soldiers, and how the provisioning of material goods separated soldiers from civilians.

Through a fascinating examination of leaflets, proclamations, newspapers, manuals, letters to and from the front, diaries, and interviews, The Stuff of Soldiers reveals how the use of everyday items made it possible to wage war. The dazzling range of documents showcases ethnic diversity, women's particular problems at the front, and vivid descriptions of violence and looting.

Each chapter features a series of related objects: weapons, uniforms, rations, and even the knick-knacks in a soldier's rucksack. These objects narrate the experience of people at war, illuminating the changes taking place in Soviet society over the course of the most destructive conflict in recorded history. Schechter argues that spoons, shovels, belts, and watches held as much meaning to the waging of war as guns and tanks. In The Stuff of Soldiers, he describes the transformative potential of material things to create a modern culture, citizen, and soldier during World War II ...

 

[dangerboy]

Not very Christmas spirit but I am read again "Green Eyed Boys" by Christian Jennings & Adrian Weale https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2353831.Green_Eyed_Boys. It is the about 3 Para and the Battle for Mount Longdon during the Falklands War.

Next up is what I consider a companion book "Excursion To Hell" by LCpl Vincent Bramley. He was part of 3 Para's Machine Gun Platoon and this book details his experiences during the Falklands War.

 

[exspy]

Not very Christmas spirit but I am read again "Green Eyed Boys" by Christian Jennings & Adrian Weale. It is the about 3 Para and the Battle for Mount Longdon during the Falklands War.

Next up is what I consider a companion book "Excursion To Hell" by LCpl Vincent Bramley. He was part of 3 Para's Machine Gun Platoon and this book details his experiences during the Falklands War.

I have them both in hard copy but it's been so long since I've read them I can't remember anything specific. I think it was Bramley's book that started a criminal investigation into the allegation of British soldiers killing wounded Argentines.

Dan.

 

[OldSolduer]

Rasputin.

A real charmer

 

[FJAG]

His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass. Yeah. That Golden Compass.

Concurrent with Marius Mules VIII: - Sons of Taranis

:cheers:

 

[exspy]

Fifteen years after it was published, I've finally read No Holding Back (2004) by some guy named Reid or Read or something.

Over the last couple of decades there's been a lot of interest shown by Canadian military authors in the Normandy campaign. This volume adds significantly to the historiography. The book is about Operation Totalize, the first battle fought by First Canadian Army. Going back to the original documents, the author presents a new perspective on the reasons for, and the aims of, the operation. He also goes over the plan in detail, concentrating on the fire plan and the use of strategic bombers in a tactical role.

There is a lot of information presented and the book was not written for the first-time reader. You'd better know something about the Canadian Army and the campaign before digging into this or you might find it confusing. As the author also refutes points in earlier books about Totalize, if might be good idea to be aware of the writings of English, Roy, Kitching, Meyer (Kurt not Hubert) and Stacey.

(The reader should also be aware that the author uses 8th Reconnaissance Regiment and 14th Hussars interchangeably.)

Lots of maps and line drawings as well as appendices, including the infamous "Who Killed Michael Wittmann?"

Overall, a must have for anyone with a serious library about the Canadians in the Second World War.

Cheers,
Dan.

 

[FSTO]

Just finished the audio version of:

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

What a fantastic period of North American History. The savagery and the mental and physical toughness of all those involved in that period is astounding. How a group of people were able to harness and exploit a new technology (the horse) to become one of the finest light cavalry the world has ever seen within a generation is almost magical in scope.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7648269-empire-of-the-summer-moon

 

[Old Sweat]

Just finished the audio version of:

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

What a fantastic period of North American History. The savagery and the mental and physical toughness of all those involved in that period is astounding. How a group of people were able to harness and exploit a new technology (the horse) to become one of the finest light cavalry the world has ever seen within a generation is almost magical in scope.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7648269-empire-of-the-summer-moon

Agree completely, as I read the book several years ago.

 

[dimsum]

Just finished The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.  I can see why it won the awards it did; it's very well-written and sadly not all that much of a stretch from reality.