Book Notes: John Poole’s Dragon Days: Time for “Unconventional” Tactics

John Poole’s Dragon Days is mostly about 4GW and a little bit about what I call 5GW (aka SecretWar).
The Interesting points to me where:
- US light infantry should add criminal investigative techniques
- US light infantry should all add real SERE capability so they don’t need 2GW-ish bombardment (with its 4GW blowback) if they get into [...]

BookTV Podcast with “The Utility of Force” author Gen. Rupert Smith…

…can be subscribed to here. That’s how I listened to it. The webcast version link crashed my browser.
It was quite interesting. He seems to be presenting a similar framework to Lind or XGW. Of course, since he is British, he sounds even smarter then he really is (which is smart to begin with). I am [...]

I just finshed reading Michael Yon’s new book “Moment of Truth in Iraq”…

…and I really liked it.
The book is 3 things:
- First-rate first-person war reporting
- An account of what is going on tactically in Iraq
- A partial handbook on COIN/4GW and the importance of the non-kinetic activities

I highly recommend it. The PurpleDad is getting my copy.

Sparse Elegance: Charles Koch’s “The Science of Success”

This is not a self-help book. It is an excellent slim introduction to free market economics and economic thinking masquerading as a business book.
While I picked up the “Science of Success” to see how he applied economic thinking to running a business, I was blown away the authors clarity and elegance in describing economic thinking.
I [...]

Book Notes: Nicholas Wade’s – “Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors”

I bought and finally read Nicholas Wade’s – “Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors” after catching references to it around the blogosphere (e.g. TDAXP)
I loved it.
This book makes an interesting pass at writing down the “pre-history” of humans mostly based upon on genetics and human DNA analysis.
Wade notes the following as [...]

I just finished reading Greg Bear’s Quantico

It is a near-future thriller about Bioterror and hints around the edges at the future events in the Mideast, terrorism, the US Intelligence Community and hi-tech National Security gadgets.
It was just okay.
It was really about hi-tech bioterror. Secondary themes were about how the USGOV and the IC isn’t doing enough…and is doing too much. And [...]

My Favorite Arthurian Books and Why The Arthurian Stories Still Attract Me All these Years Later

Here is a list of my favorite Arthurian (aka King Arthur) Books:
Mary Stewart:

The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
The Last Enchantment
The Wicked Day

The series tries to have a realistic/historical feel to it. It is clearly set in the Post-Roman/Pre-Dark-Ages Britain. The First three are from the point of view of Merlin and begin before Arthur is around. [...]