One of the activities that had to kind of go by the wayside during my department head tour on the boat was reading; I managed to knock out the occasional novel on weeks where the work on duty days didn’t go too late into the evening, and my discovery of Audible was also a revelation. Still, my To Read pile has been steadily growing over the last several years. So, I thought I would talk about a handful of the ones I’m working on as I try to gain some headway on my backlog!
Fighting the Great War At Sea – Norman Friedman
This is a timely book given that we are in the centenary of the First World War, and it is by one of my favorite naval historians to boot! This is a well-illustrated and lavishly foot-noted tome that provides both a very good overview of the naval side of the Great War as well as insights that I have not encountered in all of my previous reading on the topic.
The Elegant Universe – Brian Greene
This book was a gift from one of my JOs (Thanks Brendan!). I’ve been working on this one during my bus rides to and from work, and its been a very interesting read so far. It goes into the advances modern theoretical physics has made with string theory, but does so in way that is accessible even to History majors like me. If you ever wanted to know more about the stuff Sheldon talks about on Big Bang Theory, this is the book for you.
Makers of Modern Strategy – Peter Paret, Editor
I just received this as a gift from a friend (Thanks Ben!) who had two copies of the book. It is a collection of essays that discuss influential strategic thinkers and their works from Machiavelli to the nuclear age. I’ve only had time to skim a few of the essays so far, but this looks like it will be a fascinating survey of centuries of strategic development.
Until next time!