What’s in your reading pile?

Among the dozen or so books in the "I really want to read these before I graduate" (I graduated last month…), there are two books that are personal priorities:

  • BuccaneersRealm Buccaneer’s Realm by Ben Little. I’m almost done with this one. Buccaneer’s Realm explores the culture of privateers, buccaneers / boucaniers, filibusters / flibustiers, and pirates in a fourteen year slice. This is a great follow up to his Sea Rover’s Practice that looked at how ‘pirates’ operated, functioned, and organized themselves. In Sea Rover’s Practice you’ll see how financial interests could and did overcome racial and other prejudices and that democracy works well when everyone has a stake.
  • Guernica Guernica and Total War by Ian Patterson. I have only opened it and skimmed a few pages, and it looks good. This was an appreciated gift from a fellow blogger.

A short list of other books on the ‘to read’ pile that I feel safe recommending, even without reading:

  • Mike Waller’s Public Diplomacy Reader (no, I asked him, that’s not his dog on the cover). I have flipped through this and cited it, but haven’t given it the read through it deserves and requires.
  • Robert L. Dilenschneider’s Power and Influence: The Rules have Changed. Don’t know who the author is? He is the former President and CEO of Hill & Knowlton. Don’t know Hill & Knowlton? Then you might enjoy Manheim’s case study. (And while we’re at it, if you’re picking up Manheim, you should have what I consider an equally, if not more important read from Entman.)
  • Sarah Percy’s Mercenaries. Based on an early draft of a chapter she sent a while back, she’s done some amazing research. Looking forward to reading her book.

While I’m at it, here’s an additional list of some of the books I recommend that I recently (last few months) read. No time to pen something substantial (or anything in some cases), but these deserve much more than the casual glance and should be read.

4 Replies to “What’s in your reading pile?”

  1. Nicely done Chris. I wasn’t going to share my too long of a wish list but maybe I’ll think about it.Everybody, if you like Chris’s War and Health blog, I bet he wouldn’t be insulted if you thanked him by purchasing a book for him.
    Actually I wouldn’t either, and as I said above, one online friend has done so… will he be a trend-setter? I have, on occassion, received a free copy by a publisher to review. That’s nice too.
    As an independent and self-directed analyst who recently graduated with a Master of Public Diplomacy, I’m looking for a job and my pockets are shallow. More on that later though. For now, buy a book for Chris…

  2. Grossman’s book is a wonderful and very insightful read. I highly recommend it. Considering your study of robots and their use in combat, I would expect you to see a rise in mortality rates as they are employed more and more. For some reason they don’t seem to have the reservations that people have in taking life. I wonder what Asimov would have to say.

  3. KSH, things to think about: even when tele-operated (remote controlled), there is likely to be an increase in kinetic action. The Nintendo warrior a 100m to a half a world away may be more likely to pull the trigger. This may be because of fewer subtle cues the camera doesn’t convey well (or at all), like a “feel” for the street, or it may be because the tele-operator does not have first hand experience in the situation the robot s/he is control is in.

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