By John Keegan.
Keegan wants to take down the Clausewitzian view that war is politics by other means.
War has evolved greatly over the centuries. From battles where the combatants put down their arms during harvest season, to the modern world where our great powers have the ability to end all life as we know it. He implores our policy makers that we must find a different way than continuing to grow our ability to slaughter.
I've read Churchill's The Second World War twice. It is a fantastic read, one that only someone with Churchill's position and perspective could have pulled off.
I've also become aware of how biased The Second World War is, precisely because it's written from Churchill's position and perspective. The Second World War skips or over simplifies events where didn't have Churchill's direct involvement-- Finland, the Germany's invasion of Russia, the inner workings of Germany and Russia, or events that didn't cast Britain in the best light.
Inferno is much more comprehensive. It's also much more gruesome. It includes details from those on the front lines. It also talks through the politics and economies of Germany and Russian and how the impacted the war.
Germany's army was much much better than Russia's, yet Russia had a seemingly inexhaustible number of soldiers to send to battle. Every Russian solder that was gunned down by a German, consumed munitions, gas and food that Germany was running out of. A German General called it "Winning ourselves to death."
While British ruled many colonies in the South Pacific. It did not have a warm relationship with them. The citizens of those colonies did not love Britain. The end result, when Japan invaded, (Burma, Indonesia and Malaysia for example) the locals were happy to see Britain go. They never put effort into fighting back in Japan.
"One of the most important truths about the war, as indeed about all human affairs, is that people can only interpret what happens to them only in the context of their own circumstances."
"Fighting and death everywhere and now I am also wounded. China is limitless and we are like drops of water in an ocean. There is no purpose to this war. I shall never see home again."-- note from a despairing Japanese soldier.
"I can only suggest the three things that are, at any rate, worth of investigation. First, a tendency amongst Englishmen to regard themselves as naturally superior in every way to any colored race, without taking steps to ensure this is always a fact. Secondly, a failure to develop a sympathetic understanding with the Burmese... Thirdly, the fact the the majority of the non-official Englishmen in Burma were more concerned with making money than benefiting the native population."
By Agatha Christie
The first of the Miss Marple novels.
Encyclopedia Brown borrows a lot from this book. Each chapter is mystery with clues. Miss Marple solves the mystery at the end.
The time and place where these mysteries were written has changed so much that it's nearly impossible to understand, let alone solve some of the mysteries.
In one mystery a clue is that someone who is banting would not have eaten trifle and that truffle is served with hundreds and thousands, which are pink and white sugar things.
In another mystery, a clue is that a gardener was working on Whitmonday-- something normal gardeners never do. You are tipped off that about Whitmonday because at the beginning of the story, the lead character tells you it's Whitsuntide.
By Alvin E. Roth.
The places and ways we procure things-- markets-- can be designed. Their design greatly impacts who get's what and why.
Roth spends much time on Kidney transplant markets (He earned is Nobel prize for that) covering how thought and care greatly increased the number of kidneys available for transplant.
Another Agatha Christie murder mystery.
I read Christie's books more as a lesson in the anatomy of murder mysteries. Christie invented many of the tropes still used in murder mysteries today... the timings, the liar who is hiding something else, the distractions, the number of accomplices (Taken to extremes in Murder on the Orient Express) It's fun to read their original incantations in these books.
By Agatha Christie
The first Miss Marple novel.
Another fun read by Christie. Perhaps it depends a little too much on people who know exactly where they were and what they heard at 6:20, not 6:15 and definitely not 6:25. The in habitants of this book are either clock watchers or liars.
