1. On Apr 27 2017 Tom Copeland (USCG) read The Art of Deception: An Introduction to Critical Thinking by Nicholas Capaldi and commented:

    Interesting combination - an overview of informal logic, and an overview of how to sway a crowd and bamboozle your debate opponents. Has a nice analysis of the intro to John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty".

  2. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman and commented:

    Friedman's book was timely when it came out, if a bit dated today.

  3. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin and commented:

    From Balfour to the resettlement, the haste and waste of the west to "solve" the issues coming from the fall of the Osmanli directly contributed to the mess we have today. I read this book in the late 1990s and have re-read it since and it is still relevant. Now with Erdogan undoing the work of Mustafa Kemal, is it about to start over again?

  4. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond and commented:

    Great book, but a dense read at times. Great explanation of why many civilizations at similar latitudes are more likely to expand and survive than those more longitudinally aligned.

  5. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand and commented:

    It is amazing what can be survived.

  6. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and commented:

    "Why do drug dealers live with their moms" will open your eyes to the items of "reality" behind what you see.

  7. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War by P. W. Singer and commented:

    Very good and yet disturbing read about what could be.

  8. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan and commented:

    A long conference that guaranteed another war.

  9. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman and commented:

    I found this to be Tuchman's best. It does go to show that our militaries and the societies that lead them tend to make the same mistakes and continue to fail to learn from those mistakes.

  10. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley and commented:

    Very interesting book about this history of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the horrible acts that happened there that eerily echo many of the issues going on today.

  11. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson and commented:

    Interesting book about pre war Germany. I learned quite a bit about the attitudes and situation of that time.

  12. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield and commented:

    The first Pressfield I read. An excellent fictionalized account of a pivotal war

  13. On Apr 27 2017 Bryan Gardner read The Afghan Campaign: A Novel by Steven Pressfield and commented:

    Excellent novel by Pressfield.

  14. On Apr 27 2017 Tim Bowler read Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground by Robert D. Kaplan and commented:

    A great read

  15. On Apr 27 2017 Tim Bowler read The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World by Rupert Smith and commented:

    A thoughtful book about what modern warfare means today, and the problems and issues it throws up for commanders