Reader’s Diary

Bob Woodward

Thanks to the end of the Bush administration, this will probably be the last book in the “Bush at War” series (the preceding volumes are “Bush at War“, “Plan of Attack“, and “State of Denial“).  As usual, Woodward’s sources are fantastic. It’s basically the story of how “the surge” came about.  It’s not a pretty story.

Is there anyone, even those who supported the Iraq war, who still thinks Bush did a good job?  If there is, they need to read this book.  Not only is it a dismal account of the administration’s incompetence, but it reveals the fact that Bush knew his strategy was failing long before he took action to change it.

Adrian Goldsworthy

This is a detailed look at the Roman army.  It covers the entire span of Roman history but is organized topically rather than chronologically: chapters are devoted to the army at war, in  peacetime, the soldiers’ lives, and so on.  The book is richly illustrated and I appreciated the fact that captions on photos of archaeological finds refer to the location of each discovery. Goldsworthy is very clear on what is conjecture and what is supported by definitive evidence.    All in all, it’s a great book if you’re interested in the topic albeit somewhat dry.

Rick Atkinson

“The Day of Battle” is the second volume in Rick Atkinson’s monumental “Liberation Trilogy”.  Like the fist book in the series (”An Army At Dawn“) its focus is on the US Army in the European theater of World War II; British and German decisions and actions are related mostly in terms of how they affected the Americans.  I don’t mean that as a criticism, it’s just a comment on the story Atkinson chose to tell. The conflicts among US commanders and between them and the British is as much a part of Atkinson’s story as the fight between the Allies and the Axis.

As in the previous volume, Atkinson concentrates on command decisions.  He doesn’t ignore the experience of the common soldier, but individual GIs are de-emphasized in favor of majors, colonels, and generals.

This isn’t a Stephen Ambrose style history; it’s a more substantial, less sentimental work than many recent books on World War II.  Atkinson avoids the “greatest generation” trope and the book is based on contemporary accounts instead of veterans reminiscences.  As a result, not every commander looks selfless and atrocities committed by both sides are not ignored.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the series, which will cover Normandy and the final defeat of Nazi Germany.

(For another excellent, more narrowly focused and more personal book about the campaign, see Lloyd Clark’s “Anzio: Italy and the Battle for Rome - 1944“.)

Danny Wallace

Yes man Danny Wallace asked people to join him and they did.  This is the story of a pub bet that turned into a funny book and spawned a Karma Army devoted to random acts of kindness.  Read the book, but don’t look at the Join Me site until you’ve finished it.

Philip Delves Broughton

I’m as far from an M.B.A. candidate as you can get but I enjoy memoirs like this, particularly when the author is a bit of an outsider.  In addition to being an entertaining look at Harvard Business School, it’s an a account of mid-life career change and a look at American corporate culture. Broughton’s background in British journalism adds perspective and humor to his account.

Leonard Mlodinow

This is a much better written, much more complete, and much more useful introduction to randomness than Taleb’s “Fooled by Randomness“.   The part I found most interesting was his explanation of the difference between the probability that something will happen to a given individual and the probabability that the same thing will happen to somebody.  Roger Maris beating Babe Ruth’s record was unlikely; some player beating Ruth’s 34-year-old record in 1961 was not. Betting that some fund manager will beat the market is a safe bet; the idea that you can pick which manager will beat the market in a given year - whatever his previous performance - is a potentially expensive misunderstanding.