Reader’s Diary

Po Bronson

This is not a self-help book. It’s a collection of about 50 profiles of people who have changed careers or who are considering a change. They’re not all the spoiled yuppies I expected, but neither are they a very diverse group. Most are fairly young, unattached, and well educated.

As far as it goes, the book is interesting, though not compelling. It’s disappointing that the book, despite the title, is only about jobs. Absent is any discussion of rewards outside of work. I was left wondering if many of the people profiled don’t expect jobs to provide meaning in their lives, meaning that might more realistically be found in other aspects of their lives. For if you depend on a job for meaning, your mental health is a hostage to the job market.

One of Bronson’s more interesting observations is that people generally don’t change careers unless they’re motivated to do so by a crisis.

The book is entertaining enough, but not nearly as good or as motivating as “Your Money or Your Life” or “Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow“.

Daniel P. Bolger

This is an account of training at the US Army’s National Training Center (NTC) during the mid-1980s. Bolger, who was an officer in title unit, doesn’t pull any punches. He describes the sometimes painful learning process as his unit went up against NTC’s OPFOR, an “enemy” trained and equipped to fight like Soviets. NTC uses lasers and other simulation devices to provide a high-stress, full-scale “combat” environment for US troops.

This is a good book for anybody interested in modern combined-arms tactics or in learning how the US Army became the effective fighting force that it is today.

Winston Groom

The Ypres Salient was hell on earth. Winston Groom (author of “Forrest Gump”) is its Dante. This book is a gripping account World War I as it was fought in a small, hilly section of Belgium. This is military history that goes beyond “maps and chaps”: along with tactics, chronology, geography, and generals, Groom serves up social and personal history.

Groom does an especially good job of providing background and context for the modern American reader who might not be very knowledgeable about the Great War or about early 20th century European history.

This is an unusually good book. Both its scope and the quality of the writing elevate it above the typical battle account.