As some of you may know, I occasionally do a little bit of media commentary. One of these is a weekly spot on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Afternoon Briefing” with Greg Jennett. We discuss the war in Ukraine and a range of other military and strategic issues.
This week, a viewer wrote to the ABC asking about the titles of the books that appear on the shelf behind me. Unfortunately, some of the book titles are hidden behind me.
While I wrote back to the viewer concerned with the list of the books, I thought I would also share the list here.
To be honest, these books are just a very small selection of books from my library – I am a big reader and a strong advocate for reading. Anyway, the books behind me are as follows (from left to right):
Carl von Clausewitz, On War
Colin Gray, The Future of Strategy
Kenneth Payne, I, Warbot
Mick Ryan, White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan
Mick Ryan, War Transformed
Peter Rosen, War and Human Nature
Peter Singer & Emerson Brooking, Like War
Sean McFate, The New Rules of War
Serhii Plokhy, The Russo-Ukrainian War
Margaret MacMillan, War: How Conflict Shaped Us
Peter Singer & August Cole, Ghost Fleet
David Epstein, Range
Paul Scharre, Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of AI
Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon
James Kitfield, Prodigal Soldiers
Michael O’Hanlon, Military History for the Modern Strategist
Michael Pillsbury, The Hundred Year Marathon
Ralph Stacey, Managing the Unknowable
Ivo Daadler & I.M. Destler, The Shadow of the Oval Office
Michael Pearlman, Truman and MacArthur
Christopher Miller, The War Came to Us
Andrew Krepinevich, The Origins of Victory
Jim Mattis & Bing West, Call Sign Chaos
Frank Hoffman, Mars Adapting
Mick Ryan, War Transformed
Alex Joskie, Spies and Lies
Thomas Schelling, Arms and Influence
C.E.W. Bean, Anzac to Amiens
Bill Bryson, Down Under
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I used to publish an annual reading list of books at one point. You see them here at Modern War Institute where my friend Heather Venable has just also published an excellent reading list on AirPower.
In collaboration with Nate Finney, I have also published science fiction reading lists in 2017, 2018 and 2021, which you read at The Strategy Bridge.
Perhaps I should resume the habit of producing reading lists?
Yes, reading recommendations would be most welcome!