What I'm reading

I have been tagged by the mysterious author(s) of Kent's Imperative in a meme started by Coming Anarchy on what people are currently reading. Since, unlike Younghusband, I dislike reading multiple books at a time (unless forced to by classes and poor planning), I am only reading one book currently:

The Shield of Achilles, by Phillip Bobbitt

I am so far unconvinced of his thesis - that the nation-state will be replaced by entrepreneurial, managerial, or mercantilist market-states. His thesis is certainly helped by the fact that he defines "market-state" (a state that gains legitimacy by maximizing the choices of its citizens) so broadly that, whatever happens in the next 50 years, someone will be able to argue that Bobbitt was right. Then again, having read 300 pages, he still has 500 more pages to convince me that he's right.

It was recently my birthday, and I got a lot of books which I plan on reading now that it's the summer and I'll have the time to read non-assigned books. My reading list for the summer is basically:

Target Tokyo, by Gordon W. Prange

The Red Orchestra, by V. E. Tarrant

Brave New War, by John Robb

The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb


Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife, by John Nagl (he was impressive in person, so I have high hopes for his book)

I also have a bunch of books sitting on my bookshelf that for whatever reason I haven't got to yet:

Supplying War, by Martin Van Creveld


The Fallacies of Cold War Deterrence, by Keith Payne

Just and Unjust Wars, by Michael Walzer (if you are Professor Moore, stumbling across this blog, then of course I am RE-reading this book)

The Authoritarians, by Bob Altemeyer (available free on the web at that link)

I doubt I'll get through all those this summer, but that's the goal.

I'll tag Catholicgauze, the recently engaged TDAXP, and the Armchair Generalist to see their lists.

3 comments:

Jay@Soob said...

I almost bought Black Swan this weekend but forced myself to not do so. Like you I've got a sagging bookshelf of volumes yet unread and will be taking a short break from the non-fiction genre and re-engaging with fiction.

I think you'll enjoy Brave New War.

Dan tdaxp said...

Thanks for the tag! I'm currently reading The Third Policeman, a book that's been featured on LOST and certainly influences that story.

I'll post a review when I'm done, and then tag others. Thanks again!

Catholicgauze said...

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