Readings 2021
- Maxime Boulat
Here is a list of books that I read this year:
Physical books | ||
The Challenger Launch Disaster, Diane Vaughan | A sociological approach to explaining the chain of events that lead to the sudden destruction of space shuttle Challenger and the loss of its crew shortly after takeoff on January 1986. This book is great because it teaches you about the engineering culture at NASA, and also about the consequences of engineering shortfalls. | Book was synthesized in a series of notes which can be found here. |
Napoleon, Andrew Roberts | A great biography that sheds light on the genius and the complexity of the character as he goes on an uninterrupted journey to transform the world. |
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Countdown to Zero Day, Kim Zetter | A book about the Natanz cyber attack where a cyber weapon was developed and deployed with the sole intent of tampering with Siemens PLCs (Process Logic Boards) which controlled uranium enriching centrifuges. The book is a fascinating foray into:
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Audio books | ||
Congo Mercenary, Mike Hoare | A book about mercenaries |
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Boyd, the fighter pilot who changed the Art of War, Robert Coram | This book was very special to me, as it is a complete biography of the mythical John Boyd: a fighter pilot who went on to revolutionize the world of air warfare by stipulating that the outcome of aerial engagements between two fighter planes revolved around the rate at which each plane could shed and gain speed, a theory which he dubbed the energy maneuverability theory. This theory was anchored in sound scientific basis and produced an algorithm which could determine the combat viability of any aircraft in operation or in development. This discovery made him unpopular in the Air Force as it revealed that a lot of the fighter jets and the doctrine that had been championed was wrong. He led his entire life fighting powerful enemies who hated him and never gave in to the unrelenting pressure, surrounding himself with a posse of young prodigies, dubbed “the acolytes“ in what later became known as the Fighter Mafia. He went on to conceive the F-16 fighter jet for the US Air Force (a lightweight fighter, in accordance with his theory) and the legendary ground attack aircraft A-10 Warthog was also designed according to his teachings. His theory changed the world of military aviation for ever and became the de-facto standard for all military aircraft development and tactics in the world from then on. His second major contribution to the world was the invention of the OODA loop. A theoretical framework for explaining the difference between victory and defeat in military engagement throughout history. The OODA loop (Observe-Orient-Decide-Act) is a continuous process which occurs in the human brain to determine the best course of action to take given a particular situation. His theory stipulates that whoever can successfully complete the cycles of the loop faster will win the engagement because he is able to change the environment faster than the enemy can interpret his changes. He attributes the military victories of Napoleon and the Blitzkrieg to that effect.
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Street Without Joy, Bernard B Fall | A book about the french debacle in the First Indochina War. It is a grueling, somber, analytical journey into a hopeless war which achieved nothing except demonstrate the bravery of the men who fought it. Interesting parallels are made with the Viet Nam war. Companion piece to the other book by the same author “Hell In a Very Small Place” which talks only about the disaster of Dien Bien Phu. |
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Talking to Strangers, Malcom Gladwell | A book about the misunderstandings and blunders that occur because of our inability to correctly interpret the behaviors of strangers. Talks in depth about:
Interesting premises but underwhelming conclusions. |
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