Art of war is incredibly basic, things like ‘try to outnumber the enemy!’ ‘Don’t telegraph everything!’ ‘Circumstances can be advantageous or disadvantageous; pick the first one when you can!’. Read Clausewitz, either Mao or Lawrence, and something modern; I like Boyd but I’m a systems pervert.
Been a long-ass time since i touched any of this, and it all kinds bleeds together, but from very rough blurry memory:
Clausewitz is… Okay so I found him incredibly hard to read because i kept wishing I had a chance to go back in time and kick him in the dick, maybe when he was too old to chase me very far after, but basically about how conflict is about more than just killing dudes, and killing dudes is a means rather than an end.
Mao talks about fighting bigger foes and some on the role of the (non-fighting) people in war. How a force sustains itself in nontraditional circumstances.
Boyd is late 20th century american imperial air force; an information/attention guy. The OODA loop guy. Relevant in modern deeply bullshit war. There are other options, but like i said: I’m a systems pervert.
Lawrence covers some (but not all) of the ground of the last two from a more romantic and heroic (and older! He fought in world war 1! Boyd was a ds1 guy and Mao was Mao) perspective. And also is a better writer than Mao or whoever put together Boyd’s stuff.
Mao is already on my reading list. TIL about this Boyd guy though, I’ve only found books about his methods written by other people? What would you recommend to get acquainted with his work?
Idr it was like a billion years ago I read any of this, but I don’t think he put anything together in book form himself; all gonna be his fanboys. Maybe you can find some .ppt’s.
It’s not important you study him specifically. Just someone modern-ish who deals with information/attention/narratives.
If you’re looking for something particular, you probably want a more robust reading list than I can offer, but encourage you to nerd around a bit on the topic.
Art of war is incredibly basic, things like ‘try to outnumber the enemy!’ ‘Don’t telegraph everything!’ ‘Circumstances can be advantageous or disadvantageous; pick the first one when you can!’. Read Clausewitz, either Mao or Lawrence, and something modern; I like Boyd but I’m a systems pervert.
tell me more about those
Been a long-ass time since i touched any of this, and it all kinds bleeds together, but from very rough blurry memory:
Clausewitz is… Okay so I found him incredibly hard to read because i kept wishing I had a chance to go back in time and kick him in the dick, maybe when he was too old to chase me very far after, but basically about how conflict is about more than just killing dudes, and killing dudes is a means rather than an end.
Mao talks about fighting bigger foes and some on the role of the (non-fighting) people in war. How a force sustains itself in nontraditional circumstances.
Boyd is late 20th century american imperial air force; an information/attention guy. The OODA loop guy. Relevant in modern deeply bullshit war. There are other options, but like i said: I’m a systems pervert.
Lawrence covers some (but not all) of the ground of the last two from a more romantic and heroic (and older! He fought in world war 1! Boyd was a ds1 guy and Mao was Mao) perspective. And also is a better writer than Mao or whoever put together Boyd’s stuff.
Mao is already on my reading list. TIL about this Boyd guy though, I’ve only found books about his methods written by other people? What would you recommend to get acquainted with his work?
Idr it was like a billion years ago I read any of this, but I don’t think he put anything together in book form himself; all gonna be his fanboys. Maybe you can find some .ppt’s.
It’s not important you study him specifically. Just someone modern-ish who deals with information/attention/narratives.
as long as its still relevant, its exactly what i’m looking for.
If you’re looking for something particular, you probably want a more robust reading list than I can offer, but encourage you to nerd around a bit on the topic.
Perfect :3 Primers for all.