Back Again

Hey, all! I'm back from the howling wilds of South Dakota. Sorry I haven't posted while away but, when compared to spoiling my niece and nephew, this is way down the priority list. And I don't want to hear anyone complaining about the cold this winter - compared to SD, this place is damned near subtropical.

As per Tom's request, I've put together a little reading list of reread fiction. Now don't laugh.

Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Rights without responsibility is pandering to the mob, responsibilities without rights is slavery. And the side with the most good infantry always wins.

Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. Examine all possibilities, reject nothing out of hand because it might just be crazy enough to work.

Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War. Yeah, I know it's not fiction but I read all the time and it is the original military classic.

C. M. Kornbluth's Not This August. (sorry, no link) Yes, the commies were a bunch of murdering bastards bent on enslaving the world.

Richard Cox's Operation Sealion (no link) and Kenneth Macksey's Invasion. Good alternative history best read side-by-side. And don't let the tread-heads plan amphibious operations.

Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. Fighting wars is nowhere near as bad as losing wars.

Sir John Hackett's The Third World War and Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising. When I was in my twenties, I knew that I was going to fight the Soviets. It was going to be big and brutal and I was going to lose most of my friends fighting it. I just didn't know what shape the war would take, and here are two of the better possibilities.

Enjoy.