General Sir David Richards, Britain’s most senior military officer recently published a reading list (of 90 books) for candidates to the UK’s Defence Academy.
I was interested to see books like “Blink” (instinctive decision-making) and “Thinking Fast and Slow” (behavioral decision-making) on the list. Maybe “Nudge” should be there too.
Also of note is General Sir Rupert Smith’s book “The Utility of Force”—Smith is a proponent of confrontation analysis.
However, in general, the list has a bit of an “MBA” feel to it. There’s lots of analysis, but very few original sources. I’d have expected a lot more texts that originate in different (non-Western) cultures. Even if one believes, as suggested in “The Dictator’s Handbook” (another omission), that all leaders are driven by their political survival, arguments are still cloaked in cultural history.
Still, these lists provoke debate. And that’s a good thing.
