Monday, September 26, 2016

Book Recommendations

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach 
This book was recommended to me by Natalie, one of my physical therapists at the Madison VA. It is both very interesting and very funny. Mary Roach is a humorist, but one who goes to great length to research the subjects she writes about and interviews many experts and people with first hand knowledge, to get her facts straight. She also participated in many experiments to get both a feel for the subject and bring her readers a deeper understanding. Vets will especially like that throughout Roach displays her deep respect and admiration for veterans and members of our military. The humor is at her own expense, or about the situations, never directed to diminish the troops or veterans. Trigger Warning: many of the topics covered will be disconcerting to those with powder puff personalities or snowflake sensitivities. But for those who want an understanding of the efforts to better protect our troops, I highly recommend this book.

Outnumbered: Incredible Stories of History's Most Surprising Battlefield Upsets by Cormac O'Brien

A gift from my brother Mark, I greatly enjoyed this overview of some of histories most surprising battles. It is both well researched and well written. The battles covered were a balance between those I had read a great deal about (Agincourt, Rorke's Drift, Chancellorsville) and those I had heard little or nothing of. Those who studied military history at West point or Annapolis may find little new here, but for the average history buff, this is a great review of several important and interesting conflicts.

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