Teleologic Blog

Forward into Battle: Fighting Tactics from Waterloo to the Near Future
Paddy Griffiths. A highly readable work, this book delves into the interaction between small-unit tactics and the evolving impact of firepower to create ‘the empty battlefield’. From Wellington to the Arab–Israeli War, Griffiths explores the importance of combat morale and battle stress on the soldier—and thus the conduct of close
combat—challenging long-held myths about revolutions in military affairs and the importance of technology over human factors.

Starship Troopers
Robert A Heinlein - Heinlein graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1928 and continued his involvement with the military right through the Second World War. His awardwinning book explores profound territory—what makes a citizen and what is the military’s responsibility to the state that supports it? A simple tale of a young man joining up and going to war against an alien race, ‘the Bugs’, hides layers of deep and complex moral and political philosophy, the core of which is the notion that social responsibility requires individual sacrifice.

Fight Club
Chuck Palahniuk - This book, which inspired the film of the same name, poses interesting questions about small-group dynamics, the nature of self-identity, the role of violence in the masculine imagination, and the dangers and benefits of loyalty and leadership. Intensely psychological, with barbs against consumerism and massmovements,
this book has many parallels with the way soldiers are inculcated
into the military.

Ender’s Game
Orson Scott Card - Ender Wiggin is six years old when he is taken from his family and sent to Battle School, where he is taught the art and science of war. Ender’s advantage is his creativity, and he rises to command all of the Earth’s military, but at the expense of his physical and mental health. The book investigates the use of simulation and networked forces to select leaders and manage combat, and has a sub-text about the burden of leadership and the importance in commanders of both compassion and ruthlessness.

Fear Drive My Feet
Peter Ryan - This classic Australian memoir of the Second World War has lost none of its power and emotion since its first publication in 1959. Ryan spent much of 1942 and 1943 patrolling forward of friendly lines in Japanese controlled territory around Lae in New Guinea. Often working only in the company of a handful of indigenous police and porters and under arduous and dangerous conditions, Ryan maintained
his coolness and resourcefulness as he kept watch on the Japanese. Fear Drive My Feet highlights the enduring soldierly virtues of courage, initiative and resilience to which every Australian soldier should aspire.

(There are many more...)