Many military commands publish recommended reading lists, but due to the ephemeral nature of the web these lists can sometimes be lost. This site attempts to capture them for posterity. Here's an overview of all the military reading lists that are available. Enjoy!

Recent reading

1. On Nov 02 Tom Copeland (USCG) read What is the What by Dave Eggers and commented:

   So much I never knew about the conflict in Sudan! A hard read but a good one.

2. On Oct 25 Tom Copeland (USCG) read China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia by James R. Lilley and commented:

   Really interesting account of the Tiananmen Square massacre since he was ambassador at the time.

3. On Oct 24 Tom Copeland (USCG) read Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown and commented:

   Interesting stuff, but I feel like it kind of begs the question "what's essential?" On the other hand, everyone has to decide that for themselves.

4. On Oct 19 Tom Copeland (USCG) read Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior by Ric Prado and commented:

   Great description of the Contras and the challenges they faced.

5. On Oct 10 Tom Copeland (USCG) read Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead by Jim Mattis and Bing West and commented:

   The nice thing about this book is it's not just a series of events, like "We had a three day conference on X then fly to Y for a mtg on Z". Instead it's full of little incidents - like when Mattis recommended they shut down JFCOM, he did so by handing Mike Mullen a napkin with "Disband JFCOM - Mattis" scribbled on it. I also liked that Mattis didn't have a solution for everything, and at one point in the book says something like "there are crises that can be solved and crises that can only be managed."

6. On Oct 07 Tom Copeland (USCG) read The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple by William H. McRaven and commented:

   A short book but something that bears rereading. I might buy the poster version of the 19 guidelines listed in the book.

7. On Oct 04 Tom Copeland (USCG) read The White Donkey: Terminal Lance by Maximilian Uriarte and commented:

   This feels like such a deeply personal story that I don't want to write a review of it. He's just telling us what he saw!

8. On Sep 25 Tom Copeland (USCG) read Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick and commented:

   Interesting, although I thought "These Strange New Minds" was a little deeper technically.

9. On Sep 23 Tom Copeland (USCG) read The Silo Effect: Why putting everything in its place isnt such a bright idea by Gillian Tett and commented:

   This book has some good thoughts about getting the bigger picture to avoid disasters. But also it's worth reading because it's just a very well written book. "Fool's Gold" by the same author is also a good read.

10. On Sep 12 Tom Copeland (USCG) read Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and commented:

    This idea of willpower being a depletable resource is a great insight. We need to tweak our environment so we're led to do the right thing without having to fight temptation all the team. Lots of other interesting bits in here; I bought this book as a gift for my daughter who an elementary school teacher. Seems like a book you could read once a year and get something new each time.

11. On Sep 12 Tom Copeland (USCG) read Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Paul Scharre and commented:

    More of a survey of the current state of AI+war. One thing that rang true was that it's hard for a small company to do DOD work; lots of process to thrash through. If you want a more technical book check out "These Strange New Minds" by Christopher Summerfield.

12. On Sep 11 Tom Copeland (USCG) read No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer and commented:

    The 4A framework for feedback sounded super-valuable but very hard to pull off, and has to have top-down support. Interesting how they adjusted things to get it to work in various cultures.

13. On Sep 09 Tom Copeland (USCG) read Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein and commented:

    Epstein says to focus on "test and learn" vs "plan and execute". This seems like good advice for a programmer in an AI age when the LLMs are really good at executing.

14. On Aug 28 Tom Copeland (USCG) read Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War by Paul Scharre and commented:

    Interesting bits in here about autonomous weapons possibly leading to escalations that wouldn't have happened if a human was in the loop. Also, this was written in 2018; makes me wonder what a second edition would say here in 2026.

15. On Aug 27 Tom Copeland (USCG) read The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle and commented:

    Makes an interesting distinction between leading for proficiency and leading for creativity. Good stuff!

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