Comment by bloopernova
12 days ago
Why is it that this book sits on my shelf gathering dust while I devour books on world war 2 naval history?
It vexes me greatly.
12 days ago
Why is it that this book sits on my shelf gathering dust while I devour books on world war 2 naval history?
It vexes me greatly.
Born too late to ply the seas and too early to ply the stars, but just in time to ply the tomes.
Have you read Facing Fearful Odds? It was recommended to me by one of the marines who survived.
Interesting! I haven't read much on Wake island yet, there's so much to read and learn!
Thanks for the recommendation. Just ordered a copy!
> world war 2 naval history?
Mind to share some titles? As I’m also interested in naval history and strategy, and for better or for worse I’ve stopped reading programming books a good while ago.
Also, and for what it’s worth, I found out that good books on military strategy are also really valuable when trying to apply them to many higher-ish-level programming tasks, so in that respect I’m hitting two birds with one stone.
You asked specifically for books-- let me add some podcasts:
Check out https://www.youtube.com/@UnauthorizedHistoryPacificWar An overview of the US Pacific war with a professional historian and WW2 museum director, and a retired submarine captain/commodore who served in the Pacific. Lots of high-quality guests, too, often including Parshall and sometimes Tully from bloopernova's list.
Also, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaBYW76inbX4kE52CPUvx... Doesn't have the authority of the previous, but is high-quality and covers the non-US portions of the war much better, IMO.
These 2, in this order:
Incredible Victory by Walter Lord[1]. The story of Midway, fairly balanced.
Shattered Sword by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully[2]. also about Midway, but more research on Japanese sources. Has updated information about some things that are taken as "truth" about Midway. Amazing book.
EDITED to add:
James Hornfischer has some great books about the Pacific Naval war:
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour[3]. 6 small escort carriers, and a handful of destroyers and destroyer-escorts vs the heavyweights of the Japanese fleet: Battleships and cruisers. Jaw-dropping descriptions of courage under fire. Fantastic book.
Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal[4]. Covers several naval battles, but not much on the ground conflict. Really good book too.
The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific[5]. The late Pacific war, with the invasion of Saipan, and the naval aircraft battle of the Philippines, leading up to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the end of the war.
----
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Victory-Battle-Midway-Clas...
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Shattered-Sword-Untold-Battle-Midway/...
[3] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553381482
[4] https://www.amazon.com/Neptunes-Inferno-U-S-Navy-Guadalcanal...
[5] https://www.amazon.com/Fleet-Flood-Tide-America-1944-1945/dp...
Thanks a lot!
Oh yeah, on the applying military concepts to software engineering: Shattered Sword talks a lot about organizational/strategic/doctrinal deficiencies and I found the lessons to be very relevant to how teams work. I definitely recommend that book if you're any kind of leader or work in development.