Reading Time: 5 minutes The Royal Australian Corps of Signals (RASIGS) is looking back into its history and reflecting on its present environment and future challenges, […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Fifth Discipline is my all-time favourite book on leadership for change and development. The author Peter Senge is a master of […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Dysfunctional team behaviours can derail our mission objectives and make the workplace miserable. When Commanders and subordinates lock horns over decisions, when […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes This book has two great strengths – firstly its inspiring stories. Beginning with Captain Will Swenson’s heroic actions in Afghanistan showing heroic courage […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Defence Strategic Review urges a rapidly evolved integrated Force that harnesses affects across domains including Cyber (p.54). It recommends “cyber and information capabilities […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes L. David Marquet trained to command the USS Olympia, but then at the last moment was vectored to command USS Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered Los Angeles […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Note: Content within this review regarding trauma and mental health challenges may be distressing to some people. Not just soldiers are exposed […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes RAAF has had a remarkable history and chaplaincy has grown and developed alongside and in support. Sky Pilot narrates the development of chaplaincy organisationally […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (goodreads.com) On the 8th August 1914, the three masted barquentine Endurance set sail from Plymouth as part of […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Ones We Let Down: Toxic Leadership Culture and Gender Integration in the Canadian Forces explores the ten years following the decision of the […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes What does it take to perform as best as we can? And how do we help those we train to develop their […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Red Badge of Courage written by Stephen Crane in 1895 is a fictional novel that explores the philosophical mindset of a […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes In Tales From the Cold War: The US Army in West Germany 1960-1975 MD Mahler recounts his personal experiences living and serving […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes An Executive Summary of Ghost Fleet by P.W. Singer and August Cole It is not the strongest of the species that survives, […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Sport or life can throw unexpected and overwhelming challenges in our path. How we respond displays the strength of our character. I […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes On Operations by BA Friedman is a book with a singular goal, to prove that the operational level of war is a […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the US Army, it is a common refrain to say we are always busy training to fight the last war. To […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Chaplain Matthew Stuart at Kapooka inspired my curiosity about Kokoda when he said Australia looks back to Gallipoli as the founding moment […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes It seems to be a constant theme that Clausewitz’s statement that “the character of warfare is constantly changing but its nature is […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes It is a sad fact of history that the history of religion and the history of war are often enmeshed. Religion, which […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Resilience Shield is a contribution by Dr Dan Pronk, Ben Pronk and Tim Curtis to support character training with a particular […]
Reading Time: 6 minutes What happens when you simultaneously task a military unit with civil administration, security force capacity building, long-range reconnaissance, indigenous labour recruitment, operational-level […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes It initially seemed like another routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea. Captain Sarah Hunt was the Commodore of […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Steve Hansen, The Legacy by Gregor Paul is an in depth look behind the scenes at one of the most dominant teams […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes A problem of Just War Theory is that most governments who engage in military action assert their cause is just, but what […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s challenging offering a ‘unique’ review of Dan Keighran VC’s autobiography Courage Under Fire. Written with Tony Park, the book has already received a […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Note: Content within this article regarding mental health, suicide and trauma may be distressing to some people. Veteran suicides number 500 in […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes In this book, Van Creveld explores the impact logistics has had on some of history’s most notable military campaigns across almost three […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Invasion Rabaul is the first entry in Bruce Gamble’s three part series on the role of Rabaul (New Britain) during the Pacific […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Note: Content within this article regarding mental health issues may be distressing to some people. I tell recruits that one of the […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes One reason I joined the Army was that I saw it as an organisation that was committed to developing the leadership of […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) core business is foundation warfighting. However, it is often involved in other activities: welfare of soldiers and […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Imagine a world where a patient goes to a clinic and gets prescribed highly addictive opioids because it is the end of […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes A compelling explanation of how techniques used on the battlefield can be applied to business leadership Extreme Ownership is a must read […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes “it takes a veering route, up & backwards, overshooting & correcting, back down again south & west, crossing its own earlier path, […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Drawn from the Centre for Australian Army Leadership reading list and The Busy Platoon Commander’s Reading List, this book reminds me of John Carter. […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Mission command is a tricky concept that has been confusing western militaries for decades. At its best, it enables rapid decisive action […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Trust and Leadership: The Australian Army Approach to Mission Command serves as an answer to the philosophy that is mission command. Often junior […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes ‘On Tactics’ by B.A. Friedman is a fantastic book for building an understanding of tactics, and where they fit into war. I […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Monash and Chauvel (by Roland Perry) follows the journey of two of Australia’s most prominent generals through the latter half of the […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Tensions between China, the United States and Russia are at an all-time high. In this era, everyone has access to wearable technology, […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Space has gained prominence in recent years as an independent warfighting domain. This has resulted in renewed calls for nations to commit […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Brian Vlaun’s Selling Schweinfurt is an insightful examination of the American contribution to the Second World War’s Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) through […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes LTGEN Sir Frederick Morgan and the Genesis of Operation Overlord LTGEN Sir Frederick Morgan and the Genesis of Operation OverlordThe D-Day landings […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Drawn from the Centre for Australian Army Leadership reading list, you’ll find this book a refreshing change if you want professional development […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes I began reading this book in 2008 aboard multiple Charter and Hercules flights heading from Darwin into Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan; and I […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes George Orwell’s 1984 is a grim read that tells of a future in which something has gone horribly wrong in society resulting […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Can you lose a war you do not even know you are fighting? That is the fundamental question Hugh Taylor askes of […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Michael Kanaan’s “T-Minus AI” is written for a national security-focused crowd that often hears about Artificial Intelligence (AI) but doesn’t really know […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Fiction is an important element of every professional military education reading list. However, returning to the same handful of texts can make […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes On the third page of the introduction to Martin Dempsey’s latest book I knew I was onto another excellent and timeless look […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Annie Duke’s main premise in ‘Thinking in Bets’is that all decisions are bets. What jobs we choose, where we live, what partners […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Richard Holmes’ Marlborough, England’s Fragile Genius is a military focused biography of John Churchill, the 1st Earl of Marlborough. This book was […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘David and Goliath’ is about how people face giants, whether they’re powerful opponents or forces outside our control. Opening with […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes I was browsing through a list of books about leadership until I stumbled across Principles – a book by Ray Dalio, founder […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes ‘Ultralearning’ by Scott Young is about how we can learn difficult skills effectively, particularly over short periods of time. It is an […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes The national war hero who is a terrible adulterer and the shameless torturer who devotes his life to being the caring and […]
Reading Time: 7 minutes The following is compiled from our 10in10 series. Those interviewed were asked to recommend accessible content from any medium for the professional development of […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes North Korea has continuously been in the news in recent years, posing a greater threat than what had previously been a powerless […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes This greatly anticipated leadership tome from one of America’s most notable generals of recent times is a treasure trove of leadership lessons […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes It was a cold Monday night in Oxford when I went to see Erling Kagge speak in Blackwell’s bookshop. I wasn’t too […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Roland Perry’s book Bill the Bastard takes a novelistic approach to the story behind not only “Bill the Bastard” but the only person able […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Bookshelf is curated by Jess Ward and is a channel for military, history, fiction, biography and leadership book reviews. Continued personal and professional development is the backbone of this channel. We look forward to hearing from you about the books you are reading and learning from your reviews!
Reading Time: 3 minutes Tribe: On homecoming and belonging by Sebastian Junger Sebastian Junger’s book ‘Tribe : On homecoming and belonging’ is an easy to read […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes All you need is kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka The importance of commanders reading fiction – and in particular science fiction, to explore […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Martin Moore’s Democracy Hacked: Political Turmoil and Information Warfare in the Digital Age explores what kind of influence social media wields, how it has evolved and where it might lead.
Reading Time: 3 minutes Asymmetrical Warfare by Roger W. Barnett This book is a detailed look at the modern challenges to US military power written by […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Snipers at War: An Equipment and Operations History chronologically overviews snipers and their weapons of choice. It is an excellent examination of […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes The enemy you can’t see – the toll was 500 and rising, more than 100 in the previous day alone and more likely to perish. The year was 1918, and the enemy was Spanish Influenza.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Highly recommended for those interested in the Falklands War, the conduct of special operations and operational leadership.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Goodbye to all that should be on every junior leaders reading list because of its powerful message around the brutality and impact of war
Reading Time: 6 minutes ANZAC’s Long Shadow: The cost of our national obsession by James Brown As most people who have an understanding of the origins […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal US Army, retd. with Tantum Collins, David Silverman and Chris Fussell In this book, General […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes The title of John Kiszely’s book, Anatomy of a Campaign, the British Fiasco in Norway, holds promise. Fiascoes: ‘ludicrous and humiliating failures’, […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Anatomy of Failure: Why America Loses Every War It Starts is a meticulous examination of American strategic choices about fighting wars written through […]
Reading Time: 6 minutes If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. Sun Tzu, The Art […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes In the Warlords’ Shadow, written by Daniel Green, examines the effect of the Village Stability Operations program in the fight against the […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Last year I deployed as a Medical Officer in support of a company sized infantry training activity on the northern coast of […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes In The Future of War: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College, London, takes readers on an unorthodox study of how […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes At risk of outing myself as a science fiction nerd, I often find myself thinking about how some themes portrayed in science […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes ANZAC Sniper by Roland Perry Roland Perry has delivered an incredibly entertaining and intriguing rendition of the life of Australian soldier Sir […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Generals die in bed by Charles Yale Harrison Warning – this review contains spoilers. Charles Yale Harrison’s book ‘Generals die in bed’ […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Pure Logistics: The science of war preparation by George C. Thorpe In this book, LTCOL George C Thorpe, USMC, does that which […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Don’t be fooled by the cover of “Das Reich.” The burning village and camouflage smocked SS Troopers hint at something in the […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes There are many reading lists available to the military professional and an increasing focus on Professional Military Education within Army. These reading […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes British Generals in Blair’s Wars is a collection of essays covering the British Army’s campaigns during the premiership of Prime Minister Tony […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Any army would be better if its officers displayed a more questioning attitude to their profession. Jim Storr Jim Storr’s The Human Face […]
Reading Time: 10 minutes Trust, Common Purpose, Shared Consciousness, and Empowered Execution “Few of us are criticised if we faithfully do what has worked many times before.” […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Do you work in an organisation where the pursuit of getting more from less is the ultimate goal? Have you always thought […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Access the 2020 Commandant of the Marine Corps Professional Reading Program here. This article refers to the 2017 reading list. Introduction The Marine Corps Commandant’s […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Blood Year, written by David Kilcullen, captures the events leading up to and following the 2014 crisis in the Middle East. The […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reposted from The Armchair Colonel with permission of the author. Why should an Army Officer read 853 pages devoted to maritime operations […]
