3 ms·
This is going to be different, and is not intended to be sarcastic. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin First read during my high school years in the Amazing
by BJBBB 6y ago
This is going to be different, and is not intended to be sarcastic.
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin
First read during my high school years in the Amazing SF magazine; and was later published as a book. The work was criticized by the 'elite' of the SF community at the time. Have recently re-read and got the same impressions of how as both a species and as individuals we are fools that understand very little; that is, we are too stupid to know that we are stupid.
Calvin and Hobbs by Bill Waterson.
Was my favorite non-mandatory read during my college years. Calvin Ball can teach us much about life, and his snow-men art is the dark that we always be in all of humans.
Marine Corps Reference Publication (MCRP) 3 Rifle Marksmanship. [this is the current version, but am not certain of the designation for this manual when I first read it during the late 1970s].
This summarized the philosophy of combat, the physics of interior and exterior ballistics, and describes the zen-like state of the marksman. It is not as sterile as the US Army marksmanship manual, is more complete treatise of combat shooting and weapons care, and is brutally honest in that the USMC is preparing you to efficiently kill other humans. Very sobering.
- blaser-waffle 6y ago> Marine Corps Reference Publication (MCRP) 3 Rifle Marksmanship Not nearly as sobering, but I found the MCDP series on USMC doctrine fairly enlightening. Friction, Centers of Gravity, and a heavy importance on Logistics have been concepts that served me well in IT and project mgmt.
- gmays 6y agoYou might specifically mean Warfighting, MCDP 1. That's the first book we read as new Lts. and has stuck with me over a decade later and served me well in tech.
- blaser-waffle 6y agoThere were 6 MCDP handbooks -- I helped edit a re-release of #6 as a policy intern/college student after getting out of the USMC. See also: https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/research-topics/main/usmc-doctrine https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/research-topics/main/usmc-do... But I agree with parent's point -- MDCP #1 Warfighting is pretty good. If you're a military nerd all 6 are great, but if you're just going read one of them then definitely stick to Warfighting.
- gmays 6y agoMCDP 1 Warfighting is also great with broadly applicable concepts.
- BJBBB 6y agoNo. No. And no. If remembered correctly, FMFM 1 came about in the 1980s; please correct if otherwise. I was in enlisted bootcamp during the 1970s, and excerpts from the marksmanship manual, which is the fundamental skill of a Marine, were the first manual, other the the 'red' guidebook, that I read during my enlistment. These original marksmanship manuals were truly good literature. And they were mostly written by experienced SNCOs. It is disappointing, although not surprising, to see some former officers jump into assumptions prior to completely reading and parsing the comments.