A wargamer's book

[general hoth]

Every wargamer has a beloved book but what would be the one that you always come back to during those sleepless nights?
Mine: the other side of the hill by Liddell Hart; the german generals' accounts of their WWII battles. love it, you might too... :)

[admiral_yamoto]

I like to read Art of War so my parents think I'm smart. ;)

[Carlo]

Aye Captain!
The Master&Commander saga by O'Brian.

[CrazyStraw]

If SF is allowed in this category, then Ender's Game has to be on the list.

For me, Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe is hard to beat.

And for non-fiction, I'm partial to the Guns of August and The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (Landes).

[CrazyStraw]

Bringing back an OOOOOLD thread...

I recently finished Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Great read. Strongly recommended.

The author is a bit too enamored with Genghis, and he's oddly critical of Christians, but overall it is a very good book. I came away from it with a great appreciation for the power of mounted archers and seigecraft.

Peace

[J.L.Robert]

Historical: Cornelius Ryan's The Last Battle. The Battle of Berlin, in Ryan's detailed interview style, a la The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far.

Non-historical: Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers. More than a war novel, pure anti-Communist propaganda, but still a good read.

[boylermaker]

Oooh, lots of goodies here already. But I still have to go with The Great Siege by Ernle Bradford. It reads like Arthur Conan Doyle's The White Company (another great read) but is true to boot!

[RuHurt]

My favorite book ever would probably have to be The Once And Future King, by T.H. White. It's basically awesome :D.

Other good ones are 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, We, Lord Of The Flies, and Archer's Goon.

[boylermaker]

Props on The Once and Future King: excellent choice. Three books that are linked close to that one in my head are C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength. Perelandra is hard going, but the first is good and the last is awesome. (By the way, betting people that C.S. Lewis wrote a scifi trilogy is an excellent way to make $5. Also that Evelyn Waugh is a man.)

Orwell I don't like, though I can see why some people do.

[RuHurt]

I read the first two in the Space Trilogy, and enjoyed them muchly. Interestingly, I started That Hideous Strength, and couldn't get into it, despite everyone saying it was the best. Perhaps I was just too young when I tried it (this was many years ago, I was probably about thirteen), and I'd enjoy it if I tried it again... but, thanks to college, I don't feel I have the freedom to read for pleasure :/.

[boylermaker]

Christmas break: go for it!

I had a similar problem, actually, though with me it was more the fact that That Hideous Strength scared the bejeezus out of me, and it took a couple tries to get all the way through it (still does scare the bejeezus out of me, now that I think about it).

Another book in the pattern of the Space Trilogy is A Canticle for Leibowitz. I don't know if that's very easy to find, though. C.S. Lewis meets Frank Herbert and converts to Catholicism.

[RuHurt]

Good point... we get a long Christmas break, too; guess that'll be my reading month :D.

The Stand, by Stephen King, was also excellent. Not in the same realm as C.S. Lewis, I suppose, but still a damn good book.