I recently finished reading a biography: John Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War. My brother Aaron lent it to me after I gave it to him for Christmas. It took him about 6 hours to read it.
The book is about a fighter pilot who barely missed WWII, was in Korea for only a little bit, and missed Vietnam. He rode planes to their absolute limit (dangerous) and experimented with different maneuvers (also apparently dangerous). Because of this and an obsession with fighters and tactics he good enought to be an instructor at the Air Force’s Top Gun and champion of mock duels.
He developed a theory of fighters that says how quickly you can lose or gain energy (speed/altitude) determines how good of a fighter you have. Since this varies by wing design, speed and altitude a good pilot will stay in his zone where he has more “energy” than other planes.
Then (and I wasn’t expecting this from the blurb), he goes on to develop a theory of warfare based on reacting faster than your opponent to changing situations. (in fact it calls for deliberately doing what he doesn’t expect while confusing him so he reacts too late and incoherently) According to his theory the F-86 was a worse plane than the Mig-15 in Korea yet it had a kill rate of 10-1, he decided this was because the Saber had power controls and the Mig didn’t which allowed American pilots to transition from one maneuver to another much faster than their counterparts. This led him to create his theory on reacting faster "getting inside the decision cycle" of your opponent.
According to the book this was used to create new doctrines most notably for the Marines. This theory and Boyd were also crucial to the planning and lightning victory of the gulf war.
Some of the claims it makes are incredible, yet I find reasons to believe them.
First Norman Schwarzkopf called the battle plan in Gulf War I a “Hail Mary Plan” which is weird, unless it was a battle plan that he had forced on him and not one he came up himself – and he thought likely to fail, which is how this book describes it.
Secondly, I’ve heard some discussion on the second Iraq war criticizing the “lightning” nature of it and saying that it would have been better if they had just gone head to head with the Iraqis – lots of Iraqis would have died but they would have known that they lost fair and square and the insurgency would have not gotten a bunch of recruits from the disbanded military. This is a silly argument if you think about it, but it does seem to indicate a behind-the-scenes debate about maneuver warfare (My pre read thoughts on this subject).
Another thing I want to talk about is his creativity theory. He advocates linking facts from different fields to create a synthesis as a source of creativity. He also says that you should never expect to have arrived at the truth but must be constantly searching for improvement and embracing change.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Book Review: John Boyd Biography
Monday, January 5, 2009
Book Review: Duncton Wood
Take the chronicles of Narnia, make it catholic instead of protestant. Aim at adults, not young teens. Remove the sons of Adam, other worlds and all talking animals except for Moles. Add a love story. You now have Duncton Wood. I like it. A lot.
Friday, December 19, 2008
My Library (Books)
This are books that I consider to be worth owning. That is to read and re-read and to have your children read (when they are teens).
C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity, Screw Tape Letters, Til We Have Faces, Narnia
O.S. Card: Enders Game*, Enders Shadow*, Seventh Son, Red Prophet, Saints
J. Pournelle: Go Tell the Spartans, Prince of Sparta, Legacy of Heorot, The Face of the Enemy, The Mote in Gods Eye, Blood Fueds*, Blood Vengeance*, Strategy of Technology
Larry Niven: Protectors, Chuut Riit, Eater of Grass, Hall of the mountain King
Jane Austen: Pride & Prejudice, Emma
J.D. Fitzgerald: Papa Married A Mormon
H. Beam Piper: Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen
Robert Heinlein: Citizen of the Galaxy, Starship Troopers, Podkayne of Mars*
P. Anderson: All Hoka stories
Aspirin: Phules Company, Skeeve
G.R. Dickson:Blood and Iron, Soldier Ask Not*, Tactics of Mistake, Dorsai, Final Encyclopedia, Young Bleys
Tim Powers: Declare
John Scalzi: Old Mans War*
John C. Wright: Orphans of Chaos
Gilbreth: Cheaper By The Dozen,Bells on their Toes
P.G. Wodehouse: Jeeves Series,Blandings Series
Tom Wolfe: Man in Full
Waterson: Calvin & Hobbes
Timothy Zahn: Admiral Thrawn Trilogy
G.K. Chesterton: Heretics,Orthodoxy
Jared Diamond: Guns Germs & Steel
Edmund Burke: Reflections … France
Conan Doyle: The White Company
Hal Clement: Mission of Gravity
L.M. Bujold: Miles Vorkosigan
Vernor Vinge: A Fire upon the Deep
Cold Sassy Tree
Edith Wharton: Age of Innocence
David Brin: Startide Rising
Books marked with an asterick are books that I want to edit for one reason or another.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Last night I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that I was with a group of people in a garage where we were attempting to build an AI supercomputer. I discovered it had a malevolent personality that plotted the destruction of the human race. After a brief struggle we managed to destroy it.
Later one of our group had a baby. It was a strange baby but she loved and protected that baby. Then I saw that the machine had altered it live on through that baby. I said some timid comment to that effect. The mother began to protest and reached for the baby as if to draw it into her arms in protection. It misinterpreted this action and thought it was being threatened. It opened its mouth and growled. It's head spun around to reveal another horrible face on the back of its head with sharp bared teeth.
Still some maternal instinct remained and instead of destroying it as we should have, the mother told it. Leave us alone and we will leave you alone. Do not seek to follow us or hurt us.
As we left the house we were attacked by a dog that looked like a St.Bernard but had the disposition of a rottweiler. A minion of our enemy. It killed her and attacked me but I pried his mouth open with my hands, feeling the sharp teeth dig into my skin but evading death.
