Book review: MILITARY INTELLIGENCE BLUNDERS AND COVER-UPS by Col. John Hughes-Wilson

 

Book review:
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE BLUNDERS AND COVER-UPS (2004) by Col. John Hughes-Wilson

I'm fascinated by spectacular failures - the whys and hows of them. This book covers great failures to know, understand, communicate and analyze in war - and before war breaks out.

It's enlightening, and humbling, reading. People are not perfect, and the path to defeat is lined with faulty assumptions: "We have already won", "My opponent's reluctance to fight is a sign of weakness", "We know all we need to know", "Surely the enemy understands how we think", etc.

Even if you are not into military matters, this book will make you think about the problems with information flow that we are dealing with in all parts of society (even your day job!).

(FOOTNOTE: UFOs / UAPs have been in the news recently. Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned there about failures to communicate information that is deemed ”impossible”...?)

#war #history #failure #bookstagram #gulfwar #911 #fiasco  #bookstagram #bokstagram #books #bookreview #bookreviews #bookcover #bookcovers #military #espionage

Jag blir intervjuad av Fantasykammaren

Fantasykammaren har intervjuat mig om bokserien "Darc Ages" / "De mörka tidevarven" som snart kommer ut på förlaget Saga Egmont.

Den kan du läsa HÄR.

#boktips #lästips #böcker #förlag #sagaegmont #litteratur #författare #kultur #fantastik #dystopi

GET STRANGE

 If you know readers who like "The X-Files" and paranormal stories, tell them about...

PRECINCT 20: DEAD STRANGE Crime stories from an urban twilight zone https://amazon.com/dp/B07D32K8GQ

#books #horror #paranormal #XFiles #TheXFiles #TheTwilightZone #weird #StrangerThings #noir #crime

Tips: Bok som kommer...

En liten "hint" om en kommande bok... som jag har skrivit.... som ska ges ut av ett större förlag. Mer information kommer snart...

#boktips #lästips #böcker #förlag #litteratur #författare #skräck #fantastik

Saga Egmont ger ut mina barnböcker SAGOPYJAMASEN, HUNDRA TUSEN PIRATER och MONSTER I MASSOR

I år ger förlaget Saga Egmont ut mina illustrerade barnböcker SAGOPYJAMASEN, HUNDRA TUSEN PIRATER och MONSTER I MASSOR. 

(Böckerna gavs tidigare ut på det mindre förlaget Wela.)

De här böckerna finns nu på Amazon.

#barnbok #barnböcker #boktips #lästips #böcker #förlag #sagaegmont

Book review: THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL ANGRY PLANET by Becky Chambers

Book review:
THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL ANGRY PLANET (2015) by Becky Chambers

I read this novel and as I soon grew bored with it, I kind of asked myself: Am I the jerk here? The one who’s just small-minded and petty and can’t appreciate the positive vibes in a story where so many different characters can get along and be themselves and validate each other? Surely that’s a message I could get behind...?

But you see, in order to make a story engaging it’s not enough to be right or good or decent. The Hallmark Channel is decent, but I don’t want to watch it. It's not enough to have a single message, even if I basically agree with it.

At the point when the characters went into yet another heart-to-heart talk about their feelings and how much they understood and supported each other, I started to understand that these talks were really what the novel is ”about.” The story didn't have to take place on a spaceship, and the ”alien” characters wouldn't have to be aliens.

Because all the main characters are really just there to assist the principal protagonist – a rich girl who ”goes slumming” among the ”charming and authentic” working class to ”find herself.”

(She is supposed to be from Mars, but she is so obviously a white American upper middle-class woman.)

Someone who had also read the book pointed out the telling detail: This reads like fanfiction. Dead on target!

The lack of plot, the overreliance on borrowed genre tropes, the all-too-human ”alien” characters, the myopic focus on relationships (in the most watered-down sense), the anxious avoidance of genuine conflict and tension between characters, the sex scenes... it all fits into the cliches of fanfiction.

It's not that this novel ”challenges” me – I find it not nearly challenging enough. It wouldn't even have to be violent! Just one outspoken conflict between the characters would have been an improvement.

Just as an example: The ”working-class” characters could have cornered the upper-class protagonist with the tension and resentment that real people can express:

”Hey, rich girl! Why don't you ask your parents for help?”

Judging by the glowing reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, this novel has a fan base. There may be many young readers who need to feel encouraged and validated through fiction. They love this novel, and good for them.

If you're into this sort of ”cosy” space opera aimed at teenagers, or if you like TV shows like FIREFLY and STAR TREK, then I guess you could try it.

I'd prefer something a lot more original and a lot less saccarine.


#bookstagram #bookstagrammers #bookreviews #bookreview #books #literature #sciencefiction #scifi #firefly #lgbtq #spaceopera #yabooks #youngadult

Cartoon

 

#UFO #UAP #humor #satire #aliens

Cartoon

 

#UFO #UAP #humor #satire #aliens 

Cartoon

 

#UFO #UAP #humor #satire

Book review: STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert A. Heinlein

 

(This text was previously posted on my Instagram account in January 2019.)

Book review:
STARSHIP TROOPERS (1959) by Robert A. Heinlein

There's exactly one segment in this novel that I think is genuinely good.

It's the passage where Heinlein describes in detail a "combat drop" - where the protagonist, a soldier in a future war against aliens called "bugs", fights in mechanized armor. The description of the armor and its user interface was so far ahead of its time, it seems advanced even today.

The rest of the novel is a tedious, dishonest bore.

I could go into the tedious political sermons, that feel like enduring the reactionary rants from a cranky relative during a family Christmas dinner. (Shut up, Uncle Ezra, nobody wants to hear what you think about bringing back spanking!)

I could go into the dishonest depiction of military life... the euphemisms and double-talk that obviously are intended to lull the reader into thinking war is a simplistic, bloodless boys' adventure.

But I want to emphasize how boring this book is. There's very little actual combat in it. Mostly it's about the antiseptic, unbelievably conflict-free military life between missions - and the sermons. Those idiotic sermons.

Heinlein could write good, even great SF stories. This just isn't one of them. Unfortunately, STARSHIP TROOPERS was a monster hit that spawned a whole militaristic sub-genre of SF... and the less said about it, the better.

(For your information: I did military service. My fellow recruits used foul language and did things that would make Heinlein's protagonist faint on a couch.)

If you want to read a good "Military SF" novel, try Haldeman's THE FOREVER WAR.

NOTE: The 1997 movie is like a send-up or satire of the novel. Heinlein would've hated it.

#robertaheinlein #heinlein #starshiptroopers #bookstagram #bokstagram #bookstagrammer #bookreview #bookreviews #bookcover #bookcovers #sciencefiction #scifi #novel #spacewar #classics #literature #reviews #books #paulverhoeven #movies #starshiptroopersmovie